Mobimag - Print Medium Goes Mobile in the Middle East

Mobivision, a digital media solutions provider based in Dubai, has developed a first-of-its-kind mobile application called Mobimag, which allows people to read magazines and newspapers on their mobile phones.

Mobimag is an ad-funded platform, which means it is available free to customers. The developers call it an intuitive, effective, and interactive advertising platform. They say the adverts could be in the form of small applications, games, videos, or animations, which gives advertisers a variety of choices to reach their target customer base. The platform has a ‘click to call’ button which customers can use to respond to the adverts.

The USP of the application is that it displays magazines and newspapers exactly in the same format as their print versions. It allows users to open and view the content in a mobile friendly format. Accessing print material on mobile phones is a fairly new concept in the Middle East, so, understandably, the application has garnered a lot of attention quickly.

Prominent UAE publishers including Campaign Middle East, Gulf Business Magazine, and the 7DAYS newspaper are available on the platform. Mobivision plans to have at least 20 publishers onboard within the end of the year. It should not be a problem as the platform offers a solution to a problem that most publishers in the region face – lack of multiple revenue streams. So, publishers are most likely to use this platform to deliver their content to the fast-growing mobile phone user base in the region.

Mobimag is compatible with more than 240 mobile phones, including Windows Mobile and Symbian based smartphones and certain models of Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, and HTC. Surprisingly, it is not compatible with the Blackberry, Android, and the iPhone – three of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the Middle Eastern region today. The company, however, has stated that customized applications for the Blackberry, Android, and the iPhone will be released later this year. It has also mentioned that a very special application for the iPad will be released shortly.

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

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Symbian’s Mobile Ad Click Through Rate Better than Apple OS

A recent report from Smaato says that Symbian users are more likely to click on mobile ads than Apple iPhone users. The report discusses the click through rates for mobile advertising campaigns in the U.S. for the month of April 2010. It says that the number of clicks generated by the Symbian smartphone platform is 2.7 times more than the number of clicks generated by the iPhone OS.

This statistics might come as a bit of a surprise for many, as most people are under the impression that the Apple iPhone is the undisputed leader of mobile ads. What is even surprising is that Apple is not even in the second position. It is in the fourth place, as feature phones and Windows mobile phones take the second and third place respectively. Google Android suffered nearly a 50% drop in its click through rates during the period of February 2010 to March 2010, which pushed it down to the fifth position. What this means is that no other operating system comes even closer to the click through rates of Symbian, which is backed by the world’s biggest mobile phone maker – Nokia.

The way I see it, this report from Smaato debunks the myth that Apple OS is the holy grail of mobile advertising and Symbian is an aging platform that no one really cares about. While the possibility of Apple reclaiming the top spot cannot be ruled out, it is still interesting to see Symbian performing so much better and exceeding everyone’s expectations.

In the coming months, this competition could only get more intense. Apple is all set to redefine the world of mobile advertising with the iPad and Symbian is all set to release its revamped mobile library – Symbian ˆ3. It should be interesting, don’t you think?

PS: You can download the report from this link.

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

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Customized Mobile App for Windows Mobile Users from the Associated Press

The Associated Press has developed a mobile application for Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The application, aptly named AP Mobile, gives Windows Mobile users access to the global news network of the Associated Press. If you download this application onto your mobile phone, you will be able to get all the information you want right on your mobile phone.

If you remember, the Associated Press launched its own mobile news portal some time back. The response, as expected, has been very good so far. With more than 1.5 million registered users, AP’s mobile application is one of the most popular apps in the marketplace today. Still, AP wants to extend the reach of its mobile news network further. So, the company thinks that developing a customized application for Windows Mobile users is the first step in the right direction.

The introduction of this application will help AP in two ways. One – it will make its mobile news portal very popular. Two – it will create new revenue streams for its members. It will be beneficial for Microsoft as well as it gives Windows Mobile users access to a wide range of information, tools, games, and more. If you are a Windows phone user, this app will bring you stock market news, weather news, sports updates, local news and international news, lifestyle tips, travel tips, and entertainment news right to your mobile phone screen.

The app also includes plenty of social networking features which allow you to share a news story with your friends instantly on Twitter or Facebook. You also have the option of bookmarking it in your Delicious account. If you want to share something privately with your friends, you can email the story as well.

