Mobile Marketing Magazine

Apple Ships 300,000 iPads on Day One

Apple says it sold over 300,000 iPads in the US as of midnight Saturday, 3 April, though as this figure includes deliveries to channel partners, in addition to deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, and sales at Apple Retail Stores, it’s not clear from the release whether all 300,000 have actually been sold out to customers. Apple also announced that iPad users downloaded over 1 million apps from Apple’s App Store and over 250,000 ebooks from its iBookstore during the first day.
“It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world—it’s going to be a game changer,” says Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.”
The iPad launched in the US on Saturday, and launches in the UK at the end of the month. 

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom Complete UK Merger

Without much fanfare, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom announced the successful completion of the UK merger transaction and the formation of the companies’ new Joint Venture last week.
Tom Alexander, former CEO of Orange UK, is the Chief Executive of the new Joint Venture, and Richard Moat, the former CEO of T-Mobile UK, is Chief Financial Officer and Deputy CEO. A Board of Directors has also been formed, on which Tom Alexander and Richard Moat will serve as Executive Directors. Tim Höttges, CFO of Deutsche Telekom, will lead the board as Non-executive Chairman for two years. After this time, the leadership will rotate to Gervais Pellissier, Deputy CEO and CFO of France Telecom, for two years.
Also joining the six-person Board as Non-executive directors are Philipp Humm, Chief Regional Officer Europe for Deutsche Telekom, and Olaf Swantee, Executive Vice President Europe at France Telecom.

mobileSQUARED Focuses on Mobile TV & Video

Research firm mobileSQUARED has released the latest issue of its newsletter, which explains why 2010 will be the year of Mobile TV & video. The issue also looks at the Shoutem DIY mobile social networking tool, the mobile Internet market in Asia, and at Google’s Nexus One Android handset.
There’s also a 30% discount for readers off the price of a delegate pass for mobileSQUARED’s Asia Roadshow, which takes place in Singapore on 5-6 May. You can download the newsletter here.

Publishers Flock to the iPad

To no-one’s great surprise, publisher brands are rushing to get a piece of the iPad action with the release of iPad applications.
The Guardian has unveiled its Guardian Eyewitness photography app for iPad. The app, produced in association with camera maker Canon, showcases the Guardian’s Eyewitness news images, which are printed in full colour in the centre spread of the Guardian newspaper each day.
The app showcases the 100 most recent Eyewitness images. Users can save their favourites, and share images with their contacts via email or Facebook. Each image is also accompanied by a ‘pro tip’, to give professional insights into the composition or technical specification of a particular image.
“To be able to offer an app for the launch of iPad is a fantastic achievement for the Guardian, and demonstrates how we continue to embrace new technologies and explore new ways to showcase and offer our wide range of content to both new and existing audiences,” says Emily Bell, Director of Digital Content, Guardian News & Media (GNM). “Our Eyewitness images in the Guardian work so well because the photography is given such prominence in the centre spread of the newspaper, and now the iPad will enable users to see these striking images full-screen in a new electronic format, which – up until now – has never been fully possible on any electronic devices. We hope users enjoy the app and, as ever, we’re looking forward to hearing the feedback.”
There’s more information about the app here.
Meanwhile, travel content provider Lonely Planet has launched its ‘1000 Ultimate Experiences’ app for the iPad. The app will allow iPad users to experience Lonely Planet’s top 1,000 recommended experiences through beautiful images, captivating video and insights from its leading travel authors.
Inspired by the Lonely Planet book of the same name, the app re-imagines the book reading experience as a deck of 1,000 cards which users can swipe, flick and thumb their way through. Lonely Planet is also developing its ‘Discover’ guides for iPad in iBook format. Titles will include Great Britain, Italy, Spain, France and Ireland.
"The iPad is a groundbreaking device that gives us the flexibility to publish content in extraordinary ways we would never have thought possible a year ago,” says Lonely Planet CEO, Matt Goldberg. “We are delighted to offer an exciting new product for the launch of iPad and are experimenting restlessly with new technologies and platforms ,as we build on our strategy to become the world’s leading travel media and services provider."
The 1000 Ultimate Experiences App for iPad is available for $19.99 (£13) from the Apple App Store.
Finally, ebook community Wattpad has launched its iPad app. Wattpad for iPad is specifically optimized to make full use of the iPad’s larger screen and enhanced interface. “iPad is one of the most anticipated products since the iPhone,” says Wattpad CEO, Allen Lau. “Today we are unveiling our latest creation simultaneously with iPad’s general availability.”

Signing Off

We are closing down for the long Easter weekend now, so we’ll be back as usual on Tuesday morning. If you need your mobile marketing fix in the meantime, you can still check out the digital version of our first print issue online here.
We are currently working on Issue 2, which will be out in June. If you’d like to know more about the advertising and sponsorship opportunities in the print magazine, send us an email and we’ll get right back to you.
And whatever you’re doing over Easter, have a good one.

David Murphy
Editor

Motally Enables On-the-fly App Updates

Mobile analytics firm Motally has launched a 2-Way Communication solution that makes it easier for app developers to optimize apps on the fly, without having to re-submit their app. Motally says the solution will enable developers to make changes and updates to iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps without the need to redeploy them in their respective app stores. In effect, Motally says it has created a dialogue between app stores and developers, thereby reducing the time to market of improved applications based on consumer usage data.
Due to the unpredictable nature of approval systems in app stores, developers struggle to schedule and coordinate even the slightest change to their apps for fear of the lengthy response time from app-saturated app stores approvals staff. Motally addresses that concern by enabling developers to send data to back to apps already live in app stores. With Motally 2-Way Communication, developers can make changes remotely to data values in previously defined fields, all from within the web interface of their Motally account.
“The app submission and resubmission process definitely can hold developers back from bringing updates to market as fast as they would like,” says Peter Sankauskas, a Game Developer and Software Engineer at Motally. “With Motally’s 2-Way Communication feature, we are excited about providing on-the-fly adjustments to apps and believe the uninterrupted consumer experience will lead to higher engagement and usage.”
Using Motally’s 2-Way Communication, developers can instantly update or modify existing tracking parameters and the conditions under which data is sent. For example a developer can turn on debug tracking remotely to resolve bugs on the fly, without having to go through app stores’ often meticulous and lengthy approval process.
Developers can also change the values for custom fields that have been previously defined. For example, a developer can include a discount code field into an application and change the value for that code, based on a particular marketing campaign. In an effort to facilitate app localization, the new feature even allows developers to change the greeting on a text to go from ‘Hello’ to ‘Hola’, depending on the country from which an app is being accessed.
Founded in 2008, Motally supports analytics for applications on the iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry platforms, as well as the mobile web, via a single interface. Motally also offers white-label solutions to enterprise customers.
There's a video demo of Motally's 2-Way Communication solution here.

NearVerse Secures Funds for Expansion

Mobile networking firm NearVerse has revealed that it secured $1 million (£656,000) in seed funding from Meakem Becker Venture Capital in Q4 2009. NearVerse has been using the funding to further develop and proliferate its software-based networking platform to accelerate mobile Internet beyond the capabilities of existing 3G or 4G carrier networks.
Founded in 2009, NearVerse‘s proprietary networking platform optimizes the mobile Internet experience through a proximity-powered system, improving media delivery speeds by a factor of 5-10X. NearVerse says its network architecture also leads to greater spectral efficiency and helps substantially reduce the load on existing carrier networks.
NearVerse launched its first app, LoKast for iPhone and iPod touch, at the SXSW festival in Texas recently. LoKast offers users the ability to discover and share rich media content with other users nearby. Using LoKast, users add music, photos, videos, contacts and web links to their personal ‘LoKasts’, and then automatically discover other users within 300 feet and share media with them in real time. LoKast minimizes reliance on 3G connectivity by using NearVerse’s optimized networking platform. The app is available for download here.
NearVerse notes that mobile networks are bogged down by an explosion of video consumption, a multitude of wireless-enabled devices, and consumer demand for a real-time and dynamic mobile Internet experience akin to that of PCs. The company points out that mobile data traffic has ballooned since the launch of the iPhone, with AT&T’s traffic increasing by over 6,000%. Verizon Wireless has also faced significant spikes of over 300% since launching the Droid Smartphone. Networks are facing enormous challenges with this surge of rich media traffic and will require out-of-the-box network architectures and content delivery approaches to stay abreast of the mobile Internet revolution. 
“We believe that there is a great opportunity to build on the prior pioneering efforts of companies such as Google, Amazon, Skype, and Akamai in optimizing the wireline Internet, to solve the biggest issues facing the mobile Internet today,” says NearVerse CEO, Boris Bogatin. “By unifying carrier and short-range wireless networks into a holistic, optimized system, NearVerse is well positioned to lead this new wave of mobile Internet evolution.” 

Trade Union Turns to Text, Saves Thousands

The R62 branch of the GMB Trade Union, based at Rotherham Borough Council, has rolled out an  autonomous web-based text messaging solution from Text Messaging Centre (TMC), to communicate quickly and efficiently with union members. Using TMC’s technology, the trade union has moved away from costly and time-consuming paper-based mailings to fast, efficient and cost-effective SMS communication, ensuring members receive the latest trade union information instantly, easily and direct to their mobile phone.
The GMB Trade Union is a campaigning trade union focused on protecting, representing and solving problems for GMB members in their workplaces. The GMB is Britain’s general union, which means anyone can join. It has over 600,000 members working in every part of the UK economy. The GMB Trade Union’s branch, based at Rotherham Borough Council, is the first to implement an SMS solution as part of its strategy to improve communication and attract members to the website for the most recent campaign updates.
“Prior to implementing the web-based text messaging solution from TMC, we were contacting our members via mail to update them on any changes to a particular campaign, a specific pay offer or changes in workplace regulations,” says GMB Rotherham Branch Convener, Lee Simpson. A regular mailing would cost £850 to send individual letters via second class post, not including additional stationery and printing costs. Selecting the TMC solution will save us £675 on the cost of stamps alone. Add that up over the whole year and the savings amount to thousands.”
TMC is a web-based application that can be accessed from any computer within the Rotherham office. All messages are fully auditable and compliant through the TMC interface. “The SMS technology exactly meets our needs, it is so simple to use, and has enabled us to transform our communication strategies without having to change any existing infrastructure or invest time in staff training,” says Simpson. “The functionality within the web-based interface provides us with the flexibility to target specific groups, individuals or everybody at the click of a button. SMS has facilitated immediate communication with target groups, and allows us to engage with our members more frequently.”

