Posts filed under 'Mobile'
By Molly Galler
Today is the first day of the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, TX. From all corners of the earth musicians, film makers and techies join forces for a week of round the clock events and celebrations.
This year, taking center stage on the tech side are GPS based social networks. If you are an active Twitter user, you have seen these updates in your feed. Perhaps a friend has announced they’ve become the mayor of Starbucks thanks to Foursquare. These social networks are becoming more popular and their hope is to become widely adopted by the end of this week.
Caroline Waxler wrote a piece today for Fortune magazine’s Brainstorm Tech blog in which she explains that two heavy hitters in the location-tagging social network space, Foursquare and Austin based hometown hero Gowalla, are viewing South by Southwest as the perfect venue to show their network’s superiority. On the head-to-head match up she writes:
“This is so closely watched at South by Southwest not because people feel like they’re witnessing magic but more for two reasons: One, everyone loves a good rivalry and two, South By Southwest attendees by definition love to geek out. (It’s affectionately known as “spring break for nerds.”) And, what better way to do that than to compete over who is the top visitor to the various venues associated with it? Foursquare is even giving out temporary tattoos to commemorate those achievements.”
Why all the fuss over this one conference? Jenna Wortham of the New York Times wrote on today’s Bits blog:
“For start-up hopefuls, capturing the fancy of the attendees is almost as important as checking out the panels and parties. The high concentration of tech savants supplies a rare opportunity for companies to woo the eyes and clicks of early adopters and influential Twitter users and bloggers capable of elevating their sites and services out of obscurity.”
SXSW runs today through Sunday March 21st and in that time frame Foursquare and Gowalla hope that the heavy hitters in tech will not only adopt their social networks into their daily lives, but spread the word to the masses. One location at a time.
March 12th, 2010
By Molly Galler
Back in October 2008, I wrote a post about charitable organizations embracing donations via text message to help meet their end of year fundraising goals. This week the island nation of Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake and two high profile charities, the Red Cross and Yele (founded by Haitian musician Wyclef Jean), urged those wishing to send aid to make a donation not via check, email, or even online donations, instead they asked for one simple item – a text message.
By text messaging a special code to the Red Cross or Yele you could make a donation to relief efforts in Haiti with the push of just a few keys on your phone. Last week I wrote about some of the exciting mobile technologies unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and its clear that the mobile trend is not just for tech, it has spread to non-profit.
The Red Cross text message donations are being managed by a company called mGive. mGive’s chief executive, Tony Aiello, told Jenna Wortham of the New York Times, “Catastrophic fund-raising is different from the everyday fund-raising that we help facilitate. This is a huge tragedy, and we simply hope to help provide relief. . . Mobile giving is currently outpacing the early days of online giving.”
How popular is the donation method exactly?
In an interview with MSNBC’s Suzanne Choney, Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless said, “All mobile texters in the United States have contributed $4 million to the Red Cross Haiti earthquake relief effort, the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history — by far.”
Nelson went on to say, “Previous donating-via-text message efforts raised $400,000 after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and $200,000 after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami by all wireless customers in the U.S.”
And it doesn’t end there. To get out the word about donating via text, concerned individuals posted the text message codes on a plethora of social networks, making the plea viral.
Jennifer Van Grove of Mashable wrote a post today praising the Red Cross’ decision to use mobile and social media to raise awareness and more importantly, to raise funds. Van Grove said, “The Red Cross’s involvement in the relief effort is to be commended. Not only did it immediately set up the simplest donation method possible, but its social media presence and outreach, when combined with the State Department’s involvement, has turned this into a viral funding initiative, topping Twitter trends and inspiring action.”
This week it has become clear the most effective method of raising funds is to reach people where they are: on their phones and on social networks. When launching a fundraising campaign, in the wake of a crisis or otherwise, fundraisers should consider that their staring point is in fact mobile.
January 14th, 2010
By Molly Galler
This week is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and each morning we’ve been inundated with updates on the newest unveilings from the electronics giants.
Today’s news seems to be focused on the internet going mobile. I am not talking about on your laptop or on your smart phone; I am talking, actually on the move. In your car.
Yes, that’s correct Ford has announced it will soon make an internet dashboard that will become a standard feature in all of its vehicles.
