Germany based mobile web portal offers free text message service

If you are one of those people who are still wondering if the whole concept of ‘offering free mobile content supported by ads’ is good or bad, here is some news for you. A German company has recently come up with an idea that is so good that even the harshest critic of mobile advertising will find it hard to argue against.

Mjoy.com, a Germany based mobile web portal, offers free SMS (text message) service for its registered users all around the world. The service is simple – as a registered user, you will be able to send text messages to any phone, any network, anywhere in the world – for free. How does it sound?

This is usually the point at which the question ‘how can they afford to do so?’ comes up. The answer to that question is something you are already familiar with, if you have been following this blog. It is mobile advertising.

This free service is supported by advertising banners in the portal. Mjoy has officially stated that these mobile ads will not be a hindrance for users as they will be placed in such a manner that they do not disturb the user experience by any means. On top of that, the company has also promised that the users will not be sent any sort of commercial text messages at any time in the future.

Even at the risk of making this blog post sound like a sponsored piece, I have to tell you something about the cool features of this service.

1. There are no character limits for the text messages that you send.

2. The text messages you send and receive will be stored in chat mode in your Mjoy inbox.

3. As a registered user, you can sync your mobile phone contacts with the Mjoy network if you want to.

4. You can also access a variety of mobile content like videos, widgets, pictures, sounds, and much more in Mjoy portal.

Already, we have seen a success story in Blyk, which has now become synonymous with ad supported mobile content. Is Mjoy another success story in the making? Only time will tell. What do you think?

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

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Is ad-funded mobile TV the future?

Communicasia is one of the most talked about IT events this year and Communicasia 2008 is underway as I’m writing this blog. A congregation of IT and communication majors from all over the world are expected to be there and the list of attendees is quite impressive.

MComms TV, an Australian company, caught my attention. It is a mobile TV innovation company and it showcased a software-based solution which in my opinion can play a huge part in mobile TV in the future.

MComms Ad Insert, the software-based solution, places advertisements in live mobile TV streams seamlessly. The company couldn’t have chosen a better time. Just recently, Verizon and AT&T launched their own mobile TV service and they both received lukewarm reception from mobile users. The reason is pretty clear. Mobile users, a big number of them, are not ready to pay a monthly subscription for mobile TV yet. In this case, the only way to make users tune into mobile TV is to offer the service for free. Which is possible only if it’s ad-funded. You get the picture?

Now at this juncture, a technology like MComms Ad Insert could come handy. Operators can now try to offer free mobile TV backed with advertisements. After all, the users get to access a variety of mobile content including but not limited to music videos, TV shows, and movie trailers.

What do you say? Have any of you guys subscribed to Verizon or AT&T’s mobile TV service? Will you give it a try if it was free of cost? Let me know your views.

Categories: Mobile TV.

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Mobile video advertising platform from Velti and Vantrix

Velti, the leading mobile marketing platform and value added service provider, has announced that it has signed a partnership deal with Vantrix, a mobile content delivery company, and will be using its technology in its universal mobile video advertising platform.

This video advertising platform will deliver high quality video content funded by targeted advertisements to mobile users. These video clips are completely free as advertisers pay for them and mobile users can view these clips as many times as they want.

Velti has incorporated a unique technology from Vantrix in this platform which can identify the network conditions and the type of handset a mobile user has and adapt the video content accordingly. This is the reason why they like to call it ‘universal video advertising platform’.

Now, Velti is known for its mobile marketing platforms which are usually good, but this universal video advertising platform, as they like to call it, is very unique for one reason. The ads delivered with the video clips are extremely targeted. In fact, they take three different sets of data into consideration to make sure the ads are rightly targeted.

They are

1. Details from mobile users like age, gender, locality, income range, and so on.

2. Behavioral and contextual data which is provided by the personalization engine from Velti.

3. Carrier, network, and device performance characteristics from Vantrix.

Combining these three sets of data, the platform targets users pretty accurately and delivers highly relevant, highly targeted ads.

This, I think, is a very good example of targeted advertising. Using so many parameters, you can easily break down people into several groups and categorize the ads to be delivered accordingly. Such ads usually stand a good chance of getting clicked by the users, which is exactly what the advertisers want.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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WapFly’s role in the world of mobile media

Alright; I’ll be honest with you. I checked out this site only because I read somewhere that David Beckham is associated with them. But I have to tell you, when I did check out the site, I was quite impressed. I’m talking about WapFly Technologies.

WapFly is a company that specializes in building platforms for effective mobile advertising/marketing campaigns in the mobile media space. The company has a lot of platforms and technologies on offer which will be of great use to anyone who is trying to reach his customer base in the mobile media space.

WapFly offers WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), Origin, a platform which helps you build and maintain your mobile sites effectively, SMS Marketing which helps you reach your customers through text messages, location based services, M-Trak, a mobile phone tracking service, PayForIt, an M-Commerce platform, a variety of mobile content, and a host of interactive services for mobile phones. All these services and platforms are very impressive and have become very popular with mobile advertisers and marketers.

I know this post will not be complete without mentioning David Beckham again. So, go here and check out the details on his WAP site.

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

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Myxer launches Mobile Music Toolkit

Myxer has been on a roll recently. First, it was the partnership with Greystripe and now it is the launch of Myxer Mobile Music Toolkit. This toolkit from Myxer is meant for Indie bands and labels. Indie bands can use this toolkit to promote and share their content with Myxer’s community which is mostly comprises teenagers and college goers – the ideal audience for music bands.

The Mobile Music Toolkit from Myxer has packed a lot of features like MyxerTags, MyxerCodes, FanLists, Pick of the Day, and Sell Mobile Content – all of which will help music bands promote their albums, share their content, and connect to their audience better than ever.

Myxer, for long, has been providing free ringtones, free pictures, free videos, and even free mobile games. So, the launch of this toolkit can only be considered the next step in providing the users with more value. Myxer has a phenomenal record as far as distributing and advertising mobile content is concerned and this is a great chance for music bands to make use of Myxer’s growing audience.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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