Report Analyses Prospects for Mobile Web 2.0

Juniper Research has released its ‘Mobile Web 2.0’ report. The study forecasts that the value of presence-based mobile Web 2.0 services will increase to more than $6 billion (£3.9 billion) by 2012, finds our new report published this week. An increase in Smartphone penetration in developed markets, allied to rising global usage of both on-net and off-net mobile IM (Instant Messaging) will help to drive this trend, the report says.
Juniper notes that Web 2.0 has been the catalyst for renewed growth in the mobile industry, comprising Presence – SMS-based presence (alerts) and server-based presence services; Geolocation – services that enable users to share location details with other users, third-parties or applications, collaborate with those nearby, and exploit local knowledge; and the Social Web – including social networking sites, user generated content, and a variety of sub-categories including blogs and dating
The report finds that monetising mobile Web 2.0 services is still posing a challenge across the mobile value chain. Nevertheless, it concludes that opportunities exist for service providers across a range of business models, ranging from subscription-based services to ad-funded solutions.
The report includes a series of practical recommendations for mobile web 2.0 players, as well as a detailed SWOT analyses for ODMs (original device manufacturers), mobile network operators, service providers and media & technology owners.
The report includes forecasts and analysis of ad spend on mobile presence-based services, together with operator-billed IM & VoIP revenues, as well as user numbers, usage levels and the proportion of users who pay for services. The report also includes forecasts for the retail costs of SMS and MMS, along with the total global ad spend on mobile Web 2.0 services ,split by social web, dating and presence. The study analyses the major strategies of a number of players across geolocation and presence, focusing on the primary growth areas for mobile web 2.0, including VoIP & IM.
There’s more information about the report here.

Festivals Turn To Mobile Ticketing

Mobile ticketing, couponing and marketing firm Trinity Mobile has revealed that it is enabling UK festival organisers to sell tens of thousands of tickets through its mobile ticketing platform to ease the ticketing process and minimise fraud by virtually eliminating the number of fake tickets presented on the day of the show.
Leading events across the UK will use Trinity Mobile’s Easy Ticket technology to enable concertgoers to receive tickets on their mobile phones, and will allow festival organisers to make use of the data generated from the ticket sales to promote future events to fans.
Trinity Mobile will be involved in a variety of shows including the Detonate Indoor Music Festival on 2nd May 2010 at Rock City, Stealth and The Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. The event is expected to attract over 5,000 fans from all over the UK, Europe and the world, and is one of the biggest Drum and Bass (D&B) concerts of the year.
“More and more people are attending our events and it is imperative that we sell tickets as quickly and efficiently as possible, without having to issue thousands of paper tickets or worry about counterfeit passes,” says D James Busby, Head of Detonate Productions, and a convert to Trinity Mobile’s ticketing process. “Trinity Mobile has been a reliable partner over the years, providing a complete end-to-end ticketing service for past events.”
Trinity Mobile will also handle the ticketing process for other festivals, including Nottingham University’s planned October 2010 festival, a major tented festival expected to attract over 10,000 people. The company’s biggest festival to date was West Fest in 2009, a music event held at the Bath and West Show Grounds near Bath in Somerset. Powered by Trinity Mobile, tickets were sold in advance through the organiser’s web site and through individual outlets and other distributors. Of the 12,500 tickets sold, over 80% were mobile tickets that came through the Trinity system.
“What used to be the worst part of setting up the event became the easiest and most stress-free element of the show,” says West Fest Manager, James Orfeur. “I didn’t have to spend all my time dealing with paper ticketing issues and eliminated all of our problems with fraudulent tickets. We reported zero bogus tickets at the 2009 show via mobile handsets. This is a remarkable achievement, and one that we will repeatedly achieve now that all of our future shows will incorporate Trinity Mobile’s ticketing process. ”

Ofcom Plans Cut in Mobile Termination Rates

Communications regulator Ofcom has published proposals which will make it cheaper to call mobile phones from a landline. Ofcom proposes slashing mobile termination rates, which are the wholesale charges that operators make to connect calls to each others’ networks. Under Ofcom’s plans, these wholesale rates would fall from around 4.3p per minute today, to 0.5p per minute by 2015. The proposals will also mean that both landline and mobile operators have more flexibility in designing competitive call packages.
Commenting on Ofcom’s announcement, Mike Wilson, mobiles manager at moneysupermarket.com, says: “It’s been clear for some time that termination rates don’t reflect the real costs of calling a landline or another mobile network. The vast majority of customers are unaware they even pay mobile termination rates, despite the fact they make up a significant cost of a call. We feel this penalises customers unfairly – that’s why we backed the campaign from the start – so it is great to see that Ofcom agrees that this hidden charge has to pretty much go.”
Ofcom is also proposing to reduce the time taken to transfer a mobile number to anther network from two working days to one. In addition, the Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) that consumers need to switch provider and keep their number will in future be issued immediately or within a maximum of two hours by text message. Currently, the time and way in which PACs are issued varies considerably between providers. Some networks only issue PACs by letter, which can take several days to arrive.Following a six week consultation on legal implementation and timing of the proposal, Ofcom expects the changes to come into effect in the first half of 2011.

Synchronica Buys Colibria's IM Business

Synchronica, whch provides next-generation mobile messaging services, has signed an agreement to acquire Colibria's IMPS (Instant Messaging and Presence Service) business, reseller agreements, and existing worldwide mobile operator customer base. Synchronica says the acquisition will accelerate its entry into the fast-growing mobile Instant Messaging (IM) sector and help the company to achieve its goal of becoming the leader in next-generation mobile messaging for emerging markets. The acquisition will enlarge Synchronica's footprint in emerging markets by adding key customer contracts in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Russia/CIS, as well as global reseller agreements.
Synchronica will continue to develop, market, and support Colibria's open standards-based IM technology as a stand-alone product. The software will also be integrated into Synchronica's Mobile Gateway messaging suite and will be pre-installed on the recently launched MessagePhone, a low-cost messaging-centric handset using Mobile Gateway.
"Mobile instant messaging and social networking are fast-growing sectors, in particular in emerging markets,” says Synchronica CEO, Carsten Brinkschulte. “Our acquisition of Colibria's instant messaging business will allow Synchronica to offer a range of next-generation messaging products to service providers, improving our competitive positioning and accelerating our commercial growth."

The Sweet Smell of Success

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, Google CEO Eric Schmidt wowed delegates during his keynote presentation, as a German menu was scanned by an Android phone’s camera, and within seconds, an English translation of the meal in question appeared on the screen. Now, if rumours are to be believed, Google has come up with something even spookier.
Unconfirmed reports are reaching Mobile Marketing that scientists at Google are close to finalizing the technology to enable an aroma to be encoded within a mathematical algorithm and sent to a mobile phone as part of a marketing message.
The technique, which Google is calling 'Message Scent', involves something known as “trapdoor” cipher technology. Developed in the mid-1970s by number theorists Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, its primary use is as a cryptographic protocol that enables two parties with no prior knowledge of each other to jointly establish a secret key. The “trapdoor” tag comes from the fact that, like a trapdoor, it’s easy to fall through, but almost impossible to get out of (or unravel the code), unless you have a ladder; in this case, the ladder being the identity of the two huge prime numbers – usually each of 100 digits or more - that are multiplied together to form the basis of the cipher.
Until recently, trapdoor ciphers were only capable of being encoded and decoded on a powerful computer, but as mobile phone processors become ever more sophisticated, Google believes it will be able to encode an aroma for decoding on a mobile phone by the end of the year. If so, the Internet giant is likely to have brands beating a path to its door to use the technology.
Retail strategy consultant Simon Tinker says brands would be justified in being excited about the idea. “We all know about the power of aroma as a marketing tool,” he says. “Look at the way that supermarkets use the wonderful smell of freshly-baked bread to welcome people into their stores. The idea of packaging up an aroma and sending it as a marketing message to a mobile phone will have coffee chains, perfume companies and wine retailers chomping at the bit. This could be the killer app that mobile marketing has been waiting for.”
No-one at Google was available for comment. We’ll bring you more news as we have it.