In today’s New York Times article titled “Despite Risks, Internet Creeps Onto Car Dashboards,” Ashlee Vance and Matt Ritchell give all the details of the new system:
“A complex new dashboard console from Ford, which it plans to unveil Thursday, brings the car firmly into the land of electronic gadgets. The 4.2-inch color screen to the left of the speedometer displays information about the car, like the fuel level, while a companion screen on the right shows things like the name of a cellphone caller or the title of the digital song file being played. An eight-inch touch screen tops the central console, displaying things like control panels and, when the car is not moving, Web pages. The system has Wi-Fi capability, two U.S.B. ports and a place to plug in a keyboard — in short, many of the features of a standard PC. The automakers’ efforts are backed by companies that make chips for PCs and that want to see their processors slotted into the 70 million cars sold worldwide each year.”
In addition to the new dashboard USA Today is reporting that Ford is also commissioning tech companies to create apps for this new system, one of which will read your tweets from Twitter out loud while you drive.
Obviously the concern here is safety. What does Ford have to say for itself? Jim Buczkowski, the director of global electrical and electronics systems engineering at Ford said, “We are trying to make that driving experience one that is very engaging.”
While in general, the concern here is that distracted drivers make for unsafe driving conditions for all, from a PR and marketing perspective, this also changes the game.
Currently, tradition media, both print and broadcast, is struggling to hold onto it’s advertisers who are opting for the higher traffic online and mobile outlets. Without advertising it is impossible from some of these traditional outlets to stay afloat. Brining mobile off of laptops and smart phones and into people’s cars give those advertisers one more reason to choose to advertise with online and mobile, as opposed to with traditional print or broadcast media which could be the final nail in the coffin for some of these struggling outlets.
Is Ford driving away with the future of traditional media?
January 7th, 2010
By racetalk
Today we’re happy to be announcing a new Friday, guest post feature. Our inaugural guest post was contributed by RaceTalk-reader Tara Miller, who writes about online management degree’s. She welcomes your feedback here and at TaraMillerr00 at yahoo.com. If you’re interested in writing a guest post for RaceTalk please contact us at racetalk at racepointgroup.com.
Even if you do most of your business in the office, having a way to get connected with important information and better monitor your success is extremely useful. These mobile applications can help marketers of all kinds keep in touch, survey consumers, remember important tasks and much more.
- Urbanspoon: If you need great place to take out potential clients, buyers or investors, then use this handy app to find something that suits the needs of all the suits in the room.
- Salesforce Mobile: This CRM tool allows users to keep client and prospect information on hand. Update your records while you’re stuck in another endless wait on the tarmac at La Guardia.
- iTalk: Make taking notes easy with this app that will also help you avoid carpal tunnel. Simply say it aloud and save it to your phone.
- Surveyor: If you need to get in touch with and survey your target market, this portable application can make the whole process a little less painful.
- Stay in Touch: Easily manage all of your business information with this helpful CRM tool.
- Analytics Pro: With this app you can keep tabs on the performance of your websites or blog no matter where you are. Its functionality links you up with your Google Analytics account.
- Keynote Remote: Mac users can take advantage of this budget app that turns your iPhone into a remote control, which can be used to go through a Keynote presentation – while taking advantage of the local wi-fi connection.
- Remember the Milk: If you need a little help remembering the stuff you need to get done outside of work then try out the mobile version of this app. You’ll be able to keep track of mundane tasks like picking up the milk, as well as personal emails that need responses.
- Scribble: Here you’ll find an app that will let you jot down ideas and share your designs with others, whether in person or through an email. Simply draw on the screen of your iPhone, which becomes a bit like a whiteboard. If you want to erase – give it a little shake.
- Creative Whack Pack: If you’re experiencing a creative block, break out this application filled with exercises designed to stimulate the right side of your brain.
July 31st, 2009
By Kyle Austin
CNNMoney.com, the joint online business effort of CNN, Fortune and Money magazines has become the latest business news outlet to launch an iPhone application. It joins the New York Times, the AP, Reuters,Bloomberg and others who currently offer applications for iPhone users.
Canadian-based Polar Mobile, who has designed previous mobile applications for Rogers Publishing Limited and TheStreet.com, was behind the launch of CNNMoney Mobile. In addition to the iPhone application, the mobile initiative also includes future service plans for BlackBerry users.
The free iPhone application features breaking news alerts, top headlines, near real-time market and stock data and video. It also allows users to personalize content including news sections and a stock watch list.
