Yet another interesting report on mobile advertising - II

I recently read a brilliant report on mobile advertising by Arthur D Little, a leading management firm. It says that mobile broadband will gain significant popularity in the next five years and with Europe being the leader in mobile based services now, mobile broadband penetration in Europe will be the highest in the world, up to 50%.

The report also talks about the role of mobile operators in mobile advertising. I was surprised to read that advertising generates only 5% of mobile operators’ revenue whereas in other media, advertising plays a bigger role and constitutes around 16% of the total revenue. This clearly indicates that mobile operators are yet to understand the impact of advertising as a revenue generating model. However, with mobile market growing fast, they need to think of ways to tap the revenue that can be generated from advertising.

Internet kingpins like Google and Yahoo have realized the importance of mobile advertising and are working on making it a successful source of revenue. At this stage, mobile operators need to do something on their own to generate revenue through advertising or they need to at least form partnerships with big players like Google and Yahoo and share the revenue. Either way, there is money to be made in mobile advertising and whether you are an operator or an advertiser, you need to come up with an idea to get your share.

The report also talks about Blyk and takes it as a case study to describe how successful mobile advertising could be, if it’s done the right way.

I’ve always believed that mobile broadband has a great future and moreover, we are now at a stage where we are fed up with 3G networks and talking about WiMax as an alternative. So, the stage is set for mobile broadband to become the next big thing.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Google to invest $500 mn in Clearwire

Preparing a launch pad for its Android platform seems to be the most important thing on Google’s mind these days. As I had already mentioned, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal is a goner now and Google is one happy company. So, it’s only concern right now is to make Android a success. And its latest $500 million deal with Clearwire speaks volumes about its passion to make Android a success.

Google has announced that it will invest $500 million to help Clearwire, the erstwhile-popular wireless internet provider, find its mark in the market again. This is part of the deal made by Google, Intel, Comcast, Bright House Networks, and Time Warner Cable to invest a collective amount of $3.2 billion to unite two of the biggest wireless broadband business in the market today – Sprint Nextel and Clearwire.

Clearwire, meanwhile, will work on building the first nationwide WiMax network in the country. As you know, WiMax transfers data way faster than 3G wireless networks that we have today. So, with a nationwide WiMax network, mobile users will be able to access multimedia content on their mobile phones easily and this will in turn give Google a chance to serve a wide range of mobile content backed with ads.

Also, as expected, Clearwire will now officially join the league of companies that support Android platform. As of now, the list of companies that support Google Android is pretty big and Google is trying everything in its power to make Android a success.

When Google came up with the idea of Android, some people thought it would be a bumpy ride for Google, as the market is currently ruled by Symbian OS, Windows Live Mobile, and Apple iPhone. Well, as of now, it looks like Google is ready to face the competition. What do you say?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google, All things mobile phones.

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Mobile phone growth in the U.S. and Asia - A perspective

When it comes to mobile phone market, not many people know that the U.S. is not the market leader. Instead, Asia beats everyone left, right, and center. Asia has been the hub for mobile phones for quite some time now and the surprising fact is, Asia leads in not just the number of mobile phones or mobile connections, but also in the kind of mobile technology that is being used.

How about this for a sample? In Japan, you can play games and fast forward through MP3 tracks with just a flick of your finger, literally. Certain mobile phones in Japan come with built-in motion sensors which let you do this at your comfort. Also, you can point your mobile phones at a big commercial complex and your mobile phone will display information about the building like what’s in there, how to get to a particular shop in the building, and even the daily special in the restaurant. This facility is available in certain models of Sony Ericsson and DoCoMo.

China has gone one step ahead and has come up with a technology through which mobile users can get live broadcasts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The best part is, you’ll not get streaming videos that are pretty slow. Here, the signals from China’s mobile TV will be transmitted straight to a UHF/VHF antenna which is inbuilt in the mobile phones, and you will be able to get 50 times the normal bandwidth, which, needless to say, will be very quick and easier to watch.

As of now, technologies such as this are almost unheard of in the U.S. However, a lot of experts believe that the 700 MHz auction will change things significantly in the U.S. They actually predict a third network apart from Cellular and Wi-Fi/WiMax, which will make mobile phone market in the U.S. a fast growing one. Soon, people in the U.S. will be able to switch their handsets at their wish without having to change the provider. Well; we’re all waiting for that day, aren’t we?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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