So, how have Windows Mobile users reacted to this new app? A cursory look at the comments section on Windows Marketplace for Mobile gives a good idea. It is full of positive comments like ‘great app’, ‘user friendly app’, ‘nice social networking features’, and so on. So, we can expect a lot more users to download this app. AP has plenty of reasons to smile. If you are a Windows Mobile user, make sure you check out this application and let me know your thoughts.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Microsoft.

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Huge Slump in Smartphone Market Share - Can Microsoft Reinvent Itself?

When you take a close look at the smartphone market, you will notice something strange. Experts often talk about what is possibly the most popular smartphone available today – the Apple iPhone. They talk about how Google Android could give Apple a tough competition. They talk about Symbian and they talk about Blackberry. They even talk about recently released smartphones like Motorola Cliq and Droid. One name that is conspicuously missing from this list is Microsoft’s Windows Mobile.

It is really surprising. After all, Microsoft entered the smartphone market long back – Pocket PC 2002, the predecessor of Windows Mobile OS, was released in 2002. Soon, Windows Mobile was released in 2003. What has Microsoft managed to achieve in the past six years? The answer is – nothing worthwhile.

Windows Mobile, as of now, is the fourth most used mobile operating system in the world. Nokia with its Symbian OS is the market leader – followed by Blackberry and the iPhone. Experts, however, predict that it might not be able to stay at that spot for long. When you take a good look at the numbers, you get the feeling that what they predict might actually come true.

In the first quarter of 2004, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile had an envious 23% share in the smartphone market. In the first quarter of 2005, there was a steady decline and its market share was somewhere around 18%. In the first quarter of 2006, it further slumped and remained with a market share of 12%. In 2008, its market share dropped to 14%. At the start of 2009, it slumped further and remained at 7.9%. If we go by the recent report from AdMob, Microsoft’s market share, as of now, is only somewhere around 4%.

It is quite a slide – from 23% market share to 4% market share in a span of just five years. In the mean time, Apple, Nokia, RIM, and even Google have made their presence felt in the market big time.

It is really hard to believe. After all, Microsoft has got everything - all the money in the world, some of the brightest minds in the world, and plenty of goodwill. Yet, it has not been able to conquer the mobile market like it conquered the PC market. While late entrants like Apple and Google have been able to generate a big buzz, Microsoft has not been able to do anything that is worth taking notice.

Apple iPhone continues to climb the ladder and even new entrants like Motorola Droid have managed to create a big buzz. With this being the case, Microsoft’s only bet is Windows Mobile 7 OS – which incorporates the elements of Windows Mobile 6.5 and Zune – which is slated for release in 2010.

The mobile phone industry, the smartphone market in particular, is expected to grow bigger by the day. Mobile advertising, as we all know, is set to grow big as well. The time is ripe and the competition is intense. The question is – can Microsoft pull it off?

Categories: All things mobile phones, Microsoft.

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Funambol to serve mobile ads in its portal

Open source mobile messaging software producer Funambol recently announced that it will serve mobile ads in its online portal myFUNAMBOL. For those of you that don’t know Funambol, here is a small intro.

Funambol is famous for its mobile 2.0 messaging software which is considered probably the best push email solution for mobile phones today. Mobile enthusiasts rate Funambol better than Apple MobileMe and the sync apps available for Blackberry. It supports over a billion devices including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile.

Now, back to the news. Funambol says the ads served will not be overtly prominent or intrusive in nature. Mobile users will find ads in their inbox and message viewing screens. Funambol believes that this is perhaps the best idea to monetize its service in the most effective manner. There are two reasons for this.

First, mobile users absolutely love Funambol. It is really easy to use and it is one of the best push email apps for mobile phone today. So, they won’t mind a few ads here and there as long as it doesn’t bring down the quality of user experience.

Second, finding ads in inbox is not at all uncommon. Gmail has been doing it ever since its inception and people have had no problem with that whatsoever. So, similarly, they won’t find the ads in myFUNAMBOL intrusive or disturbing.

In my opinion, this is a welcome move. As Funambol is an open source project, they need to monetize it one way or the other to stay in the competition. And as long as people find their service useful, I think they probably won’t mind these ads.

What do you think? Will you say okay to a few ads in your inbox if you get to use such open source mobile apps for free or at a very low cost? Share your thoughts.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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