Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

• Spotify Partners with Swedish ISP for Opt-In Music Service on PC, Mobile, and Television | Wired News
  Sweden's Telia is partnering with Spotify to put the popular free music service on televisions. It was also recently announced that INQ is to build Spotify branded phones.

• New iPhone App Connects Fans to Band & Brand Promotions | Mobile Marketing Watch
  A new iPhone application by Mozes aims to connect music fans to over 15,000 exclusive promotions from their favorite bands, artists, and sports teams.

• Speech-to-Text SMS (Text) Messaging Using Microsoft Tellme on a Samsung Intrepid | mediabistro
  By using Microsot's voice recognition software, Tellme with the Samsung Intrepid, users can get around physically typing a text message.

• REPS: Just Like Wii Fit, Only on the iPhone | Mashable
  REPS is a new app for the iPhone that makes a slick hybrid between the physical interactivity of the Nintendo Wii and the many fitness applications available on Apple's phone.

• Dell plans first U.S. smartphone with AT&T | Reuters
  Dell has plans to add its first mobile phone to the already cut-throat U.S. market. The device is said to run on AT&T and use Google's Android.

• Pill bottle caps to call you via AT&T and remind you to take your medication | Unwired View
  For those who have a tendency to forget taking their pills, AT&T and Vitality Inc. are bringing a new technology that alerts users via call or SMS when a bottle cap is not opened in time.

• Ads On a Plane: (Maybe) Free Wi-Fi Coming to Airlines | Mashable
  With 76% of business travelers picking an airline based on Wi-Fi, it's only natural that companies JiWire and Row 44 collaborate to provide in-flight Wi-Fi advertising.

• WOW: 4.1 Billion SMS Messages Are Sent Daily | Mashable
  The latest semi-annual wireless survey by CTIA presents some shocking numbers: Over 740 billion text messages were sent over in the US during the first half of 2009. That's 4.1 billion SMS messages being sent daily, which is also nearly twice as many as sent during the same time period last year.

• FCC Chair Cites 'Spectrum Crisis' | InformationWeek
  A "looming spectrum crisis" are the words FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski used to describe the anticipated thirty-fold jump in wireless traffic.

• Mobile Advertising Is Shaping Up To Be All Search | Techcrunch
  With the rise of Web phones like the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Palm, mobile advertising promises to be a huge growth area. The Kelsey Group projects that the mobile advertising market will balloon from $160 million in 2008 to $3.1 billion in 2013.

A few weeks ago, I commented on the coining of a new word, “appnoxious.” I noted that Urban Dictionary described this as “the ability of mobile devices to download apps for just about anything, making it impossible to get through a conversation or activity without someone having access to information that corrects, challenges, or supports you.” As additional evidence of the impact of smartphones on our society, one of our recent “News to Us” round-ups included The Wall Street Journal’s post about “Smartphoniacs.” These users were described as being so connected to their smartphones that they are “addicts of the information age.”

While these two recently coined words both refer to a small group of “super users” of apps and smartphones, they are also reflective of a new type of “digital divide” taking shape in the wireless world. Increasingly, mobile phones are falling into the smartphone vs. non-smartphone category (and yes, some include “feature phones” as a category too, but the debate over how best to classify handsets is a post for another day). Recent research by comScore estimated that 30 million Americans, or 13%, own smartphones and 204 million Americans have “non-smartphones.”

The overall percentage may not seem large, but smartphone ownership increased 14% in just three months (and the research was conducted before the launch of the iPhone 3G S and Palm Prē, which surely have increased this figure). As this upward trend is not expected to slow down, I expect these newly coined words to become as outdated as the Motorola StarTAC sitting unused in your drawer somewhere. We’ll probably look back in the not too distant future and chuckle that there ever was such a dichotomy in the handset category — it will be the norm for our phones to be smartly designed, multi-tasking handheld devices. In fact, I would not be surprised if the word “phone” itself becomes a relic of technological innovation, just like the verb “dial” has been falling out of regular use (we “call” or “text” someone more than we “dial” a number).