Given CNNMoney’s focus and demographic, it’s somewhat strange that users (like myself) on the de-facto mobile business device (i.e. the BlackBerry) will have to wait longer than iPhone users for a mobile app. However, they’re obviously going for early adopters and attempting to strike while the iron is hot around iPhone apps. BlackBerry apps and the BlackBerry App World are still in their infancy. But why free? Didn’t they learn anything from USA Today? Or read Malcolm Gladwell’s review of Free?
Look at what the Journal is doing with some specialized, paid content on WSJ.com. Users will pay for exclusive news, especially business and stock news. That applies to the mobile content as well. It’s something I noted in responding to a survey that Fortune’s Andy Sewer, Stephanie Mehta and David Kirkpatrick are currently undertaking for the upcoming Brainstorm: Tech conference. I hope this app doesn’t curtail a future Fortune mobile app. There is a better revenue strategy to be put into play by publishers getting into the mobile app space.
July 8th, 2009
By Ben Haber
The AIM app is now new, and it’s actually been available for some time now. However, the iPhone now allows you to “push” AIM messages, making them almost identical to receiving a text message – the first step in what could be major changes to text messaging.
Silicon Alley Insider has more:
AOL’s new AIM app for the iPhone — available now in free, ad-supported, and $2.99, no-ad flavors — is the start. It’s the first major IM app for the iPhone’s new 3.0 software that includes push notifications.
What does that mean? It means that when you receive an IM, no matter what you’re doing, the iPhone pops up an alert message and a cue to open the AIM app to reply. Just the way text messages show up on the iPhone.
So what are the possible outcomes from this?
1. If people begin using AIM or other apps to communicate via text, it will create a much less expensive way to talk and force phone carriers to change the way they charge for text messaging.
2. Companies that market via text message could turn to IM instead. It would create a much less expensive way to communicate and spread the world about new offers, discounts and news. It also would allow them to post information through some type of “away message” to share information with consumers 24/7 without bombarding them with text messages.
Image: www.techau.tv
June 23rd, 2009
By racetalk
Image courtesy of Handmark.com
Our colleague RJ Bardsley (@rjbardsley), is live at CTIA this week. Here’s his report from day 2 in Las Vegas.
So it’s Day Two at America’s Most Influential Mobile Show….
…And there is still a ton of cool stuff to take in and take on. My day started shortly after the keynote sitting down for coffee with some of the folks over at Handmark. They’ve had a ton of cool news out lately and at this show they brought the curtain up on some great mobile apps for partners like the Associated Press. Handmark does a number of things, but they’re also the great grand daddy of mobile app stores – they started way back in 2000 when most phones still had cords and the iPod was only a music player that sat gazing longingly across your desk at the cell phone (which was probably the size of a small loaf of bread).
Anyway, my next stop was at a pretty unlikely booth. If you’re a mobile junkie like me, you probably walk right by a lot of those conference booths with all the phone covers and rubber protectors. I mean, really – we’re interested in all the cool apps and gee-wiz electronics on the mobile, not the pocket protector you wrap it in. It’s all about the hi-def video recorder and the new Shape Writer app that revolutionizes the way I enter data into my phone – right? Not so fast. Incipio has some of the coolest iPhone accesories I’ve ever seen. The thing that struck me first and most about this company was that it’s phone covers and hard drive socks looked more like something you might see on project runway or in a museum. There was the cool super hero line, the artistic Japanese wood block line, the executive but stylish line. Before I knew it I was snapping photos like the paparazzi at fashion week. I got the chance to chat with Kari Nishimura, one of the lead designers for Incipio and she explained a little bit about what inspires her and how she knows what will sell. “I was a studio art major in college, but my first love was illustration. A lot of the designs here are stuff that I love to draw…I watch what’s happening in music and pop culture…and I have a good idea of what will sell because I’m pretty close to the demographic we’re targetting.” For more on Kari and Incipio check out their Website.
My last significant stop for the day was with a company called E7. Check this out: E7 wants to reduce waste in the cell phone ecosystem by refurbishing your old phone and sending it back to you so you can use it again. In general this is a very cool idea – except personally, I usually switch phones because I’m lured by the latest shiny gadgets and software. E7 refurbs the battery, the GPS radio, and all the plastic and chrome parts. And, they do all the work in Atlanta, so they’re conforming with the buy American part of the stimulus plan.
