Author Archive
by Debi Jones
April 15, 2008 at 11:08 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0
A year ago I received an email from Francois Gossieaux about a new thought leadership blog that would focus on the mobile industry and specifically messaging. Initially I thought it might be another among the countless offers I’ve received to provide content for free “to raise my profile.” When I read that this was a Corante production, and that it was sponsored by Airwide Solutions I became intrigued. Francois was on the phone almost immediately and he quoted a list of other mobile bloggers who I knew and respected. I was quickly convinced that this new blog called Mobile Messaging 2.0 would be a great opportunity and said yes on the spot.
Mobile Messaging 2.0 has provided me with the chance to work and collaborate with the great team of writers assembled by Corante. We’ve covered events around the globe including: Global Mobile Messaging - Monte Carlo, Brew Conference - San Diego, TechCrunch 40 - San Francisco, CTIA Fall - San Francisco, MWC - Barcelona, and CTIA Wireless - Las Vegas, just two weeks ago. I’ve enjoyed the amazing thoughts and writing from my colleagues at MM2, and been privileged to share thoughts, brainstorms and disagreements with them in our weekly editorial conference calls. Over this year,
- Four of the ten most read posts on MM2 were written by me.
- I’ve recruited two of the writers at MM2.
- As Managing Editor, I’ve led our weekly conference calls and our monthly editorial calendar.
- Brought the Carnival of Mobilists to MM2 along with securing the blog’s feature position at TechDispencer, Computerworld’s Blog Network
- Covered conferences and other events
With my separate increasing demands from other projects and even the neglect of mobilejones.com to consider, it’s time to move on. Mobile Messaging 2.0 will continue to be an important addition to anyone’s feed reader who wants to understand the evolving mobile industry, especially as we turned to the new opportunities related to mobile advertising. I’ve very much enjoyed interaction with readers of MM2 and look forward to, now, becoming one of them.
To stay in touch, I can be found at http://mobilejones.com or follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mojosd
by Debi Jones
March 22, 2008 at 7:15 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0
Oliver Starr, Paul Ruppert, Darla Mack and I, Debi Jones, are attending CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas. At the conference we will participate in a Roundtable hosted by our sponsor, Airwide Solutions on Tuesday afternoon, April 1st. The Roundtable discussion topic: “Web 2.0 comes to Handsets — New Issues and Upside for Monetizing the Mobile Web” will be parsed for it’s critical factors, and addressed by three or four breakout groups.
Some 30 + members of the mobile ecosystem representing industry organizations, technology providers, content producers, and analysts will come together for the purpose of generating ideas, recommendations and next steps. The Rountable will be MC’ed by Steve Bratt, CEO, W3C. Bratt will provide opening remarks for the Roundtable and set us on the course for lively and productive breakout conversations. Below is a sample of the participants.
- Kaj Hagros, VP of Market Development, Airwide Solutions
- John Styers, CEO of Mobilco, former MD for Sprint Media Networks
- Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Reporter
- Mickey Alum Khan, Mobile Marketing Magazine
- Andy Miller, CEO, Quattro Wireless
- DeWayne A. Nelon, CEO, Avot Media
- Rob Adler, CEO, Go2Media
- Pared Reitzen, CEO Mobile Storm
- Ameen Ahmad, VP, SnapTell
- Colin Gibbs, RCR Wireless
- Linda Barrabee, Yankee Group
- Jack Philbin, Vibes Media President and Co-founder
- Jonathan Steuer, VP & GM of Media/Entertainment and Technology of Inococulture
- Alice Cuneo, Ad Age
- Virgin Mobile (TBD)
- John Puterbaugh, Nellymoser
In addition, Paul, Oliver and I will take the “Blogger Hot Seat” following the Roundtable in a Q&A session [Update: this will be taking place at the Envy Lounge - see below]. Mobile Messaging 2.0, as a thought leadership publication has pondered many of the topics raised by recent developments in the mobile industry. For example, the impact of the iPhone for business models, cloud computing or even smartphone connectivity. And further, the results of various pressures to bring openness to mobile and the realities of those efforts are material for a Q&A that spans the mobile ecosystem rather than represents a single position.
