Official Specs for Motorola DROID

If you're interested in knowing the official specs of the Motorola DROID, I have rounded them up. The quick highlights:

• 3.7-inch WVGA (854x480), 16:9 touchscreen
• Arm Cortex A8 550 MHz Processor
• 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash
• DVD-quality video capture and playback (720x480)
• 16GB microSD (32GB expandable)
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• QWERTY keyboard
• 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS (with Google Maps Navigator)
• 1400 mAh battery
• 6 oz (169g)
• 2.4 x 4.6 x.5 inches (60x115.80x13.70mm)
• Android 2.0

If you're not interested in Google Maps Navigation, you should be. It's been one of the most requested features for Google Maps for quite some time and to finally have it in Android 2.0 is an absolute game changer. Just check out the stocks of standalone GPS makers like Garmin and TomTom.

Only the fact that it requires internet connection makes it less interesting than TOMTOM but that's my own opinion. If they can find an offline solution it will be a killer navigation app!

Apple has grabbed up 30% of the smartphone market

Apple has grabbed up 30% of the smartphone market with the iPhone, nearly twice the market share the device enjoyed this time last year. The info comes from a survey by ChangeWave research. The survey shows that the Blackberry is still the leader in the smartphone market for share at about 40%.


Apple is nearing the approval of over 100,000 apps for the App Store marking a significant milestone. That number makes the App Store by far and large the biggest of the app offerings on the market. By comparison, the much younger Android market has only 10,000 apps and the Blackberry App World has only 3,040.

The North Face Launches Updated Snow Report iPhone App

More and more retailers are using the iPhone to capture customer eyeballs outside of their shopping experience. Outdoor retailer The North Face is no exception, with the launch of their updated, Twitter-filled Snow Report 2.0 app today, giving skiers and snowboarders access to aggregated resort-specific Twitter updates, weather, and snow condition feeds.


While The North Face already had an iPhone Snow Report app, the new version adds the Twitter feeds, which they claim is the first to aggregate topical information and Twitter news feeds into one application. It also lets users Tweet their own updates directly from the application.


Of course, the app is designed to increase sales. It also includes a The North Face store locator. Meanwhile, specific ski resorts are on the iPhone app bandwagon to improve customer experience on and off the mountain. Jackson Hole recently developed an iPhone application, available early next month, that features their winter trail map with iPhone’s built-in GPS technology, locating the user by pinpointing his or her location on the ski resort’s trail map. Big Air Software, separately, is marketing its iTrailmap 3D, which pulls from a database of over 500 resort trail maps and records a snowboarder or skiers trails throughout the day.

Disney iPhone App Mixes Magic with Advertising

Disney’s new iPhone app, launched today, rewards users for checking out Disney.com. The company plans to eventually offer exclusive bonuses for shopping at Disney Stores. The necessary mobile push for Disney comes along with the company’s move to catch up with the times, with Apple’s Steve Jobs leading their in-store experience redesign efforts.


The app is free, and features a digital game called “Click2Life” where users must take photos of characters from Disney movies on its website, which make those images come to life on their phones. Capturing the correct images also unlocks exclusive video and downloadable content such as frame images that can be overlaid on photos and wallpaper for cell phone screens.


Smart play, Disney marketers. In the future, the app will likely feature clues inside Disney stores, and could allow bonus ontent to be delivered to phones based on their location.

Only 1% of iPhone Owners are Dissatisfied

Apple's incredible success in moving iPhones could be due to one statistic. According to pollster ChangeWave, a whopping 99% of iPhone users call themselves "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their device. In fact, those reporting "very satisfied" made up 74% of respondents.


This blows away RIM, with only 43% of users reporting they are "very satisfied" with their BlackBerry. Apple has jumped from holding 17% of smartphone market share one year ago to 30% today. The iPhone is hot on RIM's heels, as the BlackBerry has 40% of the smartphone market.

