Mobiles

Worldwide mobile advertising is projected to surpass $2.7 billion in 2008, up from $1.7 billion in 2007, but the market has developed slowly and obstacles remain, according to independent research firm Gartner. Ease of use and relevancy to consumers are two important factors that must be addressed to help build momentum in the mobile advertising market.

"Innovative developments, such as minimizing the number of keystrokes required to access information, using the phone's camera to improve the overall user experience and tying content or shopping location relevancy to advertisements will move the market forward," said Tole Hart, research director at Gartner. "To encourage users to accept advertisements, advertisers must improve the way search results are managed on the handset so that the experience is painless and rewarding to end users."

"There are a number of players that can benefit from the mobile advertising market moving forward, including brands, merchants, carriers, banks, and bill paying agencies," said Andrew Frank, research vice president at Gartner. "An important attribute of mobile advertising will be relevancy because the device is very personal to the consumer. All parties win when greater relevancy occurs. The market and consumer will gravitate to content and advertisement messages that are relevant to them."

The mobile advertising market has generated a lot of hype for a variety of reasons: number of handsets, capabilities of the phone and the major Internet portals entering the market. However, the industry must still overcome several problems to drive the market forward. Some of the impediments to growth include slow adoption of multimedia, lack of consumer acceptance, lack of metric transparency, immaturity of standards, diversity of platforms, form factor issues, cross-media integration priorities and the complexity of the value chain, inventory of content, privacy, education and ease of accessing content.

"Many of these issues will be resolved during the next two years, but the make-or-break question of mobile advertising is: Will customers accept advertisements, and can brands and advertisers drive revenue via mobile advertising?" Mr. Hart said.

While effective targeting can dramatically improve response rates to advertisements, Gartner analysts said this may require existing knowledge of customers' demographics, an opt in to the brand's advertisements, location sensitivity, or contextual relevance to the content delivered.

"Advertising often runs the risk of being perceived as junk mail or a privacy violation, so advertisers must use such targeting techniques with care," Mr. Frank said. "However, sponsored content has proven successful in other media. There are several companies working on providing mobile content integrated with advertisements. In addition, location has long been thought of as a factor for relevancy, but to date precision has been limited as the capability and the cost of GPS has been too high, along with the low penetration of GPS phones."

Despite challenges to the market, the industry is still poised for consistent growth. By the end of 2011 worldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to surpass $12.8 billion.

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AT&T today announced a new approach to early termination fees (ETFs) that provides greater flexibility for wireless customers.

Starting on May 25, AT&T's new and renewing wireless customers who enter into one- or two-year service agreements will no longer be required to pay a single, flat early termination fee. Instead, that fee, which is $175, will be progressively lowered by $5 during each month, every month, for the term of the contract. (The single, flat ETF will continue to apply to new and renewing customers who enter into one- or two-year service agreements prior to May 25.)

AT&T noted that it continues to offer options for those customers who do not want term commitments or ETFs, including:

- Buy a phone at full price and go on a month-to-month service plan
- Bring own compatible GSM device - With this option, users can buy a SIM (subscriber identity module), slip it into the back of the phone, and select a month-to-month service plan
- Choose one of AT&T's GoPhone prepaid wireless plans

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©2002-2008 Mobiledia Corp. A Cell Phone Resource Site. All Rights Reserved. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only.

According to mobile industry research group, M:Metrics, Capcom Interactive is now one of the top five publishers of mobile games in North America.

Capcom's success is attributed to the mobile launches of their hit console titles, Mega Man II and Street Fighter II, as well as their licensed titles, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?.

"A year ago I went on record stating that within the year you'd see Capcom Interactive breaking into the top five," said Midori Yuasa, president, Capcom Interactive. "Today that prediction became a reality thanks to the dedication of the people in our organization, and the incredible support of our partners. With our amazing stable of original intellectual property and licensed casual entertainment brands, Capcom Interactive is poised for even greater success in '08."

"Capcom Interactive's impressive rise in the gaming charts is further evidence that we are entering a new more dynamic phase in mobile gaming in the U.S.," said Seamus McAteer, Chief Product Architect and Senior Analyst, M:Metrics. "By delivering a compelling casual gaming experience based on strongly branded content Capcom demonstrates that it is possible to grab a strong share in a market that had been dominated by a handful of incumbent titles."

The Mobile Phone Blog first posted on Capcom's explosive growth last March when it had rocketed from #62 in early 2006, to #9 last year.

