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I haven't posted much lately due to my work schedule. FWIW, I just bought another 20,000 shares at .368 bringing my total to 1,550,000 shares. I still believe we will see significant pps movement some time between November 2005 and April 2006 as previously posted (see post http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=7427057 ).
There are just too many things on the cusp for me not to believe this will occur in the very near future. They include:
- Additional WR developments / revenue generation
- Completion of Mobot acquisition
- End of the quiet period (with or without BSDS)
- Rollout of Paperclick
- Micropaint business developments / revenue generation
- Scanbuy related revenue generation
- Clues from our Go Window list
- Upcoming 10Q filings
I look forward to the coming months. I predict it will be very exciting and rewarding for all longs.
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jcg0176, http://agmt.com/ is not new. It has been referenced on the Paperclick.com website for quite some time now under FAQ:
http://www.paperclick.com/faq.jsp
What About Cell Phones Without Cameras?
NeoMedia has provided a gateway for cellular phones and other mobile devices that do not have embedded cameras or barcode readers. It is located at http://agmt.com/. If your users bookmark this Web page, they can go there and manually enter the digits associated with a barcode. This will take them to the same place they would have gone with the camera phone device software.
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Personalizit, I have noticed INTL in the past. EOM
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Related article to prior SOG posting: Virgin Mobile Helps Kids Beg for Mobile Service
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3550331
By Zachary Rodgers | September 21, 2005
Virgin Mobile USA has rolled out an online "Parental Enlightenment Kit" to help its young prospects convince their parents to buy them its "Pay As You Go" mobile plan over other carriers' family plans.
The kit, at enlightenmentkit.com includes several downloadable components, including printable stickers for plastering around the house, t-shirt iron-ons, and a "PressurePoint presentation" designed to facilitate family meetings in a corporate sales mode.
The lead creative agency was Mother New York, and the Barbarian Group packaged and built the site.
With the site and its accompanying print ads, Virgin is essentially trying to assist kids with an undertaking they've always excelled at: wearing down mom and dad's resistance to buying them what they want.
Paul Malmstrom, partner and creative director with Mother New York, puts it somewhat more delicately. "You're actually giving tools to the teens... to open up a conversation with their parents," he said.
The creative is heavy on slogans and leans toward the kitschy. A downloadable poster uses the tagline "A Virgin Home is a Happy Home," and a t-shirt iron-on says "Dead Beat," which is what Virgin says any teen put on a family plan will inevitably become.
The deadbeat/freeloader theme appears in several executions. A printable sticker -- one of about 20 on the site -- cautions, "WARNING: If you put me on a family plan you will begin the cycle of freeloading that will inevitably lead to me living in the basement with nothing but a cot and a pizza oven when I am 30." Additionally, A PDF-formatted cut-out mobile phone dubbed "The Instigator" is meant to be a parental conversation starter.
Perhaps most interesting is the downloadable "PressurePoint Presentation," which comes in several formats including Microsoft's PowerPoint. The presentation offers boardroom style bullet points intended to educate parents on the finer points of Pay As You Go. Titled "The Void Between My Hand and Ear," the slide presentation offers a series of arguments, analogies and straight up begging.
A print campaign in several teen titles includes similar creative and draws attention to the Web site URL. Placements include Seventeen and Teen People.
Mother New York's guiding principal in conceiving the site was that it should be not merely entertaining, but concretely applicable to the negotiations a child enters into with her parents.
"We run into communicating to youth quite often," Malmstrom added. "You see a lot of games, and I think although there might be really cool things happening, a lot of it is just entertainment. What's unique with this campaign is it is entertaining, but it's more than just a game. You actually get something."
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DD DMC Launches Virgin Mobile Dog Judo
http://www.dmc.co.uk/index.php?bz04Mw==
We've launched a new online buzz marketing campaign to promote 'Dog Judo', a humorous new series of online entertainment clips sponsored by Virgin Mobile as an adjunct to their Christmas camera phone promotion.