Continental Airlines mobile ads more effective than online

The airline’s agency partner, MediaVest, tapped MoVoxx and Quattro Wireless for the “Volver por un rato” campaign, which consumers could enter by texting a keyword to a short code or clicking on a WAP link within an SMS alert from Univision and other publishers. The contest let consumers enter to win a trip for two anywhere in the world, up to $2,500 worth of plane tickets, by submitting a video.Continental Airlines mobile ads were five-to-ten times more effective than online at generating responses from Hispanics, a demographic that tends to be heavy users of wireless devices.Nine times as many users visited the WAP site versus the wired Web site with similar media efforts in terms of banner ads driving traffic to each site. Because mobile is a less cluttered environment than the PC, mobile ads get much higher response rates.

Ads within SMS alerts were effective in driving Hispanics to Continental's WAP site

Mobile Web Usage Keeps On Growing, And Growing, And Growing …

Browser maker Opera has released its latest ‘State of the Mobile Web’ report this morning, claiming that there was a huge surge in mobile web usage past September. Last month, more than 35.6 million people used Opera Mini (which is now serving over 500 million pageviews per day on average on a wide range of mobile devices), up 11.5% compared to August 2009 and more than 150% compared to September 2008. The Norway software developer also claims more than 2 petabytes of data is now processed by its servers on a monthly basis. That’d be 2,000 terabytes!!

Google Redefines GPS Navigation Landscape: Google Maps Navigation For Android 2.0

If you weren’t sure about switching to an Android phone in the near future, this might put you over the edge. Google Maps Navigation is an absolutely killer app. And it is only available for Android 2.0 phones.

Today is Droid day, and for the most part Google is taking a backseat and letting their partners get most of the attention. But Droid is the first Android phone to run Android 2.0, and Google Maps Navigation is clearly the early trophy app for those devices.

The features include easy search (no need for address), voice search, traffic information (from data sources and crowd sourced from app), and street view close up pictures when you get near your destination. And the car dock mode gives bigger, simpler icons and auto-voice mode

Volkswagen uses mobile (again) to announce new vehicle launch

The all-new 2010 GTI made its debut in the Real Racing game on Thursday, claiming to be the the first time an automotive manufacturer has used the App Store to announce a new vehicle launch. Volkswagen is also giving consumers who play Real Racing GTI the chance to compete for the six limited-edition 2010 GTIs that are fully-customized inside and out.Volkswagen of America Inc. has announced its latest automobile launch through its Real Racing iPhone game application.

“With the personalization of media and the challenges inherent with reaching constantly connected consumers, we challenged ourselves to rethink the way we launch vehicles in order to engage our consumers in a meaningful way,” said Charlie Taylor, general manager of digital marketing at Volkswagen of America, Herndon, VA.Volkswagen is no stranger to the mobile platform. The automaker recently launched a WAP site that acts sort of like a shopping assistant (see story). Volkswagen is also using 2D bar code technology to make its traditional printed media more interactive and engaging for consumers (see story). Mr. Taylor said that mobile devices help Volkswagen reach consumers in a more direct way.

Augmented reality set for major growth: ABI Research

Increasing smartphone capabilities will cause augmented reality to have a booming impact on the mobile platform, according to a new study from ABI Research. As advertisers leverage the augmented-reality platform more, ABI found that the technology is poised to grow from generating $6 million in revenue in 2008 to $350 million in 2014. ABI credits advanced smartphone capabilities such as video cameras, GPS data and compasses as key to unlocking the power of augmented-reality advertising.

“The key finding is that the augmented reality market will diversify into multiple markets, which will generate nearly $190 million in mobile applications, games and customized augmented-reality revenue, and nearly $170 million in mobile augmented-reality advertising revenue, by 2014,” said Larry Miller, research director of NextGen at ABI Research, Oyster Bay, New York. Augmented reality is the overlay of graphics onto a video stream or other real-time display. ABI Research provides analysis and forecasting of emerging worldwide trends.

