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Industry DD: September Funding Flows Toward Mobile
OCTOBER 26, 2006
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=109012
Of the 39 digital media startups that received venture capital funding in September, 15 are developing products and services around mobile devices.
That factoid comes from San Francisco-based Rutberg & Co. , which keeps tabs on venture capital and merger events involving digital media companies. (See Video Startups Top VC Funding.)
"The pace of venture capital investment in the digital media industry remained brisk in September," Rutberg analyst Peter Daley tells Light Reading. "There was significant investor interest in the mobile marketing and advertising category."
The 39 funding rounds that took place during September raised a total of $313 million. Companies that develop technology that creates, enables, or delivers some kind of mobile content took $153 million of that total. In several of the funding events for mobile-focused companies the funding amount was not publicly disclosed.
"Advertising infrastructure" companies took $58.2 million in funding during September. "Content service providers and retailers" took $72.5 in funding. These startups either sell specialized content for mobile devices, or help deliver advertising around that content.
"Companies in the content service providers and retailers sector raised a disproportionate 23.2 percent of all digital media venture capital across just 3 deals, owing to the $60.5 million financing of smartphone content and applications retailer Handango," Daley notes. (See OnMobile Secures $27.8M .)
Handango's was by far the largest round of the month. Mobile users can go to the Handango Website and buy the Merriam-Webster Collegiate dictionary for their Blackberry, or some video games formatted especially for a smartphone. The company got a first round of funding in 2000.
Rutberg & Co. notes that it acted as exclusive financial advisor to Handango in the funding transaction.
The next largest September funding was the $25 million round for mobile marketing firm Air2Web. Air2Web works with companies and wireless carriers to develop and deliver multi-faceted marketing campaigns to mobile users.
The third large funding event Daley refers to went to San Francisco-based FrameFree Global, which develops products for authoring and compressing motion imagery.
Rutberg also reports 36 acquisitions of digital media companies during September.
— Mark Sullivan, Reporter, Light Reading
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ss9173
DD Mobile Social Networking Exploding
http://www.moconews.net/entry/mobile-social-networking-exploding/
Posted by James Pearce Thu 26 Oct 2006 01:56 PM PST
UPDATE: Informa has issued a press release on these figures, pinpointing it at $13.1 billion from mobile communities and user generated content. From the release: “Chat services currently represent the largest segment of the market, driven by the fact that they are handset agnostic and can be conducted over the most popular form of mobile data, SMS. However, as increasing numbers of photo and video enabled devices enter the market, the volume of users uploading images or clips is expected to grow significantly. In 2006, 46 million users are expected to submit video clips to services such as SeeMeTV or YouTube from their mobile phone, rising to 198 million by 2011.”
Tomi T. Ahonen has argued that mobile social networking is the killer app for 3G (there’s a phrase I haven’t heard in a while) comparing it to the startlingly successful SMS. He picks up on a figure from Informa that I The Mobilization Of Home Video without picking up on its significance: “operator revenue from such services will rise to more than $13 billion by 2011 from $3.45 billion this year”. That is a huge figure...To compare:
--Juniper put mobile games for 2006 at $3 billion.
--Infonetics predicts that “mobile video services around the world is set to skyrocket from $46.2 million in 2005 to $5.6 billion in 2009”.
It’s always tricky comparing figures from different analysts, because they tend to measure slightly different things in slightly different ways. But this indicates that the mobile social community market is now a huge market in its own right, as big as the recognised gorillas of music, games and video.
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ss9173
Industry DD: Verizon Wireless Customers Set Record: 5 Billion TXT Messages in September
Thursday October 26, 7:05 am ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061026/nyth021.html?.v=69
BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading wireless service provider, announced today its customers sent and received more than five billion TXT Messages in September 2006. This record - for both the company and the U.S. wireless industry - marks the most TXT Messages ever sent and received by Verizon Wireless customers in a single month. The growth in TXT Messages reflects an increase of 150 percent - or an increase of three billion messages a month - for the same time period in 2005.
Also last month, Verizon Wireless customers shared more than 100 million PIX and FLIX multimedia messages. The trend with TXT Messages also holds true for Verizon Wireless' PIX and FLIX Messages as the company also had an increase of more than 150 percent for multimedia messages for the month, compared to one year ago.
For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 54.8 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ - News) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD - News News). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.
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ss9173
Industry DD 'The Future of The Internet is on The Mobile’
2006-10-26 16:41 Source : Moneycontrol.com
http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/management/thefuturetheinternetisthemobileyahoo/thefuturethei....