Traveling back to the present, as the majority of American consumers do not currently own smartphones, it behooves marketers to consider which mobile strategies will best reach their desired customers. Clearly, creating an app may reach the “appnoxious” “smartphoniacs”, but it’s not always the best or only way to engage consumers. Sometimes the smartest way may be one that all users have at their fingertips, such as SMS.

Palm Only Sold 35,000-60,000 Pres Over Launch Weekend, Fraction of iPhone [Business Insider]
Thanks to supply constraints, the Palm Pre did in fact “sell out,” but its numbers are nothing compared to the 1 million iPhone 3Gs that Apple shipped and sold in its first weekend last summer.

“Music Matters” To Asian Youth; Digital Trends Highlighted During Conference [Digital East Asia]
Music is a major part of youth’s cultural identity in Asia, which has major implications for mobile when you consider that more than half of young mobile phone owners in the region use their handsets to listen to music.

Content Creation On Mobiles in Japan [mocoNews]
The Japanese aren't just consuming content on their cellphones, they're creating it using new services for mashing-up videos, social drawing and on-the-go blogging.

When Did You Buy Your Last App? Survey Says It was Over the Weekend [ReadWriteWeb]
Consumers are over 30 percent more likely to download an app over the weekend than during the week, and they’re more likely to pay for the apps then too.

Valentine’s Day was busiest texting day of Q1: VeriSign [Mobile Marketer]
All those I <3 U texts amounted to more than 1 billion SMS and MMS messages last Valentine’s Day.

Apple looks towards digital media sharing during iPhone calls [Apple Insider]
Technology could be coming that will allow iPhone users to attach and transmit media items like music files, video, images, voicemails and podcasts with the person they are currently talking to on the phone.

ScanLife offers 2D bar codes for Twitter, instant-win campaigns [MobileMarketer]
ScanBuy has added two bar code actions: Twitter Code, which automatically posts a custom Tweet to a user’s Twitter account, and Lotto Code, which lets marketers implement instant-win campaigns through cellphones.

Lady Gaga Now Has a TapTap Face [Idolator]
Following the success of Nine Inch Nail's version of Tap Tap Revenge, the makers of the game (Tapulous) struck a deal with Universal Music Group to build new music games for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Lady GaGa’s getting her own version of Tap Tap (the most popular game in the App store) first.

LG: U.S. teens and tweens use more than 2,000 unknown words in their text messages [IntoMobile]
According to LG, teens and tweens are sending more than 1.2 million texts every minute, much of it in txtspk. The study also found that teens ranks their SMS higher in terms of privacy concerns than diaries or emails.

Adidas “Show Your Resolution!” Project [CScout]
Tying in the 2010 World Cup, Adidas is launching a campaign called “Show Your Resolution!” that lets soccer fans send comments or “resolutions” to players. If fans download a free wallpaper from the Adidas branded mobile site, they can actually go to a store and see their resolutions appear and animate on a digital signage display.

Tired of long lines at Disney? Now, there’s an app for that [The Orlando Sentinel]
An Orlando resident developed the “Wait Times” iPhone app to tell you how long the lines are at Magic Kingdom based on user-supplied information.

Oprah Asks “Where the Skype Are You?” [GeekSugar]
Oprah is dedicating today’s episode of her show to the power of Skype. She’ll be showing off the service’s video conferencing and phone capabilities by chatting with Skype’s president Josh Silverman and Skyping into Antarctica, a submarine and even an airplane.

HP Introduces Friendlee – Location-Aware Social Networking for BlackBerry [IntoMobile]
We’ve talked about the address book as the “real social network”, and it seems that’s what HP is trying to take advantage of with Friendlee, a new LBS the company announced at WES 2009. “HP is trying to reimagine the address book so instead of chewing through a list of rarely-used contacts, you’ll be focusing on the few people you talk to on a daily basis,” IntoMobile reports. We wonder about plans to integrate with existing social networks, though, or if it's purely an enterprise play.

Share Where You Are When You Want [WSJ]
Glympse, a new location-based service for mobile, invites users to send friends just a glimpse of their whereabouts via either text or email. These “glimpses” let you control how long someone can track you on a map – from just a few minutes to hours or days.