ABI cites Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android handsets as examples of smartphones opening up augmented reality to the mass marketplace.The study, “Augmented Reality: Adding Information to Our View of the World,” found that advertisers will learn to insert tags into navigation displays to increase revenue. The study calls for the development of global databases to store a variety of geo-tag information. That will be aggregated from information contributed from governments, businesses and individuals. Mr. Miller said that the most surprising finding of the study was the lack of companies involved with sports-related augmented reality. He said that the study found that only one company is providing augmented reality applications for televised sporting events. Those features include moving the first down line in football and the strike-zone animations in baseball.

“Augmented Reality is rooted in the concept of adding information to visual displays,” Mr. Miller said. “Digital marketing campaigns incorporating Web-based augmented reality graphics can add new dimensions to the kinds of content available for online advertising.“ For marketers to find success with augmented reality, the applications will have to offer better information, an intuitive user interface and other features that are not possible through existing applications. Mr. Miller said that augmented reality can also be used for mobile commerce. “Here’s one possibility: Imagine going into a store, aiming your smartphone’s camera at a product and having the display show not only the product, but competitive pricing at online venues,” Mr. Miller said. “Currently, mobile augmented reality applications require a smartphone or other handheld device with a camera, GPS and compass capabilities, as well as adequate processing power,” he said. “Augmented reality applications eventually will run the gamut of consumer interests.”

Check out IKEAs augmented reality; Finally an AR which is truly usefull!

Augmented Reality seams to be on everyone’s lips and so in the marketing department of Ikea. With the help of ClanMo, Ogivly and Mindmatic, Ikea created a mobile application that is a portable interior-planning tool. What I like about this approach is that it gives consumers a true value. Now they can try and see for themselves how the furniture’s look in their living rooms before they buy them.

IKEA distributed the application through in-store poster urging consumers to text a number in order to get the application, on the internet through IKEAs website, and with the help of Bluetooth pillars inside the outlets beaming the application to the consumers.

I think this is a great concept. What I don’t understand is the limit some advertisers put on the concept they have created? I have had trouble finding this application and am under the impression that it was limited to the country were the campaign ran. Would be smart to post the content created on the forums for mobile content around the world to get a huge spread. You can read more about the case at theclanmo webpage.

Create and order personalized Nike sneakers straight from your iPhone

This free app (iTunes link) has been available on the App Store since the beginning of this month, but surprisingly there hasn’t been a lot of coverage about it. Even despite this excellent video about it (embedded below).

This application allows you to select flashy looking sneakers that were custom designed by others and purchase them straight away, but there’s a lot more to it than that. For instance, you can dive into your photo library and select any image, after which the NIKEiD iPhone app will automatically detect which colors are in them and let you choose two for your own custom shoe. Or you can just use the Color Picker to select two colors you like.

Evidently, you can filter the results even more based on your specific needs (e.g. only shoes for men, unisex basketball clothing, etc.). Using the My Locker feature you can also save your favorite designs and access those you’ve customized on the NIKEiD website. Once you’ve selected a custom design you like, you can shake your iPhone to shuffle the colors, but you also get some options to genuinely personalize sneakers with your name, a custom logo or whatever you like.

Did I mention you can buy designs straight from the app? Kudos, Nike, kudos.

Will iPhone 4.0 Include Apple's Latest Patents?

Apple has been prolific in the patent department lately, especially when it comes to patents that relate to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The latest filing shows a process that would allow someone on a phone call to send files to the other party without ending the call or leaving the phone app. The iPhone would automatically determine where to send the files based on the contact information of the person connected. Even if multiple parties are in a conference call, the person sending documents, emails, contacts or text messages could send this data in one step while still connected to any of the participants.


