Nokia to open Ad Labs to teach mobile marketing techniques

Nokia is planning to open a series of training labs called ‘Ad Labs’ which will teach traditional advertising agencies the art of mobile marketing. Nokia revealed its plans at the Cannes International Advertising Festival 2008. Mike Baker, the VP and the head of mobile advertising in Nokia, said that Nokia’s traditional advertising staff will benefit tremendously from this training and the long time goal is to make them competent enough to create highly targeted mobile marketing campaigns for their clients. To begin with, Nokia will start Ad Labs in Boston and London.

This is a very important move as far as Nokia is concerned. Of late, Nokia has been trying hard for an image makeover – from just a mobile manufacturer to a mobile marketing conglomerate. If you take a look at Nokia’s actions in the recent past, there is a definite pattern. It acquired Enpocket, developed its own mobile internet platform Ovi, it joined hands with France Telecom, and now it’s planning to open Ad Labs for mobile marketing training. Could it get any more obvious? Surprisingly, yours truly predicted a Nokia vs. Google scenario some time back and it seems it might come true after all. What do you say?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Nokia.

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A mobile web portal to access the German stock exchange

Wallstreet:online, the largest finance community in Germany, has released its mobile web portal. Mobile users now will be able to follow the German stock exchange right from their mobile phone. Netbiscuits, a famous mobile internet platform provider, has helped bring Wallstreet:online to the mobile web space.

I think this is a brilliant move. The timing could not have been better, as Germany now is considered a huge market for mobile phones and mobile web in particular. Even Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently stated in an interview that almost every German has got a mobile phone. Also, stock market is something which is closely followed by millions every day. What better way to do it than from your mobile phone? It makes things easier, as you don’t have to carry a laptop or sit in front of the PC to follow the stock trading by the hour. This mobile website is also optimized for Apple iPhone, as there are quite a few iPhone users in Germany.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Web.

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Nokia and France Telecom join hands to offer mobile internet services

The latest joint venture in the world of mobile phones is the one between Nokia and France Telecom. Both companies have stated that the reason behind this JV is to provide mobile based internet services to mobile users in nine European countries.

Both Nokia and France Telecom have mutually agreed to contribute equally toward this JV. According to the agreement, Orange, the mobile phone division of France Telecom, will provide its mobile music store to users. Nokia, on the other hand, will offer location based advertising and search services to Orange’s customers through its digital mapping service. This apart, both Orange and Nokia have agreed to offer mobile video games to users.

Orange’s customers can use these services as often as they want and the charges for Nokia’s services will also be added to their mobile bill, thereby eliminating the need for a separate credit card transaction.

Most people overlook Nokia when they talk about companies that will make big bucks through mobile advertising. But I think Nokia is a serious contender in the race. It started off by acquiring Enpocket, then developed its own mobile internet platform Ovi, and has now joined hands with France Telecom. I already predicted a Nokia vs. Google fight in the mobile advertising industry and going by the actions of Nokia, I think I was right in predicting that. What do you say?

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

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Mobile phones in India to come preloaded with ads?

With a mobile user base of around 250 million and growing, India continues to be the hottest market for mobile phone manufacturers. However, the rates of mobile phones have gone down sharply over the years. There are two main reasons for this.

First, the target customer segment of mobile phone manufacturers as far as India is concerned is the middle class people. According to surveys, the number of middle class people in India is estimated close to 300 million. In order to target this segment, mobile phone manufacturers have introduced new models which cost very little. And since the middle class also happens to be the most active customer segment in India, the low-priced models usually sell well, leaving the mobile manufacturers with no option but to continue with them.

Second, there is hellacious competition in the market. Both CDMA and GSM phone manufacturers are hell bent on capturing the biggest market share and as a result, they’ve cut down their prices sharply.

As a result, you can now get a mobile phone for just over $20 in India. Due to this reason, mobile phone manufacturers are looking for different ways to make money. One such way is mobile phone advertising.

Already, Nokia is planning to generate revenue through its mobile internet platform Ovi. Also, some of the mobile phone manufacturers in India are in talks with UK based mobile media firm Affle.

Especially, Affle’s SMS2.0, a mobile application, seems to have caught a lot of attention. This application adds a lot of new features like color, graphics, signature, and emoticons to an otherwise ordinary text messaging service. When the customer sends a text message using this application, there will be an ad at the bottom of the message and a full-screen ad while the message is being sent. Affle is also planning to add features like social networking and mobile search to this application.

Some of the big names in India including Airtel are interested in this technology and might soon incorporate it in their handsets. There are plans of releasing handsets which will have this application preinstalled. However, mobile manufactures might want to test the waters and see the user response for such handsets before taking any major decision.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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