Category: Mobile / Cell / LBS / SMS

Mobile / Cell / LBS / SMS

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Questions Regarding Recent SEMPO Survey

At SES Chicago 2006, Tim Daly from SENTEC stated that it would be nice if “SEMPO became more than just a cocktail party” during a session on Search Arbitrage issues. It’s an interesting statement, but based on the recent election results for the board of directors it appears that Mr. Daly will not be influencing that opinion directly during 2007.  

Well apparently SEMPO actually is more than a cocktail party as they released a research report the other day. They did not send me the report referenced here, but I find the following to be interesting: 

  • Marketers are even more reluctant to pay for mobile search as almost half of the respondents said they would not pay a premium for that technology.
  • Almost 25 percent of respondents said they prefer to pay less for mobile search than for traditional search. About two-thirds said they were interested in contextually targeted advertising delivered to mobile search users.

Commentary: I recently used Linkedin Answers to ask the question,  “In your opinion, who are the emerging start up leaders in providing mobile search marketing and related services?” The result? Nobody answered the question publicly and I got a ton of private answers saying “that is a good question”, “I don’t know yet”, etc. How can one make a judgment about the pricing of a medium if they do not have the complete value proposition and in many cases do not even know who the alternatives to traditional search engines are and how they are unique yet? 

  • “The reluctance to hike budgets for video and mobile search reflects the industry’s trend toward an overall pricing plateau,” the survey said. Twenty-five percent of the respondents reported they had reached their pricing ceiling for paid placement. Of the remaining 75 percent, half said the most they could afford in a price increase was 30 percent.

Commentary: Frequently new mediums take revenue streams from other existing mediums. Business history has some dramatic examples of how organizations did not adapt to change because they were afraid of cannibalizing existing revenue streams and it ultimately led to obsolescence. It is just one of a long list of reasons that this period of time is extremely exciting to me.

I didn’t see the survey during the answer gathering. I’m curious to know if “I don’t have enough information to answer that yet” was an option for the mobile search questions? Thanks.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

School Policies Adversely Affecting Mobile

Joe McNally wrote a nice article questioning the reasoning of a recent rule banning cell phones in schools in Milwaukee, Wisconson. It raises the question whether the mobile industry has a role to play in educating people about the downsides of such rules? It’s a good read – these are the highlights:

  • It’s amazing how often grown-ups try to blame their own failure to effectively engage children on some inanimate cultural artifact such as a cell phone, a clothing fashion or, back in our day, a hair style.
  • We are now told that one of the overriding reasons to ban cell phones from schools is that cell phones cause school violence.
  • I’ve never believed that absurd NRA slogan about how lethal weapons don’t kill people, but I’m pretty sure cell phones don’t get into fights at school. Kids do. School authorities claim that when fights break out in school these days, the problem quickly escalates because students instantly use their cell phones to call large crowds of students and even outsiders to join in.
Posted on by

Illinois Sues SMS Text Message Spammers

A surprisingly very lightly reported news story talked about the dark side of SMS, text spammers. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan recently filed a federal lawsuit against a pair of Florida SMS spammers who sent 5 million unsolicited text messages!!!

Increasingly I’m seeing a consumer backlash against untargeted SMS messages. We’ve trained people to search for the past ten years. The quicker we migrate to a search oriented mobile society from a mainly SMS based one, the better the customer experience will be!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Mobile Phone Usage Creates Economic Growth in Developing Nations

This interesting article discusses it. A real good read that certainly reframes some perceptions. When you read it one thing becomes clear, countries with legacy infrastructure are likely to not adopt as quickly as demand is not as urgent. The ultimate effects of this are not yet fully clear but I think it’s an important area to pay attention to. Some highlights:

  • “Financial institutions are realizing that the only way to reach new customers is through mobile networks,” says Nick Hughes, head of the mobile payment team at Vodafone.
  • Expanding mobile networks also brings other economic benefits, experts say. It lures more foreign investment, gives families better access to health and educational information and provides governments with more revenue from licenses and taxes.
  • Mobile phones provide a good way for the younger generation to seek new business opportunities and cash in on Vietnam’s move toward a market economy, says Paul Ruppert, managing director of consultancy Global Point View LLC, who has extensive experience in Asia. “It’s all micro-activity — tailors, small repair shops, textile producers, grocery stores,” Ruppert says. “Even though they’re small, they’re allowed to get an idea of the market via the cellphone.”
  • Research shows that greater cellphone use can drive economic growth in emerging economies. Based on market research in China, India and the Philippines, consulting firm McKinsey & Co. found that raising wireless penetration by 10 percentage points can lead to an increase in gross domestic product of about 0.5%, or around $12 billion for an economy the size of China.

What do you think of mobile’s effects on economic growth in developing and mature economies?