From the 10K: Competition
NeoMedia Mobile
Through the combination of all its business sub units: PaperClick(R),
Sponge, Mobot, Gavitec and 12snap, NeoMedia believes its NMM business unit has
positioned itself to compete as a global leader in mobile marketing solutions.
The individual business units, prior to acquisition, were already known as
leaders in their own respective marketplaces, so taken together, NeoMedia
believes itself now to be one of the most experienced and successful global
end-to-end mobile marketing solutions providers in the world.
However, within the mobile marketing industry there are numerous players,
many of which are just beginning to appear, who offer parts of the mobile
marketing equation.
Traditional agencies are starting to add mobile campaigns to their
clients' overall marketing mix, often at the request of the client. However,
many of these agencies turn to different companies to provide content and
applications, and to the aggregators who have the relationship with the wireless
carriers to obtain the short codes for SMS and MMS messaging. It is important to
note that the PaperClick platform transcends messaging services since, once the
PaperClick technology is on a mobile phone, there is only one step to access the
mobile web--via keyword or numeric entry into the GoWindow(R) or CodeWindow(R)
or by clicking on a barcode or smartcode with the camera in a handset.
In the European market, where mobile marketing has been embraced by many
large brands (and poised to grow exponentially--see Industry Section) and
numerous consumers, the competition is quite fragmented by geographic region and
by product and service offerings. For example, while Flytxt, Aerodeon and
Enpocket have traditionally competed with NeoMedia companies Sponge and 12snap
in the UK mobile marketing marketplace, Mindmatics has provided the principal
competition in Germany. Additionally, Spielplatz.cc is one of the larger premium
players in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Also, Austria-based DIMICO is
focused on premium SMS connectivity and messaging.
In general, due to the relative immaturity of the mobile marketing
industry, small players have sprung up offering very specialized products and
services. This is even more pronounced in the U.S. where mobile marketing has
mostly been confined to text-to-vote applications.
As the mobile marketing industry matures, NeoMedia expects consolidation
as industry leaders emerge. Moreover, NeoMedia believes its well positioned at
the onset due to the intellectual property, including many patents, on which its
products and services are based. NeoMedia expects that its intellectual
property, coupled with its early aggregation of proven market leaders, will
serve as a competitive advantage as this market rapidly matures.
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