Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

Modern Power Moms Flock to Smartphones [CNET]
Smartphones are quickly finding their way into the hands and purses of "power moms," who are buying them to leverage all kinds of digital applications to stay organized and to connect with their families, friends, and social networks. They're also using these Internet-enabled devices to get things done like paying the bills, ordering groceries, downloading coupons, and hunting for ideas for the next family vacation.

Mobile Advertising More Personal In 2020 [Online Media Daily]
A report by OgilvyOne and Acision speculates that the mobile advertising landscape in 2020 will be user-controlled--people will be choosing what kind of ads and products will be authorized to reach out to them and that those ads will reflect consumer's lifestyles, desires, and needs.

Where Is Wireless Innovation Occurring If Not At The Carrier? [mocoNews]
It can be argues that mobile innovation is not coming from carriers, despite their central role in the market.

Is Apple Shooting For The Cloud? [Technomix]
Apple is building a huge data center in North Carolina, five times bigger than their current one, speculated to manage Apple's cloud computing ambitions.

Make An App That Uses NYC Municipal Data [NY Convergence]
NYC is looking for developers to create mobile apps that leverage the potential of municipal data. The apps will be available to NYC residents and will hopefully cut certain costs for the city.

New Worries About Children With Cellphones [NYTimes]
Parents have to be on top of how their kids are using cellphones and educate them on everything from purchasing via off-deck services to texting at the dinner table.

Radio, Cell Phones to Help US in Afghanistan? [Press TV]
The State Department is creating a special unit in Afghanistan to use mobile and radio to fight the information war with the Taliban.

Downloads From All App Stores Will Reach 6.67 Billion in 2014 [IntoMobile]
A statistical projection by Frost & Sullivan estimates that total downloads from all app stores (Apple, Windows, Android, Palm, and Symbian) will reach 6.67 billion by the year 2014.

50 Inch Mobile Screens Coming Soon [Mobile Industry Review]
Pico projector technology will (soon?) be integrated into mobile phones, making screen size limitations obsolete.

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, including:

• Coca-Cola Videogoals
  Launched in Spain, this mobile campaign allowed users to follow the action of their favorite soccer teams. When a goal was scored, a 3D animated MMS of that goal was sent to all users following that particular team. People registered for their favorite team on the dedicated Coca-Cola portal and then received MMS in almost real time and totally free of charge.

• Your Moment of Fame
  This campaign, sponsored by Sony Ericsson and implemented by Mediaedge and BHI Comunicacion, allowed residents of Madrid to send picture messages to designated stands throughout the city. Users sent a picture of themselves or their friends and family, and it appeared on the billboards inside the screen of a SE W880i. At the reserved times, all the ad stands changed to feature the user’s photo, turning anyone who participated into an instant celebrity.

• Half-Priced Mini
  Customers in the market for a Mini-Cooper were able to customize their dream car on their mobile device for the chance to win it for half the price. Those who entered but did not win were still allowed to use the car for the entire weekend at no cost.

When looking for some inspiration, it's always fun to look at Japan, where 102 million people have mobile phones and 4 out of every 5 mobile users are on a 3G network. According to Kei Shimada, founder and CEO of Infinita, about one-third of mobile users are also on “all-you-can-eat” plans, opening up the possibility for usage based applications and realistic lifestyle functionality. In Japan, mobile is the focal point of a significant portion of day-to-day activity including job searches, weather and news information, concierge capabilities, transactions with vendors (i.e. mobile wallets) and 3D navigation that’s so advanced it can even tell users which route will offer the most overhead coverage in the rain.

No two countries are alike, of course, and so a deep understanding of the target market is absolutely essential. And due to the constantly evolving nature of the mobile platform, building a successful mobile strategy and presence requires an understanding of what is now, what might be tomorrow, and how users shift their mobile habits to their connected lifestyles. Finding that balance will continue to be the most effective way to innovate in the mobile landscape in 2009.

-Andrea Duchon

This week was chock full o' interesting finds, and our staff shares all the details...

Michael

Crimemapping.com
More than 800 police departments have contracted with Internet-based crime-mapping services. The services take live feeds from police record-keeping systems and automatically post to the site (others are crimereports.com and everyblock.com).

Look up your home address with each site, as some are more focused on certain geographic areas. I entered my neighborhood in Manhattan and according to crimemapping.com there has been only one crime committed in the past week: Assault. Now I know for a fact that I’ve been booked for robbing at least 3-4 old ladies in that time...

Then I looked at the area where I grew up (Oakland, CA) and that was more of a reality. I’m sure officers, in choosing to utilize these services, deal with balancing a dialogue with the community and keeping sanity and peace at the same time. You can sign up for email alerts, but it is missing an SMS-alert or even an MMS-alert with fugitive pics.

