Wireless Federation

A LITTLE-KNOWN private company, Akoo International, is setting up a network of digital screens that can send and receive messages from cellphones. The company aims to transform mobile devices into universal remote controls that can select on-demand content from big-screen TVs in airports, bars and restaurants.

With Akoo’s network, named m-Venue, cellphone users can send a text-message request for a music video, sports clip or fashion show to be delivered to their phone or played on a nearby Akoo television screen, which would act much like a high-tech jukebox.

In return, companies can deliver digital coupons and promotions to the cellphones. For instance, a customer at a John Barleycorn restaurant in Chicago, part of the m-Venue network, might select a text message code displayed on a big screen — say, one that would deliver Gwen Stefani’s new music video.

The customer would then receive a text message to the effect of, “Thanks! Gwen Stefani will play shortly. Show this text to your server and get any appetizer for $1.”

Ads on cellphones and digital signs that can be activated by consumers are part of the rapidly expanding business of mobile marketing.

The Carmel Group, a research firm in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., predicts that revenue in the United States from digital signs will grow to $2.6 billion by the end of 2010 from $1.5 billion in 2007.

While a handful of companies are using digital signs for one-way communication, like sending coupons to cellphones, Akoo (pronounced AH-koo) says its technology is different because it allows consumers to control content on digital advertising screens to see something they choose. “This is the only digital out-of-home billboard network that’s fully interactive with mobile phones,” said Andy Stankiewicz, vice president for marketing at Akoo.

The content for the system, he said, is being supplied through deals with the Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Fashion TV, which have collectively made more than two million clips available to m-Venue.

Advertisers are being lured to Akoo’s network by its potential customers, who tend to be young and hard to reach. Cellphone users can register online for the service and choose to receive offers. The system also interests marketers given its proximity to the cash register, where 70 percent of purchase decisions are said to be made.

“We can tie back a mobile phone user to the customer’s purchase history,” said Niko Drakoulis, the chief executive of Akoo, based in Chicago. This works partly by identifying a person’s location when they use the system.

Akoo, which was founded in 2001, has done some early trials with McDonald’s. At one Chicago store, Akoo said, a 14-day trial with the digital screens helped increase business 17 percent.

Ad agencies have shown both interest in and trepidation about cellphone-activated digital signs. The creative agency Leo Burnett and its nontraditional sister shop, Arc Worldwide, both part of the Publicis Groupe, have signed an alliance with Akoo. The digital agency Avenue A/Razorfish, which is owned by Microsoft, is also discussing trials.

Texas State University became the first college to become part of Akoo’s network after Akoo made a deal with the food provider Chartwells, which manages food services for 200 American universities and is part of the Compass Group.

Akoo’s other public partners are mainly in the Chicago area, including the restaurant chain Bob Chinn’s Crabhouse; the Cubby Bear, a Chicago sports bar with live music; and Ala Carte Entertainment, the owner of several bars and restaurants in the area. Mr. Stankiewicz declined to say how many display screens were in the network.

Other ad agencies, while not familiar with Akoo, say they see interesting possibilities for the marriage of mobile and digital signs. “I can’t see how marketers in today’s environment couldn’t look at something like this and say it completely makes sense,” says Ross Dobson, managing partner for digital, direct and analytics at the ad agency Mullen in Wenham, Mass., a part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. “I hope they’d embrace this before they embrace other disruptive advertising on mobile devices.”

Mr. Dobson said some clients had shied away from marketing with digital signs because of the potential for lawsuits that could result from the distraction posed by moving images.

Bill Reynolds, vice president and head of media for the Interpublic Group agency Erwin-Penland, said, “These installations initially attract consumer attention, but much of it is for the novelty effect. Many of these will wear out pretty quickly, so it will be a challenge to keep them fresh and engaging.”

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The Universal Music Mobile service attracted its millionth customer, three years after launch. The company offers mobile phone services under licence on the Bouygues Telecom network since August 2004. Targeted at 15-20 year olds, Universal Music Mobile has launched a contest to invite customers to discover Jenifer’s new album, Lunatique, at a private concert on the Champs Elysees. The operator’s services include unlimited SMS to all operators out of school hours, unlimited minutes carry-over, and lower call charges after school.

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Belgian mobile operator Mobistar has attracted 500,000 customers for its TempoMusic service, run with Universal Music. The service offers customers who top up for at least EUR 10, 300 free SMS and ten free listening sessions with the TempoMusicStation, accessed via a shortcode SMS. In total the TempoMusic customers have sent around 1.2 billion SMS.

