Could 3G iPhone become a mobile advertiser’s dream?

No publicity is bad publicity, they say. If that’s true, then Apple can be proud of what they’ve achieved in the past few days. With the release of the 3G iPhone, they’ve made everyone, including yours truly, say something about it. As you can see for yourself, the internet is full of people expressing their opinions, as mixed as they are, on the new iPhone. Isn’t that what Apple exactly wants?

Thankfully, AdAge has come up with an article that stands out a little from the crowd. It looks at the 3G iPhone as a potential marketing weapon. The new features, the rich look, and the extremely good user interface of the new iPhone make it a very good choice for mobile advertisers around the world. However, instead of the usual banner ads, text message ads, and MMS ads, adverts in the new iPhone will be a lot different.

In the new iPhone, software is the content and content is the software. In other words, marketers will focus on building web applications for the iPhone and market them more effectively. The key is to think of a mobile application and then find out if there is actually any demand for such an application. Once you’ve found out the right app which users might make use of, you’re on your way to market your product or service in the most efficient manner ever. For example, a mobile game developer could come up with a kickass game for the 3G iPhone and allow the users to download it for free. This will give him more publicity and exposure than a measly banner ad or a text message ad. Because apps are something that the users look forward to using, the issue of unsolicited, unwanted mobile marketing is out of question. Check out the article and tell me what you think of it.

Categories: Apple iPhone.

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A look at India – the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world

India has been the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world for quite some time now. There are already 250 million mobile phone users in India and the number gets increased by 6 million every month, thanks to new users. There are a few reasons behind this impressive growth.

1. Indian economy is on a roll and has had an impressive growth over the past few years. This has increased the purchasing power of the people significantly, especially that of the middle class people. As a result, the 30 million middle class people in India are the target customer segment for mobile companies now.

2. The price range of mobile phones is quite big. You can get low-end mobile phones in the $20 - $30 price range and at the same time you can get high-end mobile phones in the $600 - $800 price range. So, whether you belong to the super rich category, middle class, or lower middle class category, you can get a mobile phone which fits into your budget.

3. There are several major mobile operators in India and there is intense competition in the market. Almost all of them have slashed their call charges, text message charges, and offer a lot of value added services. What this means to the user is, not only can he get a handset at an affordable rate, but he can also afford to keep his phone charges within his budget every month. This has led to more and more people buying mobile phones.

Recent reports predict that India will have a whopping 500 million mobile users by 2010. This is the reason why mobile advertising is considered the next big thing in the Indian market.

Though mobile advertising by third party advertisers is yet to become popular, several mobile operators are already doing it successfully. Notable players like Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Tata Indicom, Reliance, and Vodafone regularly send text messages to their users regarding latest offers, new plans, and other issues.

That said, a few big players have already tried their hands on mobile advertising through third party advertisers and have had a good response. Recently, Hindustan Lever and Coca Cola launched mobile advertising campaigns promoting their products and have had good response rate so far. Since Indians are very active in using features like text message, MMS, and mobile internet, mobile advertisers have tons of choices to come up with personalized mobile advertising campaigns.

All in all, India will be a market to watch out for in the next few years as far as mobile advertising is concerned.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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AT&T’s mobile TV - Deal or no deal?

Mobile TV has gained a lot of attraction in the recent times. Mobile advertisers are looking to go beyond the traditional means of advertising on mobile phones like text messaging (SMS), MMS, and banner ads and mobile TV could be the ideal choice for them. There are two reasons for this. First, people are used to ads on TV. So, watching ads during a TV show, even if it’s on their mobile phone, won’t sound too odd to them. Second, you can offer a huge variety of content via mobile TV which can attract plenty of people, making it more lucrative than SMS ads or banner ads.

However, not everyone is painting a rosy picture about mobile TV. For example, the latest offer from AT&T – AT&T Mobile TV – has raised a debate among experts.

AT&T has launched its mobile TV service in 58 markets and uses the same Qualcomm MediaFlo service used by its counterpart Verizon. If you remember, Verizon launched its V Cast Mobile TV a few weeks back. AT&T offers 10 channels at a rate of $15 per month. However, experts say this might not go down too well with everyone.

They seem to come up with two reasons. First, not everyone will be enthusiastic about paying $15 a month for mobile TV. Second, only two handsets can support this mobile TV service - LG Vu which costs $300 and Samsung Access which costs $200.

My take on this issue is simple. Both Verizon and AT&T offer mobile TV services from MediaFlo which are far superior in quality than watching a downloaded video clip on your mobile phone. Market research shows that there is a considerable audience, if not large, for mobile video and this could work in favor of mobile TV. However, the downside, as I already mentioned in my article earlier, is that only two or three handsets can support this service. You cannot expect everyone to buy a $300 mobile phone. So, if they could make it available on more handsets, handsets that are affordable, I think they could attract a good number of users.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile TV.

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Mobile Marketing Association to come up with guidelines for mobile TV and mobile video

The Mobile Marketing Association has been working on formulating a set of advertising guidelines for mobile TV and mobile video and it’s expected to be launched this October.

The guidelines include banner dimensions, file sizes, file formats, and other things related to mobile video and mobile TV. MMA’s global mobile advertising committee comprises five groups – mobile web, text, MMS, downloadable, and video and television.

The group discussed the various features of mobile TV and mobile video and came up with different ideas to regulate mobile advertising in these areas. MMA is said to have recommended that click through ads should play either before the launch of a mobile application or at the end, not when the customer is viewing the application.

I think the MMA has done a brilliant job by setting up guidelines for mobile advertisers. Viewing ads while watching something interesting is not at all good, and it’s even more so in the case of a mobile phone. With the kind of growth that mobile advertising industry is expected to have, guidelines such as this one are absolutely necessary to make sure mobile advertisers stay within the line.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Marketing Association.

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Pepsi and MyClick launch digital campaign

Pepsi has launched a mobile marketing campaign in connection with the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Pepsi has joined hands with MyClick, a famous snap-and-click marketer, to launch this campaign which targets 12-24-year-olds.

In this campaign, customers are invited to upload their birth date, phone number, nickname, and their photo on any one of the six web portals available in China. Three lucky winners, who will be chosen at random, will have a chance to be featured on special edition Pepsi cans during the summer Olympics.

The winners of this contest will be chosen by fans who can vote for their favorites. They need to download MyClick application on the web portal in order to be able to access everything from voting to status updates.

Pepsi Cola is planning to promote this campaign called ‘Creative Challenge’ big time via TV advertising, internet advertising, MMS, text messaging, point-of-sale promotions in retail outlets, and mobile WAP sites. A huge majority of people in China use their mobile phone as the primary device for interaction and this has given Pepsi tremendous confidence to go ahead and launch this campaign.

These kinds of mobile based contests have become huge successes in the past (read American Idol and other such shows) and I have no doubt that this will become hugely popular too, given the kind of promotion Pepsi is planning to do.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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