Jeremy

Phish Fan Live-Streams Concert via iPhone
Jam band super-group Phish recently reunited for the first time since 2004, and fans have taken an interesting approach to documenting the new round of live shows. Not content to merely audio record the show or send twitter updates to followers, some fans have gone so far as to “live stream” the concerts using their mobile devices, sending live video feeds to viewers on the web. Using Ustream, a free live streaming service, close to 3,500 fans sent a live broadcast of show to those watching at home using their iPhones. Though this sort of live event streaming has been done before by the concert organizations and companies, this marks a new stage in the growing trend of “livestreaming,” bringing it to a highly personal level. Now if only we could find a better band than Phish to record…

Allison

almost.at
Tapping into the massive amounts of UGC content about specific events (like videos of a Phish show), this site aggregates what people are saying and showing online about an IRL occasion. It pulls in feeds from Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, bit.ly, Tiny URL and TwitPic, which you can view as its posted in real time on a Tweet Deck-style dashboard. And it isn't just tech conferences and tweetups--while the homepage features the JavaOne Conference and the NYC Digg Meeetup, it also shows Tiananmen Square, Obama's Speech in Cairo and National Doughnut Day.

The event space is already suffering, and I can't help but thing that it's not just the recession, but platforms like this that enable us to attend virtually without paying the price of admission--or even getting dressed.

Chris

Swoopo.com
Swoopo is an online auction site that crosses over ecommerce into entertainment. Its unique auction format makes for a fun way to shop and to score major deals. They mainly sell electronics but will from time to time have different items like cars or a bar of gold.

Here’s how it works: users buy bids in advance at $0.75 a pop. Bidding is as simple as clicking the button. Each bid increases the price of the item by $0.15 and adds 20 seconds to the countdown. Once the countdown hits 0, the person who bid last wins.

So the company makes money on the bid price as well as on each bid placed. And you get to buy cool stuff at well below msrp….if you have the stamina to outlast your fellow bidders.

Laura

Digg Ads
Like others of its highly-trafficked ilk, social bookmarking hub Digg has long tried to turn clicks into dollars. After dabbling in the usual solutions, namely Microsoft ads and Google Adsense, they’ve now taken matters into their own hands. This week marked the launch of Digg Ads which, interestingly enough, adhere to Digg’s social “survival of the fittest” mantra. Users can approve or “digg” ads of their liking just like articles, raising their visibility. However, the benefit of this model to marketers transcends digital love: It dictates their bottom line as well. In this so-called “social advertising platform” ad rates will correspond to ad popularity. In other words, ads that resonate with users will save marketers money. Time will tell whether this model succeeds and Digg admits that it’s a work in progress, but I think they are on to something here. Seems like when brands are incentivized to create compelling content, everybody wins.

Reming

Cryptic Canvas
Huge movie fan? Prove it! To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Empire Magazine is presenting “The Cryptic Canvas” an Breughel-like online painting that has 50 great films within the last 20 years hidden within the picture. After providing your email address, your task is to find and correctly identify them. Helpful hint: Don’t try this at work! It will take up your whole afternoon!

Andrea D.

6500+cool facts
Are you amazed by people who dominate at trivia, have an interesting tidbit to add to every conversation or seem to pull random facts out of thin air? Want to become one of them? There’s an app for that. 6500+cool facts is an iPhone fact generator that displays a new piece of uncommon information with a quick shake or slide across the screen. The best part? Your new found knowledge base will set you back a recession-friendly zero pesos. By the way, did you know that they sell toupees for dogs in Tokyo?

Samantha

LG GD910
For the ultimate in geek accessorizing, LG will be releasing its GD910 next month. Finally, you can do your video calling through your watch (I mean, who checks the time on those things anyway?). Even Inspector Gadget would be jealous. Unfortunately, Americans will be missing out on the wrist action, but techies in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Latin America will all have the chance to wear their video calls soon enough. That is, if they’re willing to fork over what will likely be a very exorbitant amount of money.

David

Chinese Company Shows Windows XP Phone
With all the buzz about smartphones becoming desktop replacements, a developer in China has come up with a mobile, actually more of a pocket-sized computer, that runs on Windows XP. Technology of China just presented what it calls the ‘world’s first Windows XP phone’ at the Computex exhibition in Taipei this past week. The phone features a 4.8 inch touchscreen LCD display, a sliding QWERTY keypad and a 120 GB hard drive, and runs completely on the Windows XP desktop OS. The phone will go on sale in China in three months and will be compatible with China’s proprietary TD-SCDMA 3G mobile standard. Now it seems we can have Windows XP Blue Screen of Death experience on mobile too!