What You (may have) Missed - Part 53

It’s 1 April, a day for tomfoolery and practical jokes, but unfortunately, the weather here in the UK is for real. But forget about the rain and the snow for a few minutes as we whizz you through the highlights of the last few months in the hectic world of mobile marketing.
At the start of the month, T-Mobile and Orange were cleared to go ahead with their merger by the European Commission, after the operators agreed to give up some of their spectrum. The company will have a combined customer base of around 29.5 million.
There were plenty more deals in the offing too. Mobile marketing firm Inside Mobile was bought by ad agency M&C Saatchi. Inside Mobile will trade as M&C Saatchi Mobile. Its clients include Reebok International, Yahoo! Europe, AB-InBev-Becks and Sky.
Nokia announced that it was to acquire Novarra, which provides a mobile browser and service platform. Nokia says it will use Novarra's platform to deliver enhanced Internet experiences on Nokia mobile devices. And Amdocs, which provides customer experience systems, snapped up MX Telecom for $104 million (£69 million) in cash. MX Telecom is a mobile payments and messaging aggregator with operations in Europe, the US and Australia. MX Telecom will become part of Amdocs’ OpenMarket business, which operates a mobile transaction hub.
There was lots happening on the Augmented Reality (AR) front. AR firm kooaba unveiled its prototype AR app that integrates real-time image recognition technology to augment both stationary objects such as building and statues, and non-stationary objects such as products, newspapers and billboards. Another AR firm, metaio launched an updated version of its open AR iPhone app and mobile web browser junaio, and also revealed that it had partnered with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in San Francisco to integrate transit data, such as station locations and estimated arrival times, into a BART channel on its junaio platform.
And directory service Yell added AR to its iPhone app. The app enables iPhone 3GS users to ‘see’ local shops, offices, restaurants and other useful services through the iPhone’s camera viewer.
With all this AR activity, it was no real surprise when the analyst Juniper Research released its report, ‘Mobile Location Based Services: Applications, Forecasts & Opportunities 2009-2014’, in which it predicted that revenues from Mobile Location-based Services (MLBS) are expected to exceed $12.7 billion (£8.3 billion) by 2014.
Another Juniper report, this one on Mobile Ticketing, forecast that nearly 15 billion tickets will be delivered to subscribers’ mobile devices worldwide by 2014, compared to just over 2 billion this year. Adding credence to these figures, mobile ticketing, couponing and marketing firm Trinity Mobile revealed a 1200% year-on-year increase in the delivery of mobile boarding passes to airline passengers in 2009, with 600,000 passes sent out via text message in 2009, compared to just 50,000 in 2008.
Research firm comScore published the latest data from its MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the US mobile industry during the three month period between October 2009 and January 2010. In an average month during the November through January 2010 time period, 63.5% of US mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 1.5% compared to the previous three-month period. Browsers were used by 28.6% of subscribers (up 1.8%), while 21.7% of subscribers played games (up 0.4%). Access of social networking sites or blogs experienced grew 3.3% to 17.1% of mobile subscribers.
Another study, this one from BuzzCity, looked at attitudes towards, and use of, mobile payments. It found that 90% of respondents had used their mobile to directly purchase products or services, and while most related to mobile phone use, such as mobile content and prepaid airtime, 23% had bought from online stores, paid a bill, bought prepaid utilities and made bookings through their mobile.
And if you haven’t had your fill of stats yet, independent app store GetJar produced a report predicting that the global mobile applications market will be worth $17.5 billion (£11.5 billion) by 2012, a fourfold increase from its value of $4.1 billion in 2009. The report also predicted that the total number of mobile app downloads would increase from over 7 billion in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012.
Finally on the stats front, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) revealed the results of research that showed that mobile and online advertising, used in combination can significantly increase brand awareness and purchase consideration. The IAB found that among respondents exposed to ads across online and mobile, recognition was 43% greater than among those exposed just to the online component.
Mobile ad network InMobi launched what it claimed was the mobile advertising industry’s most ambitious local targeting capability for advertisers to date. The program, which is available in the UK, France, Indonesia, S. Africa, US, and India to over 15,000 cities and regions, will continue to expand during 2010. The program also includes the ability to target iPhone consumers with new, optimised creative, specific to the iPhone experience.
And Target Digital brokered a campaign between Unanimis, who exclusively represent Orange’s Shots opt-in mobile advertising service, and Optimum Releasing, which thus became the first film distributor to use Orange’s mobile advertising service for a campaign for the movie, ‘Leap Year’.
Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) announced its expansion into America and Canada with its digital agency, Jigsaw, opening two new offices in Chicago and Toronto. MIG said the move had been driven by growing client demand for the agency’s integrated approach to delivering and implementing multichannel digital campaigns that pull on the group’s expertise across a broad range of online, mobile, and digital marketing and technology disciplines. 
And finally, Barclaycard revealed that contactless mobile payments would become a reality in the UK by the end of 2010 through its partnership with mobile operator Orange. It's been a long time coming; let's hope NFC (Near Field Communications) on a phone can live up to the hype when it does arrive.
Another busy month then. Stay tuned throughout April for all the latest news, and our new-look site, coming very soon.

David Murphy
Editor

Whitepaper Highlights Mobile Payment Benefits

Paying bills via a mobile phone can make it easier for consumers to balance the books, and reduce costs for companies issuing the bills during an economic slump. That’s the conclusion of a whitepaper just released by mobile payment firm paythru.
The second of a series of whitepapers, ‘Are Mobile Payments the Answer to Getting the Bills Paid During a Downturn?’, explains how consumers can better control the timing of payments and so ensure they have sufficient funds to make the payment; reduce late payment fees by responding to text alerts, and pay bills of all sizes with the right payment system.
Bill issuers will be able to reduce back-office and collection costs through the use of mobile payments and improve cash flow by speeding-up payments and reducing bad debts, which are currently running at 6% for credit card companies, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
The whitepaper also highlights the questions any bill issuers need to ask when considering a mobile payment provider, including: how secure is the system? Does it have all necessary levels of compliance? Does the system allow for both large and small payments? Is the system quick to integrate with legacy systems? And is the system flexible enough to allow for tailoring the timing of communications?
“With growing levels of bad debt and increasing pressure on both commercial and personal cash flow, it is important for both the customer and the bill issuer to find improved ways for paying bills,” says paythru, Managing Director, Keith Brown. “Using the ubiquitous mobile phone is one solution, as it reduces the cost, increases the speed of collection, and gives the bill payer more control over how and when they pay.”
The whitepaper is available to download here.

AdaptiveMobile Calls for Greater Child Protection on Mobile

With parents’ concerns growing about their children’s safety when accessing the web, compounded recently by Ofcom reporting that a quarter of primary school age children have profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo, a report published on Monday by Professor Tanya Byron calls for better mobile phone Internet controls. Whilst Byron’s recommendations are a step in the right direction, AdaptiveMobile, the mobile security company, believes that many more comprehensive measures could be taken to protect children against the complete set of risks they face.
Simeon Coney, VP Business Development at AdaptiveMobile, says: “Whilst measures such as an easy-to-use panic button can go a long way to helping social networks to identify and stop threats as early as possible, parents are still calling for more visibility and increased control.
“One issue which is making this battle even tougher is the growing trend toward accessing web content via mobile phones. With it becoming the norm for children under 10 to have their first mobile phone, many parents are finding it more and more difficult to keep track of what their children are accessing or with whom they are communicating. Without suitable parental controls in place, children are potentially subject to harassment, unsolicited messaging and inappropriate content.”
Coney points out that data from AdaptiveMobile shows that peak mobile usage for children is late evening, between 9pm and 1pm. Unlike a PC, however, which may be in a shared room in the house, it’s much more difficult to monitor what a child is accessing when they’re doing it from a mobile handset in their own rooms.
“The challenges that exist are primarily parental education and the availability of appropriate and effective controls, with parent being unaware of when their child is at risk, for example by responding to fraudulent messages, visiting web content inappropriate to their age or receiving undesirable incoming contact,” adds Coney. “The parental controls largely in use today provide protection to the parents’ wallets against unwanted charges by setting spend limits - not deciding who can contact their child. Where content controls are available, it is primarily a coarse decision of adult content - equivalent to only having an 18 or old cinema rating, versus the grading of content to U, PG and 15 or older that we have today for film, TV and game content.
Coney notes that, in a bid to protect their most vulnerable subscribers, some mobile network operators have seized the initiative, by putting in place flexible controls for parents to select what content their children are able access and when, and with whom they can communicate. These systems can also alerts parents when their child has been protected from risk, enabling them to properly discuss the dangers of the digital world.
“This means that, for example, social networking sites can be categorised together and with one click, parents can block a child’s access to all sites within that category and also against phishing, fraud and malware sites - rather than parents needing to configure each site individually, and to keep their child’s handset constantly updated with the latest social or phishing sites,” says Coney. “With operators becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to using their data intelligently, flexible controls can enable parents to regain autonomy for proactively protecting their children when online. This guards them against harassment and inappropriate content, but still gives children the freedom to use their phone safely.”

DVLA Vetoes Auto Trader App's Image Recognition Trick

Motoring website Auto Trader has run into a spot of bother with the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) over its recently-launched iPhone application. The app used image recognition technology to read car number plates. A user who saw a car they liked the look of could launch the app and take a photo of the number plate. From the number recognition technology, the app would then return information about the car, including miles per gallon, typical price, and which dealers in the user’s area are selling similar cars, as well as user reviews from AutoTrader.co.uk to help people make more informed decisions.
The DVLA has requested that Auto Trader remove the image recognition element, however as it conflicts with their code of ethics. Auto Trader has agreed to comply with the request and has now removed the feature.
According to an Auto Trader spokesperson:
“The DVLA has requested that Auto Trader remove the image recognition element of the iPhone application. Although the app in no way infringes data privacy regulations, the ‘snap’ function conflicts with the DVLA’s code of ethics, as it allows consumers to capture images of vehicle license plates.
The application draws only on publically-available information and does not release owner details or information on where a vehicle is registered. However, we take consumer security extremely seriously and so have happily agreed to comply with the DVLA’s request. As a result, from 30 March, the ‘snap’ function has been removed from the app. Consumers trying to access this function will receive an error message, but will still be able to access the core search function, something users appear to value above the image recognition functionality based on early usage of the app.
 “Since the app launched two weeks ago it has received a hugely positive response from consumers, and we will be working to support this success with an updated version as soon as possible, in which we aim to include remedies to key issues that users have been providing feedback on. We are committed to finding new and engaging ways for consumers to find the cars they’re looking for and mobile access is a key part of this evolution over the coming months. We will inform users as soon as a release date for the new version of the application has been confirmed.”