The dotcom bust happened quite a few years ago, but Yahoo! has maintained its position as the leading website . However, over the last couple of years, it seems to be gradually losing the mind share race to Google, the most recent setback being Google’s acquisition of video site YouTube.
Though the number of people surfing the Net in India is small, Yahoo! chief operating officer Daniel Rosensweig believes that in five years’ time, India will be among the top three nations in Internet surfing. On his first ever trip to India, Rosensweig met not just the Yahoo! India team, but also advertisers, partners and industry associates. He spoke to BW’s Anup Jayaram on the challenges that the company is facing. Excerpts:
Where do you see the future action on the Internet happening?
It will not be restricted to the personal computer (PC). It will be on the mobile phone. Already there are over 2 billion mobile phone users across the world compared to 1 billion PCs. The next level will be to have Internet access on cell phones, iPods and television. We already have a feature called Yahoo! Go that gives users access to all his information wherever they are — be it on their cell phone, television or PCs.
What is the most exciting thing happening at Yahoo! right now?
Right now, it is Yahoo! Answers. This will be really big in times to come. Already, there are 50 million users of Yahoo! Answers and 75 million questions have been answered till now. That’s huge. It has been successful because it offers answers to issues for which a Web search will not get you the right results. That is where Yahoo! Answers comes in handy. You have individuals answering your questions. And yes, we have great means to weed out spam.
Considering that most information is available online on Wikipedia, how is Yahoo! Answers different?
For one, we are richer. Second, you can get answers to a specific question rather than a general search across the Web. Yahoo! Answers covers algorithmic, human and reference search. Others do not offer that kind of depth.
How does Yahoo! plan to counter the Google threat?
What threat? Well, for starters, we focus on the consumer and not just on search and mail. Who is bigger than who depends on which market you are looking at. In the US, both Google and Yahoo! are very close followed by MSN and AOL. In Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, we are the biggest. We are No. 2 in a huge market like South Korea, where Google is No. 5. Also, we are the biggest site on the Internet. Most importantly, Yahoo! is growing faster than the Internet.
How have things changed at Yahoo! India since you started operations here?
This is my first trip to India. But the rest of the team comes here very frequently. We started off as a small development team in Bangalore with 50 people. Today, we have 800. That should go up to 1,000 by the year-end. Yahoo! India will then account for 10 per cent of Yahoo!’s global employee base. We are building a premier team out of India.We will be doing a lot of our innovative work and new products out of India. Bangalore is a major destination for us. It is our second largest engineering centre.
How do you see the growth of the Internet in India?
The real growth in the Internet space today is happening outside the US. A lot of that growth will be in India. China is already the No. 2 with 10 per cent of its population online. Over the next five years, the rising number of Internet users in India should take it to among the top 3-4 nations. As of now, we have just about scratched the surface here. But for that to happen quickly, there are issues that need to be addressed. These include improving the infrastructure, lowering broadband prices and increased mobile Internet access.
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ss9173
N E O M, I agree - those highlights detail the potential of today's PR. :>)
ss9173
Jonesieatl, Thanks again. Chartist1 - if you are reading the board, I would be interested in your opinion as well.
ss9173
Jonesieatl, Thanks. Can you comment on what volume level would be considered a "high volume breakout" (i.e., greater than xx million shares - what is the minimum xx?)
ss9173
Jonesie,
No one replied to my TA question last Saturday. The link is attached: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=14184420
I would be interested in your opinion.
Thanks,
ss9173
TA Experts: Would a high volume breakout above .12 be a good time to buy? If so, what level of volume would you consider to be high volume?
ss9173
OT FYI...All this TS discussion just got deleted as it is totally off topic and has nothing to do with Neomedia Technologies. Let's keep on topic please.
ss9173
You can dispute what another poster has stated if you follow the golden rule ("Treat others as you would want to be treated") and do not include any personal attacks in your response post. Remember to keep your post on the subject and not on the individual. If you disagree with someone, you could start out your post with stating, "(person you are addressing it to), I respectfully disagree..." and then go on with your point of view in a respectful manner.
Moderators can only remove posts for these 6 reasons:
1. Duplicate – an accidental duplicate post by a member
2. Personal Attack – when someone attacks a person, with name calling, or relating to the messenger and not the message.
3. Spam – a message that has nothing to do with the subject matter of this board or is being posted promoting other sites, stock-related or not, that has no use in the discussion (for example, if your board is about Ford Motors, a link promoting amazing returns running a home-based business is worthless to the discussion).