Andrea F.

Oprah: Tech’s Latest Trendsetter
Because if Oprah says it’s good you know it has to be…

Handsets
BlackBerry Storm
The BlackBerry Storm - first touchscreen from the business-first folks at BlackBerry - will be available this fall exclusively through Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodafone in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. This, plus the long-awaited arrival of the first Android handset, shows that the iPhone may finally have some competition and that the era of the touchscreen is officially upon us.

Trends and Research
Study: 93 Percent of Americans Want Companies to Have Presence on Social Media Sites [ReadWriteWeb]
93 percent of Americans believe that businesses should be present in social media and 85 percent believe that they should be interacting with consumers – according to the 2008 Cone “Business in Social Media” study. It's a short step to mobile from here, folks.

Hispanic Teens Increasingly Important Wireless Consumers, According to MultiMedia Intelligence [MarketWatch]
The growth of mobile phone use among Hispanic teens will be 2-3 times that of the overall U.S.-teen market in the next five years - according to MultiMedia Intelligence in their recent report on the current state and future of mobile phone use among this demographic.

Religion
Church encourages texting during sermons [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
Confused about how to engage children who feel worship services are too old fashioned? In O’Fallon, Missouri, the Morning Star Church encourages teens to text their questions during church to a moderator who then sends relevant material to the Reverend’s laptop for incorporation into his sermon.

User-generated Content
Xtranormal Launches Text-to-Movie Making
Like Animasher before it, Xtranormal is all about making your own movies. Unlike Animasher, you can add dialogue, control character expresssion, movement - even change accent! No giant, floating Oscar Wilde though ... will the literary mavens stand for it?

Asia
A Day in The Life of a Mobile Phone in Seoul [m-trends]
Everyone knows South Korea's phone culture makes the rest of us look like little leaguers at the All-Star game. Well, this probably won't change your opinion, but it is neat to take another glimpse at the future before it comes down the pipeline.

Trend: M-commerce Booming in China [CScout]
Mobile monetary transactions have a big future in China. With the world's largest number of mobile subscribers, China is already off to a headstart in developing this infrastructure. However, mobile has yet to completely infiltrate all rural areas of the country, so it will be awhile before billfolds are thrown by the wayside completely.

AllVoices, Formerly Masala, Launches New User-Gen News Service [MocoNews]
AllVoices joins GroundReport, NowPublic, and Newsvine (among many others) in the growing citizen journalism category.

Lost In Translation: Japanese Market Not Sold On iPhone Cool Factor [MocoNews]
Japan has enough cutting-edge mobile, they don't need no stinkin' iPhone.

The case for a mobile loyalty program [Mobile Marketer]
Mobile couponing programs, like the new one from IKEA, work best in hard economic times like these. How about some gas coupons???

Texting4Health: Mobile’s role in healthcare [Mobile Marketer]
Mobile technology has many possibilities in healthcare--test result reporting, medication reminders, support groups, disease awareness/information--which are being embraced by the industry.

Twitter took off from simple to 'tweet' success[USA Today]
From Blip.tv to Jet Blue, companies are finding Twitter to be a valuable customer service and market research tool. (Jet Blue once tweeted to me that they had almonds (not peanuts) and delicious cookies.)
Related: Twitter ‘Bigger In UK Than US’, White Van Man Taking It Mainstream? [mocoNews]

iLike Offers Free Full Track Streaming and Announces New Ad Platform [Mashable]
Music discovery tool iLike has teamed up with Rhapsody to offer full tracks to users, with a 25-a-month limit.

How hot are social networking sites on mobile phones? [FierceWireless]
Nearly a quarter of internet users check SNS on their mobiles, leaving researchers undecided on whether that means mobile SNS is hot or not.

Japan’s Mixi: A Social Network As A Purely Local Phenomenon [Tech Crunch]
Mixi rules the Japanese social netoworking scene, but what makes it a success there -- exclusive membership, anonymity, no-frills design--might not fly in other regions.

Greystripe Monetizing iPhone Games With Ad Platform [Tech Crunch]
Greystripe’s new revenue share model will reward iPhone developers every time their game is played, giving them 100% of ad revenue until it reaches $10,000.

iPhone's Location-Aware Apps [O’Reilly Radar]
Roundup and review of iPhone LBS Apps by Where, UrbanSpoon and Yelp!

Apricado: Selling Your Music Has Never Been This Easy [TechCrunch]
Like Amie Street, Apricado’s “upload and sell” model makes it easy for artists to sell their music online. The only problem: It makes it just as easy for that kid down the street with a library full of Counting Crows to pretend he’s Adam Duritz.