Brunel Business School Leads Mobile Policy-making Initiative

Brunel Business School is leading an international consortium of academics which has won a multi-million pound grant to develop mobile phone technologies to involve citizens in policy-making.
The project will develop user-friendly technologies and platforms which can be installed on mobile phones to allow the public to input directly into policy-making, by giving feedback on issues affecting their daily lives. The project is designed to prove the ability and need for the creation of applications that are public sector-focused.
The three-year UbiPOL (Ubiquitous Participation for Policy Making) Project has received a total grant of €2.7 million (£2.4 million) from the European Union, with £400,000 awarded to Brunel Business School, whose Dean, Professor Zahir Irani is co-ordinating the consortium.
The other members involved in the project are Barnsley Metropolitan Council (UK); telecommunications company Turksat, web map provider Basarsoft, and Sabanci University (all from Turkey); innovation, communications and technology companies PDM&FC (Portugal), IPA SA (Romania), and Fraunhofer FOKUS (Germany); and the Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary).
"This project will develop a mechanism by which the public can access local government at their fingertips and, more importantly, give feedback and suggestions which can then be considered by policy-makers. It will be a public sector version of the private sector revolution we are witnessing following the launch of the applications we now see on mobile devices, the difference being (that) UbiPol will promote apps that lead to social cohesion through Government ," says Professor Zahir Iran, Dean of Brunel Business School. "All too often, members of the public feel disengaged from local policy,  but this new system of e-government will give them instant access to services and information, and put the power in their hands - literally."
Dr Habin Lee, from Brunel Business School, notes that technological advances in mobile communication have led to the development of mParticipation (mobile participation) systems, allowing the public to be involved in policy making processes even on the move. But he adds that these systems are only successful if users are committed to the process and feel motivated to contribute, and he says a key issue the UbiPOL project will address, is lack of participation.
"Research has shown that one of the reasons that citizens are de-motivated is an ignorance about relevant policies and the policy making processes in governments,” says Dr. Lee. “However, the more they find connections between their usual life activities and relevant policies, the more they become proactive or motivated to be involved in the policy-making process."
UbiPOL aims to provide relevant information to users who will be alerted to policies and processes while on the move, targeting relevant information to users based on their location. The technology will also enable users to send information to their local council via their mobile phone, on issues including transport, parking, planning, environmental issues and health and safety. Problem roads could, for example, be given a 'yellow card' by users and this feedback could help create 'red zones' on a geographical map, identifying an area which needs consideration by policy-makers. Once developed, the technology will be tested in the UK and Turkey for policy making processes in four areas: environment, urban planning, household management, and health & safety.
"We will be developing an effective technology which will be scalable for a large population. It will be a pull-push system with users pulling in the information they need, wherever they are, and pushing out feedback to policymakers," says Professor Irani.

Online Ad Spend Up

The UK Internet advertising sector increased revenues by 4.2% to £3.54 billion in 2009, up from £3.35 billion in 2008, despite a decline in total UK advertising, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PWC) bi-annual ad spend figures. The study also reveals that the second half of 2009 was healthier than the first, with online advertising spend increasing by £25.6 million to£1.78 billion between July and December. During the first half, it accounted for £1.76 billion. Records show that, since the dot com crash of 2001, Internet ad expenditure registered growth every year during the noughties. From £153 million in 2000 to £3.54 billion in 2009.
In 2009, the Retail and Consumer Goods categories leapt ahead to become two of the biggest spenders in online display, as marketers increased online advertising budgets. Search, video and affiliate marketing also experienced strong growth. One of the biggest gains was in paid search, which grew by 9.5% like-for-like to reach £2.15 billion, representing 60.7% of all online ad spend, compared to 59.3% in 2008.
While online display spend saw a 4.4% decline between 2008 and 2009, the market picked up as the year wore on. Between January and June 2009, display was worth £334.6 million in real terms, which increased to £374.7 million between July and December, taking total 2009 spend to£709.3 million, or 20% of the online market, compared to 19% in 2008.
Within display, online video was a success story, with a 140% increase in pre- and post-roll advertising, to £28.3 million.
Affiliate marketing rose by 38.2% to £72.6million, but online classified spending fell 5.3% to £677.4 million, down from £715.2 million in 2008. Classified accounted for 19.1% of all ad online spend in 2009, compared to 21.4% in 2008.
“In 2009 the advertising industry was hit hard, but online has proved itself a winning medium, capturing a greater share of marketing budgets,” says IAB CEO, Guy Phillipson. “In the past year we’ve seen some real success stories, as search passed the £2 billion mark, and online video advertising experienced spectacular growth. And with sectors such as Retail and Consumer Goods increasing their spending on the Internet, we can look forward to a healthier 2010.”
The IAB and PwC are due to release mobile ad spend figures for 2009 on 27 April.

Open Invitation

Pierrette de Leeuw, Product Marketing Manager at Acision, urges mobile operators to embrace the open services framework model in order to leverage their unique assets

During this year’s Mobile World Congress, 24 operators, along with the GSMA, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG jointly announced the formation of the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) - an alliance designed to build an open platform for delivering applications to all mobile phone users. The operators and the handset makers are committed to creating the applications ecosystem.
While this is undoubtedly a positive step for the industry, confidence in the success of the alliance has been less than enthusiastic, with industry analysts muting concerns over co-operation on such a large scale. Acision believes that an open platform is the right way to go, yet operators need to leverage the strengths of their network assets with the (application) services creation from their developer ecosystem.

Network assets
Acision believes that the WAC could bring the potential for operators to create an environment for application and services developers, especially when leveraging the full breadth of their network assets and capabilities. The global nature of the alliance, and number of operator groups participating, will drive the standardisation the industry needs to ensure continuation of the value of applications purchased by their subscriber. To illustrate: if, today, a subscriber loses their iPhone, or after years of use decides to change the device for a Nokia phone, contacts can be easily migrated via the web or PC, and you can keep your same mobile number, yet the purchased applications, like navigation or office applications  -costing between €5 - 100 are left useless on the old device.
The alliance will drive a single worldwide application and developer platform, offering device-agnostic applications and services. Acision believes that combining this with the capability to add unique assets to these services, like location awareness, subscriber identity and personal preferences – assets that are often out of reach for applications developers today – will enable them to orchestrate unique and rich data services, in a highly secure messaging ecosystem.

Open services framework
If the operators that join the WAC stick to just offering open access to their mobile network and subscribers, but fail to ensure a unique value add, there is a chance that this will drive them to become mere bitpipes. To ensure that operators will be able to add value, their messaging ecosystem should include an open services framework with a separate developer environment, for transparent services creation, and connectivity to messaging functions, as well as the unique network assets.
If the operator is able to disclose and manage these assets and intelligence, and provide these to third parties like service providers and developers, they can jointly offer better services to mobile users. This way, the messaging ecosystem also creates new revenue opportunities by enabling mobile operators to offer unique cloud services to Internet and enterprise customers, leveraging the unique mobile network assets.

Smartphone Adoption up 32% in EU5 Countries, says comScore

New research from comScore released today reveals that Smartphone adoption in the EU5 (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy) has grown 32% over the past year, to 51.6 million subscribers. Whilst growth can be seen across the range of monthly subscription fees, the mid- to low-tier segment is growing faster than high-tier subscriptions in each of the EU5 markets.
The UK market leads in the growth of Smartphone adoption over the past year, growing 70% to 11.1 million subscribers. France ranks second in growth with the number of Smartphone subscribers up 48% to 7.1 million.  Meanwhile, Italy boasts the largest number of Smartphone subscribers overall (15 million) but showed the softest growth in this market at 11%. Germany has 8.4 million Smrtphomne subscribers (up 34%), while Spain has 9.9 million (up 27%).
In evaluating monthly subscription fees, the high-tier segment (greater than £35 in UK  and €50 in Euro currency countries) is not growing as strongly as the mid- to low-tier. The UK  has the highest pace of both mid- to low-tier adoption (up 76%) and high-tier adoption (up 60%), followed by France (52% and 43%, respectively).
“Smartphones are generally seen as luxury devices that come with big price tags and high monthly tariffs, yet the largest segment of the market and the one demonstrating greatest momentum is actually the low- to mid-tier,” says Alistair Hill, Senior Mobile Analyst at comScore. “The growth in these tiers suggests that as Smartphones become more affordable to the majority of European consumers, their proliferation will increase considerably, and lead to a surge in mobile content and data consumption. Such market dynamics offer substantial opportunity for different players in the mobile ecosystem - from operators and manufacturers to publishers and advertisers - and underscore the importance of competing for customers now to engender long-term loyalty.”
Symbian is the top Smartphone platform in all the EU5 countries, averaging a 60.9% share of total subscribers. In Italy, Symbian has a 75.7% share, though in France, it is at its lowest, at 40.7%. Apple is second overall on 14.5%, with Microsoft third on 14.1%, RIM fourth on 8.3% and Google fifth on 2%. Apple’s share varied widely across the EU5 countries, peaking at 29.9% in France and reaching 20.5% in the UK, but registering only 7.7% in Italy and 6.5% in Spain. Apple’s share of the market in Germany is 15.3%.
comScore has also released its January 2010 benchmark data, covering the period from 1 November 2009 – 31 January 2010, which includes a review of mobile consumption behaviours and device penetration for the EU5 countries. This reveals that overall Smartphone penetration across the EU5 stands at 22.6%, while 3G penetration stands at 42.4%.
When it comes to what people are doing on their phones, the most popular activity is sending a text message (83.5%), followed by using an application, including games (33.4%); listening to music (22.7%); mobile browsing (22.2%); and, surprisingly low given the figures released by comScore as part of the Mobile Media Metrics launch in February, accessing a social networking site or blog (11.3%). 9.6% of EU subscribers had accessed news via their mobile during the period.