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Visit our site at Mobile Edge dot com. Happy shopping!

Verizon Wireless and LG today announced the enV2 by LG will be available in April. The successor to the popular enV by LG, the new enV2 gets a makeover with a new slim redesign and sophisticated black or maroon finish.

The enV2 supports a number of features and services that customers have come to expect in wireless phones from LG and Verizon Wireless, including V CAST Music and Video, VZ NavigatorSM, Bluetooth capabilities, dual speakers and a 2.0 megapixel camera. The phone’s spacious QWERTY keypad with large sized external keys makes messaging easy, while its 2.4-inch internal screen offers crisp, crystal-clear videos and images.

Equipped with access to VZ Navigator, which uses location-based services (LBS) to provide audible turn-by-turn navigation and the ability to find more than 14 million points of interest, from ATMs and gas stations to restaurants and tourist destinations. The enV2 by LG also offers the following features and capabilities:

• Wireless Sync E-mail (BREW e-mail Client) capability
• Instant Messaging using AIM, WL Messenger, and Yahoo!
• 2.0 megapixel camera and camcorder:
• Video Resolutions: 320 x 240, 176 x 144 (default) pixels
• Video Player for WMV, MP4, 3GP, 3G2 formats
• Music Player for .mp3, .wma, and unprotected .aac and .aac + files
• microSD memory port with up to 8 GB support
• Supported Bluetooth Profiles - compatible with devices that support headset, hands-free, dial-up networking, advanced audio distribution (stereo), phone book access, basic printing, basic imaging, object push for vCard and vCalendar and file transfer
• Auto view and Text to Speech, so text messages can be heard aloud
• Frequency: 1.9 GHz CDMA PCS, 800 MHz CDMA (Digital Dual-Band)
• Dimensions: 4.00″ (h) x 2.13″ (w) x 0.65″ (d)
• Weight: 4.23 ounces
• Standard Battery: 950 mAh Li-Polymer
• Up to 320 minutes of usage time or up to 520 hours of standby time
• TTY/TDD support
• Hearing aid compatible (M3/T3-Rating)

The enV2 by LG will be available for $129.99 after a $50 rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

At CTIA 2008, Verizon Wireless has announced it will soon carry the new Samsung Alias. An update to the Samsung SCH-U740, the Alias sports a fancy new silver color scheme and updated QWERTY keyboard with easier to read labels.
Read the full story here.

Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone will be available in May. Packaged in a liquid silver-colored finish with chrome highlights, smooth edges and soft curves, the BlackBerry Curve 8330 is backed by Verizon Wireless’ high-speed Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) network.

The BlackBerry Curve 8330 offers the following capabilities and key features:

• measures 4.2” x 2.4” x 0.6”and weighs only 4 ounces
• Large, vibrant 320 x 240 display, with light sensing technology
• full-QWERTY keyboard and trackball navigation system
• noise cancellation technology to offset background noise, Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD),
• Bluetooth 2.0, with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets (Bluetooth stereo audio profile A2DP/AVRCP)
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones application
• 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack and dedicated volume controls
• MicroSD/SDHC memory card slot
• HTML web browser
• A removable, rechargeable battery, rated for up to 260 minutes of talk time and up to 11 days of standby time

The BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone will be available for $269.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

Verizon Wireless will soon be launching its version of the HTC Touch, re-branded as the XV6900. This finger-centric Windows Mobile 6 Professional powered smartphone features a large touchscreen display and 2 megapixel camera.
Read the full story here.

The major addition that the second beta of the iPhone SDK brings is the Interface Builder. This nifty little tool will allow you to drag and drop in order to build the user interface for your application.

Tools like that make it on par with languages such as Visual Basic which make building new apps fast, easy, and convenient. Granted, using the drag and drop method may not give you the appearance you really want, but using it to complete a large portion of the code for you, and then changing the way things look a bit is a lot easier than trying to reinvent the wheel every time you write a new app.

Apple also added in some new sample code and updated the documentation that comes with the SDK. Sadly there isn’t a simple update option for the new SDK, you actually have to go get it yourself, but it’s still free. Apple is also still reported to be limiting access to the App Store and still limiting the participation in the $99 iPhone Dev Program.

[via iPhone Buzz / Slashgear]

Motorola and Verizon Wireless have announced the Motorola Q 9c ahead of CTIA 2008 this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The QUA sports a landscape oriented 2.4" display and support for location based services such as VZ Navigator.
Read the full story here.