Major Ad Campaign for Starbucks to Focus on Quality [NY Times]
Starbucks' new campaign challenges people to hunt for its new text-heavy posters on Tuesday and be the first to post a photo of one using Twitter. We think it's safe to say that entrants will be snapping pics with their phones and using Twitpic or a similar mobile upload tool. Given this, there seems to be a lack of a more defined, integrated mobile strategy, one that really takes advantage of this consumer behavior (i.e. using the phone as a connector between the poster and their social network.)

Software Rules, as Phones Become More Than ‘Smart’ [eWeek]
Hardware is fast becoming a commodity in the handset market, with software becoming the meaningful point of differentiation.

App Revenue Is Poised to Surpass Facebook Revenue [AdAge]
It seems that the "Facebook economy", fueled by enterprising app developers, will now be generating more revenue than the platform itself. This has to lead Facebook to wonder about its own monetization strategy. While "engagement" ads were a start, we're curious what's next....

Pandora Aims For Profitability As Mobile App Usage Soars [mocoNews]
These days, Pandora is adding 50,000-60,000 members a day and as much as 40 percent of those users are being driven by the online radio’s iPhone app. These users may finally lead to a profit for the company as Pandora plans to increase the number of audio commercials on its mobile platforms.

New Tool in the MD’s Bag: The Smartphone [Washington Post]
Doctors and med students are increasingly using smartphones to do everything from pulling up instructional diagrams and videos and writing electronic prescriptions to looking up drug interactions and viewing X-rays and MRI scans.

Almost 60 percent of U.S. subscribers now text [FierceMobileContent]
This is up from 54 percent in 2008, according to a new Toluna study. Broken down that is: 94 percent of teens, 87 percent of twentysomethings text, 64 percent their 40s, and 46 percent in their 50s. In terms of SMS volume, the 13-to-19 age group remains the most active, sending more than 500 texts per month on average.

Alcatel Gets Into Mobile Ads [WSJ]
Alcatel-Lucent is launching new technology that identifies cellphone users within a specified distance of an advertiser's nearest outlet and notifies them of the address and phone number. The ad can also include a link to a coupon or other promotion.

Smart Phones Selling Way Better Than Dumb Ones [Digital Daily]
While global mobile handset sales fell fast in the first quarter of 2009, smartphones made out just fine. In fact, their sales rose 12.7 percent to 36 million units.

Hispanics 211% More Likely to Download Digital Content [Marketing Charts]
A new study reveals that Hispanics in the U.S. are heavier users of cellphone features and are more likely to download digital content online.

Swine Flu updates by SMS [Textually]
CellPhones.org has created a service to keep mobile users in the loop about swine flu. Text PIGFLU to 41411 and receive free developing news about the illness, including CDC/WHO updates, information about new outbreaks, and reports from health authorities.

Apple iPhone Owners Favor Personal Uses, Not Business [NY Times]
According to a new survey, Blackberrys are for work, iPhones are for play. Though we'd like to posit that Blackberrys are for production, iPhones are for consumption. Think about it...

The Recession-Proof Value of Hanging Out for Teens [Ypulse]
A new survey has found that teens are spending less during the recession, which means cutting back on clothes, beauty, food, movies, concerts and sporting events in favor of plain old hanging out. That being said, teens are less willing to give up their music, DVDs, video games and video-game systems.

Smart Phone Users Taking Action on Ads [MediaWeek]
Research presented at the OMMA Mobile Conference found that more than a third of high-use smart phone users take action on mobile ads. That means they’re clicking on ads, requesting more information or a coupon and making purchases from their handsets.

1-800-Flowers launches multichannel effort targeting Mother’s Day shoppers [Mobile Marketer]
1-800-Flowers is once again going mobile for Mother’s Day. Consumers are encouraged to text SPOTAMOM to short code 356937 (Flower) to get 20 percent of their Mother’s Day flowers.