Those within the ecosystem add value to the discussion by representing the opportunities, challenges and innovations from their specific position in the ecosystem. At MM2, we search, observe and discuss across those positions which means that we hope to inform the broader perspective on developments.
The Roundtable discussion will be recorded and made available here on MM2. So stayed tuned here for more information and the recordings from we anticipate will be a highly valuable conversation.
Finally, a mixer is planned from 4:30 to 7PM at the Envy lounge inside the Renaissance Hotel following the Roundtable on April 1st. The only qualification for entry is that you are a blogger or Roundtable participant. We are thrilled to participate in a gathering where being a blogger is a requirement, rather than an obstacle to be overcome. So, all our readers who are blogging, please send an email to debi AT corante dot_com to RSVP. We look forward to meeting and socializing with our colleagues from other blogs. You will be treated to an open bar, and welcomed by Roundtable participants along with those of us from MM2.
Also, check out the CTIA Party List for other events happening in Vegas during the week.
by Debi Jones
February 25, 2008 at 9:03 am · Filed under Mobile isn't Mobile, Mobile messaging 2.0
Leading the mobile industry are the mobile operators. They build the networks, purchase access to airwaves and populate directories of applications and services. Over time they have donned a few different identities while rejecting their true and inescapable role as access provider. Mobile operators have thought themselves handset companies, application companies, aggregators, media companies and lately - advertising agencies. This multiple personality disorder is a reaction to ensuring they capture a lion’s share of any revenue possibility. Each attempt to alter their nature and morph into a business out of their comfort zone has created opportunities for competing network access technologies and alternative solutions which ultimately leave the operator out of the revenue pie completely.
We can go back to a time when mobile applications were new, and operators launched in-house development teams to build these applications. But - a more striking example is the how operators refuse to recognize the economics presented by Apple’s iTunes and the impact it would have on their own offerings. Mobile operators who referred to themselves as being in the content business created an opening for a product that would allow people to take their music mobile without the need to access a mobile network or purchase a high end phone. Price pressure from the operators on the mobile music value chain was no small factor in the success of Apple’s iPod and iTunes service. Had the service from mobile networks been at a reasonable cost to subscribers, no entry point would have existed for Apple.
In addition to the iTunes/iPod solution, handset makers like Nokia had made slide loading of music possible through ensuring the device could connect to PCs. And even with all the evidence demonstrating market rejection of costly operator music services, they continued to insist upon a rev share driving their music tracks to a 2 or 3x price point above other services. Add this to the network access charges to enable downloading and they priced themselves out of the early market.
So mobile music looks like this:
+ 
OR this
More recently many operators have positioned themselves as media companies. The problem? The cost to access their networks for video up or down remains prohibitive. Handset makers are adding Wi-Fi capability to many handsets which greatly improves the economics of up or down media. Consider media producers like Robert Scoble. Robert uses Wi-Fi to stream live video which would be impossible were he paying the costs to move this data across the mobile network. There are also implications on mobile TV which many people have already begun to consume on their phones from companies like Sling Media or iTunes, and again, over Wi-Fi.
These solutions allow the consumption or production of media when mobile, but don’t require a mobile operator’s network. We have landed in a place where price pressure has caused solutions, mobile solutions, to be developed without the mobile network, but not necessarily without a wireless component. So sometimes, mobile isn’t mobile. At least it isn’t mobile if that activity is defined by access to the mobile network.
