InMobi Raises $8 Million in VC Funding

InMobi, a mobile advertising network company based in Bangalore, India, has raised Rs. 37 crores (about $8 million) funding with the help of venture capitalist firms like Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB). The company, previously known as mKhoj, has managed to raise nearly Rs. 70 crores (about $15 million) so far with the help of venture capitalist firms, which is quite a feat considering it was started only three years back.

InMobi specializes in serving ads, most of which are CPC (cost per click) ads, on mobile sites and mobile applications. The InMobi platform serves close to 17 billion ad impressions every month, of which nearly 10 billion impressions are served in the Asia Pacific region alone. It is not surprising since the company’s largest market, India, which has more than 600 million mobile phone users, and a number of other smaller markets including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand are from this region.

InMobi plans to use these funds to expand its presence in the US, Japan, and African markets. Abhay Singhal, the co-founder of the company, stated that the company is keen on investing in technology and manpower to establish their presence strongly in these regions.

Such news, in my opinion, will send a positive signal to a lot of mobile advertising startups not just in India, but all over the world. Despite the fact that the global economy has taken a bad hit, mobile ad firms continue to attract VCs and get funds to expand their presence, which is quite amazing. It just goes to show that the number of people who believe that mobile advertising, as an industry, has a bigger and better future is growing by the day.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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JiWire’s Latest Report on Mobile Advertising

JiWire has released its latest Mobile Audience Insights Report, which talks about the latest trends and developments in the world of mobile advertising. The report takes a detailed look at the impact of mobile apps, consumer adoption of Wi-Fi technology, consumer response to location based advertising, and more.

The report is based on the responses of two thousand random customers who were picked by the company for a detailed survey. The survey was conducted from March 2010 to April 2010.

Some of the key points of the report include

• Nearly 40% of the respondents said that they are interested in using different types of mobile applications and they spend at least an hour every day using them. On average, they have 22 apps on their mobile device.

• More than 75% of the respondents said that they prefer free mobile apps that come with advertising to paid apps.

• 35% of the respondents clicked on an in-app ad, 27% visited the website of the advertiser, and 18% bought something from an ad in an app.

• 53% of the respondents said that they are willing to share their location details with a mobile advertising company to receive targeted ads on their mobile phone. More than 80% of the respondents said that they are likely to respond to an ad that is relevant to their current location.

• Games, entertainment, news, travel, weather, and social networking are some of the most preferred mobile app categories.

The report pretty much resonates with my thoughts on mobile phone advertising. A lot of people do not mind ads as long as they are relevant and non-intrusive. Moreover, an increasingly large number of people are getting comfortable with the idea of ad-funded apps and services. Add to this the fact that the number of smartphones sold on the market is increasing by the day and you can understand why experts say that the future of mobile advertising is bright.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Mobile Application Downloads to Reach Five Billion by 2014

New York based research firm ABI Research says that the number of mobile applications downloaded by mobile phone users is expected to reach five billion by 2014. It says that the surge in smart phone sales and the increase in the number of mobile app stores are the reasons why there has been a sharp increase in the number of apps downloaded in the last few years.

The iPhone, according to ABI Research, is still the major player in the mobile app market. However, its market share is expected to reduce considerably over the next few years due to the rise of Google Android. Android currently has an 11% market share. Due to its increasing popularity and Apple’s shrinking market share, Android’s market share is expected to increase from 11% to 23% by 2014.

The reason behind Android’s growth in the mobile application market is not hard to fathom. As of now, 14 phones run the Android OS and the number is expected to increase sharply this year due to the introduction of new Android based phones. Also, the response for free mobile apps from Google, Google Maps being a fine example, has been great so far. Since Google is expected to come up with more such free apps and ad-funded apps, it is safe to assume that the number of mobile apps downloaded by consumers will increase in the coming years.

ABI Research has also made another observation. It says that even though the number of mobile apps downloaded by consumers is expected to rise sharply, it may not reflect positively on the revenue chart. It says that the proliferation of free ad-funded apps might make people reluctant to buy paid mobile apps. It is quite a bold prediction given the fact that the idea of ad-funded apps is still in its nascent stage.

