Loopt Launches "Reward Alerts"

Loopt has introduced "Reward Alerts" into its mobile app for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android phones.

With Reward Alerts, brands and local businesses can offer limited-time and perishable-inventory deals to nearby consumers. Reward Alerts open up a unique mobile opportunity to offer a “flash” deal that is immediately redeemable in person, instead of a deal that is purchased now, but used at a future date.

http://about.loopt.com/press/

Thrutu Adds Location, Photo Sharing, Contact Info to Mobile Voice Calls

Thrutu, an Android app that allows callers to add location, photo sharing, contact information and a "Prod" function to mobile voice calls, now is available on the  Android Market. Thrutu also will be available  for iPhone and BlackBerry. 

Callers can now share digital information instantly, such as the ability to see each other's position updating live on a map, snap and share a photo, send contact information to the other caller's address book and "Prod" the other caller with remote phone vibration. 

"The phone call has not fundamentally changed in the last hundred years, yet we now use our phones to do all kinds of sophisticated things like text, email and interact on social networks," said Liz Rice, vice president, Thrutu. "With Thrutu we're truly changing the conversation, by bringing these activities into the actual phone call. 

In future releases, Thrutu users will be able to connect to their favorite social media channels, play games in mid-call,  plan events or coordinate social activities, share video in real-time and use a new range of "buttons" to enrich a conversation. 

Thrutu is available immediately on the Android 2.1 platform and accessible on mobile plans with simultaneous voice/data capability (AT&T and T-Mobile, in other words), or on Wi-Fi networks.

For more information go to www.thrutu.com, watch the Thrutu video on YouTube or download the app immediately in the Android Market.

Thrutu is a division of Metaswitch Networks. 

Bing Launches "Deals"

Bing deals for the desktop and mobile (m.bing.com) is launching, providing a group shopping and coupon capability representing more than 200,000 unique offers in over 14,000 cities and towns across the United States.  Bing deals assembles leading offers from Groupon, Living Social and Restaurant.com, making it easier to discover, share and search for the best deals in an area,  all from one place.

Bing  partnered with The Dealmap, to launch the service. 

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&amp;brand=msn%20video&amp;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:2d427226-041b-40e8-ba91-5c1ae7a8130a&amp;showPlaylist=true&amp;from=bingblogplayer_en-us_bing&amp;fg=Bing_Marketing_player_bing_blog" target="_new" title="Bing Launches Deals">Video: Bing Launches Deals</a>

Western Union Launches Mobile Remittances

The Western Union Company has launched a new foreign-exchange payment service that will enable small and medium-sized business clients to make payments from their smartphones.

The new mobile-friendly payment service is now available in countries where Western Union currently offers online payment and foreign exchange services through its Business Solutions division, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Australia.

The new mobile service is designed for busy professionals and offers an intuitive interface for customers making international business payments. The service, which offers more than 140 currencies to choose from, allows users to make payments to suppliers in global markets anywhere, anytime, and lock in a currency-exchange rate and fee before transferring funds.

According to an IE Market Research Corp. report, mobile payments will reach one billion users and the $1 trillion transaction mark in the next five years.

Western Union - Investor Relations - News Release

Medialets Publishes In-App Rich Media Benchmarks

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/medialets-publishes-in-app-rich-media-benchmarks-showing-impressive-performance-13549/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MobileMarketingWatch+%28Mobile+Marketing+Watch%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Apple iPad 2 Launches

Apple’s new iPad 2, is 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter than the original iPad, while maintaining the same 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen.

The iPad 2 features Apple’s new dual-core A5 processor for faster performance and better graphics and now includes two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime and Photo Booth, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video.

Though it is thinner, lighter, faster and packed with new features, iPad 2 still delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.

The iPad 2 is available in black or white, features models that run on AT&T’s and Verizon’s 3G networks, and introduces the iPad 2 Smart Cover in a range of colors.

Mobile Marketing and Technology

Apple Has the Best Ecosystem

Aside from the fact that Apple has the best ecosystem, including the best-developed app store and a range of devices ranging from tablets to smartphones to Wi-Fi devices and MP-3 players, it also has the "image" factor going for it. People just think Apple devices are "cool."

Apple Now Has 200 Million iTunes Accounts

An interesting factoid from the iPad 2 launch event: Apple CEO Steve Jobs said 200 million people now have Apple ID (iTunes) accounts tied to credit cards.

"It’s very likely that this is the most accounts with cards anywhere on the Internet,” Jobs said. That could have implications for mobile payments, don't you think?

Apple Now Has 200 Million iTunes Accounts, Biggest Credit Card Hub On Web

iPad Demand Shifted Within First 4 Months

Women appear to be gaining on men as the fastest growing segment of early iPad adopters. In fact, within four months of launch, the female-to-male ratio of iPad users shifted from 1:2 to 2:3 according to figures from Yahoo.

Design matters, apparently.

L2: A Think Tank for Digital Innovation � How the iPad Is Reshaping E-commerce

iPad 2 Will Claim 80% Of US Tablet Market Share In 2011

The first thing consumers will notice about the iPad 2 is how it feels: Lighter (by a crucial 2 ounces) and thinner (at 8.8mm, thinner than an iPhone 4), says Forrester Research.

The new iPad 2 comes in not just black but white, with multiple colors in the thin 'smart covers' that snap into place with 'auto-aligning magnets' and clean those unsightly fingerprints off your screen.

iPad 2 Will Claim 80% Of US Tablet Market Share In 2011

iPad 2 Unveiled: Faster, Thinner, and Two Cameras

The new iPad is thinner, faster and features two cameras, as the early speculation had suggested. It is about the thickness of the iPhone 4, about half as thick as the first iPad. Graphics performance was improved, and a new chip called the A5 powers the device.