For the next two weeks, MM2 will consider the topic of “When mobile isn’t mobile.” Given the variety of perspectives at MM2, I’m interested in learning where we end up with this subject. And you the reader are invited to join us. Your point of view is essential to building a lively and robust discussion.
by Debi Jones
February 25, 2008 at 6:21 am · Filed under MWC Barcelona, Mobile World Congress, Mobile messaging 2.0
Mobile Messaging 2.0 followed the many events and releases coming out of the Mobile World Congress last week. There are
advantages in assessing conferences both from attending the event and also from outside of it. Like sporting events attendance reveals the reaction of the live audience - sometimes emotional - and provides interaction with other attendees which colors our experience. Real time feed back provides one perspective and the remote viewing through TV for sports provides a different level of detail and a different experience. So is the case, with reading the releases of participating companies and the reactions of journalists, bloggers and competitors. The mitigating factor is time. Participating in an event limits time to consume the firehouse of detail reported out of and around large industry events like the Mobile World Congress.
Mobile Messaging 2.0 (MM2) provided both perspectives. Paul Ruppert attended the event and launched the coverage with a prognostication on 2008’s hot topics and industry cold spots. His article, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, outlined 9 topics or topic areas that would be significant coming out of the conference.
- Mobile Advertising
- Africa
- Mobile Payments
- Mobile User Generated Content
- Mobile Social Networking
- Mobile TV
- LTE - Long-term-evolution (network technology)
- Cost savings and Efficiencies
Check out Paul’s take to find out what he predicted would be the cold spots and decide if his predictions were on target, or off base.
As one would expect, Ewan Spence had an ear to ground on developments coming out of the handset/OS sector. His article highlights the Sony Ericsson announcement of a Windows Mobile device including analysis of SE’s possible strategy. Ewan posits that the US market doesn’t “get” the Symbian OS. Certainly, this position creates an opportunity for discussion.
The Mobile Monday Peer Awards are always on my radar. It is truly special to be recognized by your peers for accomplishment in mobile applications and services. Of course, the ultimate recognition comes from sales and/or adoption, but those who have performed well in these awards have also been recognized in the marketplace. This year was unique as one company captured the attention of the jurors, the audience and the MoMo chapter leaders from around the world. Buzzd, local party search company, received all three Awards in their category of Early Startups. Buzzd also announced a deal with Helio, US MVNO. Check out the article for what other companies to watch in the Emerging Startups category.
Imran Ali introduces a company called modu in his article. A company that Imran points out is creating flexibility through experience versus technology as advocated by open API evangelists. Is the market ready for an infinitely upgradeable device? Imran offers some critical aspects of execution that will either spur modu forward or trip them up.
Additional observations on innovations from Paul feature encryption for SMS from CellTrust, and Gesture-Tek turning your phone camera into an eye on the world around you. Using the camera as a sensor, instead of a media capture device is truly creative. Read about these innovative technologies in Paul’s articles on CellTrust and Gesture-Tek.
Mobile World Congress resulted in thousands of press releases some of the larger companies were well reported in the corporate press, many bloggers featured new handset releases, and startups were well covered by the usual news sites: MoCo News, TechCrunch, Mashable, etc.
At MM2, the discovery of unique developments, as featured from this year’s MWC, and messaging trends draw our attention. Many of our readers have long-term direct involvement or long-term observation of the mobile industry. It is no surprise that what results in our coverage of an event like Mobile World Congress would be off the beaten track of the world’s largest mobile players or the new efforts from Internet companies. These announcements and pre-announcements were well documented elsewhere.
by Debi Jones
February 19, 2008 at 8:12 pm · Filed under ATT, Carriers, Mobile messaging 2.0, News, Rate Plans, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Voice
Hours after Verizon Wireless announced their unlimited calling plan for $99, AT&T responds with a $99 plan of their own. And not to be outdone, T-Mobile USA this afternoon announced a $99 calling plan and then ups the ante by adding unlimited messaging. Sprint, the other of the top four carriers, has yet to release their nationwide unlimited plan. The question is: will they further up the ante and put pressure on these shiny new flat-rate plans?
Verzion’s Offer Details
- $99 - Nationwide Unlimited (voice)
- $119 - Nationwide Select Unlimited (voice, SMS, MMS)
- $139 - Nationwide Premium (voice, SMS, MMS, VZNav, VCAST, email)
- $149 - Nationwide Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and data)
- $169 - Nationwide Global Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and international data)
- $199 - Family plan with two lines, $99 per additional line
- Subscribers not required to extend their contract to select these new offers.
