David Dalka attends and reports business events and conferences to discover the future of business where technology, organizations and customer exeperience meet. Also serves as emcee, moderator and motivational business keynote speaker.
Mobile / Cell / LBS / SMS
Google Adsense™ for Mobile launched yesterday.
What wasn’t announced fully was if the program is different in any way than traditional Adsense. It would also be interesting to understand how Google is exactly defining mobile websites.
As people start to use it, I’m sure these issues will become transparent.
Tim Courtney sent me the following note late last week, I hope to see you there….
When: Thursday, September 20, 2007 from 6:30-10:00pm
Where: Mullen’s Bar & Grill 3080 Warrenville Rd., Lisle, IL 60532
An opportunity to connect in an informal setting with like-minded people in technology; whether you’re an upwardly mobile professional, a job seeker, an entrepreneur, or a VC. We welcome everyone, including IT workers, e-commerce companies, Internet and Web 2.0 startups, mobile and mobile marketing, and B2B services.
The event is free to attend, free drinks and food will be provided. RSVP is required at http://siliconprairiesocial.eventbrite.com.
For more information see www.siliconprairiesocial.com or call Tim Courtney at 630.983.6064 or tcourtney at xnet.com.
Moderator:
Detlev Johnson, VP, Director of Consulting, Position Technologies
Search Engine Marketing Speakers:
Cindy Krum, Senior SEO Analyst, Blue Moon Works
Rachel Pasqua, Director of Mobile Marketing, iCrossing
Gregory Markel, Founder/President, Infuse Creative, LLC
Cindy Crum, Blue Moon Works
– Many aspects of Mobile Optimization follow Traditional SEO Wisdom
– Optimal Mobile Experience = Return Mobile Traffic = Better Results in Mobile Search Engines
– Device Independence: Traditional sites being viewed on Mobile Technology
What is Different About Mobile?
– Industry is in infancy
– Different bots / Crawlers
– Mobile Search Engines More Like Portals
– Many Different Browsers possible
– Slow Download Speed and Connectivity Issues
Development Best Practices
XHTML
Traditional Browsers are forgiving – Mobile Browsers are not
Infinite Combinations possible
Right Accessibility Standards Make it ideal
Avoid unnecessary code
Separate Content from design with CSS
External CSS
– Separates content from design
– Minimizes Code Required
– Decreases Load Time
– Ensures Correct Display on Different Screen Resolutions
– Allows you to specify rendering
Have mobile specific stylesheets
– One set of code, two stylesheets
– Screen first, handheld is second one in cascade
– Caveat: “display:none” to hide elements in either rendering
Use appropriate headers – HTTP User-agent, Accept and MIME types
iPhone
Google has a separate search page for the iPhone
Log in omitted, features and some ads are omitted
Follow all SEO Best Preactices
– Minimize File Size
– Submit your Site to Mobile Search Engines
Testing is important
– Opera, Skeezer, Google device simulators
– Test transcoded versus non-transcoded versions of Your Site
Validate your Site with mobile code checkers…
Embrace the Interactivity
– Provide relevant Info for People who are mobile
– Include your main address in the footer
– Make Phone Numbers and Email Addresses
Move your navigation to the bottom
Gregory Markel, Infuse Creative, LLC
No longer a WAP/Mobi world
Nokia S60 and Opera True web browser
Goog-411 (live demo rendered incorrect result)
Get listed in Google Local Business Listings
.mobi is diminishing in important
Optimization is synomonous with marketing
Mobile voice search is becoming more important
Rachel Pasqua, iCrossing
iCrossing started looking at mobile in 2005
3rd screen will come first
2.3 billion mobile subscribers as opposed to 1 billion users
Summarized the iCrossing “How America Searches Mobile, April 2007” report
Marketing Keynote Speaker Senior Product Manager Farhan Memon discussed the recent launch of AOL mobile search over a special lunch session. I was impressed by his presentation.
One thing that is quite clear is that they clearly get that mobile search is about leveraging data from other traditional web properties (which AOL has plenty of) and for this reason, I now wish to learn more about their offering and plans. Presently, they get ads from a combination of Ingenio and Third Screen Media a recent acquisition. It’s unclear what causes which ad type to show up when.