MySpace sees 450% growth in mobile users [IntoMobile]
The MySpace Mobile for BlackBerry app racked up more than 400,000 downloads in its first week and the MySpace Mobile iPhone app landing in the “Top 20 All-Time Most Downloaded” category. Meanwhile, MySpace just revealed at a Nokia show that 35% of its traffic now comes from mobile devices, up from 10% in a year. [Mediapost]

Will Google lose out to Twitter on mobile search? [MediaPost]
While Google and other traditional search engines will probably continue to net the majority of queries, panelists at OMMA Mobile discussed alternate means of searching on mobile, such as Twitter, crowdsourcing, Cha Cha, Ardvaark and voice search. These methods could offer more locally relevant results to users on the go.

Did You Ever Think You Could Deposit Checks Using Your Phone? Neither Did I [Gizmodo]
Banish banks from your life altogether now that NCR’s APTRA Passport checking service enables you to deposit your checks through your mobile phone by using your phone’s camera as a scanner and Mitek Systems’ recognition technology to validate the data.

Social Gaming Scores in the Recession [BusinessWeek]
Social gaming is one of the few sectors actually generating revenue right now. Despite the barriers that this article points out, we think a lot can be learned from the model and expect the trend to carry over into social networking and communications as a whole.

FourSquare Prepping To Take Its Game Overseas [TechCrunch]
The next version of the location-based game is in the works and with it will come more cities to play in, including some international ones.

ABI Research: 5.4 billion mobile subscribers in 2013 [IntoMobile]
By the end of 2009, we should see 4.3 billion mobile subscribers, and ABI Research predicts that will grow to nearly 5.4 billion by 2013. You can thank changing distribution models, greater choice in devices, faster networks and the rise of apps for the boom.

Japan, China eye cooperation on mobile services [Reuters]
The two countries are in talks to work together on next-generation cellphone services which would update China’s technology and give Japanese mobile companies access to China’s market.

Chesney Launches Mobile Fan Club with Mozes [MediaBistro]
Country singer Kenny Chesney is running a mobile fan club through Mozes. Fans can text to win seat upgrades and VIP passes to his shows during the tour and other perks down the road.

Interactive SMS Installations [Trendhunter]
SMS is getting artsy with Studio 2roqs “Gravity” installation. The collaborative application turns a building’s architecture into a projection screen and bystanders into contributors. Using technology and physics, people can send SMS messages that are then displayed on the walls and slowly fall down, colliding with each other and objects in their path.

Nokia and Youku Broadcast Live Internet Concert
Chinese Internet video site Youku has partnered with Nokia to broadcast the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Interactive Online Concert on April 19th from Beijing. Nokia gets to engage Chinese youth while Youku shows off its new cooperative model called “Youku Live,” that lets brands amplify the number of people they reach by broadcasting live events on the internet.

OMG! Americans luv 2 txt, sent over 1 Trillion msgs in 2008 [MobileCrunch]
At roughly 13 texts per day per user (spread out, not counting the millions who don’t text), it’s safe to say that texting is now an American pastime – or rather an "allthetime.”

Russia to Allow Parliamentary Voting by Mobile Phone [Cellular-News]
The Russian Parliament holds its elections in 2011 and word on the street is the Central Elections Commission is working on the development of a mobile application to allow secure voting.

How Apple Put Everyone In an App State of Mind [GIGAOM]
Om Malik runs through the success of the iPhone App Store and the reasons behind it as Apple readies the celebratory cannons for its one billionth application download.

MTV College Life [Unigo]
College Life, the newest dramality from MTV, is following the lives of 8 students, who in turn will be filming their own footage (aka "lifestreaming"). Throughout the season, Unigo (the college review website that also gives cameras to students) will post text and video reviews of the show from students across the country on ThePrereq.com.

How Do Brands Get Teens to Share Personal Info? Answer: The Jonas Brothers! [Worldwide Lab at Alcatel-Lucent]
A new survey finds that teens are generally willing to share personal information online as long as there’s something in it for them.

Dell throws their hat in the China Smartphone Mess [Shanghaiist]
If at first you don’t succeed… take your product to China? After failing in the U.S. smartphone market, Dell is in talks with China Mobile to offer a Dell-branded Chinese smartphone by August. With competition like Apple and Lenovo, Dell has its work cut out for it.