.
AT&T’s Offer Details
- $99 - Nationwide Unlimited (voice)
- $134 - Nationwide Unlimitied with unlimited messaging and Media Net
- New customers can choose month-to-month or 12-24 month contracts
T-Mobile USA’s Offer Details
- $99 Nationwide Unlimited (voice, SMS and MMS)
So Sprint? Last May Sprint began offering an unlimited rate plan bundling nationwide voice, web access, email and messaging for $119. The offer has been limited to markets in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Tampa, Fla., and parts of Northern California and Western Nevada. Today Sprint claims they have no plans for expanding their unlimited plan beyond these markets. The office pool betting opens at COB today. Place your bets on an announcement for tomorrow morning. Anyone?
Winners: Power Users
Losers: Stock Prices Fall for All Four Top US Carriers
Yawners: Non-Power User Mobile Subscribers
Carriers strike quickly to eliminate Verzion’s differinator on price announced this morning, and up the ante each time. Craig Moffett, analyst at Sanford C. Berstein, compares Verzion’s bold move on flat-rate plans to Sprint’s long distance flat rates for landlines in the 1990s, removing confusion from pricing plans, making them easier to compare and hastening a rapid decline in prices. Today’s standard for long-distance is either free or as a feature in a service bundle.
Let the games begin!
by Debi Jones
February 12, 2008 at 11:50 am · Filed under Conferences, Mobile World Congress
Mobile Monday, MoMo as the organization is affectionately called by it’s members, is a global networking organization which began life in Finland and gradually spread worldwide starting 3 years ago with chapters, now, in most major cities. The Global Peer Awards began in 2006 and are in their second year of collocation with the conference in Barcelona.
Finalists presented from two categories: 1. Early Startups, and 2. Emerging Startups. Each finalist was invited to present to jury panels matched to the two categories. Awards were given at 3 levels within the categories. Jury, Audience and Community winners were selected. And the winners are:
EARLY STARTUPS
Jury, Audience and Community Award: Buzzd
mobile, local search with share - or the fun way, moloso
Chapter nominating - New York
EMERGING STARTUPS
Jury Award: Funamobl
Open Source, Mobile 2.0 Messaging - momeos
Chapter nominating - Silicon Valley
Audience Award: Kimia
Mobile web proxy service - mowpros, moproser, mowser, …hmmmm
Chapter nominating - Madrid
Community Award: Taptu
Mobile search with share - moseso
Chapter nominating - London
Yep. Mobile search and messaging are still targets of innovation and…well, hot. Congrats to the winners.
P.S. Anyone else think Harley Davidson when looking at the logo?
by Debi Jones
February 11, 2008 at 10:45 am · Filed under Carnival of Mobilists
Today many of the world’s mobilists are gathering in Barcelona for the conference formerly known as 3GSM, now called Mobile World Congress (MWC). MWC is the biggest mobile industry event annually and could itself be called The Mobilists Carnivale.
What better way to prepare for swimming through a sea of mobile industry press releases than to read some of the best writing on mobility anywhere in the blogosphere, The Carnival of Mobilists. And away we go.
Paul Ruppert, Mobile Point View and Mobile Messaging 2.0, starts off the CoM with a post of anticipation on the upcoming events in Barcelona this week. Paul provides a summary of his take aways from last year’s 3GSM, and his expectations of this year’s conference in Mobile World Congress - Barcelona. Paul lays out a convincing case for what topics to watch for this week and what factors drive the prominence of those topics.
Dennis Bournique, WAP Review, hits another topic which will receive lots of play in big waves of presentations, demos and obligatory operator/carrier promises. How to Define Open Mobile is the foundational treatise of what an “open” network would look like from the perspective of a subscriber/developer. This list of requirements will sound very familiar to Internet companies. As any good twelve-step program must, the 1st step is to admit you have a problem. Dennis points out that more operators and handset companies are using the word “open” in public. Watch for many references coming from their talks at MWC.
