Weekend news from the world of mobile advertising

Hello folks. It’s weekend time again and I’m again digging deep into the RSS feeds I’ve subscribed to. To begin with, here’s a couple of interesting tidbits.

1. Email giant Critical Path has published a report which says that around 79% of mobile users in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy, and Spain are ready to accept ads in their emails if their mobile email service was free. I’ve discussed the concept of mobile web in this blog quite often and to be honest, this news doesn’t surprise me at all.

Just think about it. How much do you pay for your Blackberry email service? What if it was available free of cost? You’ll be able to check emails on the go, right on your mobile phone, for free. So what if the emails had ads attached to them? It’s just a small compromise to be able to use the mobile email service for free, right? At least that’s what a majority of mobile users seem to think. And it’s not just in the U.S. Check out the list of countries – Spain, Germany, UK, US, and Italy. And I’ve not even taken China and India into consideration where mobile web is thriving. So, if you’re a mobile user, be prepared to get a free, ad-funded mobile email service from your operator soon. And if you’re a mobile advertiser, you know where the money is.

2. We already know Google’s penchant for free mobile phones, and it’s been confirmed once again. In a recent interview, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that mobile phones have become so important in people’s lives that a lot of people spend as much as 8-10 hours talking on their phone. With this being the case, advertising on mobile phones looks like a no-brainer. So, he said that the mobile phone should be free. A free mobile phone funded with advertisements is the future, said Eric.

Well; it sounds enticing. A free mobile phone up for the grabs. But the problem is, you need to advertise sensibly. Customers, at least a majority of them, will not be interested in buying a mobile phone if they get bombarded with random ads round the clock. Like I’ve said a million times before, mobile ads should be targeted, relevant, and most importantly, should provide some value to the user. Let’s see.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

0 comments.