Peter Henry Mahowald receives credit as the inventor in Apple's patent filing. Although this sounds like a useful feature, there are even more recently discovered patents that could make their way onto the next generation iPhone. We recently reported that future iPhones may record consumer abuse events for later diagnostics by Apple. By recording when devices are dropped hard or placed in temperature settings that are too high or too low for proper operation, the company can prove a device was abused. This patent describes the device automatically shutting down when a dangerous condition exists or if the iPhone can no longer operate to protect against further damage. Another recent patent filing would automatically switch to speakerphone if the sensors detect that the iPhone is laying flat and still on a table, for example.
Future iPhones may also allow users to share music or other media while on a call. 
These patents feature interactive playback control even while connected to the other party. As usual, Apple engineers must have their work cut out for them. No telling exactly which patents will make it into the next generation device.

The upcoming Motorola Droid is getting hyped

The marketing campaign for the upcoming Motorola Droid is in full swing, with the new phone looking to be both the definitive Android handset and a genuine challenger to the iPhone.

Following a fairly vicious attack on the iPhone through the launch of the “DroidDoes” ad campaign, which essentially calls out all of the iPhone’s shortcomings, an associated mail marketing campaign has also been launched for the device. The message? Droid is omnipotent, scary and has night vision, at least according to this messaging: “It hears, It knows / Fast. Scary fast / It sees in the dark.” The promotional mails form part of a campaign that’s actually building some palpable excitement within the geek community: the kind of excitement usually reserved for products built in Cupertino. Is Judgment Day fast approaching for the iPhone? We’ll know at the end of this month.

View my WordPress Adds Themes Optimized for Mobile

According to WordPress, there are more than 60 million page views that come from mobile phones per month for WordPress.com blogs. With that kind of traffic, how your site renders on mobile devices could be a big boon to increasing engagement.
That’s why we’re excited to learn thatWordPress has just launched two new mobile themes for WordPress.com blogs that will be automatically displayed when a compatible mobile phone attempts to access your site.

Mobile Web Is Taking Over the World (and Other Internet Trends)

Mobile Internet usage is sharply on the rise in the USA and all over the world. Apple’s share of the mobile smartphone market is only going to increase. AT&T’s mobile data traffic has increased by 4,932% over the last three years. There will be over 1 billion “heavy mobile data users” by 2013.
These are just some of the stats that were shared with the audience at the Web 2.0 Summit today in San Francisco. Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker led a speedy and high-charged presentation over Internet trends. The data and stats packed in her 68 page presentation is nothing short of mind-boggling. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that the next major growth wave for Google in terms of search engine marketing is the mobile Internet. He predicted that within a few years, mobile advertising would generate more revenue than advertising on today's web.

WinMo 7 vs. WinMo 6.5, will it surprise us??

Though we certainly made an effort, we just don’t play well with Windows Mobile 6.5. With that said, we really do (honestly!) hope that Windows Mobile 7 comes and blows our minds. I have my strong doubts but they can prove otherwise. Though we’re still almost completely in the dark when it comes to WinMo 7 details, WMExperts has managed to shed an inkling of light on the subject.

Frito-Lay's Cheetos places 2D bar codes on packaging

The Frito-Lay subsidiary in Mexico called Sabritas is now using a 2D bar code on a special Halloween version of Cheetos packages to engage consumers. The code is placed on the Cheetos package and links to free branded wallpapers. Scanbuy is making it possible for Mexicans to scan the code using a mobile application called Códigos Ideas, which is widely distributed on Telcel handsets.


“2D bar codes give Sabritas a very engaging way to deliver branded content right to the phone,” said Jonathan Bulkeley, CEO of Scanbuy, New York. "The code effectively mobilizes a physical object, like a package, in a very simple way for the consumer.”
Cheetos isn’t the only brand using 2D bar codes on packaging. Major marketers like Coca-Cola and Nike have seen good results with the Scanbuy technology in Mexico. Bissell, floor-care innovator and maker of home-cleaning products, has placed EZcodes across an entire line of vacuum cleaners which are sold by retailers nationwide.
The codes link to additional information on the product to help inform shoppers in the store.“Often times, a company will invest in mobilizing their content, but then have difficulty driving traffic to it,” Mr. Bulkeley said. “The visibility of the 2D code makes it easier for people to get to that content in seconds.