Have a Night In on T-Mobile

T-Mobile UK has unveiled a loyalty programme called ‘Night In’ which aims to encourage customers to plan more nights in with friends and family during the week. The deal sees T-Mobile partnering with movie and game rental company Blockbuster to offer everything customers need for a night with friends and family.
Night In, which launches next week, allows T-Mobile customers to rent a game and a movie or two movies for two nights and grab some snacks and a bottle of soft drink for £5. Customers can choose from hundreds of DVDs, Blu-ray discs and games. The promotion is valid in all UK Blockbuster stores from Monday – Thursday each week, and can be used once each week by T-Mobile customers.
“Customers tell us that more than anything else, they love spending time with family and friends, and with the ongoing trend of staying in rather than going out, Night In is our way of saying thank you to them for their loyalty,” says T-Mobile UK  Head of Brand and Communications, Lysa Hardy. “This Night In offer with Blockbuster is a great value deal that gives our customers everything they need for a perfect night in, and is a great excuse for people to pile in front of the TV and enjoy the latest movie release or computer game.” 

TDC and Vodafone Extend Partner Market Agreement

Danish communications company TDC and Vodafone have extended their strategic Nordic Partnership to include Sweden and Norway, in addition to an existing agreement covering Denmark.
The companies says that the non-equity Partner Market agreement, effective from 1 April 2010, will allow them both to better serve their respective customers within the Nordic region, as well as internationally.
Vodafone and TDC have had an agreement addressing the Danish market since 2001. Under the broader Partner Market agreement, TDC has exclusive access to a range of products, services and devices from Vodafone, promoted under a co-branding model, in three Nordic countries, as well as the acquisition of enterprise customers and improved network inter-working.
"Our partnership with Vodafone will make life easier for our global-oriented customers based in the Nordic region,” says TDC Nordic Director, Jens Munch-Hansen. “Vodafone is the world's leading international mobile communications group and therefore I am pleased they have chosen TDC as a key partner in three Nordic countries. It underlines the strength of TDC and the high quality of our products and service in the Nordic business market.”

Smaato Adds Analytics to SOMA Platform

Mobile ad optimization firm Smaato has announced a partnership with Motally to deliver smarter and cross-platform analytics for mobile developers and publishers. Motally is a San Francisco-based provider of independent mobile analytics for mobile Internet, iPad, iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Phone and other platforms.
Smaato notes that many app developers and mobile website publishers have serious issues in trying to track the usage of their properties across different platforms. Smaato Advanced Mobile Analytics provides a set of tools that enables mobile publishers to optimize their inventory for iPhone, Android, Symbian and the upcoming iPad, to maximize user experience and insights. In addition Smaato’s SOMA platform adds visibility and aggregated reporting across all major mobile ad networks worldwide.
Smaato Advanced Mobile Analytics offers developers and publishers a dashboard view that enables them to see mobile traffic at a glance or drill down into more detailed stats and charts. It also offers data on users’ location, device and network provider, as well as detailed traffic tracking to reveal the click flow and the top pages on a site. The solution is easily integrated into mobile sites and apps via   SDKs and code snippets.
Anyone wishing to use Smaato Advanced Mobile Analytics can sign up as part of their SOMA registration here.

ROK Launches iPlayer with MTNL in India

ROK Entertainment Group has announced the launch of its iPlayer mobile video service with Indian mobile network, MTNL.
Priced at 30 Rupees (approximately £0.45) per month, subscribers are able to receive, streamed or for download, up to 90 video clips per month, including live breaking news, daily astrology predictions, Bollywood news, Bollywood music, sports news, comics and comedy clips on their mobile at  http://mtnl.rokd.tv
MTNL has begun promoting the ROK iPlayer service to its 2 million-strong customer base in Mumbai via a daily SMS promotion.
“This MTNL-version of ROK’s iPlayer is a new mobile entertainment service which we have developed specifically for India,” say ROK Chairman and CEO, Jonathan Kendrick. “We are very excited to be launching the service with MTNL and because iPlayer offers such excellent value for money with regards to mobile entertainment, we look forward to significant subscription uptake.”
ROK, best known for its Mobile TV service which is streamed over mass-market 2.5G GPRS as well as 3G and wi-fi, has amassed a portfolio of revenue-generating mobile applications which it licenses to mobile operators around the world.

Four Go Flirting

Mobile and online flirting service Flirtomatic has added four more members to its team, including Udi Jacobi as Head of European Business Development, who will be responsible for developing partnerships across Europe as Flirtomatic enters further European territories.
Jacobi joins Flirtomatic with over 15 years of management and leadership experience in the wireless and online industry across APAC and Europe. Prior to joining Flirtomatic, he was VP of Sales, Marketing and Business Development at Cellectivity, responsible for all commercial and marketing activity within the company.
Flirtomatic has also made three further additions to the team. Geoff Wyre joins the company as International Product Manager from Tania Mobile, responsible for all aspects of new territory launches, including translations, testing and reporting, working with different teams in Flirtomatic to keep track of different promotions across the globe.
Liesbeth Bergmans has joined the team as a developer. Previously she was the Development Team Lead for the Belgian digital agency Nascom, working with clients including Sony, VoxMobile, KBC Mobile and Deutsche Bank.
Finally, Mauricio Reyes joins Flirtomatic to consolidate and drive the quality assurance process as a Software Testing Engineer. He has worked in mobile technology for over six years on enterprise and consumer level solutions for Vodafone, T-Mobile and France Telecom.

Lost on a Mountain? There's an App for That

Motor insurer swiftcover.com has helped reunite two friends who became separated whilst hiking in snow-bound mountains in Sweden. The pair used Swiftcover’s iPhone app, ‘Stuck’, to locate each other and navigate their way to a meeting point.
Stuck uses geo-location technology to allow people to post a Twitter-style message, known as a 'Stuck' about the locations or situations in which they are stuck. This is then uploaded to a map of the world with a timestamp. Other iPhone users can then click on the Stuck and, using Google maps, zoom in to locate the person who posted the Stuck.
Nico Vittorio and Paul Alonso were hiking in the Sarek National Park region of Sweden when they became separated. Although they were in contact and knew they were close-by, because of the heavy snow there were no landmarks, making it impossible to identify a meeting point. The pair used Stuck’s ‘Near-Me’ function, which flags up other users nearby, to locate each other, tracking their progress until their paths met.
The app can also be used for less adventurous situations, allowing people to upload a Stuck if they are trapped in a traffic jam, caught in the rain, stuck in a meeting, or even have a song stuck in their head. The app has a range of pre-set emotions that are quick to choose and upload. Users can even communicate their Stucks to friends and followers by sending them by e-mail or posting them on Twitter directly from the iPhone.
The app was developed by swiftcover.com’s innovation lab and has already been downloaded by 10,000 iphone users in 50 countries since it was launched in January. Swiftcover’s Head of Innovation, Ambarish Mitra, says: “swiftcover.com is an innovator – we threw out the rule book and started from scratch when we created the UK’s first fully online insurer – so we wanted our first mobile phone app to embrace that same spirit of innovation and be something that would be of use to everyone, not just swiftcover.com insurance customers.
“Stuck is quirky and fun and takes social networking to another level with a truly global dimension – for the first time you can locate anyone around the world just from the comments they make. But it also has a serious application, as Nico and Paul’s experience shows.”
Future developments for the app include one-to-one communication, linking individual Stucks to events, so people posting would be alerted to activities such as concerts or sales taking place nearby, as well as providing users with information on local amenities, like hotels or garages.
swiftcover.com does have something of a reputation for firsts in the online world. In addition to online insurance, it also developed the UK’s first insurance .mobi site, designed for mobile phone users; the first mobile phone insurance quote system; as well as the ‘My Swift Space’ feature which gives policy-holders complete control over their insurance, enabling them to update or change their policy using the Internet, via a PC or mobile phone.

madvertise Secures Funds for European Expansion

Mobile ad network madvertise has closed its third series of A-round with Earlybird, which, together with  madvertise co-founder Team Europe Ventures, has invested a medium, single-digit million Euro amount.
"The growing global mobile advertising market worth billions of dollars and the associated growth potential for madvertise encourage us to consistently strengthen our position", says madvertise CEO, Carsten Frien. "The significant changes in media consumption lead to a significant shift of advertising budgets towards mobile services. We use the advanced madvertise technology and our sales team to efficiently address this trend for our clients."
Frien adds that the company’s aim is to establish madvertise as market leader for mobile advertising in German-speaking countries, and to expand internationally in Europe via partnerships. "With the network and expertise of our experienced investors, we are now in the position to achieve these goals in a faster and more sustainable way," he says.

Get the Mobile Web Experience Right, says Yahoo!

New research commissioned by Yahoo! reveals that UK consumers are interacting with numerous screens at any one point, with a quarter of mobile media users using mobile, TV and PC at the same time, and 84% of users stating they simultaneously interacted with two screens. The research supports the view that brands wishing to engage with UK consumers need to consider all platforms to ensure awareness for their campaigns. Yahoo! Says the findings also highlight the need for the mobile Internet experience to reflect that of a PC, in order for that experience to be considered useful.
The survey was conducted by APPetite, which surveyed 2,004 UK mobile media users aged between 16 & 65, with quotas set on age and mobile network, to ensure the research represented the national average.
The research found that while mobile applications are driving usage and support brand innovation, long-term mobile engagement depends on optimised mobile Internet experiences. Furthermore, where the mobile Internet experience is poor, 44% of users blamed the brand, rather than the mobile network, stressing the need for brands who wish to engage with users online to seriously consider the quality of their online presence on mobile.
“There is now genuine consumer excitement over what possibilities mobile media can provide, and brands must quickly respond to take advantage of this,” says John Tigg, Head of Mobile at Yahoo! UK. “We believe Yahoo! is in a prime position to advise its clients on how to engage with this new enthusiasm. Yahoo! understands the interplay between established content and advertising platforms and what a brand should do to succeed in the mobile space.”