Ofir Leitner, Next Generation Mobile Content, delivers the counterpoint to Dennis’ article on openness. So, You Want to Deploy a J2ME App in the US covers the trail from a startup’s view of the options for coming to market.
On-deck or Off-deck: that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the startup to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous marketing budgets,
Or to take aim against a sea of operator’s testing cycles,
Sorry, I couldn’t resist, and my apologies Shakespeare. Anyway, Ofir profiles the 4 top operators in the US and the unique challenges of developing for those networks.
Ajit Joakar, Open Gardens, addresses the issue of how best to deliver video communications over a 3G network. Mobile Multimedia Twitter pulls together rich media with communication immediacy and advocates a technology, IMS and a vendor, Ecrio. Simultaneously building the analogies of Twitter for video and PTT (push-to-talk) video, Ajit contends that network optimization is required for the success of video “communication at the speed of thought.”
Matt Radford, All About iPhone, discusses a topic which will be much discussed at MWC in hallway conversations, if not during the keynotes. A Quiet Launch for the Highest Capacity Music Phone ponders Apple’s low-key announcement of the 16GB iPhone last week. Matt’s reveals important metrics demonstrating the iPhone’s placement against it’s competitors. And where is Apple leading us? Good question.
Ewan Spence, All About Symbian, treats us to a revealing look into MWC’s primary product, the press release. All Those Press Releases from Barcelona provides a humourous peek behind the keyboard into what it’s like to be the recipient of the mobile industries biggest annual marketing event.
Ewan has delivered my favorite post of the week. Both for it’s tongue-in-cheek appraisal of MWC and it’s informative and instructive advice for those with stories to promote, I enjoyed reading All Those Press Releases from Barcelona.
Enjoy your week and swimming through your own sea of announcements, not to mention, all those well stocked parties. Glass held high- enjoy Carnivale!
Next week the CoM will be produced at Vision Mobile. If you would like to submit an article to the CoM, send your link to mobilists AT gmail dot com. Information on hosting the CoM can be found in the CoM FAQs.
by Debi Jones
February 5, 2008 at 7:58 am · Filed under Research, Research Roundup
Research Roundup is a weekly feature from the writers and editors of MM2. Every week MM2 editors and writers will recommend interesting findings from a variety of research sources covering the mobile industry.
From Russ Shaw
Mobile Social Computing Adds Trust To Marketing
A new report from Forrester Research notes that members of “Generation Y” spend as much time on their cell phones as on the Web.
Because of these usage patterns, Forrester analysts Vidya Lakshmipathy and Jaap Favier see promising opportunities for text messaging within existing as well as new, social computing sites. “Most of this time is spent sending and receiving text and picture messages, but with more than half also using social networking sites, the likes of Facebook and MySpace have now launched mobile social computing sites, and new mobile networks like Zingku are popping up,” the analysts write.
From Debi Jones
Birth of a Cell Phone Nation
According to Mediamark Research, US consumers have reached a landmark. There are more cell phone-only households in the US than landline-only households.
From Paul Ruppert
”New” Does Not Mean ”Better” in All Countries
A new global survey of innovation acceptance undertaken by The Institute for Innovation & Information Productivity Innovation–The Innovation Confidence Index–reveals that consumers’ confidence in the ability of more advanced products and services to improve their lives varies greatly around the world and that up to half of consumers in some European continental countries are skeptical of the value of innovation.
From Darla Mack
US Mobile Searchers
Mobile search is gaining strength in the US market, where the Nielsen Company estimates 46.1 million wireless subscribers are using 411 and SMS-based mobile search on their phones in the third quarter of 2007.
From Imran Ali
Metaphors for the Mobile Internet
This paper examines a set of metaphors for describing, understanding and characterising the Mobile Internet. The metaphors are a result of extensive user studies in the US, Hong Kong and Europe in the late 2006 and early 2007. In these studies, we explored the user experience related to the Mobile Internet through in-depth contextual interviews with over 40 users, including a group in the US, which was deprived of their standard Internet PC access for several days. Our analysis of the collected data resulted in six metaphors that can be used as powerful creative tools in designing Mobile Internet applications.