James Kydd, brand director for Virgin Mobile, said: "Our Christmas camera phone print campaign is all about taking snapshots during humorously named, unmissable events - from 'Nuns on Ice' to 'Topless Trampolining'. When we saw the animated characters created by 12foot6, a 'Dog Judo' event fitted perfectly with both the camera phone campaign and our brand's renowned sense of humour. So we agreed to sponsor a funny new web-exclusive animation series from 12foot6, using DMC's viral and buzz marketing expertise to launch it among entertainment-hungry, highly active online users."
The 'Dog Judo' series features two dog characters - 'Ruff' Rex Hunter and 'Barking' Bob Bones - in highly 'snap-able' situations that build on their rivalry and dry sense of humour over several episodes. Episode one is called 'Power Date'. It shows Barking Bob trying to impress a date, much to the annoyance of his sparring partner who lives only for judo. The animated clip exists both on the Dog Judo microsite and as a standalone file that can be passed around. The file invites viewers to click through to the microsite and sign up to be emailed when new episodes are released. (Episode two is also available there, with two further episodes planned for the New Year.)
Virgin Mobile is again demonstrating its understanding of the consumer-driven, peer-to-peer viral marketing arena, sponsoring highly appropriate, cult-like creative material and using our online seeding expertise to kickstart buzz and maximise its spread. Our online film tracking system will also help them to quantify the impact the campaign has on brand awareness.
You can download Episodes 1 - 4 of Dog Judo below.
PC USERS: Right click on link below and choose 'Save Target as...' to download the file. MAC USERS: Click and hold down link below, then choose 'Download Link to Disk'
Power Date
QuickTime
Windows Media Player
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SS9173
DD DMC Launches Virgin Mobile Viral
http://www.dmc.co.uk/index.php?bz03Mg==
We're planning, seeding and tracking our seventh strategic Virgin Mobile online viral marketing and buzz marketing campaign, featuring a quirky 'toilet humour' theme to celebrate the mobile communications provider's past year of awards for outstanding customer service.
James Kydd, brand director for Virgin Mobile, said: "We've enjoyed continued growth over the past year and since launch we've attracted more than 4 million customers. We also have a number of prestigious customer satisfaction awards under our belts - including Best Pre-Pay Package and Best Customer Service at the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, and Complaints Team of the Year at the National Customer Service Awards. This seventh release in our successful series of online viral campaigns with DMC carries on our strategy of providing online viral users with exclusive, entertaining material in order to reinforce and continue to widen our brand awareness."
The campaign's amusing, tongue-in-cheek film clip - 'Best Hands' - was created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R. The clip shows a swanky nightclub's po-faced toilet attendant taking service levels to an extreme by literally providing hands-on service to the club's privileged members… The viral clip then invites viewers to click through to a website, at www.best-hands.net, where they can find other file formats of the clip, find out more about Virgin Mobile's award-winning services, and link to other entertaining viral clips in the ongoing Virgin Mobile series - including one featuring Busta Rhymes.
The Best Hands viral campaign is being seeded as 'advertainment' content via our online influencer network, as well as being featured on music, sport and lifestyle websites.
Virgin Mobile understands the consumer-driven, peer-to-peer benefits of viral marketing, creating highly appropriate creative material and using our online viral seeding expertise strategically to kickstart buzz and maximise the spread of this entertaining campaign. Our online film-tracking system will also help quantify the impact the campaign has on brand awareness.
You can download the film below.
PC USERS: Right click on link below and choose 'Save Target as...' to download the file.
MAC USERS: Click and hold down link below, then choose 'Download Link to Disk'
BestHands
QuickTime
Windows Media Player
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DD Retailer use of permission-based mobile advertising
Good reading for a Saturday morning. 12snap is mentioned briefly on page 16 of the pdf article.
http://www.taloustieteet.oulu.fi/arvoa-luovat/Julkaisut/Retailer%20Use%20of%20Permission-Based%20Mob....