Renu Selects NeoMedia for Mobile Barcodes

NeoMedia Technologies and Renu Mobile have reached an agreement to include NeoMedia’s mobile barcode products as part of Renu Mobile’s end-to-end mobile campaign management services.
“Renu Mobile is already well known for their ability to deliver exciting, successful mobile messaging based campaigns and building robust mobile websites,” says NeoMedia CEO, Iain McCready. “We are delighted to enable the creative team at Renu Mobile to now bring even more capabilities to their clients, using our NeoSphere barcode creation and management system.”
Renu Mobile’s clients will also be able to take advantage of the NeoReader mobile barcode reader.  NeoMedia announced last week the release of its latest reader for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, as well as a major launch on new Sony Ericsson phones that will come pre-loaded with NeoReader out of the box.

LinkedIn Launches Blackberry App

LinkedIn has launched the LinkedIn application for BlackBerry. The app is available to download via the LinkedIn website, and on BlackBerry App World. It complements LinkedIn’s existing mobile offerings for the iPhone and Palm Pre.
“With the addition of the application for BlackBerry to our broader suite of mobile applications, LinkedIn is available to more business people than any other professional network in the world,” says LinkedIn Vice President of Search and Platform Products, Adam Nash. “This is an important step in our strategy to deliver business productivity tools to our members wherever their work takes them.”
The app features native integration with the BlackBerry, which enables users to use it within their BlackBerry’s existing email, calendar and contacts applications. Users can prepare for any meeting by quickly accessing LinkedIn profiles; manage their LinkedIn inboxes on the go; access network updates: Stay connected to the professional conversation; send invites to new connections to build professional networks; and receive recommendations of who they may want to add to their professional networks.
The app is available for free download to BlackBerry Tour, Curve and BlackBerry Bold handsets, in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Chinese. It operates on devices running BlackBerry OS 4.3 or later. Full integration of the LinkedIn application with native BlackBerry applications requires BlackBerry OS 4.6 or later. 

MIG Opens Cape Town Tech Centre

Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) has opened a technology centre in Cape Town, S. Africa. The facility has been specifically set up to develop new and innovative products for the mobile interactive industry and to support the rollout of MIG’s technology on a global scale.
In line with its ambitious international expansion plans, MIG continues to invest heavily in its own intellectual property. The company says the opening of the technology centre in S. Africa will enable efficiency and speed to market, for a range of products releases across its core global platforms. Moreover, the comprehensive technology product is focused towards MIG’s broad customer base, including mobile network operators, service providers, broadcasters and media companies, brands and multinational corporations.
Development and expertise will cover standards-based and emerging technologies such as Erlang, Ruby on Rails, Web 2.0, and mobile interactive solutions.
“Our objective with the Cape Town Technology Centre is to provide our international clients with the same high standard of products and services as we do for our local clients in the UK,” says MIG CTO, 
Marcus Kern. “MIG’s agile development methodology allows us to take new opportunities to market quickly, whilst maintaining an outstanding high level of software maturity and stability."
MIG says that it will be announcing new client and business partnerships in the region in the coming months.

MMA Announces Singapore Workshops

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is to stage two 3-hour mobile marketing workshops on 13 April, 2010 to introduce interested marketers to the medium and address questions around the metrics behind mobile advertising campaigns. The workshops will be held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront in Singapore, ahead of the 2nd Annual MMA Forum Asia which takes place on 14 and 15 April.
“With Asian mobile users constituting approximately one third of the world’s overall market, the region has proven to be a hotbed for innovative mobile marketing campaigns,” says Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, APAC for the MMA. “With these workshops, we hope to provide brands, agencies, network operators, content providers and technology developers across the region with a roadmap for using the mobile channel as an effective marketing tool that produces targeted, measurable results.”
The morning workshop, titled ‘Mobile Marketing 101’ will introduce participants to the various facets and available platforms for mobile marketing. Presenters will provide a detailed overview of the mobile marketing ecosystem and share success stories from across the region. The workshop will arm participants with a ‘how to’ guide on planning, organising and partnering for the development and launch of mobile marketing programs, as well as monitoring and reporting on the success of these programs. Participants will also learn how to integrate their mobile marketing initiatives into their long-term multichannel marketing strategy.
The workshop will be conducted by Paul Berney, Managing Director, Europe, for the MMA; Barney Loehnis, Head of Digital, Asia Pacific, at Ogilvy One; Jojit Alcazar, Head of Mobile Advertising at  Smart Communications; and Konny Zsigo, President of Wireless Developer Agency.
The afternoon workshop, titled ‘Mobile Analytics’ is sponsored by Openwave Systems, and aims to facilitate an understanding of customer preferences and the measurement and metrics of mobile advertising. Participants will gain skills in developing customer-related campaigns by translating rich behavioural data to actionable insights.
The Mobile Analytics workshop will be conducted by Anurag Patnaik, Director of Product Management, Analytics, at Openwave Systems; Christian H. Cadeo, Head of Brand Advertising, APAC, at AdMob; Dr. K F Lai, CEO of BuzzCity; Emmanuel Allix, VP & MD, APAC for InMobi; and Milind Sattur, Head - Pricing, Planning & Research, at Navteq Media Solutions.
Each workshop costs US$75 for MMA members, or $100 for non-members. MMA members can attend both workshops for $120; non-members for $160.
The 2nd Annual MMA Forum Asia, built around the theme ‘Now and Next’, will bring together over 250 participants from across the globe and cover a diverse range of subjects including emerging technologies, mobile search, mobile analytics, mobile success stories and social media. There’s more information about the event here.

Orange Scores Mobile Games Hat-trick

Orange UK has taken the wraps off three new mobile gaming offerings, including games for the iPhone.
Orange iPhone Games, launching late April, offers all UK iPhone customers access to mobile games designed and produced by Orange, via the Apple App Store. Games on offer include off-road racing, plus a selection of card games, including Blackjack and Poker.
Playtomo is a social gaming service, launching today, that allows UK customers to play card and action and adventure platform games for free. Playtomo integrates with social networks so users can share their scores, and challenge their friends to get involved. Contact lists are easily imported to the service so friends on other networks can be invited to join in.
Finally, Games Zone, launching this Wednesday, is a £5-a-month subscription gaming service offering Orange customers two free games each month, exclusive competitions and a 20% discount on additional purchases(2)
Games Zone is also available on a 1-month free trial to new or upgrading Pay Monthly customers as part of Orange’s new multimedia Animal tariff refresh.
“This is an exciting time for Orange, with the launch of these new mobile gaming offerings forming a key part of our strategy to evolve our business through entertainment,” says Orange’s Head of Gaming Products and Services, Neil Holroyd. “Innovative gaming services such as Playtomo and Games Zone give customers the best possible gaming experience and value for money on their mobile phone, while enabling us to develop our offering.” 

Safety First

With Ericsson announcing last week that global data traffic had overtaken voice traffic for the first time, Simeon Coney, VP Business Development at mobile security firm AdaptiveMobile, cautions mobile users to remain vigilant when using mobile data services on their phones or via mobile broadband dongles

The rise of the Smartphone has brought about a revolution in the way we use our phones. Whereas two years ago, it was all about voice and text, these days our mobile handset is about so much more than that – it’s an extension of our connection to Internet content, services and applications, and for many users, is more immediate than the laptop or PC. Unfortunately, this upsurge in mobile data usage brings with it the demands of traffic types often not anticipated by the network.
For mature markets, these risks are often associated with cost. Users often remain unaware of the levels of background data access their handset and PC applications are demanding, then experience a shock when roaming charges are later presented for services such as media or podcast synchronisation, or application and OS updates. For example, we frequently measure that ‘Windows Updates’ is the most commonly accessed destination on many mobile networks, due to the penetration of netbooks and mobile broadband packages.

Additional risks
In emerging markets, there are also additional risks. With many users being new to the mobile web, many are unaware of the potential security threats they face when browsing or emailing. Users of PCs or laptops are typically conditioned to be suspicious of unusual links and keep their guard up against viruses and phishing - it’s become second nature. However, as the mobile phone is such a personal device, people have become too trusting of the content they receive. Unfortunately, AdaptiveMobile measures many requests in networks where people are attempting to visit high-risk content, whether it be spam, phishing or fraud. If you see a link which appears to be from someone you know on your mobile, most people would click on it without giving it a second thought.
In both mature and emerging markets, data traffic is also driven by infections on devices, where uncontrolled spam is sent out from mobile data-enabled PCs. This results in the operator’s public IP reputation being damaged, ultimately leading to service failure for subscribers.
This increase in demand for mobile data has, however, opened up new opportunities for the mobile operators - to provide protection for their subscribers and networks, whilst delivering business value and generating new upsell revenue for their network.

AMC Signs Middle East Music Deal

Arab Mobile Content (AMC) has signed an agreement to distribute Aardvark Records’ mobile audio and video content in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region.
The content includes full tracks, ringback tones, ringtones and music videos, and marks the first time the British label's content has been made available for sale in the region, which has over 40 million mobile subscribers.
The partnership between AMC and Aardvark was brokered through New York-based Big Apple Style Marketing, an Aardvark Records digital distribution and branding development partner.

Cole Tops Orange Digital Media Index Charts

She may have had a few issues in her private life in recent months, but Cheryl Cole is as popular as she has ever been, according to the latest Orange Digital Media Index (ODMI).
The ODMI provides an insight into the behaviour of consumers in the digital world, using statistics from Orange’s 16.5 million active customers in the UK. The report looks at usage patterns across Orange’s entertainment and communications services to show how consumer habits are changing.
The latest ODMI findings reveal that the X-Factor star is the UK’s most searched-for celebrity by customers, raking in 40% more mobile searches than her nearest rival, Miley Cyrus or Twilight star Robert Pattinson.
The singer also tops the list of the most downloaded music tracks with her single, ‘Fight for this Love’. She also tops the video download chart for good measure, with the music video for the same song.
The latest ODMI findings reveal that celebrity searches have increased by 800% since the previous report, with the biggest upsurge in any search term, including ‘music’, ‘entertainment’ and ‘social networking’.