From Ewan Spence
Quarter of Marketeers Use Mobile
The results of Wave Eight survey of marketers, showing that 26 percent said they were currently using mobile, 20 percent said they planned to use it in the next six months and 54 percent said they are not currently using mobile.
by Debi Jones
January 18, 2008 at 3:07 am · Filed under Mobile Research, Mobile messaging 2.0, Research Roundup
The Mobile Research Roundup is a new feature for Mobile Messaging 2.0 (MM2) that will be published every Friday starting today. Mobile has finally crossed the chasm between the mobile industry and everyone else. Ubiquity of mobile devices above and beyond PCs with 3 billion mobile subscriptions versus approximately 1.1 billion PCs offers a market so large that even a small share of the market is attractive enough to activate budgets in the most prominent Internet companies, media organizations and enterprises worldwide.
The shear amount of activity around everything mobile in 2008 makes the task of keeping up near impossible. The Mobile Research Roundup at MM2 will deliver links from each of the MM2 writers to help you locate the interesting, important and insightful research on consumer behavior, market share or up coming technology developments from analyst firms, independent research organizations and academia.
Do let us know if you find The Mobile Research Roundup valuable and as always we are thrilled to hear feedback from our readers on how we can make MM2 better.
From Darla Mack:
Mobilizing the Mobiles: How Text Messaging Can Boost Youth Voter Turnout
From Russell Shaw:
In-Stat notes that the percent of companies using mobile data applications increased from 75% in 2006 to 94% in 2007, while enterprise use of smartphones increased 34% over the same two year period. The report also said that four horizontal applications, including wireless email, wireless Internet access, wireless instant messaging, and personal information management (PIM), have the highest penetration because they are easier to implement than the vertical market applications.
From Paul Ruppert:
Duh! Teens are Super Communicators
From the Pew Internet & American Life Project,the use of social media gains a greater foothold in teen life as they embrace the conversational nature of interactive online media.
From Debi Jones:
How America Searches: Mobile
Example findings:
1. Mobile is a search medium. 75% of those who access the mobile Internet conduct searches on their mobile devices.
2. Dedicated mobile Web sites a must. An overwhelming 84% of mobile searchers expect the sites they visit frequently to have a dedicated mobile version.
by Debi Jones
January 15, 2008 at 5:22 pm · Filed under MMA, Mobile Marketing, Mobile messaging 2.0, News, mobile data statistics, mobile social networking
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today announces its first Mobile Attitude and Usage Study for five key Western European markets. Mobile subscribers from the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain were surveyed to uncover insights into the region’s consumer mobile usage by demographic group.
The expected results found significant SMS use across all age groups with the most active texters in the 13 to 24 year age group. Spain and Italy were reported as the most active geographies for text messaging. The MMA report seems a bit conflicted with itself as it reports that “2 way text messaging is the most important mobile feature across all age groups,” but at the same time reveals that among teens text messaging was second to having a camera. Having camera functionality is the most important mobile feature to teens in Western Europe.
The rising importance of camera functionality as the most important feature for the golden teen demographic is profound. First, it follows the evolution of consumer behavior in Japan and Korea the most active mobile consumers on the planet. And second, the finding has implications for the future of mobile social networks and other applications.
The study also focused on awareness and interest in mobile marketing. The age group with the most exposure and awareness of mobile marketing was the 18 to 34 year olds. In other words, those more likely to have jobs and income of which to dispose. Experience with marketing messages among this age group includes: interactive voting, ads, and product/service information.
Also, notable is that one in ten subscribers are said to be interested in receiving marketing messages on their mobile if those messages are relevant and have benefit to the recipient. Acceptable marketing messages of interest include coupons, status alerts, and special offers.
If the industry is to continue fast following the youth demographic, it’s time to look towards image messaging and MMS. That is: if we find the results from the MMA to be replicated and credible.
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