SS9173
SOG, Here is an idea for you. Consider sending similar emails (when you have time of course) to these mobile marketing blogs to increase the awareness of Neom:
http://technorati.com/blogs/mobile+marketing (of course, no need to include PP)
Best Regards,
SS9173
Saint Andrew, is this relevant?
News Corp Home website: http://www.newscorp.com/operations/newspapers.html
News Corp To Buy Blinkx: http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/2005/08/news-corp-to-buy-blinkx.html
News Corp Goes Mobile: http://english.sina.com/business/1/2005/0126/19291.html
Looks like a strategy in the making to me...Perhaps Neom could fit into their plans someday. :>)
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OT DD 2005 MVNO Summit - Dec 6 & 7, 2005 - Miami, FL
http://www.iqpc.com/cgi-bin/templates/genevent.html?topic=586&event=8467&
Virgin Mobile is among the presenters.
Day 1 agenda: http://www.iqpc.com/cgi-bin/templates/document.html?topic=586&event=8467&document=62263&...
Day 2 agenda: http://www.iqpc.com/cgi-bin/templates/document.html?topic=586&event=8467&document=62264&...
SS9173
Clawmann, Way to go connecting the dots...I like it! EOM
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The sentence that caught my eye was: "As auto manufacturer's look for more inventive ways to move products at a lower cost than traditional print, NeoMedia's technologies is to cell phones what Google is to the internet."
:>)
SS9173
YJ, HMMM...possibly the dots are connecting. I am liking it!
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OT Chartist, Re: GZFX - is it profit taking since you posted this? I took a chance and bought 80,000 shares yesterday morning (only $1K so no big deal). Down a lot since then...do you think it will bounce back?
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Jayoperator, nice find. Hope it materializes into a PR soon.
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Success, Thanks EOM
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Success, 2 questions regarding BSDS and the quiet period:
1) Per the last couple of S4 amendments, Neom needs to close the BSDS deal by October 31st. Is there anyway to find out if the SEC has approved the merger? Time is running short if the SEC hasn't approved it yet.
2) Do we know if Neom Mgmt still claim to be in a quiet period?
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Lupetto, Agreed. EOM
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Success, you are right...the 8K does state 60 days...follow-on SEC filings referred to the dates of September 26 and October 26. I still contend it was a missed opportunity to not close the deal by September 26, and leverage the acquisition at CTIA. Call me stubborn this morning. LOL.
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Lupetto, I respectfully disagree that we didn't have the opportunity with Mobot. Management saw the opportunity early-on about acquiring Mobot prior to CTIA. That is why they established the initial September 26th date. I contend that they didn't "do whatever it takes" to "get 'er done".
Slow and methodical is not going to work in this day and age. That's a strategy that will lead to failure IMO. There are too many LOI's and other initiatives that are taking far longer than necessary IMO. Some other competitor will find a way to "eat our lunch" if we don't "get our act together", especially in the "space that we are playing in".
We will win by learning the core competencies of "speed-to-market" and "execution". Read one of my favorite books, "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done" by Larry Bossidy. This is a good read for anyone in the business world. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0609610570/002-4501972-1380802?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&a...
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SOG, Nice job! Keep up the good work!!!
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Stock Raving Mad, Thanks...very encouraging to hear for us longs. Your first hand discussion with the Scanbuy rep is "priceless". Thank you for sharing this additional information.
Best Regards,
SS9173
Lesnshawn, first let me preface my comments by stating that I respect and appreciate your posts on this board. You are among the posters that I read faithfully.
Now, with that said, I am going to have to say that "we will have to agree to disagree."
I, like you and others here, was pleased to see the report from the CTIA attendees. Yellowjacket and Stock_Raving_Mad, made me feel good about their discussions with Neom Management as well as their observations on the activities at Neom's booth.