Well, that’s it from CTIA for now. Catch you guys next at the iHollywood Forum’s Mobile Entertainment Summit on April 22.
April 3rd, 2009
By racetalk
INQ Mobile INQ1, currently for sale in the U.K. and Australia, it should arrive in the U.S. later this year.
Courtesy INQ Mobile
Our colleague RJ Bardsley (@rjbardsley), is live at CTIA this week. Here’s his report from day 1 in Las Vegas.
OK – so I don’t want to jinx anything, but the recession didn’t seem to stop the crowds coming out to North America’s premier mobile event. I had the pleasure of walking the floor for a little while with ARM Holdings’ James Bruce, so I was able to get the ARM (a Racepoint client) perspective on quite a lot of cool new things in mobile. While I can’t offer too many details, I will say that Qualcomm has a KILLER netbook that was just about the hottest thing I’ve seen in a while. But Qualcomm wasn’t the only happening company at CTIA; there was cool and exciting news from almost every corner of the mobile ecosystem. Some of the things I found especially compelling include:
- The Qualcomm partner pavilion was chock-a-block full of cool stuff. Xandros was there talking about their new Xandros PrestoTM, a full-featured ‘instant on’ solution to power up laptops within seconds.
- Another hot up and coming company in the Qualcomm booth was iNQ, a spin off of Hutchinson that is offering a social networking mobile phone that is really quite amazing. Not only does it offer users a fully integrated experience – as in all of your social networks from Facebook to Skype integrated into a single, easy-to-use interface – it also lets you keep open several applications at once. Want one as badly as I do? Too bad, you’ll have to wait – no us carrier for now…
- The PR folks over at HTC let me play with a couple new handsets. Besides being incredibly sexy (the phones, not the PR folks) HTC phones also debuted the concept of your Inner Circle. The way it works is that you can set your phone to only deliver email and messages from a select group of people for a set amount of time. So, if you’re at a tradeshow and you don’t want to be bombarded with emails from everyone, you can set your new HTC Magic to only let through emails from your boss, your clients, and maybe your mom.
- Big props to Jessica Myers at the Garmin booth for spending time with me to explain the two new-ish Garmin phones, the G60, which bowed last year, and the M20 which launched this year at MWC. The phones are totally built around location, so basically you can find anything or anybody at anytime – want to go to your friend’s house for dinner? Look up his/her contact info in your phone book and presto, the Garmin phones plot out a turn-by-turn route to your friend’s house. Want to talk and get turn-by-turn directions? No problem, just put the phone in it’s dock and you can talk and go with no interruption. Check out Garmin’s phones here.
More to come here later today, and throughout the day over on my Twitter account.
April 2nd, 2009
By racetalk
Despite the recent follies of the bankers, business remains business and technology marches onwards. And at this years Mobile World Congress the mobile industry is putting the user front and centre in every effort to differentiate one from another.
Smaller. Lighter. Brighter. Faster. Easier. And most of all, as user-friendly as can be.
This colourful image is a bank of Samsung Omnia’s demonstrating their bright OLED screens. I’d like to show you one of their new devices but photography was not permitted. What a crazy decision. This is a SHOW. There are many journalists and bloggers here and Samsung tells us photography is not allowed… it can only make anyone think that the Samsung team has no idea about social media marketing!
I spotted a marketing innovation from Qualcomm Mediaflo… a technology to stream data to mobile devices predominantly for video applications such as real-time TV. Rather than interrupt viewing with the same adverts for all viewers, one of their latest innovations allows a different set of adverts to be delivered based on rudimentary user segmentation.
For example, their demo differentiated between a fictitious male and female viewer. Here’s a pic I took of an ad running for Red Bull that played on the phone for the ‘male customer’ but not for the ‘female’…
For consumers demanding a higher quality entertainment experience from their mobile devices, LG was delighted to launch the first mobile, the LG Arena, with Dolby Mobile for an all-round superior sound experience.
The picture of the phone below portrays another interesting feature of the phone, cube navigation. This 3D approach is designed to free the user from menu tree hell… can’t comment on how well it achieves this objective however as you’d need to use it in anger.
Giving the consumer easy, always-on, low cost access to the Web is a hot trend, and the blurring of what’s a phone and what’s mobile computing continues. The rapidity with which this trend develops will have ramifications for your marketing mix. These are great first devices for anyone new to the mobile Web, but also serve as a light weight second machine for the more technophilic. They are designed to be low power, typically running for considerably longer between battery recharges.