Vicrea’s Browser as upcoming city tour alternative for Layar

Vicrea is a Dutch corporation, and the next video shows a concept augmented reality application they are developing. They should really just ask Layar to give them a branded version. I understand you don't want the layar brand on your application with certain services but make it more appealing then instead of a bad copy-paste. More information, here, in Dutch.

Air Painter: Augmented reality for the android Graffiti taggers!

It's similar to geoPaste, an Android application that lets you draw on real-life. Air Painter is a Japanese Android application with a similar premise, though its user interface seems a bit more refined, as can be seen in the video below (don’t worry about the German, you don’t have to understand it to see how cool this application is). More information on AirPainter’s hompeage, and here’s another video.

Sun Seeker; Seeing the Light with Augmented Reality

This app shows you where the sun is now, and what path it takes through the sky, either for today or for any day of the year, for your current location.
It has two main views:


- A flat compass view
- An augmented reality camera overlay view


It is valuable for real estate buyers (to find the sun and light exposure of any room throughout the course of the year), for gardeners and landscapers (to find hours of sun exposure for any location in the garden), for photographers (to find when the sun will be shining at the right angle), and for anyone interested in daily variations of rise and set times of the sun.It's now available in the iTunes appstore

Controversy Remains King in Mobile Marketing

Although the App Store has shot down less provocative apps than this one, the marketing wizards behind Pepsi’s new iPhone app apparently convinced Apple to look the other way as they squeaked this app past Apple’s watchful eye. Simply put, the AMP Up Before You Score app, which is designed to promote Pepsi’s new AMP Energy drink, is billed as a “roadmap to success with your favorite kinds of women” that will “change your game and raise your expectations.” The app lets you “rank” and “categorize” women according to their personality type or appearance. The “smart app” also helps you compile info, determine a good pickup line, and cull assistance from a host of other attributes to help you “score.” After the fact, you can even log your experience in a “Brag List.” Using the hashtag #pepsifail, some folks on Twitter blasted the app as sexist and completely inappropriate but pinned the blame on Apple rather than Pepsi.


As international media outlets are beginning to cover the app’s launch, it’s obvious why more and more developers and mobile marketers are pushing the envelop with their campaigns and applications. Like it is elsewhere, controversy is king even in mobile marketing.

Urbanspoon iPhone App Adds Augmented Reality

The mobile augmented reality space continues to heat up, with Wikitude and Layar on Android and the Yelp Monocle debuting AR on the iPhone. Yesterday another iPhone app got the augmented reality functionality, this time with restaurant-finding Urbanspoon’s new “Scope” feature.
The AR adds to Urbanspoon’s existing featureset, where you can browse or search for a good restaurant nearby or, with a surprisingly fun gesture, shake the phone to get a random local result. With the new “Scope” feature, you’ll see a Google Map showing your position in blue and the red pins representing restaurants nearby.
If you point the iPhone at the horizon, however, the app will detect the change via the accelerometer and switch to camera display view with an augmented reality overlay of those restaurants. They appear as bright circles with smaller size representing farther distance. Each circle contains a percentage of how many app users “liked” that particular restaurant, with more liked restaurants appearing a deeper orange and less liked restaurants fading into shades of grey.


The Scope feature only works with the iPhone 3GS, so unfortunately generations 1 and 2 iPhone users are out of luck for now. The other caveat is that the GPS positioning employed by the app can sometimes be slightly off, but you can rectify that simply by modifying your blue dot positioning on the Scope map. I love that a simple graphic can pack in so much useful information about points of interest near your location.