Now, why do I say it is a "missed opportunity". First of all, lets start with Mobot. There was $200K cash flow incentive for Neom to get the deal done by Sept 26th. (An additional $200K loan payment is required if the definitive merger agreement is extended to October 26, 2005.) Although I am pleased to hear that Mobot appears now to be just a formality, imagine the impact of Neom and Mobot being able to share the same booth, a PR issued just prior to CTIA (or worse case, the first day of CTIA) that the "mobile marketing wedding of the year" was consummated. Imagine how much more excitement would have been at the Neom / Mobot booth had this been the scenario. Imagine the potential of leveraging Mobot's existing relationships with the likes of Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Cingular, Elle Girl, Jane, Vibe, Ford, Calvin Klein, Citibank, and countless others. Imagine what just this one thing would have done for the pps. Instead...we wait and hope the acquisition will be complete by the next milestone of October 26. In my book, this is a missed opportunity.
Now, hypothetically say that we would have had no one available to attend CTIA. Would we have known that a SP is not key for launch of Paperclick? The answer is a resounding "NO". Now imagine that Neom had issued a PR announcing their plan with some major player of the rollout of Paperclick to now complement their rollout of KeyWord Registry. Ahh, the market and the world can now put a value on WR...why because they can now understand that there is a commitment by some major player that some portion of the public will be able to access and use those keywords to generate ads, which will generate revenues for Neom. Instead, the market is telling us today Word Registry has no value because there is no publicly stated plan of how consumers will even access keywords. The best anyone could surmise is that Virgin Mobile will launch the few Virgin related words/phrases. Obviously, the market is telling us today that's not worth much at the moment. My point is Neom could have made a "huge splash" at CTIA had they had "all their ducks in a row"...instead they made hardly a ripple. Want proof...find just one article that elaborates about Neom's presence at CTIA and the 2 PR's they issued. No...instead the hit of CTIA was mobile TV; not Neom's launch of Keyword Registry. So, I am sorry to say this is in my view a huge missed opportunity.
All that said, I remain confident in Neom for the long term. I have yet to sell a single share of my 1,530,000 shares. The reports by YJ and SRM were very encouraging to me. I have done my share of DD on Neom, and I do know what I own.
However, for the short term, I am disappointed that Neom did not have everything lined up for CTIA that I had hoped for...and I am confident I am not alone in that opinion. The 20% drop in pps since CTIA ended is proof of that. Call it what you will...I call it "a missed opportunity".
Respectfully,
SS9173
DrMyke, it is probably the classic buy the rumor, sell the news scenario as well as the market still doesn't understand if / how WR will be widely adopted by SP's and brand managers. All the questions PP asked are still waiting to be answered. (See my post:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=7899248&txt2find=pp )
I contend that the market will not value Keyword Registry until these questions are answered. Personally, I am disappointed that Neom was not able to publicly answer these questions during CTIA. It is a missed opportunity IMO.
We have been sitting on the launch pad for a while now...rockets are fired, but mission control is not ready to launch because of ??? I wish we had the answer to ??? and knew how long we will have to wait until "lift off".
SS9173
Don't forget Microsoft's Aura project. See my prior post:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=6677888&txt2find=aura
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YJ, I am so sorry to hear about your labrador. I had to put my lab to sleep about 7 years ago...he was my first dog as an adult...definitely one of the toughest things I have ever had to do. Please accept my deepest condolences.
Now relative to Neom - I share your sentiments regarding some OTCC-BB companies putting out fluff PR's. I am invested in a biotech stock that issues PR's about 3 times a week covering everything from speaking engagements to more meaty stuff. Definitely not something we have to worry about from Neom Mgmt. Personally, I put a lot more weight on postings from folks like yourself that have gone out and personally talked with Neom management and observed the technology in action. Those are the posts that help me maintain confidence that I should remain long in Neom.
So again, sorry to hear about your pet, and thanks for all of your contributions here on Ihub.
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Stock Raving Mad, I understand you had a conversation with a Scanbuy rep at CTIA. Can you enlighten us on that conversation? TIA
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TS did not discuss Neom in tonight's Microcap subscriber update. EOM
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Banks, I would surmise that the fall out between Neom and SAIC, which led to bringing Silicon Space on board for word registry delayed this rollout somewhat. The good news is Keyword Registry is now launched.