Afterwards Farhan and Scott Knowles, Senior Program Manager said they’d follow up with me in more detail, I look forward to learning more about the offering.
August 1, 2007 session…
MODERATOR:
Chris Bowler, VP, Media Director, Agency.com
PANELISTS:
Warren Kay, Director of Emerging Products, Yahoo! Search Marketing (not present)
Dominic Preuss, Product Manager, Local Advertising, Google
Janice Rohn, VP of Consumer Experience, Yellowpages.com
John du Pre Gauntt, Senior Analyst, eMarketer
The most important thing about this session is that half of the people from the previous session left – it shows that people don’t understand search and understand its’ importance in the eventual mobile domination. This session was presentations and much less dynamic.
Dominic –
Local and mobile are very much the same. Google Maps changes the way that people uses maps. Google Earth has some great partnerships. Google search on the wap browser. Gmail is an important part of our strategy. It is in a single repository. Discussed local business center. Make sure your information is up to date. Coupons for Maps. Regional targeting, country, state, city and radius. Google Local Business Ads. Google Mobile Ads – shorter messaging, link to mobile website, click to call enabled, carrier targeting, markup language targeting.
Janice Rohn – unfortunately had to leave the room for almost all of her talk…
John – Technical scale is not an issue. It’s about answers not links. It’s about all the collateral as well. The pain is very high. The carriers are not supporting a cookie like feature. Cross-carrier targeting it hard. Talked about a number of challenges facing the space and the fragmentation issues. For every $1 you spend on mobile spend $2 on training your staff. If you have the most wonderful mobile experience and a lousy customer experience, it does not matter! I couldn’t agree more.
While backing up files to reinstall Windows due to a virus I caught while at Blogher, I noticed that I had not posted my notes from the wonderful inaugural Mobile Location Enabled Services 2007 conference hosted by Abbie Badcock back in May. Apologies Abbie, your conference was both fun and productive.
Without a doubt, Mobile Location Enabled Services is a premier and unique event due to the variety of verticals in one place. Abbie Badcock has brought together a great mix of mobile search, mobile marketing and advertising, mobile local content, mobile social networking and a serious discussion to building the conversation regarding the resolution of the many to the realization of the potential of mobile location. I look forward to participating and driving the conversation in future years.
Symbian – Jerry Panagrossi, VP, US Operations, Symbian
The original STAR TREK Comunicator 1965-69
Fast forward to the 21st Century – PND, GPS Bluetooth, etc
1 Billion mobile phones shipped in 2006
Mobile subscribers projected 3 Billion by YE2007 and 4 Billion by YE 4 Billion!!!
Showed chart migrating from voice, data enabled then 3G phones – many with built in GPS.
Showed chart with why smart phones have high mobility and utility more than other presently available devices. Symbian believes that there is going to be mass market adoption.
Mobile Telecoms + Internet + Location Services + Automotive = Innovation
Emerging Disruptive Market Forces
Mobile Market Saturation
Open Mobile Platforms
Ad$ (advertising)
Data Services Deployment Trend
– Market Saturation
– 3G Deployment
– Service Rollout
– Smart Phone Adoption
Traditional economies are saturated with cell phones while others are not.
LBS ranks highest in consumer interest – survey Compete, Inc.
Services Segmentation – Public Safety, Consumer, Enterprise
Sports Tracker
Pixto, recently acquired my Nokia. Shows amazing technology that will categorize photos by location and combine is with relevant data about the location.
LBS Deployment challenges
– Locations indoors, underground, tunnels
– Reflection with large buildings
– A-GPS evolution
– Wifi
Database fragmentation
– Traffic updates and POIs
– Mobile data roaming – predictable billing when roaming internationally
A glimpse of the future
– Improved smartphone car communication
Trueposition – Joseph Khoury – VP of Business Development
$200 Million in Revenue, 480 employees, 100 international patents, subsidiary of Liberty Media
Incorporates all location technologies
History of company started with E911 emergency services in the USA.
Asset Tracking
Secure inter-carrier location information provider
Trueposition offers high accuracy Finder System, 75,000 Base Stations Deployed, 270 million POPs covered in the US.
High Accuracy Wireless Location System – best in class platform.
Finder System Benefits
Consistent accuracy across entire network – better than 50 meters most of the time – also incorporates velocity, heading power level signal to noise ratio.