Dictionary.com launches BlackBerry app to drive users to Web site

Dictionary.com launched a free dictionary and thesaurus application for RIM's BlackBerry in an effort to woo mobile users to its ad-supported Web site. Consumers can download the online word resource site's application by texting the keyword BBAPP to short code 44636 or visiting BlackBerry App World or Dictionary.com’s mobile site at m.dictionary.com. Dictionary.com claims that its application is the only free dictionary and thesaurus application available for BlackBerry devices. “We launched an iPhone app back in April and at the time our hypothesis was we would see an increase of usage for our Web site if we provided access points for users to connect,” said Alexa Rudin, a spokeswoman for Dictionary.com, Oakland, CA. According to Dictionary.com, a provider of language reference services on the Internet and an affiliate of IAC's Ask.com, its plan worked.


The Dictionary.com iPhone application was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 iPhone application for college students. The application has been downloaded more than 3 million times since April.

Fox Chevrolet one-day mobile promo results in 34 car sales

Timonium, MD-based Fox Chevrolet was able to sell 34 cars in a single day through a mobile marketing program meant to drive consumers into the auto dealer’s lot. The campaign, which was powered by HipCricket, bought time on Hearst's Baltimore 98 Rock radio station. Fox Chevrolet ran 10- and 15-second promos encouraging people to text-in to enter to win the chance at a $98 car. “While the so-called Cash for Clunkers program has helped bolster sales later in the summer, Fox Chevrolet decided not to wait for government assistance and instead turned to mobile marketing leader HipCricket and 98 Rock,” said Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer of HipCricket, Kirkland, WA. Fox Chevrolet needed to reach its customers on a one-to-one basis with truly relevant offers.


Unlike the mass media, mobile allows for enhanced measurability. The dealer measured the effectiveness of this campaign via sales and foot traffic.

Layar: Augmented Reality App Featuring Twitter and Wikipedia Now on iPhone

It’s a big news day in the augmented reality department, with Urbanspoon just launching its iPhone AR feature earlier and now this. Seminal AR app Layar has been available for Google’s Android platform, and today sees its free launch for the iPhone. You choose a filter or “layer” to overlay on top of your real-world view — Wikipedia entries, bars and nightlife nearby, Twitter users nearby, etc. — and point the camera at your surroundings. You’ll get a visual overlay of relevant results close to you, determined by a range filter you can adjust in your settings.

Part of what makes Layar one of the most interesting augmented reality apps to date is its breadth: it’s not just a one trick pony. New types of layers featuring different types of data are launching all the time thanks to a strong third-party developer platform. The app helps you find and filter the best by collecting featured and popular apps together in their own tabs, as well as providing a search mechanism to find new layers. Another popular AR app, Wikitude, is taking a crowdsourced approach to gathering its data points. It will be interesting to see which approach fares better in the realm of augmented reality apps: the Apple-style third-party developer community or the Wikipedia-style wisdom of the crowds strategy.

Want to Remotely Start Your Car? There’s an App for That

Rather than fumbling to open an icy door or waiting a few minutes for the car to start and the heat to come on, you can start the car using a keyremote and even turn the heat on, so that by the time you get to the car, it’s on and warm.If you live some place where it gets really cold in the winter — you might already be familiar with the advantages and convenience of a remote-start car system.

Today, Directed Electronics, who make the popular Viper remote start systems, are taking remote-start one-step further: start your car with your iPhone. The ViperSmartStart system combines the Viper system with an iPhone app that acts as a remote control for your car.

More Signs Point To Search Dominating Mobile Marketing

I wrote a while back on how some analysts and industry-aware execs are questioning the immense growthprojections that always seem to be surrounding mobile marketing and the various opportunities it will present in the near future.  Primarily, some growth estimates have been significantly scaled back to more realistic proportions.

In addition to this more realistic outlook on where the mobile marketing industry is actually going, some new insight suggests that not only is the industry not growing as fast as almost everyone predicted, but that mobile marketing is shaping up to be all search.