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Mobile operator Vodafone is to offer customers the chance to download an unlimited number of music downloads direct to their mobile phones for just £1.99 per week.

The service, called MusicStation, will be available on Vodafone’s new range of mobile handsets and lets you choose from one million tracks from all four major record labels.

Though many new mobile phones are able to store and play MP3 files, there are currently few services that let you download music direct to your phone, though Nokia plans to launch a similar service later in the year and iPhone owners in the US can use the iTunes Wi-Fi store.

“This is a first for music on the mobile in the UK and means a fundamental change to the way people experience music on their phones,” said Tim Yates of Vodafone.

There are 18 new handsets from manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, which will offer mobile internet access as well as the MusicStation package, which will go live some time before Christmas.

One of the record labels involved, Universal, hailed the new service.

“MusicStation is the most compelling music experience on mobile today. Giving users unlimited access to our and other labels’ catalogues, all for £1.99 a week, it creates the UK’s first digital music experience on mobile that has true mass market appeal,” said Rob Wells of Universal.

www.vodafone.co.uk

Thanks to a new service called MusicStation, European customers will be able to download an unlimited amount of music to their mobile phones.

MusicStation launched in Sweden on Tuesday, and it will hit major markets in the rest of Europe, as well as Asia and Africa over the next few months. The company says it has agreements with 30 operators and hopes to serve over 100 million phones within the year.

North American plans for the service were not specified at all during the announcement.

The service would be like a Napster of sorts, which instead of charging per song, instead there would be a weekly charge of 2.99 euros for unlimited downloads. Your only limitation is the amount of memory your mobile phone has.

The company also said that eventually the tracks would be able to be transferred to your PC, but that part of the service was not currently available.

“MusicStation’s launch today heralds the beginning of the next generation of mobile music,” Rob Lewis said, CEO of the service’s parent company Omnifone.

Over 1 million tracks would be offered by the service, including music from the “Big 4″, Universal Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music, and EMI.

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PCpro writes…An alliance of all major music publishers and 23 mobile operators said on Monday they would launch a cellular music service to 690 million phone subscribers, stealing the thunder of Apple’s iPhone.
Initiated by British mobile music firm Omnifone, the mobile phone music service will be launched by the second quarter, offering unlimited track downloads at 2.99 euros per week - £1.99 in Britain - including data traffic charges.

‘We expect to definitely get to the millions of subs (subscribers) by the end of this calendar year,’ said Omnifone founder Rob Lewis about the new service, called MusicStation.

Apple announced its entry into the mobile phone market last month when it unveiled the iPhone, incorporating an iPod digital music and video player. It will hit U.S. stores in the summer and will be available to consumers outside the United States this fall.

MusicStation will be on offer in all major western European markets before iPhone is introduced, and the first operators to provide it will be Telenor in Norway and Vodafone partner network Vodacom in South Africa, Lewis said.

The special software to download tracks and play music will turn most phones into music-playing handsets, even models that were not designed as music phones, he said.

‘It works on 75 per cent of actual handsets today,’ he told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of the 3GSM wireless trade show here, which starts later on Monday.

He added that the number of handsets able to provide the service would be several times the number of iPhones sold. Apple targets sales of 10 million iPhones in 2008.

Music on mobile phones has been around for several year, but most music on phones is currently ripped from CDs and files swapped on the Internet, not sold by operators over their wireless networks.

The iPhone has caused mobile companies concern, because Apple aims to sell music for iPhone through its online iTunes Music Store, bypassing mobile carriers.

‘Apple will be selling music without operators being able to take a slice of the action,’ said Lewis.

This is of particular concern in Europe, where all consumers already carry a handset and any additional revenues have to come from data services such as music sales and Internet access.

MusicStation works on both second and third generation mobile networks, although it will take more time to download tracks on a second generation GSM network. Consumers will be able to down download one track in the background while listening to another.

The service also tracks personal music tastes and interests, provides news and marketing offerings and has a community service to find users with similar musical tastes.

The catalogue is localised per country and averages 1.2 million available tracks, Lewis said.

Consumers can keep the tracks for as long as they keep their subscription. Charges will be added to their phone bills.

Tracks will reappear if consumers renew their subscriptions, can be recovered if a phone gets lost or broken and will be transferred when a consumer upgrades to a new handset.

Handsets with limited storage capacity will make room for new downloads by deleting least played songs.

‘It’s one of the most consumer-friendly and secure platforms we have seen,’ Rob Wells, senior vice president Digital at Universal Music Group, said in a statement.

Operators that will offer the service are based in Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Britain.

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