4. Vulgarity – cursing of any kind unacceptable on your board
5. Violation of Privacy – posting of any personal identifiable information (email, real name, phone, address, etc)
6. Threat – someone threatening another member in some fashion
If it doesn’t fit into either of those categories, Moderators can't remove the post.
Hope this helps.
ss9173
OT Ditto on lovin' the revamped qode® website.
Thanks Banks for pointing that out to us all.
ss9173
dlethe01, Excellent DD! Thanks, ss9173
DD Setting up a Mobile Marketing Program: A Primer
by Allison Gower
October 17, 2006
http://www.marketingprofs.com/6/gower1.asp
Quick—is your marketing mobile? Can your message reach your on-the-go audience and can your in-motion customer interact with you wherever they are?
In the past, as long as you were advertising out-of-home, you could have answered "yes." But today, unless your media plan contains a significant amount of mobile-compatible mediums, you are not optimizing your reach.
The mobile phone is everywhere and goes everywhere, and consumers are increasingly comfortable using all of its features, including text messaging, Web browsing, and more. Text messaging, for example, continues to grow exponentially year after year—and it's no longer just a teen or tween thing.
Creative advertisers recognize the potential for adding mobile marketing to their mix, especially for products and services that appeal to a mobile, on-the-go audience. For example, two major restaurant chains in Houston recently added a text messaging component to their point-of-purchase displays and in-store signage, as a way of engaging with interested customers, promoting new offerings, and rewarding those who want a deeper relationship with the brand.
In fact, text message programs are ideal for extending the reach and "stickiness" of your existing campaigns, and for enabling interested consumers to opt in for more information.
All advertisers have loyal communities that want to know more about the marketing message. Many in those communities would interact more with your brand or service if it were easier for them to do so. Texting works—it's quick and easy for customers and it can be added to existing marketing efforts with little effort and very low costs, if you have the right text-to-shortcode provider.
Let's look in greater detail at the restaurant examples I mentioned.
Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits recently conducted a text messaging campaign in its Houston-area stores that rewarded customers with a ready-to-use coupon sent to their mobile phone. Promoted via outside signage and window clings, the campaign was designed to encourage consumers to try a new chicken sandwich by awarding them a free drink and fries.
Over the course of the campaign, an average of more than 100 people a day texted the word "popeyes" to the shortcode that had been set up, and in return they received a reply text that served as the "coupon."
Many of these customers also responded to the Web link that was included in the reply text, increasing the value of the connection between Popeyes and its loyal customers.
The Popeyes effort was designed to reach people right there in the store—and provide immediate gratification. It was basically a reward for trying something different and new.
The Texas-based units of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers are using text messaging to engage consumers, too, but in a slightly different way.
Signage throughout the restaurants and buttons worn by servers encourage customers to text in and join the Red Robin VIP club. Those who do, receive a reply text with a link to special microsite where they can print a voucher good for $5 off their next meal. They also receive advance news of upcoming promotions and other goodies, if they choose, all via text.
The value? Let's say you work near a Red Robin restaurant and you go there once a month or so for lunch with friends. On your most recent visit, you joined the VIP club via text messaging. Now, a few weeks later, around 10 a.m. on a Friday, you receive another text with an offer for a free appetizer. Where are you going to go to lunch that day? Chances are good it will be Red Robin.
Here's another example: ENVY magazines in Houston and Dallas cover the entertainment, dining, and nightlife scene. ENVY uses text messaging as an "opt in" for subscribers and others who want up-to-date information on local events, special "invitation only" parties, and restaurant and fashion boutique recommendations.
Setting up a text messaging program works like this:
Text-to-shortcode providers create unique word "tags" that can be used on any advertisement. When texted to the specified shortcode—in our case it's 78247—the provider delivers information via a text message back to the consumer about the brand or service.
The advertiser specifies the content of the text message—it could be a Web address, a phone number or a promotional code, a coupon, an "opt in" for future information, or just more details about the product.
With some providers, texters also have a message about that advertiser saved for them in an online inbox.
It's important to make certain that the text platform you use is paid for by the advertisers, not the consumers. If customers wind up with extra charges on their mobile phone bill, they aren't happy about it. So texting shouldn't be seen as a revenue generator by itself, nor should be it viewed as an extra that should cost. It should be a value-add paid for by the company as a way to assist consumers who want more information.
After all, you wouldn't charge a person who visited your Web site, would you? Or one who listened to a radio ad?
Another important caveat: Make certain that the text platform you use allows consumers total control over the interaction—no selling of mobile numbers, no future spamming. At qtags, we never release mobile numbers to anyone, not even the clients who pay for the service. In that way, the consumer is protected and text messaging remains an avenue that individuals control—it's not just another way to push unwanted messages to people.