Neom has a history of major events taking longer than originally planned. I have expressed my concern about this in the past and continue to have this concern.
On the plus side, I was encouraged by the 4 amigos report of their observations and discussions at CTIA. Especially that it appears that the deal with Mobot is just a formality now. The combining of Mobot's and Neom's technology is a breakthrough all by itself, but even better, I believe Mobot has done a better job of marketing itself and establishing relationships with the "big boys".
So, one date that Neom cannot allow to be pushed to the right is the acquisition of Mobot by October 26. The day that this deal is officially done will be a day all Neom longs should celebrate as a monumental accomplishment. I truly believe it will live up to its potential as the "mobile marketing wedding of the year".
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Banks, Thanks for the reply. I would imagine your answer that only the words/phrases sold to Virgin is probably right considering the fact that Neom committed to doing DD before granting ownership of a keyword. However, it is encouraging that they are getting lots of inquiries. Hopefully they can convert many of those inquiries into revenues.
SS9173
DD Registered Your Mobile "PaperClick" Keywords Yet?
http://www.threadwatch.org/node/4036
Scroll down to see the relevant information regarding paperclick.
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YJ, I concur on Mobot. That deal will open up a whole lot of doors for Neom. EOM
SS9173
OT DD Use Your Cell Phone Instead of Your Credit Card
http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122590,00.asp?GT1=6903
It's possible, but current services are limited. PC World puts some to the test.
Michael Fitzgerald, special to PC World
Monday, September 19, 2005
Ever wish you could pay for something with your cell phone? Chances are if your friends have kids, they'll whip out their cell phone to show you pictures. So why not put other staples of the wallet--such as driver's license, credit cards, and membership cards--on the cell?
Although we're a ways off from putting driver's license info on our handset, we can now link a credit card to our mobile, allowing us to pay for things like restaurant bills, parking meters, and cab fares using our phone. This is a promising concept, but the services are not yet nationwide, and the process needs fine-tuning, as I found in some recent hands-on trials.
For starters, I tested Watertown, Massachusetts-based MobileLime. It's one of the first mobile payment systems in the United States that lets you use any cell phone on any carrier to pay for goods and services. MobileLime works only at merchants that have partnered with it. For now, the service is limited to a few dozen vendors in the Boston area and one in upstate New York.
Tryout in Boston
Registering for MobileLime was straightforward: I went to the company's site, put in my phone and contact information, and then chose whether to link my phone number to my credit card or a prepaid account. Linking to a bank account is not yet an option, but MobileLime says that it will provide that service if customers ask for it.
I used MobileLime for lunch at Boston's Sunset Cantina. When I walked in, I called MobileLime's toll-free number using my Treo 600. The automated system asked me for the restaurant's location number, a unique identifier assigned by MobileLime. I asked the hostess for this code. She looked confused for a moment and then said, "Oh, you're using LimeWire [a file-sharing service]."
She asked the owner, who didn't know the number, either. Fortunately, Matthew, one of the servers knew the code. I punched it in, hung up, ate lunch, and at the end called in again with the amount and approved the tip MobileLime's automated system suggested. Matthew asked for the last four digits of my phone number and came back with a receipt.
I realized later that I could've called in only once--at the end of the transaction. When, for example, I went to Toscanini's, a Cambridge ice cream shop, I paid in just one call.
Carlsbad, California-based Black Lab Mobile is a service similar to MobileLime. It is beta-testing its payment system that retailers, such as theaters and restaurants, can use to let their customers pay by cell phone. Black Lab President and CEO James Linlor says the service should be available this fall. For now, you can only send money to another Black Lab user through your mobile phone--say, to cover your Friday-night poker losses.
To do that, you tie a credit-card-based account to your phone number and supply the recipient's phone number. Put in an amount, and your bet is paid off.
Cell Phone Meter Feeders
In Coral Gables, Florida, the city parking department contracted with Toronto's Mint Technologies for its PayMint parking-meter payment system. One of about 1500 users is Hank Klein, the 61-year-old vice chairman of Codina Realty Services, who says PayMint makes his life easier--no more scrounging for coins. If a meeting runs over, he simply calls in and extends his time.