Top 10 searched for celebrities:

1. Cheryl Cole
2. Miley Cyrus
3. Robert Pattinson
4. Emma Watson
5. Amanda Holden
6. Vanessa Hudgens
7. Taylor Lautner
8. Danielle Lloyd
9. Billie Piper
10. Lindsay Lohan

Top 10 downloaded music tracks:

1. Cheryl Cole – Fight for this Love
2. The Black Eyed Peas – Meet Me Halfway
3. Lady GaGa – Bad Romance
4. JLS – Everybody in Love
5. Taio Cruz – Break Your Heart
6. Jason Derulo –Whatcha Say
7. David Guetta feat – Sexy Bitch – Featuring Akon
8. The Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
9. Michael Buble – Haven’t Met You Yet
10. N-Dubz – Playing with Fire

Top 10 video downloads:

1. Cheryl Cole: Fight For This Love (Music clip)
2. Twilight: New Moon trailer (Film clip)
3. X Factor Final: Winner Joe sings The Climb (TV highlights clip)
4. Angry Kid: Darkside (Cartoons/animation clip)
5. Paranormal Activity trailer (Film clip)
6. South Park: Cartman v Bart Simpson (Cartoons/animation clip)
7. Taio Cruz: Break Your Heart (Music clip)
8. X Factor Final: Joe sings Don’t Stop Believing (TV highlights clip)
9. South Park: Spook-tacular – Chef sings Thriller (Cartoons/animation clip)
10. Angry Kid: Queen's Speech (Cartoons/animation clip)

The full Orange Digital Media Index will be available early next month.  

Community Care?

There was an initial burst of excitement at Mobile World Congress, with the news that 24 telcos (and a few handset makers) had teamed up to form the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC). While on one hand, it could be seen as a (desperate?) attempt by the operators to wrest some control of the applications ecosystem back from Apple, and also limit Google’s attempts to muscle in with Android, it also promised to create a platform that would enable developers to create an application for one mobile platform, and port it seamlessly to any other.
Almost as soon as the announcement had been made, however, the cynicism kicked in, and not just from the journalist and blogger communities. Virtually everyone you asked about the WAC thought it highly unlikely that a group made up of 24 telcos would stand much chance of agreeing on anything, let alone doing so quickly. There were also rumours that several members of the community had only signed up to it on the eve of the show, with the announcement drawing ever closer.
Such cynicism may of course, be justified, but we feel it’s only right to give the WAC a chance. Which is why we decided to cover the initiative in our next print edition, due out in June. We found a few commentators and analysts willing to talk to us about it. Indeed, the only thing we were lacking was a contribution from the WAC itself. So we headed to the WAC website, hoping to get the latest news and some contact details. Well the latest news is the announcement from the show. And the contact details are an info@ email address. Nothing else.
A few years ago, when people were wondering whether this online shopping lark was actually safe, I remember reading some very good advice about how to tell a good, trustworthy website from a dodgy one. One sure sign to proceed with caution was when you came across a site with no physical address or telephone number. In this respect, the WAC site is like a throwback to the Wild West days of the Internet.
If the WAC is serious about its plans, it should at the very least appoint a press officer to deal with media enquiries, so people who want to explain what it’s trying to do can get the information they need. And if the only contact details it offers are an info@ email address, then it could at least bother to answer emails sent to it. I sent mine around a week ago; no response yet. I’m beginning to understand where all that cynicism came from.

David Murphy
Editor

Voda Powers British Gas Smart Meters

Vodafone UK is working with British Gas on the rollout of smart metering in the UK. A multi-million pound contract will see Vodafone provide nearly 1 million GPRS connections within household meters to help families monitor the energy they use, leading to cost savings and reduced CO2 emissions.
Families will no longer need to wait in for someone to read their energy meter. Instead, they will automatically receive a bill for exactly what they’ve used, with the energy use data sent from the in-home smart meter back to British Gas over the Vodafone network.

iAd for the iPad?

Ever since the iPad was announced, the question on many people’s lips has been what impact it might have on the mobile marketing business. Rumours are now circulating that it could be pretty significant. The US website Online Media Daily reports that Apple is preparing to announce a personalized, mobile advertising system – it believes it could be called the ‘iAd’. According to the report, Apple boss Steve Jobs will reveal all to US ad agency chiefs on 7 April.
That’s about as much detail as there is in the report. All will be revealed – or not – in just over a week’s time.

Collision Course

SatStream, Groovy Gecko and Yospace have teamed up to provide live streaming of the latest Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment, run by CERN, to mobiles and PCs.
The LHC, which is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles, is scheduled to collide its proton beams for the first time at the record energy of 7 TeV on 30 March. Its four major experiments, ATLAS, CMS, Alice and LHCb, aim to provide answers to unresolved mysteries of physics such as dark matter, antimatter and the existence of the Higgs Boson, the so-called ‘God Particle’.
The satellite downlink will be handled from SatStream’s broadcast-standards facility in London, where the footage will be transcoded, ready for live streaming over the web by Groovy Gecko. Yospace will handle the live streaming to mobile.
“Our work with the LHC is vital for physicists to gain (a) better understanding of the world in which we live,” says CERN’s Thomas Baron. “We feel that it also has wide public appeal and interest and therefore we wanted to make the experiment fully accessible. The combination of SatStream, Groovy Gecko, and Yospace has enabled us to do just that.”
The live stream will be available tomorrow at http://webcast.cern.ch/lhcfirstphysics beginning at 8:30am Central European Summer Time. The main webcast will include live footage from the control rooms for the LHC accelerator and all four LHC experiments, plus coverage of the press conference after the first collisions are announced. Webcasts will also be available from the control rooms of the four LHC experiments: ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb.
To fill the gaps between the various experiments, there are a couple of round table discussions you may want to tune into. ‘Dark Matter, Supersymmetry, Black Holes and Antimatter’ starts at 12.30pm, while ‘Societal Benefits of Particle Physics’ kicks off at 2.30pm. Each lasts 10 minutes.

InfoMedia Unveils Alps Apps

Mobile content and services firm InfoMedia has launched 13 official iPhone applications for ski resorts across the Alps. The apps have been developed in partnership with online Alps information portal Skinets.com and digital agency Powder Blue. The apps provide information on the latest weather, snowfall depths, piste and resort maps and useful locations and information. Each app costs £2.39.
"iPhone applications are the perfect vehicle for presenting live information, video content and images in a really usable and useful way, right at the point of need,” says InfoMedia, Managing Director, Michael Tomlins. "The partnership with Skinets.com enables us to strengthen our position in the app space and adds to our growing portfolio of clients in this sector."
You can see a demo of the apps here.

MEF Signs Italian Agreement

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) has signed a 3-year Strategic Partnership agreement with the Osservatorio ICT & Management of the Politecnico di Milano School of Management. The Politecnico School of Management is known for its expertise in the area of ICT research, including mobile media.
The agreement will cover mutual support for the two organisations’ key annual events (including MeM, the Meffys awards and the Milan Mobile Content & Internet convention) as well as cross-promotion of each other’s products and services. The Politecnico School of Management has established a reputation as an authoritative source of industry statistics, producing reports on the mobile media sector in Italy, Turkey and Brazil amongst other countries. The Politecnico School of Management has selected MEF as the official International Partner for its Mobile Content & Internet annual event in Milan for the past three years.
The MEF will be liaising closely with the Politecnico School of Management on regional activities. It  recently published a report on ad-funded mobile entertainment for the Italian market, with input from its Italian membership and contribution from the Politecnico School of Management.
“We are honoured that MEF has chosen our organization as the first university to become its strategic partner,” says Andrea Rangone, Scientific Advisor for the Osservatorio ICT & Management of Politecnico di Milano School of Management. “We believe that this collaboration will strengthen and further benefit both the organizations and the industry as a whole; as well as enhance the diffusion of culture and knowledge of the mobile media sector.”

Mobile Ready for its Retail Screen Test

Anthony Hopper, UK Managing Director of Saatchi & Saatchi X, looks at the part mobile has to play in the future of shopper marketing

For the last five years, each New Year has been greeted with claims that this will be the year that the retail sector will finally fully integrate in-store technology into the marketing mix. There has, to date, been a focus on in-store screens, with limited success. Clearly, screens have a big role to play, but so far, there has been too much focus on screens in aisles that are delivering the wrong content for shoppers. A lot of branded price and promotion messages are being pushed, without a genuine understanding of what the shopper cares about at that particular point of their customer journey, and what it takes to help them win.
What this means is using the technology to connect to the emotional drivers of shoppers – helping them to find a solution, making them feel like they got a good deal and contributing to a good experience. It is about using this new technology as more than just another price-based advertising channel. The retail marketing channel of the future may well be in-store screen technology, but the screen will be in the shoppers’ hands.