With the right strategy and a little creativity, mobile marketing can help any business engage more effectively with on-the-go consumers who truly want to learn more about their products or services.
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ss9173
Beam11, I doubt anyone on this board can say for sure that News Corp has seen a demonstration of qode. What we do know is that our subs have been dealing with some of the News Corp owned UK newspapers. See these related links for why News Corp might be interested in qode:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=10657144&txt2find=sun
http://www.neom.com/docs/investor_relations/2006NeoMedia_Mobile.pdf - see page 66
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=13399304&txt2find=news
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=13297114&txt2find=news
http://news.com.com/News+Corp.+exec+urges+wireless,+entertainment+partnerships/2100-1039_3-6115442.h...
ss9173
JP or anyone: Do you have a password to gateway.qode.com? Do you know where it leads to?
ss9173
Success622, I agree with you regarding your comments that mobile find is much preferred than mobile search.
ss9173
FWIW there was no discussion of Neom in tonight's Changewave Microcap update.
ss9173
There are a lot of well respected names presenting at tomorrow's conference besides Neomedia:
The following speakers have confirmed their participation at Mobile Broadband Americas:
Birame Sock, Head of Mobile, 19 Entertainment
Tim Brooks, Business Development Radioplan, ACTIX
Alfredo Narez, Vice President, Marketing, Air2Web
Paul Callahan, Vice President, Business Development, Airvana
Vedat Eyuboglu, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Airvana
Karim Taga, Managing Director, Arthur D Little Austria
Siroos Afshar, AT&T Chief SoIP/VoIP Architect, AT&T
Mark Denton, Director, Product Management, Bridgewater Systems
Paul Hampton, Chairman of the Technical Working Group, CDMA Certification Forum
Bill Dahnke, International Roaming, Representing CDMA Development Group (CDG)
David Hind, Vice President, Terminals, Representing CDMA Development Group (CDG)
James Person, COO, CDMA Development Group (CDG)
Francis Sideco, Product Marketing Manager, Comarco Wireless Test Solutions
Randy Boyer, General Manager, ConVisual
Steve Kovsky, Senior Analyst, Digital TV Industry, Current Analysis
Dean Newton, CEO, Decade Mobile LLC
Todd Sankey, CTO, Dyaptive Systems
Ted Cohen, Chair, Mobile Entertainment Forum, Americas
Anthony Stonefield, CEO, Emotive Communications, Inc.
Shane Dewing, Chief Technical Officer, Emotive Communications, Inc.
Mike Baker, CEO, EnPocket
Steven J. Hamrick, Partner, Fleischman and Walsh, LLP
Alan Hadden, President, Global mobile Suppliers Association
Greg Ballard, CEO, Glu Mobile
Lee Hancock, CEO, Go2
Dipchand "Deep" Nishar, Director, Product Management, Google
Dave Glidden, Director of TV Strategic and Business Development, Harris Television
Scott Willis, President and COO, HiWire LLC
David Hose, CEO, Ideas & Plans
Michael Ahearn, Vice President, Marketing, iLoop Mobile
Robert Sanchez, Vice President and Chief Architect, inCode Wireless
Lewis Roberts, Senior Manager, Innovative Processes Team, inCode Wireless
Kieve Huffman, Vice President, Content, Infospace
Jon Hambridge, Vice President, Global Marketing, IP Wireless
Nihal Mehta, CEO and Co-Founder, ipsh!
Masaaki Koga, Senior Manager, Industry Relations Department, KDDI
Seong-Mok Oh, Vice President, KTF
Susan Nelson, Executive Director Strategy and Insight, Landor
Naomi Morita, Director, Business Development, Loc-Aid
John Leonard, Vice President, Business Strategy and Offer Management, LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES
Mike Iandolo, Vice President, Mobility Access, LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES
Ed Chao, Director, CDMA Project Management, LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES
Humberto LaRoche, Senior Manager, Convergence Solutions, LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES
Will Hodgman, Co-Founder, President & CEO and Director, M:Metrics
Haim Harel, President, Magnolia Broadband
Sherwin Wang, Vice President, Systems Testing and Customer Support, Magnolia Broadband
Omar Javaid, Senior Director, Business Development, MediaFLO
Chris Murphy, Senior Vice President, Strategic Services, Millward Brown
Laura Marriott, Executive Director, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)
Bob Walczak, CEO, Mobile Phone Applications, Inc.
