His use of the word "painted" in the sentence below is interesting don't ya think!
"The 4INFO guys must have "painted" a pretty picture of how lucrative this will be."
From PP:
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Nokia Adds 4INFO To Cell Phone
This just shows that phone manufacturers AND service providers want to provide useful consumer applications. I have been saying what a great service this and how much I use it.
You're witnessing the killer app for mobile marketing taking shape. Great job guys.
"For more info" is replaced by "4INFO".
From CommsDesign Nokia adds mobile search to cell phones
Nokia has added 4INFO Inc.’s mobile search service in the United States, the company said Tuesday. The service is free; 4INFO's revenue comes from advertising.
So Nokia will embed a free service application on their phones, in hopes of generating revenues from advertising?
The 4INFO guys must have "painted" a pretty picture of how lucrative this will be.
Check out their site and set your own alerts
Customers with a Nokia handset can now download the application to query millions of U.S. local directory listings, real-time sports scores, player statistics, local weather forecasts, and detailed movie show times and reviews through 4INFO’s free plug-in.
"We have more than 15 million Yellow Page listings in the United States. The user puts in an area code to identify local listings, for example, and that is how we know what listings to send back," Thet explained.
There will be a 4INFO search/info box on the phone. Instead of sending a text message, just type keyword and go.
The Nokia Mobile Search Application is available for download for all Nokia Series 60 cellular phones and will come embedded on phones from carriers beginning in the first quarter of 2006.
Want to know how they create the killer app for mobile?
4INFO starts to sell keywords to advertisers that they can use in ANY for of advertising. The Absolut ad has "4INFFO Keyword ABSOLUT" at the bottom where just typing ABSOLUT into the search box takes you to wherever ABSOLUT wants you to go. Every magazine ad, TV commercial, billboard will now have a physical world hyperlink.
4INFO keywords will become physical world hyperlinks.
"But Scott, there are no barriers to entry with this". I know, there aren't any barriers to entry with search either. There's a company that offers info for consumers and ads for advertisers and they seem to be doing pretty good.
Say goodbye to SMS shortcodes when you have a "mobile info portal" on your phone.
Here's what I think happens.
4INFO starts to become the dominant player in mobile marketing, they start to generate a crapload of revenues by selling mobile keywords. Google realizes they are missing out on billions of future revenues and buys 4INFO out for $100-200m. Google adopts this "mobile keyword" concept and find ANOTHER way to keep advertisers coming back for more.
While other mobile marketing companies are offering free ringones, 4INFO has made it a point to offer INFO, not search. In doing so, they gained acceptance and now have Nokia and service providers at their door.
Great job guys, it's nice to see people and a company that "gets it" and can sell it too.
posted by Vangorilla @ 5:26 AM
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