Two cameras are on the iPad 2, one facing the front and one facing the rear. They can capture video as well.

Apple will ship the new iPad 2 next week and it will be available in two colors—black and white—for the same prices as the original iPad, starting at $499.

iPad 2 Unveiled: Faster, Thinner, and Two Cameras | mocoNews:

Apple iPad 2 Debuts Today

Web TV Issues

DVRs Reach 50% Penetration of U.S. Homes

According to revised projections from Magna Global, the number of U.S. homes with a DVR should pass the halfway mark and reach 50 percent of all TV homes or about 61.8 million households by the end of 2016, up from 32% or 37.9 million at the end of the third quarter of 2010


For the television and advertising industries, the DVR continues to represent both a blessing and a challenge. By allowing viewers to timeshift shows that they are not able to watch during the original broadcast, the DVR is helping TV networks hold on to viewers who would otherwise seek out other ways to watch these shows, or not watch them at all. At the same time, DVRs enable viewers to fast-forward through content that doesn't interest them, including commercials, potentially undermining television's longtime ad-supported business model.

Dvr state-of-the-media-report nielsen dec 2010  

Traffic Grows 25x, Mobile Revenue 2X

Since 2008, global carrier mobile revenues have increased two times while traffic increased 25 times, some would argue. If so, something will have to change. Mobile service providers will have to increase prices to end users, develop other revenue streams from business partners, offload traffic and further optimize their cost structures. In all likelihood, they will undertake "all of the above."

The big issue likely will be how to go about matching consumption to pricing. For many consumers, simplicity and predictability are key. For those customers, flat fees for unlimited usage represent the greatest amount of simplicity. It is not so clear those sorts of plans will be inexpensive, going forward.

And while "buckets" of usage have proven popular for voice services, it is much harder for end users to understand and track data usage, simply because different applications have such wildly-different bandwidth implications. Still, given enough access to consumption information, many users could prove receptive to usage plans that are based on the types of apps they want to use.

Pricing plans for texting, email and web surfing, without support for video, might prove attractive. Mid-range plans that allow some video will be desirable for other users. Finally, some plans that allow extensive use of video might be most valuable for a fourth bucket of users.

Takeaways from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona - Seeking Alpha

Skype Mobile on Verizon: Mobile Really is Different

Skype apparently has withdrawn its Skype Mobile application which was written for tablet use on the Verizon Wireless 3G network. Verizon Wireless has said that Skype would be available on its 4G network, and some will wonder whether the change is a not-so-subtle way of making 4G stand out from 3G service.

The apparent change also is another example of why the mobile environment, and business, remains distinct from the PC-based Internet. On the fixed PC network, any lawful application will work on any access with adequate bandwidth, irrespective of the make and model of any device, or the brand used for Internet access. That is not true on mobile networks.

Skype Mobile withdrawn on Verizon 3G Wireless tablets: will it only be available on 4G, and if so, when? - Marc Weber Tobias - The Travelgeek - Forbes

Content More Important for Marketing

One can glimpse the growing importance of "content" as a prerequisite for much marketing, including mobile marketing,  by looking at how people use their smartphones. The single most-used app is texting, which two thirds of users report they have used in a month. But the next five most-used apps all are content apps, ranging from the web to music.

Since the whole point of advertising or marketing is to reach potential buyers where those potential buyers are, mobile venues, especially content-related mobile venues, are growing in importance.

Mobile Content Usage 3 Month Avg. Ending Nov. 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2010 Total Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of MobileSubscribers
	Aug-10	Nov-10	Point Change
TotalMobile Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Sent text message to another phone	66.6%	67.1%	0.5
Used browser	34.5%	35.3%	0.8
Used downloaded apps	32.3%	33.4%	1.1
Accessed social networking site or blog	22.5%	23.5%	1.0
Played Games	23.0%	22.6%	-0.4
Listened to music on mobile phone	14.7%	15.0%

Mobile Content Payment Further Unbundles Content

In a digital age, publishers have had to change to think on a per-article basis, especially as content micropayment systems come into wider use.

The change will only accelerate the trend to "unbundling" of discrete content items from the "products" brands have built. In other words, you won't have to "buy the magazine or newspaper," you will buy the stories you want.

There are similar analogies throughout the media business.

Mobile content payment systems: A freedom pass or a can or worms for publishers? | TheMediaBriefing

Email, Web Browsing Drive Tablet Use

Sales of tablet devices will hit 58 million in 2014, In-Stat estimates.

“Although the consumer market is the primary target for tablets right now, the commercial market also represents a potential revenue opportunity for tablet OEMs,” says Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist.

Email and web browsing were the top two tablet uses by current owners at 68 percent and 66 percent respectively. Those facts might help explain growing business user adoption of tablets as well. As it turns out, lots of end users don't have much need for many PC features, don't create a lot of content, and mostly just need to surf the web and check email.

In-Stat - Press Releases

Telefonica Launches "2 Numbers, 1 Phone" Service

Many people use multiple mobile phone numbers, often to separate work from personal calling, or to reduce long-distance charges across national borders. Most often the use of different numbers requires use of separate phones, in other cases only different subscriber information modules.

Telefonica has introduced a "Second Line" service that allows use of two discrete numbers on a single phone and using a single SIM, with services provided by fonYou, a Barcelona-based cloud telephony company.

http://ipcarrier.blogspot.com/2011/02/fonyou-mobile-cloud-telephony-for.html

The Second Line service also enables visual voicemail, a real-time call register and advanced filtering and blocking functions for incoming calls.

Telefonica chooses fonYou for cloud telephony