What I believe is that there is enough space for both ad-funded apps and paid apps. While the demand for free ad-funded apps is likely to increase significantly, the demand for paid apps, particularly business centric mobile apps, will not disappear completely, as there are quite a few people who do not like the idea of a mobile app loaded with ads. So, I predict a mobile ecosystem where ad-funded apps and paid apps can coexist without any problems. What do you think? I am interested in hearing different opinions.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Facebook Mobile Reaches a New Milestone - 65 Million Active Users

Facebook Mobile has reached a new milestone folks. It now has over 65 million active users from different parts of the world, making it one of the most popular mobile social networking sites in the world today. What makes this news even more incredible is that it has happened in an incredibly short span of time. About eight months back, the number of active users was only around 20 million. Now, it is well over 65 million. In other words, the site has attracted more than 40 million new users in a span of eight months – eight months. Incredible is the only word that comes to my mind.

Let us dissect this achievement a little. There are a number of mobile social networking sites available today. What makes Facebook Mobile so popular among mobile users? From what I have seen so far, I can think of the following reasons.

• It is available in a number of different languages. So, no matter what language you speak, you are likely to find a version of Facebook Mobile in that language.

• There are a large number of Facebook Mobile applications available for different types of handsets including iPhone, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Palm, Samsung, HTC, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry. So, no matter what handset you use, you can access it easily.

• It has come up with innovative features like Facebook SMS which lets you set your status, receive notifications, and send and receive messages via SMS. It is very convenient for people who are not able to log into the mobile site all the time.

• It is available in two formats – an ordinary version which works on any mobile phone and a special version which is meant only for touch screen phones.

Not hard to understand why the website has attracted so many people, isn’t it? In fact, experts say that the site will have more than 100 million users in 2010. Considering its growth in the past few months, it is not hard to believe.

Finally, here’s something for the hardcore Facebook users among you. People on Facebook Blog have announced that Facebook Connect, starting from today, will be available on a number of mobile sites and applications. Well; you knew they had something up their sleeve, didn’t you?

PS: To know more about mobile social networking, you can check out this post.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Social Networking.

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Future of Mobile Advertising - Notes from Cannes Lions Ad Festival 2009

Mobile advertising was one of the important topics which were discussed at the 56th International Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. A number of executives representing big advertising and marketing firms around the world discussed the future of mobile marketing.

A lot of people who discussed the future of mobile phone advertising were of the opinion that it could become really big in the next two or three years. There are two reasons why they believe so.

1. The large number of mobile applications designed exclusively for smart phones which allow users to access multimedia content right from their mobile phones.

2. The ever-growing popularity of social networks like MySpace and Facebook which can be accessed right from the mobile phone thanks to mobile social networking.

Statistics show that mobile advertising has grown at an average of 45% in the last five years, which is incredible to say the least. In other words, what used to be a $3 billion industry has now become a whopping $30 billion industry in just about five years.

Let us now take a look at some of the most important points discussed.

1. A lot of executives said that they have launched a lot of mobile advertising campaigns in the recent past and the response so far has been pretty good.

2. Almost everyone was of the opinion that advertisers need to be more creative to generate interest among users. They were very clear that run of the mill ads which interrupt users every two minutes will definitely not work.

3. It was predicted that in the next three to five years, mobile marketing will account for nearly 10% of global media ad spending.

4. Highly targeted local mobile advertising campaigns will generate enormous amount of interest among small retailers. (Incidentally, this is something that I have repeatedly said in this blog. You can take a look at it here, here, here, and here.)

5. Emerging markets like Africa and Latin America hold a lot of promise as the number of mobile users has increased steadily in the past few years.

6. One of the biggest hurdles for advertisers around the world is the lack of compatibility between 3G networks in Asia and Europe.

7. 4G – the fourth generation high speed mobile technology – is something that advertising firms around the world are waiting for with bated breath. It is expected to hit the market in another ten years or so.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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