If he forgets to call in and tell the service he's left his parking space, PayMint will send a text message to his phone to ask if he's still there. Klein wishes he could use PayMint for more than just parking meters. "I'd love to use my phone to pay for everything," he says. (In Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, and Yonkers, New York, another company--MPark--offers a service similar to PayMint.)
Paying for everything using your cell phone will be at least a couple of years off in the United States, estimates Mint Technologies president, Frank Maduri. The company is first testing credit cards embedded with radio frequency identification chips. The next logical step is to have cell phones with these RFIDs--which could make payments easier than MobileLime's process, as no calls would be required.
Phone manufacturers are developing RFID-enabled phones for monetary transactions and other uses such as gaming and networking. Nokia offers a version of its 3220 phone with a built-in RFID, and Motorola is testing several phones that use this technology. Still, the biggest demand for such phones is likely to come first in wireless phone hotbeds like Japan.
Wallet-Free Future?
Indeed, in Japan and in Finland people already buy goods via their phones. But even in those countries, a wide-ranging payment system is still an emerging idea. (By the way, don't confuse this process with the micropayments that let you buy such things as ringtones, games, and graphics to download to your phone.)
NTT DoCoMo, for example, Japan's largest wireless company, has been encouraging its users to pay for things with their cell phones. It even bought a stake in Sumitomo Bank and is using C-Sam's OneWallet software so it can more efficiently handle transactions.
Once all the players do figure out these procedures and technologies, payments by cell phone and the resulting wallet-free culture could be a big thing.
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SS9173
MenaMike, well said.
Chartist, I enjoy and appreciate your charts. Lets not let a bad apple or two spoil it for the rest of us who appreciate your efforts and TA insights. Please keep posting. You are an asset to this board.
SS9173
OT DD Mobile Technology Conference - Nov. 7 -10, 2005
Agenda link: http://www.mobiletrax.com/technology/agenda.html
SS9173
OT DD Off Portal Downloads and the Boston Red Sox (Another article from today's email from fiercewireless.com)
Action Engine's Scott Silk Gives His Perspective on the Off-Portal Downloads Market
As recently as last year many media companies still believed the only way to deliver their content to wireless consumers was through the mobile operator portals. Everyone assumed that consumers would look primarily to their mobile operator to find games, ringtones, news, and other mobile applications. Around that same time, most folks were also placing their bets on the New York Yankees to win the 2004 World Series.
As we all now know, the boys in Boston won the World Series, Vodafone announced that "at least 50 percent of content revenues" were coming from off-portal transactions, and suddenly everyone was rooting for the underdog again. Analysts began to agree with this new off-portal trend as well with Ovum predicting that by 2007 more than 40 percent of the projected $70 billion global mobile content market will be outside operator portals.
We recently commissioned our own worldwide mobile usability study and the results were the same: respondents selected third party off-portal download sites as their preferred method for downloading content. The results were even stronger for Europe, where 69 percent of respondents voted for going off-portal.
It seems almost indisputable that off-portal download sites are becoming the most popular mechanism for accessing and buying new content. So what does this mean for you?
The Big Brand/Content Provider: Off portal means that the big brands, like AOL and Disney, can deepen their relationship with their consumers and extend their value from televisions and PCs to the mobile device. For the small start-up content providers, however, off-portal downloading means increased visibility, providing a delivery option that wouldn't have been possible if a meeting with a major mobile operator was required.
The Mobile Application Developers: Companies which offer a fast and easy way to access mobile content are expected to get a boost from this trend toward going off-portal. Content providers want consumers to have a positive experience discovering and using their content and mobile operators want to drive repeat usage of their services. Everyone will be looking to enabling technologies and companies who specialize in mobile usability to deliver the content in easy-to-use applications.
Also, it is becoming increasingly important for successful off-portal companies to look toward the mobile operator portal to create awareness for their offerings among subscribers. These companies are now relying on the mobile operator to do traditional product positioning (i.e., portal advertising and placement). Companies like are providing solutions that help these content providers increase discoverability and simplify accessibility to their offering in both online and offline scenarios.