Dr. Norbert Rohringer, Head of Conceptual Planning, Mobilkom Austria
Kevin Grant, Vice President, MobiTV
Kevin Wells, Vice President Business Development, Mobot
Jonas Gerber, Vice President of Business Development, Moderati
Dave Ulmer, Senior Director of Marketing, Mobile Devices, Digital Media Services, Motorola
Chas Fritz, Chairman and Founder, NeoMedia Technologies, Inc.
Steve Granek, IP Services Business Development, Neustar, Inc.
Paul Leakas, General Manager, Nielsen Mobile
Doug Wolff, General Manager and Vice President, CDMA, Nortel
Si Nguyen, UMTS Product Manager, Nortel
Edward Lang, Senior Vice President, Mobile Playboy Entertainment Group
Paul Martecchini, Principal, PowerStar Consulting
Brady O. Bruce, Senior Vice President, Telecom Products and Services, Promptu
Bryan Biniak, Managing Director and Founder, Provenance Ventures, LLC
Anand Iyer, Director, Wireless Solutions Practice, PRTM Management Consultants
Rick Szatkowski , Vice President Business Development, Qode
Eduardo Esteves, Senior Director, Technical Marketing, Qualcomm
Ronny Haraldsvik, Vice President, Marketing, Mobile Broadband, Qualcomm
Nilesh Patel, Staff Manager, Technical Marketing, Qualcomm
Raja Khanna, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder, QuickPlay Media
Ofir Michael, Director, Product Management, RADCOM
Jim Nelson, Founder, Roundbox
Rajeev Chand, Director of Research, Senior Equity Research Analyst, Wireless, Rutberg & Co.
Bill Barhydt, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Sennari Entertainment
Bryan McGuirk, President of Media Solutions, SeS Americom
Mike Thelander, Founder and CEO, Signals Research Group
Dan Flanegan, CEO, SoapBox Mobile
Michael Keeley, Applications Testing Market Segment Manager, Spirent Communications
Colleen LeCount, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Sprint
Kim Olsen, Corporate Development and Innovation, Sprint
John Styers, Director, Data Services, Sprint
Ali Afrashteh, Vice President Emerging Technologies Research & Corporate Support, Sprint Nextel
Alex Tkatch, Senior Engineer, Sprint Nextel
John Fessler, Principal Engineer, Customer Equipment Certification, Sprint Nextel
Barry Tishgart, Director, Product Management, Sprint Nextel Corporation
Gavin Throckmorton, Manager of Product Marketing, Sprint Nextel Corporation
Brian Gregory, Product Marketing Manager, Sprint Nextel Corporation
Ashraf Dahod, CEO and President, Starent Networks
Dan Drath, Vice President, Director of Custom Research, Teenage Research Unlimited
Kjell Martin Holen, Senior Business Developer, Telenor
Bernard Brenner, Director, New Products, Telephia, Inc.
Tamara Gaffney, Director of Product Mangement and Media Analyst, Telephia, Inc.
Rickard Ljung, Project Manager, HSDPA Planning, TeliaSonera
John Thomas, CEO, Tensorcomm
Ryan Boen, Vice President, Products, TestQuest
Cameron Clayton, Director of Business Development, The Weather Channel Interactive
Randy Busch, Vice President, Products, Tira Wireless
Christopher Brunner, Vice President, Mobile Content and Services, Univision Online, Univision Communications
Claudio Taglienti, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, U.S. Cellular
Greg Green, Terminal Product Engineer, U.S. Cellular
Izzy Abbass, President, North America, U-Turn Mobile Media Group
Krishna Ramadas, Senior Architect, Venturi Wireless
Jim Manis, Senior Vice President, Verisign/M-Qube
Bhumip Khasnabish, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Verizon
Nicholas Montes, Vice President/General Manager, Viva Vision
Webster Lewin, Mobile Marketing Strategist, VML
Marc A. Brown, Head of Mobile TV, WAAT Media Wireless Entertainment
Vadim Elkin, Director, Business Development, w2bi
Michael Nash, Senior Vice President, Internet Strategy and Business Development, Warner Music Group
Larry Movshin, Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer
Sue Marek, Executive Editor, Wireless Week
Keith Mallinson, Executive Vice President Wireless Mobile Research, Yankee Group
Debra Bluman, Vice President, Marketing, Zingy
Sanjeet Pandit, Head of Global Business Development, CDMA Business Division, ZTE
ss9173
Reminder: I wonder if we will get another PR at tomorrow's Mobile Broadband Americas Conference in Las Vegas:
http://www.iirusa.com/mobilebroadband/1859.xml
See Day One Agenda where Chas Fritz, Rick Szatkowski and Kevin Wells (Mobot) will be presenting from 1:30 to 2:30 PM.