Consumer interest – Turn by Turn Navigation
Market growth is happening again, but has conditions in a complex cross-industry ecosystem.
Drivers of LBS demand ramp up are many and they are complex.
Is getting into the business of building devices.
Mark Jacobstein, EVP, Loopt
Amazing privacy advocate, doesn’t store what they don’t need.
Monetizing Local Content for the Mobile Marketplace
Presentation was rapid fire short statements – amazingly engaging – hard to take notes on though.
Peter Friedland, Analyst, Soliel Group
Charnsin Tulasthien, Product Manager – Consumer Application and GPS Solutions, Sprint
Michael Nappi, VP of Media Development, Traffic.com
Christ Hazelton, Senior Analyst – Mobility Device Technology and Trends, IDC
Charnsin – How do we provide relevant POIs?
Michael – There are other areas to discuss in regards to bringing in advertising in context.
In regard to traffic, we brought in traffic information to you originally via alerts. The data can be brought into mobile and GPS applications. When traveling it’s an informational thing. I might be looking for more information in an unfamiliar information. These models will flourish.
Charnsin – Traffic is just another piece of information. We can provide not only alerts, but rerouting information.
Will it be the walled garden? The Google or Yahoo! approach?
Charnsin – There are things that are accessible via our phones.
LBS Advertising will users accept it?
Michael – We deliver information on an opt-in basis. Click per Route. Advertising based alerts. We own the content and vertically integrate it all the way up. Phones are becoming multimedia devices more each day. There is a lot of useful advertising models. There is an integration from focus groups that will lead the way.
Mobile Search Panel – Mobile Search + Location = Fulfilled User Expectations?
Jeff Rice, VP Market Development, Skyhookwireless
Matt Ward-Sheinman, Director of Product Management, Medio Systems
Neal Karasic, Director of Product Management, Jumptap
Steve McGuigan, VP Business Development, Hallmark
Peter Classen, Director of Business Development, Infospace
How is it appropriate?
Matt: The advantages of having it in your pocket is great. The comparison to the Internet is not accurate.
Steve: It comes down to relevancy and speed.
Peter: I aggress as well. The difference between web vs. mobile. Frisbee is a good example. If someone is typing that in a mobile phone they probably want to buy one at a store.
Location based, which ones are tied to a search.
Peter: 90%+
Matt: Statistically not very good. 15% percent are local search, though this is undercounted. You get ringtone content and other related items.
Steve. A search can be about sports,
Neal: User supplied location is not ideal. Most people search near home, so that is important data. Yesterday, I looked for a taxi in Detriot even though I was still in Boston. There are things around that.
Peter: I agree with Matt about the Madonna. It’s better when you can add the local context to the search.
Pizza, question on voice search
Peter: It would be great but it’s complex. We partner with Voicebox.
Peter: Human assisted search won’t work. Mobile search only when it’s free. Consumers are free.
Matt: Search on the Internet and advertising. I expect a rich client app to be there. There is a cost to a GPS fix. It needs to be free and advertising supported. Put them in when appropriate. Never sacrifice the user experience.
Neal: I basically agree. Search being free. That is the model that is going to work and users expect. We bring advertisers to the table. We want the ecosystem to work.
Steve: Local search and directories haven’t changed enough for mobile. Until we get there we need to use the directory model.
Jeff: We are reworking the paid model in Internet, I understand that is changing….
Matt: Carriers want to defend their advertisers. It’s hard to go across the operator networks. Google and Yahoo! have tried. They have large groups.
Neal: We partner.
Profit from Proximity Based Marketing
David Williams, CEO and Publisher LBS Globe
Jay Gould, VP of Business Development, Profilium Inc.
Scott Pearson, VP Sales, Enpocket
Brian McNiff, Vice President of Marketing, Technocom Corporation
How fast is locational proximity going to factor in?
Jay: We believe that throwing location in the mix is critical.
Brian: We believe it’s vital to mobile marketing. I got 4 Starbucks sms messages today. For small business to justify moving away from the yellow pages, we need to see it.
Jay: We need to build the value chain going up.
Brian: The operators are giving
I just got an email from an SEM shop saying that Google offering “is now offering vouchers worth up to $150 to be used in targeted Google Mobile AdWords campaigns”
Is anyone using this so far? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.