The Mobile Operator: While the off-portal trend may seem like a threat to operators, many are already abandoning their walled gardens for a more 'open' approach to delivering content. T-Mobile recently announced that it would be working with Google to make it easier for its customers to access web pages and Qpass announced earlier this year that "off-portal sales saw an average monthly growth rate of 141 percent in Q1 2005". These numbers translate to millions of dollars in revenue for mobile operators both from revenue sharing deals with content providers and increased network usage and data plan sales.
The Consumer: In many ways, however, the real winner of the off-portal trend is the mobile consumer who will now have a wide and diverse selection of content, pricing, and download options to choose from. Off-portal mobile content sites that offer fast and easy-to-use applications could finally relieve the frustrations of the mobile consumer who has typed on tiny phone key pads and suffered through painful between-click connection delays to reach even the smallest bit of content.
But perhaps the best news of all is that with so many off-portal sites now available to download game scores, video highlights, and team/player stats, baseball fans have all the wireless technology necessary to watch Boston win again in 2005!
Scott G. Silk is CEO of Action Engine.
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CTIA IT 2005: The Show in Review (from fiercewireless.com email)
CTIA IT & Entertainment 2005 is now over and I am exhausted. Now that the show is behind us and the fourth quarter is just before us, it's time to review the trends that emerged from the show and take a look at where the wireless industry stands as we enter the last leg of year.
The first trend I noticed at this year's CTIA IT & Entertainment is that the mobile enterprise market seems stagnant. While companies are deploying mobile enterprise solutions, the technology and the market momentum seems to have stalled. Enterprises are not spending on IT the way they did in the 1990s and despite the recovery in the overall economy, mobile enterprise spending seems to still be lagging. I do not expect this to change anytime soon. In the 1980s and 1990s, businesses ogled technology, sending representatives to tech trade shows and spending big bucks on deployments. Much of this spending was worth it. The gains in efficiency during this time period were significant.
But, the times they are a changin'. IT has matured, and in the eyes of CIOs so too has the mobile enterprise market. While businesses will continue to spend on mobile deployments, they will do so with tighter budgets and bigger demands for immediate ROI. IT, including mobile enterprise, must now compete for budgets with other corporate initiatives. Mobile vendors that can meet these needs will survive and those that cannot will die off.
Another issue facing the mobile enterprise market is the continued dominance of Research in Motion. While Microsoft, Nokia, and a number of mobile email rivals, including Good Technology, Visto, and Intellisync, continue to make progress in the mobile email space, no one has scored a knock out punch against the BlackBerry. Even with the success of the Treo, the BlackBerry still reigns supreme and RIM continues to post impressive growth.
As for mobile content, well, what can I say. Mobile content is a real business with apps like ring tones and wallpapers generating billions of dollars in revenue. Even emerging forms of mobile content, like mobile TV, have crossed the initial threshold. MobiTV now claims 500,000 paying subscribers, and QUALCOMM is moving fast to launch Media FLO. Mobile music, including full-track downloads, is also moving forward. I was simply in awe of the size of the mobile content industry at this year's CTIA IT. I expect even bigger news in February at 3GSM and in April at CTIA Wireless. I want to thank the good folks at CTIA for a great show.
Next week I will be out of the office taking an executive education class at Columbia University. While I am away, my new Assistant Editor, Brian Dolan, will be filling in for me. If you want to introduce yourself to Brian, send him an email at bdolan@fiercemarkets.com. Have a great weekend everyone. - Stephen
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BillyBass, Great analogy...Great post. Thanks EOM
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SRM, I would be interested in whatever you can reveal regarding your discussion with the Scanbuy rep. TIA
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4amigos, Was Neom trying to sell more keyword registry at their CTIA booth? If so, do you have any feel on how many more keywords might have been registered? An order of magnitude answer would be fine - 25 or less, 26 to 50, more than 51.
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