Subject: Leveraging the Latest Innovations, Technologies and Platforms to Maximize Made for Mobile Interactive Content
ss9173
Clearly we are targeting qode to publishing companies (among other brand partners, service providers and mobile phone manufacturers). I think when one considers today's PR, the prior Prentice Hall PR, and the prior AutoXperience Fort Myers Newspaper qode trial PR, the probability is even higher now that News Corp will license qode in the near future. Now that would be one heck of a killer PR.
ss9173
Another PP plug for Scanbuy today...http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/2006/10/scanbuy-recognized-as-web-20-company.html
ss9173
In4it, I ditto YJ's comments.
Thanks,
ss9173
Here is the article PP referred to in his blog today:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/16/business/wireless17.php
Wireless: Mobile marketing in an ink blot
By Eric Sylvers International Herald Tribune
Published: October 16, 2006
The twentysomething with the ponytail races down the steps to the platform to find that she has just missed her subway and will have to wait seven minutes for the next one.
She is unperturbed about the unexpected delay. She pulls out her cellphone, snaps a picture of a corner of the movie poster on the other side of the tracks and, a few seconds later, she has a list of show times at neighborhood theaters on her handset as well as a review of the film. With one more click, she can watch the trailer and buy tickets.
In Japan, this scene is so common as to border on the banal, and the technology that makes it possible, QR codes, is so widespread that it is employed in dozens of retail industries. In Europe and North America, a handful of imitators are looking to the QR model to try to give "point and click" a whole new meaning outside Asia.
QR, or quick response, codes are a similar to bar codes except they are square, look a bit like an ink blot and contain much more information. In Japan and South Korea, QR codes are used to link directly to a Web site, as in the case of the subway poster, saving the user the need to type an address on the tiny keypad of the phone. As marketers seek an edge on competitors, QR codes are appearing practically everywhere in Japan.
"Somebody can go to the meat section of some supermarkets in Japan and use a QR code to find out what the cow ate, where it came from and where it was processed," said Junn Chanoki, the Tokyo-based head of food and agribusiness research for Rabobank, a Dutch investment bank. "Ninety percent of Japanese have a mobile phone, and most phones are connected to the Internet, so the number of potential users is enormous."
QR codes are now popping up on Japanese business cards, allowing somebody to snap a picture with a cellphone and save the bother of entering a new contact's information. Last month, McDonald's began putting the codes directly on food packaging so that Japanese diners could get nutrition information instantly.
Denso Wave, a Japanese electronics company, created QR codes in 1994 to track car parts, employing hand-held devices that are still in use. Although it patented the process, the company allowed anybody to create QR codes without having to pay a licensing fee. That helped the technology take off.
But that by itself would not have been enough to guarantee the code's ubiquity, said Daniel Scuka, the editor of Wireless Watch Japan, an online publication.
"QR codes have been a great success in Japan because phone carriers confronted this in a systemic way, with all of them using the same technology," he said - a potential lesson for carriers in Europe and the United States.
When QR codes first came into use about five years ago, software had to be downloaded onto phones that allowed the handset to decipher the code once it had been photographed. Now, most phones sold in Japan have the software built in, or it can be downloaded directly to the handset.
"The power of QR is that it is easy to use and potentially turns anything into a direct connection between advertiser and client," said Kent Wertime, the Bangkok-based president for the Asian operations of OgilvyOne, a digital and direct marketing agency.
While QR codes have had success in Japan and South Korea, they have not made the leap to the rest of Asia, Europe and North America. MobileTag, developed by the French company Abaxia, and ShotCode, created by a Swedish-Dutch start-up called OP3, are similar to QR codes and could be the early favorites to grab market share outside Asia, should the technology catch on.
But by the time the rest of the world begins using something like QR, Japan may well have moved on to the next thing. Fujitsu said last month that it had developed a new type of data- storing code that worked like QR codes but blended into pictures, making it imperceptible.
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ss9173
YJ, I certainly respect your opinion. I just think the PR was written somewhat "wishy washy" and wish that Neom would start giving us better forward guidance. It just wasn't written as strong as I would have liked regarding revenue growth. I guess we will have to wait until the 10Q comes out to find out the magnitude of revenue growth...we will see that by November 10th.
ss9173
Although it is nice to get this press release, it doesn't really infer that 12snap's revenues are growing...just that they are "similar".
