Blyk Launches Operator Network in the Netherlands

Cell phone advertising firm Blyk recently launched an operator service in the Netherlands. It has announced that it has joined hands with Vodafone and will be operating on its network. If you remember, it signed a similar deal with Orange some time back. Experts think that this partnership signals the recovery of the mobile advertising market which was affected to some extent due to the recession.

Blyk sends targeted mobile ads to its subscribers in exchange for free call minutes and free text messages. It calls itself a ‘mobile network for young people’ and targets people aged 16-29. People who subscribe to the service will get targeted ads from various brands including Nike, McDonald’s, Electronic Arts, and more. They will, in exchange, get free talk time and SMS credit.

Blyk has also announced that it is interested in fast growing markets and its next launch, not surprisingly, will be in India. Entering India, a country with more than 300 million mobile users, can be a great opportunity for the company to grow. The company already has an office in Delhi. While it has not revealed any further details, it is said that the launch could happen pretty soon.

Blyk, as some of you might already be aware of, is known for its highly targeted mobile advertising campaigns. If the response rates of its campaigns in the past are anything to go by, it can be said that it will be just as big a success in the Netherlands as it is in the UK. Let’s wait and watch, shall we?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Blyk.

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Mobixell gets $6 million funding

Mobile advertising solutions provider Mobixell Networks has got a cool $6 million fund from Apex Partners, Intel Capital, and SMAC Partners. This fund was raised in the fourth round and Mobixell has raised $29 million to date.

Mobixell is based in California and Israel. The company specializes in delivering mobile advertising solutions and mobile multimedia solutions.

It has a pretty good mobile advertising solution package which includes different modules like messaging, video, WAP, ringback tones, and many more. Its mobile advertising solution can process and optimize a variety of mobile content including images, audio files, video files, and MMS.

Its mobile multimedia solutions include special content production suites for mobile content production, mobile webcast gateway, and other multimedia handling solutions.

Mobixell has also got a pretty impressive client list which includes some famous names like Orange, Vodafone, and O2 among others.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Will the music industry go mobile?

After newspapers, it seems it’s the turn of the music industry to go mobile. I mean, let’s face it. The music industry is not what it used to be and CD sales have dropped considerably. The industry has stagnated to say the least and going mobile to reinvent itself seems to be the only option left. Thankfully, some artists have already realized that and have taken the next step.

A few months back, we saw Madonna sign a deal with Vodafone wherein Vodafone users were able to listen to the album Hard Candy before it was even released in the market. Similarly, earlier this month, British pop sensation Natasha Bedingfield signed a deal with Verizon and will headline a Verizon VIP tour. Verizon users will have exclusive access to Natasha’s albums and users who download ringtones and other such content will get free tickets to her concert and other such promotional items. Usher Raymond has signed a similar deal with Sony Ericsson which will be the primary sponsor for Usher’s musical tour which is scheduled later this year. Though AT&T is yet to sign such deals with musicians, it has already signed deals with music websites such as Napster and eMusic.

The future, everyone says, is mobile. The dipping sales of compact discs and the alarming growth rate of pirated discs have made musicians take some serious decisions regarding the future and some musicians have already set the precedent. Now, it remains to be seen how quickly others can adapt to this new age medium. What do you say?

Categories: All things mobile phones.

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Vodafone to launch nationwide marketing campaign to promote mobile browsing

If there is one company which is very excited about the future of mobile web, it’s Vodafone. It first started off by slashing its mobile internet tariff by almost 50%, as a result of which you can now get mobile broadband at £15 a month, and now it has announced that it will launch a marketing campaign to encourage people to use mobile internet more often.

This campaign will serve as an eye opener for common public and Vodafone intends to make people realize how easy it is to access the internet from their mobile phones. Vodafone plans to launch a massive, nationwide marketing campaign all through the summer and plans to target train stations, shopping malls, bus stations, live events, and more.

It has started off well by buying media space in train stations all over the country. So, you can expect to see Vodafone ads with the slogan “Travel the mobile internet” in billboards, ticket barriers, and rotating poster boards soon in a train station near you.

It has been announced that the campaign will start off at London’s Kings Cross station and will be run all over the country for more than 250 days.

More than the campaign, I think the price cut will do loads of good to Vodafone’s mobile internet division. Don’t you think so?

Categories: Mobile Web.

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Verizon to buy Alltel

Alright folks; it’s official. Verizon Wireless has stated that it will buy Alltel for $28.1 billion. Verizon has made a deal according to which it will pay $5.9 billion to Alltel to acquire its equity and assume a whopping $22.2 billion of its debt.

This acquisition will make Verizon Wireless the biggest cellular operator in the U.S. Verizon has 66.8 million subscribers now and by acquiring Alltel, it will add another 13.2 million to its subscriber base, thereby making it 80 million subscribers in total. The current number one operator, AT&T, has around 72 million subscribers.

An interesting aspect to this deal is, Alltel is probably the only company in the corporate history of America to have changed ownership so quickly. Last year, Alltel was acquired by the Texas Pacific Group and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs for a similar price. This year, it has been acquired by Verizon.

Expectedly, this news has not made a big splash in the market as everyone and his mom knew that this was on the cards. This acquisition tale has been going on for years now and finally, it is official. If you remember, Verizon was actually keen to acquire Alltel last year, but Vodafone, its wireless partner, rejected the deal. But then, Verizon has managed to get what it wanted.

I think this is a perfect set up for Verizon for two reasons. First, both Alltel and Verizon use the same technology – CDMA. Second, Alltel has a good subscriber base in areas which are not covered by Verizon currently. So, it will extend Verizon’s network coverage platform. What do you think?

Categories: All things mobile phones.

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