Emergent behaviour
This is where the mobile channel can be properly and intelligently integrated into retailers’ and brands’ marketing activity. This opportunity is borne out of naturally emergent consumer behaviour; people are finding their own ways to use this new technology, rather than some innate desire on the part of retail brands to invest in mobile. The exponential spread of Smartphones means consumers are using their mobile device for far more than just sending texts and making calls. 
All of which is hugely relevant to shopper marketing. As an approach that uses an understanding of how consumers behave when they are in ‘shopper mode’ to remove barriers to purchase, mobile technology provides opportunities we’ve never seen before to improve shoppers’ lives.
Take the recent Dixons.co.uk campaign, which tapped into a real truth about shopper behaviour: shoppers go to outlets like John Lewis to look at expensive consumer technical goods in-store before checking online to find the best price and buying from there. This is a purchase barrier to consumers making the buying decision in store, and one that mobile technology could overcome. If John Lewis launched an iPhone app that allowed customers to scan any existing barcode, and compare prices in store, they could trigger the buying decision there and then, which would also link directly with John Lewis’ brand promise of being ‘never knowingly undersold’.
There are more ways to empower and inspire shoppers than price comparison, however. Saatchi & Saatchi X in the US worked with LG to provide consumers with the ability to source a range of product data via a mobile online buyers’ guide - a great example of how to improve shoppers’ lives. This could work in the FMCG sector, just as well as for FMTG and white goods.
Retailers and brand marketers can take valuable lessons from online retailers and apply them in store via mobile technology. Providing a database that consumers can sort by category’ enabling consumers to choose which products they want to see a greater depth of information about; even accessing consumer reviews of the same products - these are all facilities offered by Amazon that engage the shopper and build new levels of trust. It doesn’t have to be explicitly branded to work either; an impartial body like Which? Magazine would be a hugely effective partner in delivering what shoppers want, and what will make them buy, there and then.

Content control
Another factor to consider is that mobile offers brands the opportunity to deliver content they can control, which is not the case with retailers’ own screens. This allows brands to tailor the content they want to deliver, based around their insight of what the shopper wants.
In a recent study, Forrester Research found that 85% of shoppers have mobile devices on them whilst shopping. Devices which are now used for planning or researching purchases, to discover what’s on offer and even give shoppers directions on how to get to the store. Indeed, a 2009 US Deloitte study indicated that nearly one in five consumers had planned to use their mobile phone over the Christmas period to find store locations, obtain coupons, and research prices. So, whilst mobile devices are clearly changing people’s behaviour, many brands still seem to be suspicious of anything new. But if brands understand that mobile communication and marketing messages that are delivered through the handset need not be a form of disruption, but actually a source of utility, then they should see that consumers are more likely to welcome these brands into their lives.

iPhone applications
Look at the explosive growth of iPhone applications as an example. In 2009, Kraft foods launched its ‘iFood Assistant’app in the US. For 99 cents, shoppers can download the application which enables them to browse recipes, add items to a shopping list, view suggestions for dinner, and store favourites in an online recipe box. These branded applications, which act as tools to help people shop, are essentially a highly involving form of direct marketing and actually help improve shoppers’ lives. When a brand can do that, the chance of repeat purchases is greatly increased, and they can start to build what should be the aspiration of any brand marketer - loyalty beyond reason.
The increase in shoppers’ use of their mobiles, and their greater demand for information, is not the only driving force at work here; there has also been a corresponding rapid advancement in mobile communications technology. Japan, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a great place to look for an insight into the future of mobile marketing. In Japan, Quick Response (QR) codes are everywhere. Users with a cameraphone can scan the image of a code, causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This seamless act of linking from physical objects to the Internet opens up a huge number of new opportunities. It allows brands to share information such as consumer reviews at the point of purchase, or as Pepsi has done, just engage and have fun with its audience by linking to a microsite, from where users can download music and play games through their mobile.

Timely information
Brands and retailers must take the lead and explore every opportunity to improve shoppers’ lives by providing relevant, insightful and timely information. This requires a real understanding of how shoppers are actually using their mobile phones to shop; whether comparing prices, checking out ingredients or searching for special offers. Once you know that, then and only then can you connect with them in a way that will add value and improve the shopping experience. Furthermore, a more earnest dialogue is required between the mobile and retail industries that can between them create some incredible new and innovative ideas that will drive the market in 2010 and beyond.
What retailers and brands must realise is that to truly harness the opportunity this technology offers, they must know how and when the shopper wants to use it. Only then can you deliver your messages in a way that will improve their shopping experience.
 

Nokia Buys Novarra

Nokia is to acquire Novarra, which provides a mobile browser and service platform. Nokia says it will use Novarra's platform to deliver enhanced Internet experiences on Nokia mobile devices. Novarra’s platform is deployed with a number of mobile operator and nternet services customers globally.
Nokia adds that it expects a new service offering utilizing the Novarra technology platform to be available later this year. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010, and is subject to the customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews. Following the acquisition, Novarra will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia.
"Connecting the next billion consumers to the Internet will happen primarily on mobile devices, and delivering an optimized Internet experience on our devices is core to our mission,” says Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Services at Nokia. “By driving innovation in all segments of our portfolio, we are building one of the largest consumer audiences for web services and content. Novarra's Internet services technology delivered on the world's most widely-used mobile platform, Nokia's Series 40, will help us achieve this."

TextMagic Rings Franchisee's Bell

Like many business owners, Alan Hopgood, the Southend franchisee of the Kendlebell personal telephone answering service, is constantly seeking new ways to streamline day-to-day operations in order to save time and money. With over 200 clients using his service, Hopgood needed a way to simplify and secure the process by which clients were notified about their incoming calls and messages.
"The majority of our customers like to receive both an email and a text message to ensure that they aren't missing any crucial communication coming through the Kendlebell answering service," he says. "We needed a belt and braces approach that would allow us to send SMS texts and emails simultaneously."
He discovered TextMagic while researching his options on the Internet. "Prior to using TextMagic's Email to SMS service, we had to manually send an email and then re-send the same message by SMS,” he says. TextMagic has simplified this greatly as we can now relay both types of messages with just one click from our screens. We simply added clients' TextMagic to their list of email addresses."
An added benefit is that the TextMagic solution enables clients to reply to his text messages, which was not possible using the company’s pevious, web-based text messaging systems. We have been using the TextMagic service for over 18 months now and we are very pleased with it."

Appointments Update

Micro-billing, communications and mobile enablement company Oxygen8 Communications has appointed Keith Dibble as Media and Corporate Sales Director, as the company seeks to grow the business by 60% over the next two years.
Dibble will be responsible for driving the company’s sales and business development strategy, winning new customers in the media and corporate sectors, and up-selling to the existing customer base. Dibble has extensive experience in the Telecoms market having held a number of sales and business development positions within the industry. Prior to joining Oxygen8 Communications, he was Partner Sales Manager at NetPlayTV, and before this he was Media Business Manager at Opal Telecom. Dibble also used to be the Head of Premium Rate Sales at PNC Telecom Services.
Meanwhile, Business Logic Systems, which specialises in prepaid marketing automation and loyalty solutions for mobile operators, has appointed Thomas Demolliens as Regional Sales Director for Africa. Demolliens will be responsible for identifying and securing new business from network operators throughout Africa.
He brings more than 10 years of telecoms experience to the new role. He also has in-depth knowledge of dealing with mobile network operators in Africa, having spent two years selling and managing a customer care and billing system solution for Protek in Johannesburg.  He has also held several senior positions at French telco Bouygues Telecom, and at LogicaCMG.

liligo Unveils iPhone App

Travel search engine liligo.com has launched an iPhone application. The free app compares offers from 250 travel sites in real-time, including all low cost companies and charter airlines. Results are presented in price order, with the lowest prices shown first. Users can also apply filters such as airport, airline and trip duration, and the results can be shared with friends via email. The company its USP is the number of low-cost airlines it indexes, which means that users of the app can be sure of picking up the best deals on flights from their iPhone.

Rogers Customers Get GetJar Apps

Independent app store GetJar is to make its library of more than 60,000 free mobile applications available to Rogers customers in Canada at no charge. The network’s customer can access GetJar’s applications library via a GetJar link on the Rogers Application page on its mobile Internet portal. wireless device.
The apps include games, social networking, sports, entertainment and productivity applications. Popular apps such as Facebook Mobile, Weather Channel Mobile, Fandango, and Snap2Twitter can be easily downloaded to a wide variety of wireless devices.
Rogers joins other companies already using GetJar’s open app store approach, including Sprint, Sony Ericsson, 3UK, The Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Mobile France. GetJar offers branded solutions, such as is the case with Rogers, as well as white-label solutions, using its app catalog express (ACE) service. GetJar supports over 2,000 handsets across all major platforms, including Smartphones and feature phones.
“We are very excited that Rogers is working and cooperating with GetJar to meet the demands of its customers,” says GetJar CEO, Ilja Laurs. “This agreement, much like our recent announcement with Sprint Nextel, allows Rogers to immediately connect all its customers with over 60,000 free applications with very little effort.”
To access GetJar’s catalog, Rogers customers text APPS to 555 to be sent a link to the Rogers Application page, then click the link and select the ‘Free Apps from GetJar’ link under Spotlight. Data plans are required to download the applications and data charges may apply with regards to application usage.

Birmingham Kids Benefit from Mobile Broadband Initiative

Schoolchildren in Birmingham who don’t have landlines at home are benefiting from free web access to learning programmes and education resources thanks to a join initiative from Vodafone UK and Birmingham City Council.
The two organisations are working together to loan laptops to over 450 children, including mobile broadband Internet. As part of the project, Vodafone has also implemented its Vodafone Secure Remote Access service, so that the programme can be extended safely to participating families, without compromising the security of the Council’s network, data or hardware.
Councillor Les Lawrence, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families at Birmingham City Council says: “This is a highly flexible and cost effective way for us to provide some of the most disadvantaged homes in the region with mobile broadband access and make sure that the children have every opportunity to improve their education.”
The programme, funded by Government agency Becta, is also benefitting parents in the families by giving them the opportunity to develop their ICT skills alongside their children and contribute to their education. Many of the parents have also been able to look at online reports provided on their child’s progress for the first time.
Vodafone UK recently revealed that its Vodafone Secure Remote Access solution has been awarded the CESG Claims Tested Mark (CCTM) quality mark by CESG, the information assurance arm of GCHQ.  Vodafone is the first UK mobile operator to receive the CCTM mark, which verifies the claims companies make for their security solutions for data confidentiality, integrity and availability in the modern public sector IT environment.