Say hello to our little new category, "ReBlog of the Week". Every Thursday, Next Great Thing will choose a smart, insightful, and relevant blog post to be featured on our site. This week it is Clive Thompson's piece in Wired, "Future of the Web: Location, Location, Location" that caught our attention.
When Sam Altman visits New York, he's never alone for very long. Altman is the 24-year-old CEO of Loopt, a company that makes a "location-aware" app for mobile phones that tracks where all of your friends are and what they're doing.
"I'll pull it out on the ride in from the [...]
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In this economy, it’s important to stick to what’s been proven while still thinking outside of traditional ROI models.
This is why its often a useful exercise to look at new technologies and techniques in action abroad -- to see what worked, what didn't, and what might translate overseas. The “International Innovation in Mobile” session at the Mobile Marketing Forum earlier this month attempted to do just this, highlighting emerging ideas and trends abroad.
Panelists Harald Neidhardt, CEO and co-founder of Smaato, Federico Pisani Massamormile, CEO of Hanzo and Alberto Benbunan of Mobile Dreams Factory spoke about campaigns happeningaround the world, [...]
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Mobile Phones Beat PCs for Young Women [Marketing Vox]
SRG released a survey about the mobile usage of girls between the age of 12-24. Some key stats include: 80% own a wireless device, 70% watch TV on it, and 74% have taken a picture with it in the last month.
Is a Mobile App Right for Every Brand? [Mobile Marketer]
Just because it is popular, doesn't mean it makes sense for every brand to have an app. This article makes the point that an app store is like any other product/image distribution channel--if your consumers are not using it, why would you? We [...]
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A prepaid mobile phone is only useful if you’ve got enough airtime to use it, particularly here in the U.S. where subscribers are charged for making and receiving calls. But for the rest of the world, subscribers aren’t charged for calls and texts that they receive, although running out of prepaid airtime is still a problem. For South Africa and its millions of pay-as-you-go users however, this isn’t an issue. If they have no airtime and would still like to contact a friend or a colleague, all they have to do is to send a free ‘Please Call Me’ message [...]
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Tristan
ThisMoment
What if Twitter and Facebook had a baby? The resulting child would be thismoment. Launched on Monday, the site offers users the possibility to create profiles centered-around what is happening to them now, in this moment. The interface is very sleek, and offers youtube, flickr, and facebook uploading amongst others. The site is obviously mobile friendly and you can just upload a pic by emailing it or using the dedicated iPhone app. With the sales of the iPhone 3G S through the roof, recent related data on Youtube usage, I am betting that thismoment is going to be huge [...]
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1M iPhone 3G S units sold, user-gen video boom coming? [Fierce]
Now that the iPhone 3G S is selling, users are adapting to its new video feature. If previous iPhone trends are any indication, this new feature promises to see iPhone generated videos invade the net. Data from Youtube shows that this might actually be the next great thing.
Asian Youth 2009 - Facts & Stats Slideshow [threebillion]
Compiled by Ian Stewart, this slideshow has some interesting comparative stats of Asia and the US. It covers social networks, and mobile use.
More Marketers Connect with Consumers through Mobile Apps [USAToday]
Apps are fast becoming [...]
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There are many factors that influence purchasing choices such as brand, time, emotional state, categories of options, and memories. But having too much information at our fingertips may not be the best option for encouraging consumers to engage with a brand or buy.
In his research, Dr. Barry Schwartz calls this the “Paradox of Choice.” He has found that having too many choices can be paralyzing and can lead making no choice at all. When a purchase was finally made among the many options to choose from, feelings of dissatisfaction often followed. Similar to buyer’s remorse.
In a recent study [...]
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For many young people, the mobile phone is a status symbol and an extension of identity. For aspirational young kids and tweens, this is no different. For them, getting a phone is a rite of passage, and the age at which this happens is getting younger and younger. According to Nielsen Mobile, the average age a kid starts using a borrowed cell phone is 8.6, and they typically get their own at 10.1.
However, most handset manufacturers don't cater this this market -- only recently shifting their adult-centric view. Parents may also be relutant to pass back their new iPhone (though [...]
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Music is a passion point for youth all over the world, and Asia is no exception. According to a Synovate survey presented during the 2009 Music Matters Asia Pacific Music Forum, 68% of Asian youth say music is a very important part of their lives, and mobile phones are one of the leading devices they use to listen to it. Mobile companies is Asia are getting wise to this youth behavior and developing new ways of integrating music usage into the device.
Just days after our last post on Nokia’s “comes with music” service, Singtel launched a new service called AMPed, [...]
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In an earlier post, we explained what exactly augmented reality is and how it works. Now, we'll look at some applications of the technology--both real and theoretical--and implications for the future of mobile.
From AT&T to MIT, Augmented Reality is being used in a applied in a number of ways:
Microsoft’s Surface technology was first employed by AT&T stores to serve up virtual data about phones when they were placed on the surface of the table.
GE's Smart Grid Augmented Reality is an example of digital hologram technology using Flash. Print off a sheet from the website and hold it up to a [...]
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