For reference, 12snap had revenues of $6.2 million during the first half of 2006. (See my post: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12562108&txt2find=12snap ).
This was up by 79% from the prior 6 month period. From today's PR, we now know that European-based telephone carriers and cell phone manufacturers accounted for $1.3MM (or 21%) of the $6.2MM total.
Neomedia needs to portray itself as a high growth company, and unfortunately today's PR doesn't give us that impression. When it came down to hard numbers, the PR stated: 12snap was on track to generate a similar revenue total in the second half of the calendar year from the mobile carriers and handset manufacturers, in addition to its other business serving other companies.
The closest it got to inferring revenues were increasing was this relatively weak statement: "While NeoMedia and our subsidiary companies are growing in breadth and volume of services, as well as in producing revenues, we are simply not allowed by these contracts to provide more information.
Most of us already knew that they couldn't release more information on mobile carriers and handset manufacturers for contractual reasons.
So again, while I appreciate the PR, I just believe it was not written as well as it could have been.
Personally, I would have preferred that they would have given an indication that 2nd half 2006 revenues for 12snap are anticipated to be up XX% - a number like 79% as reported in the prior 10Q would have had much more impact!
JMHO.
ss9173
OT Sean, Good work! EOM
OT Please let's keep this board a productive forum to read objective views, information and DD regarding Neom or relevant DD regarding the Mobile Marketing Industry.
I just deleted 13 of 20 messages that were posted between 10:00 PM and 5:00 AM all for personal attacks (or messages that responded / affirmed the personal attack).
Personal attacks will absolutely not be tolerated! Please keep your posts on the subject unless you have something nice to say about the person or what they have posted.
Remember the old saying "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it."
Thanks,
ss9173
Assistant Moderator
Anyone responding to JP's post that I am replying to (link below) - please be sure to use the word "consultant" in your reply and not the individual's name or any reference to the individual's website or business.
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=13956490
This request also applies to any other discussion regarding Neomedia's PR in response to the Changewave Sell alert.
http://www.neom.com/press_releases/2006/20061009.jsp
Failure to follow this guideline will result in your post being removed by the Moderators.
Thank you,
ss9173
OT mcopus@neom.com EOM
OT $1.65 billion is correct. I had copied and pasted from the email and they have it wrong with $165 billion. I should have caught their mistake when I posted, but missed it. Sorry for the confusion.
ss9173
OT From a mediapost.com email
Google's $165 billion purchase of YouTube continues to roil the industry, with other media companies wondering what this new turn of events means for them. News Corp., for one, seems especially peeved about the deal. News Corp. executives had tried to buy YouTube themselves, but were told the company wasn't for sale, according to The Wall Street Journal. When reports of the negotiations between Google and YouTube broke Friday, News Corp. attempted to insert itself in the talks, but was ignored, according to the Journal. Now, News Corp. reportedly is considering disabling links to YouTube videos on MySpace pages.
It's hard to overstate just how stupid such a move would be. If News Corp. imagines for one second that MySpace users would simply accept that type of censorship, the executives running the company are woefully out of touch with their users. The execs are also weirdly disconnected from the very nature of social networking if they think they can play traffic cop to prevent users from visiting one of the most popular sites ever. The far more likely outcome is that users will abandon MySpace, not YouTube. After all, there are other social networking sites. Google itself runs one, Orkut--which is wildly popular in Brazil. News Corp. and other media companies obviously need to figure out where they fit in this new landscape.
But it should be just as obvious that they're not going to be able to diminish YouTube's popularity by trying to block their members from linking to it. That's exactly the type of desperation move that will accelerate an exodus from MySpace to a newer, less restrictive environment.
ss9173
Movieguy, Thanks...that's what I thought...just wanted to confirm.
ss9173
Some questions regarding the downloading of qode to Nokia symbian and now Ericsson phones with Java 1.0 via the get.qode.com website - How does John Q Public, who has never heard of Neomedia or Qode, know that they can download qode to their phones? Is Nokia or Ericsson promoting qode on their websites? Will we have to wait for brand partners to do an ad promotion for John Q Public to become aware of qode's availability and usefulness?
ss9173
I wasn't able to listen to the call, but just starting to read some of the posts afterwards. I obviously didn't hear how "implied license" was used, but did a google search and found this article:
http://www.wilmerhale.com/publications/whPubsDetail.aspx?publication=2326
Implied Patent Licenses
September 9, 2003
By Michael J. Bevilacqua
Introduction
When a patent holder sells a product covered by a patent, the purchaser typically receives an implied license under the patent. But what if the patent holder sells only a part of the patented combination, and the customer uses other parts from other sources to complete the patented combination?