N2Y4 Featured Projects [via Shaping Youth]
Check out the 15 projects selected for this year’s N2Y4 Conference that use mobile to enable social changes such as Frontline SMS and iPeace.

iAqua [petitinvention]
An iPhone dock with a twist, the iAqua is complete with a transparent touch screen, speaker and projector. Tilt the phone and watch as photos, songs or movies are projected onto the dish then spill over onto the floor or surface below.

Report: Gen Y Wants TV to Get More Social [Barking Robot]
What happened to vegging out? New research suggests Gen Y doesn’t want to just watch TV, they want to interact with it through social media, like multiplayer gaming, in-program chat and “most watched lists.” (For a thought-leading example, check out MTV's Backchannel, which plugged into The Hills and now Real World Brooklyn.)

Charmin Shows BlackBerry, iPhone Users Where to Go When They Gotta Go [Ad Age Digital]
The toilet paper maker took a cue from our favorite LBS, MizPee, and created a great branded utility called SitorSquat. The wiki (also a WAP site and iPhone app) is a crowd-sourced aggregation of free public restrooms. We've been wondering why Totes doesn't try something like Umbrella Today.

Using Mobile Phones to Monitor Teenagers Mental Health [Cellular-News]
A program for treating youth depression via mobile phone is being testing. Through answered questions on the mobile phone, doctors are able to obtain a report and prescribe a method of treatment.

Indonesia to broadcast general election information via SMS [China View]
Indonesia’s elections are getting a mobile makeover this year with information being distributed via SMS to about 155 million cell phones across the country.

SXSW Recap: What Teens Want In A Website [Ypulse]
SMS and mobile IM basically replace online chat once tweens get a phone. Anastasia points out, "All of this makes sense as teens get older and become more mobile - they want to take their IM/chat with them." Still some use IM for more "intimate" conversations. "It's almost as if chat is the step before you pick up the phone and talk," she writes.

Time Inc Embraces Mobile [MobileContentToday]
Time Inc continues to prove that it’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

Mobiles at school don't harm kids [Tech Radar]
Mobile phones will not harm your academic performance, according to a study from Michigan State. Being said, if you’re playing with Facebook and not listening to the teacher … well, it’s about correlation, not absolutes.

No Recession for iPhone Game Apps [Digits]
While many are cutting back on spending sprees, this doesn’t seem to be problem for game developers on the iPhone. In fact, app maker ngmoco just raised a cool $10 million in funding.

Burger King Studio
Give Burger King credit – fast food and boutique don’t usually get used in the same sentence, but that’s exactly what they’re trying to do with the new Burger King Studio--art house-meets-think tank in Orlando.

Virtuality Jacket Adds Emotional Vibes To Your Movie Experience [Technomix]
Philips is hoping to make movies truly sense-ational (sorry). Their "virtuality jacket" is packed with tiny vibrators that trigger at precise moments during appropriate scenes in a film.

MixTape.me Strikes a Chord With Music Junkies [Epicenter]
Meet MixTape.me, kind of like MuxTape – but legal (for now).

Cool758 is a dual-SIM phone with built-in razor! [IntoMobile]
We can't beat the description on Solomobi: “Oh, No, this is a cell phone. Mobile phone can also be a razor, it is amazed.” Motorola's Razr now seems like a big tease.

Going Mobile for Sakura Season [Wireless Watch Japan]
WeatherNews Japan’s Sakura Simulator tracks where flowers are blooming so you know where to get your picnic on.

The world’s most lucrative social network? China’s Tencent beats $1 billion revenue mark [Venture Beat]
Leaving MySpace in the dust, China’s Tencent raked in more than $1 billion dollars this year. Their secret to the big bucks is “Internet value added services,” such as avatars, dating services, music and more. All of a sudden, simply “friending” seems so boring.

Smart Phones are Edging Out Other Gadgets [WSJ]
The diverse capabilities of smart phones are making other gadgets like MP3 players, GPS devices, and personal cameras obsolete, allowing consumers to shed the excess baggage.