I’ll leave you with images of three such devices.
The first is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon based on ARM’s Cortex processor (rather than a power hungry Intel… disclosure, ARM is a client). It is shown here in a netbook device running Ubuntu.
The second is a similar device from Texas Instruments, this time using their OMAP chip based on ARM Cortex and running Ubuntu.
And lastly, for those of you who really value mobility, the LG watch cum phone cum music player cum PDA with full touch screen capability a la iPhone could make your Christmas list in 2009.
February 17th, 2009
By Kyle Austin
iPhone applications are great, but most marketers will wait until there is a significant audience (Carling Application Image – Courtesy of Gizmodo)
By RJ Bardsley and Derek Brookmeyer
RaceTalk got the chance to sit down with Mobile Marketer editor Mickey Alam Khan last week to talk about everything that’s happening in the brave new world of mobile marketing. We walked away from the interview with some great insight into the mobile web ecosystem and what’s in store for marketers, journalists and content publishers as the mobile web goes mainstream.
Here are five key takeaways from the conversation:
1 – It’s good to experiment
While experimenting might not always be a good thing when it comes to used cars and second-rate sushi restaurants, it’s definitely a good thing to do with your marketing mix – especially in this economic environment.
The shift in media consumption has got many brands moving away from traditional broadcast and print spots and looking for new online marketing strategies. Mickey says that mobile should be part of a 365 degree strategy that integrates traditional marketing and advertising elements with online and mobile components.
Marketers need to begin building relationships with their consumers via the mobile phone. Good marketers have spent years building trusted relationships with consumers online and they need to extend those relationships over the handset – whether through SMS or mobile web programs. The key to this, says Mickey, is building an opt-in database of consumers who want to communicate over the handset. Bank of America and Orbitz are two examples of brands that have built stellar mobile programs.
2 – Format vs. Content -What Happens on the Mobile Web doesn’t Necessarily Stay on the Mobile Web
For brands making the leap onto the mobile web there can be a lot of questions – a lot of marketers are wondering if they need to build a separate WAP site or iPhone application to build a mobile presence. The answer is that content doesn’t need to change, but format should be well suited for easy access by a handheld device. Mickey pointed out two beautiful mobile web sites – mobile.nytimes.com and mobile.time.com as examples of well constructed mobile sites.
Mobile websites should be easy to navigate; highlight important information in an easy-to-read way; and make top-level landing pages light on data so they render quickly over a cellular connection.
3 – Gap Time and the New Face of Journalism
When we asked Mickey about how he thought the move to the mobile web was going to impact journalism he had some interesting thoughts. Content will continue to be what brings people onto the mobile web, but that content will be different than what people look for on the traditional web. Mobile browsers will look for quick pieces of news that fill in the “gap time” in their day – while they’re waiting for the train or stuck in traffic. News is a key component of mobile content, but for the most part people want quick bits of information – Nobody clicks to page two on a handheld device.
4 – Who’s pushing the boundaries of the Mobile Web today -Nokia and Yahoo – and others
A lot of folks in the industry have named their top influencers in mobile. So who are Alam Khan’s? Right off the bat there’s #1 Apple, #2 Google, #3 RIM, #4 eBay and #5 Nokia. The first three are there for obvious reasons, however eBay (a surprise to us) is up there because of their huge play in mobile commerce and Nokia is on the list not necessarily just because of their play in handsets, but because of their rise in other areas of mobile including advertising, music and software. But wait.. we can’t forget Yahoo! who would probably actually rank between Apple and Google in the #2 spot. Their influence centers around the fact that they understand content better than any other company out there Alam Khan attributes Yahoo’s influence to guys like Marco Boerries, David Katz and Bruce Stewart who recently left to become CEO of kgb’s mobile division.
5 – iPhone apps – it’s great but marketers will wait until there is a significant audience
When it comes to mobile over the last six months, the availability and rise in popularity of third-party iPhone applications has been at the height of the buzz. However, the question that still remains is how and when will they be monetized and will it be a successful component of mobile marketing? According to Alam Khan, despite the buzz, the audience for iPhone applications is still small. Once audiences for the applications are established, there is potential for monetization. A piece of advice for those ready to experiment with marketing via the iPhone: link your mobile marketing campaign to your online. Look for marketing on the iPhone to gain traction next year, says Alam Khan.
November 4th, 2008
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