In Anton/Bauer, Inc. v. PAG, Ltd., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that (1) if a part has no non-infringing use and (2) the sale is unrestricted, the sale grants the purchaser an implied license to the patented combination for the life of the part.
In Anton/Bauer, the plaintiff/patent holder, Anton/Bauer, owned a patent for a battery connection system having a combination of male and female quick-release plates. Neither plate was separately patented. Anton/Bauer sold female plates to video camera manufacturers, who incorporated those plates into cameras, and also sold female plates to the public as an after-market product. Anton/Bauer also made battery packs incorporating the male plates and sold these packs as separate products.
While camera purchasers could buy a battery pack when purchasing a camera, typically they bought the battery pack separately. The defendant, PAG, sold battery packs with a male plate designed for use in a quick-release battery connection and to be interchangeable with the Anton/Bauer battery packs. PAG did not make, use or sell any female plates in the U.S.
Inducing and Contributory Infringement
Direct infringement occurs when a party makes, uses, sells, offers to sell or imports a product or method that meets all the limitations of a patent claim.
A party that does not directly infringe can be liable for patent infringement under one of two theories:
inducing infringement, which requires proof that the party's actions induced the infringement and that the infringer knew or should have known that such actions would induce actual infringement; or
contributory infringement, which arises if that party sells a material component of a patented combination or for use in a patented process, knowing that component is made or adapted for use in the patented combination or process and that the component has no substantial non-infringing use.
These forms of indirect infringement prevent a party from, for example, selling components of a combination with instructions on how to put it together, or selling a part with several uses and instructing the user on how to use it in an infringing way.
For a party to be found liable for inducing or contributory infringement, there must be a direct infringer. In this case, (absent the implied license) the direct infringers would be customers who combine the camera having Anton/Bauer's female plate with the battery pack having PAG's male plate. However, Anton/Bauer would not want to sue individual camera customers, so it sued the supplier of the male plates.
Exhaustion of Patent Rights and Implied License
If a patent owner (or another party on its authority) makes an unrestricted sale of a patented product, the patent owner gives up its ability to restrict further sale or use of that product.
In Anton/Bauer, the Federal Circuit held that the sale by the patent owner of an unpatented part results in an implied license to the patented combination if (1) the unpatented goods are only useful in creating the claimed combination or practicing the claimed method; and (2) the circumstances of the sale plainly indicate that the grant of a license should be inferred.
Because Anton/Bauer's customers bought the female plate without restriction, they received an implied license to use that plate in the quick-release battery connection for the life of the female plate, which in this case was the life of the video camera. The source of the male plate and the relative timing of the camera and battery pack sales were deemed irrelevant.
As Anton/Bauer teaches, the patent owner's actions can determine whether other parties are direct infringers, and therefore whether other parties may be liable for inducing or contributory infringement.
Conclusion
Anton/Bauer could have avoided this license issue if it had claims to the individual components, particularly a claim directed only to the male plate. In that case, PAG would have been a direct infringer for making and/or selling the male plate. For this reason, patentees often try to get claims directed to the individual components of patented combinations or to intermediates used in producing a chemical compound, in addition to claims to the combinations. With methods that may be performed by two entities (such as a server and a client), it can be useful to have claims with steps performed by only one entity.
In general, patent owners should consider how the products they sell or the method steps they perform compare to the structure of their patent claims. When obtaining patent protection, they should consider what they sell or perform and what components or steps other parties are likely to sell or perform, and attempt to obtain claims that will directly cover the different ways that their inventions may be offered. If patent protection is limited to the combination, the patent owner should give careful thought as to how it markets its products.
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Does the above fit the discussion during the CC?
ss9173
OT 1:17 PM EST EOM
With no additional PR and less than 20 minutes prior to the conference call, there is the potential that the conference call will be more visionary statements rather than filled with substance, which would just substantiate part of what TS said in his response.
ss9173
I have emailed the Changewave Response to the Neom BOD's. EOM
OT Kmathern, Good catch. That makes it even more interesting - doesn't it. I went back and re-read his subscriber updates and he first started being very negative about Neomedia beginning with his August 1st update. If he is truly following the 30 day policy, he should still be a Neom stockholder IMO based on the disclosure page.
ss9173
Focused Fool, I don't believe that updated portfolio page is necessarily reflective of TS's personal portfolio - rather it is the published portfolio for subscribers. IMO, the disclosure page is what one needs to review to determine his personal holdings.
ss9173