The Kelsey Group, while still making over-enthusiastic projections regarding the mobile market, suggests that the mobile advertising market will balloon from $160 million in 2008 to $3.1 billion in 2013.  While this may sound like just another un-founded projection, the Kelsey Group goes on to suggest that mobile search will go from 24 percent of the total mobile ad market last year to 73 percent of the much larger pie in 2013- meaning other forms of mobile marketing such as SMS and display advertising is set to decline over the same time period.

Interactive Theme Park Goes Mobile

If you’ve never heard of it, Shocktoberfest is a haunted theme park in Pennsylvania that is celebrating its 15th year of operation this Halloween season.

Long regarded as a high-tech, cutting edge amusement park (as far as Halloween is concerned), Shocktoberfest is known for Hollywood-style computer-controlled special effects and various horror-themed rides.

But starting tomorrow, the theme park will go mobile in a new marketing endeavor that is attracting interest and attention from people who don’t ke theme parks or Halloween.

Thanks to the iPhone, Shocktoberfest will become an interactive attraction. Here’s how they’re putting it: “Visitors at the theme park can interact with both attractions and features via their Apple iPhone. After getting scared yourself, you can scare others by setting off animated props, triggering effects, and – to a considerable degree – manipulating your environment right from your iPhone.”

A quality example of an interactive mobile entertainment experience is in full display at Shocktoberfest beginning this week. If successful, look for major theme parks to adopt more interactive elements to both their daily operations and their marketing campaigns.

Captain Morgan scares up mobile for Halloween contest

The Captain Morgan rum brand is encouraging consumers this Halloween to show just how scary they are using their mobile phones. In-store signage asks consumers to dress up as monsters and text their photos to CAPTIN or email in a picture to enter a contest. The winner with the best costume will win a trip for four to the Mardi Gras in February.

“In the prevailing economic environment, brand marketers desperately need all their campaigns to have a conversion objective,” said Alex Hall, chief operating officer of Captain Morgan agency TigerSpike, New York. “Brand awareness is still very important, but an ideal marketing world will always see awareness convert straight to purchase.

Aye, Cap'n
Last month, the rum brand added a mobile component to its existing Pose Off campaign. Captain Morgan let users upload photos of themselves doing Captain Morgan poses via mobile. This was one of the first cross-carrier incoming MMS campaigns nationwide.

NBC launches 10 hyper-local mobile city apps

NBC Local Integrated Media launched 10 applications for iPhone and iPod touch, each backed by an NBC Locals Only city-specific Web site. The applications were designed to connect users with the latest in local news, information and entertainment. Users can also contribute to content with personal photos and observations about their city life in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York, San Diego, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Connecticut or Miami.
“The strategy behind the launch was to bring our content to our target audience - mobile is where they consume content as the trendsetters and city-dwellers,” said Katherine Wu, vice president of business operations at NBC Local Integrated Media, New York. “We wanted to give great content and take advantage of the iPhone platform and these apps allow us to deliver a lot of fun.” NBC Local Integrated Media oversees the digital operations for the NBC Local Media Group, including its 10 city Web sites.
The Locals Only Web and mobile sites are home to local news, commentary, analysis and lifestyle coverage created by NBC-owned-and-operated television stations, contributors, bloggers, online publications and print media, all to illustrate the city as a whole.


Location based advertising


Advertisers can use the iPhone’s GPS functionality to serve location-based ads or place advertisements on the splash screen as well as other places such as next to articles and traditional banner ads at the top of the page. The applications leverage NBC's SoMyCity social media feature. SoMyCity lets iPhone and iPod touch users post personal moments on the applications as well as on Facebook and Twitter. "SoMyCity" allows users to contribute photos and commentary in three areas: "Confess," "Check It" and "What The?". The most popular "moments," as voted on by users in that city, will be displayed on the homepage and other areas of the sites.

Mariah Carey Concert takes videostream to Mobile. Video on mobile will see a huge growth

Carey and Island Def Jam Group have teamed with digital media solutions provider Iviago for an innovative concert simulcast this weekend. But there really is no concert this weekend. But tomorrow, Mariah Carey’s “Live in Las Vegas” concert will be simulcast across mobile phones. The event was recorded September 11 and 12th. With a price tag of $9.99, the concert will become available this weekend in approximately 200 international markets through hundreds of mobile and digital media partners. I would like to see a live feed as well instead of video on demand.
An interesting angle that may be repeated by future headlining acts dabbling in mobile marketing is that Mariah’s concert stream will be provided on October 10th only to those who buy a “virtual ticket.” But if you’re not available to watch the concert on October 10th, you can watch it whenever you’d like in the future. But only once.
According to myriad concert promoters now working closely with many top mobile marketers, “virtual tickets” could one day become far more profitable for recording artists than physical tickets for live concerts.

WTC is the first 3D model added to Wikitude Android Augmented reality

Mobilizy chose WTC for this video because it is a facinating showcase for AR. Its not there but its there. September 11th is still a sore memory for many Americans, but Mobilizy, a company from Salzburg that just released Wikitude, has just released a new upgrade to implement 3D visual overlays and now you can relive the view of the Twin Towers before that horrible day.


Their idea was to build a virtual memorial in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. and the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. The result will be the ability to point their Android and iPhone application at the place where the World Trade Center once stood and witness a 3D rendering of the Twin Towers, once more. How to: Go to the area around ground zero in NYC and you see a 3D icon on the left side of the cam view (in Wikitude v7.8 – on Android based phones). Click on it and the World Trade Center will appear as it looked pre-9/11.

Wikitude Augmented Reality: WTC - Its not there but its there

Android Augmented Reality for real estate agents and city planners

Hitlabnz has developed their own mobile outdoor AR platform based on the Android operating system. They are using GPS and compass information to overlay 3D virtual models on the real world outdoors. Unlike some other systems we support full 3D model loading and also model manipulation, plus rendering effects such as shadows etc. That’s not as new. Rouli would categorize it as a YAARB™ (Yet Another AR Browser…)

Wikitude and Layar (as well as other browsers) have similar capabilities (or will soon have), and are already open and accessible to many developers.


Although, I see so much opportunities for the real estate industry and city planners who can see and promote their new projects and ideas.

RIM packs widgets; Palm opens developer programme

A suite of tools allowing third party application developers to build rich, web-based applications for BlackBerry handsets.The new offering bring RIM into line with the rest of the mobile OS world, whereas it previously only supported BlackBerry applications written in Java, a BlackBerry widget uses the handset’s browser engine to render an application’s user interface using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Developers are then able to use existing web content to create BlackBerry Widgets and extend the capabilities of their web applications using optimised APIs, while interacting with the BlackBerry email and calendar applications, files and documents stored on the device, and location-based services or the media player.

Developers can also take advantage of RIM’s push technology, enabling dynamic widgets to run in the background and provide alerts and updates to users. The SDK runs on version 5.0 of the BlackBerry OS and a beta release of the BlackBerry Widget SDK is available today.

45% of online agencies moving to mobile in 2 years

Almost 50% of online marketing agencies in the UK will look to incorporate a mobile strategy into their client’s campaigns within 24 months, according to a survey conducted by mobileSQUARED at Ad:Tech London last week.

A total of 27.5% of companies surveyed will look to use mobile within 12 months, with a further 17.5% of online agencies likely to implement a mobile element to their campaigns within 24 months. A further 25% of agencies anticipate using mobile within three to five years. While it is encouraging that a significant number of agencies already see the benefits of mobile, the remaining 30% of agencies surveyed are yet to recognise the benefits of mobile.


Twelve percent of agencies did not intend to use the mobile channel at all within the next five years, while 18% had already experimented with mobile and were unlikely to revisit the channel within the timeframe outlined. According to mobileSQUARED research, there are already 15 million mobile Internet users in the UK, and this figure is expected to undergo exponential growth over the next five years. While the number of mobile users in 2009 falls below the 38 million PC-based Internet users in the UK, mobile is an ever-present channel for consumers, unlike the PC.