Carrier IQ software raises mobile privacy concerns
Carrier IQ, the leading service provider of Mobile Service Intelligence Solutions, is back in the news over mobile privacy concerns regarding its software used to track mobile data. According to reports, the software from Carrier IQ is being used by both the software company along with the wireless carriers to track what consumers are doing on their smartphone without permission.
As per sources, the software company has said that the technology measures and summarizes the performance of devices to assist carriers in delivering better service and that it does not record, store or transmit the contents of SMS messages, email, photographs, audio or video. Further, the company also said that the software is used to track errors enabling wireless carriers to improve their network quality.
However, privacy advocators and consumers have been increasingly worried as there is lack of transparency regarding the kind of data being collected and the manner in which it is being shared and used. Industry reports claim that this controversy could potentially stall mobile marketing.
MobPartner Raises $3.5M from Alven Capital and Newfund
The leading mobile affiliate network MobPartner (http://web.mobpartner.com/) just closed a $3.5 million first round from Alven Capital and Newfund. This funding will enable MobPartner to accelerate its international growth.
Founded in 2008, MobPartner is a pioneer in mobile affiliate marketing. MobPartner’s platform allows advertisers to pay per a defined action such as sales (Cost per Sale), registration (Cost per Lead) or downloads (Cost per Download / Install). This is particularly pertinent for in app advertising (iOS, Android and soon WP7). Mobile site or App publishers (“affiliates”) are paid directly depending on their business performance.
To date, MobPartner deals with hundreds of advertisers and more than 100,000 affiliates worldwide, out of which the most successful earn tens of thousands of dollars per month. The platform has generated more than 2 million transactions since the launch , exclusively on mobile phones. These results establish MobPartner as a key player in the mobile marketing space.
For Vianney Settini, CEO of MobPartner, “the calibre of our investors shows that our initial decisions to create this new market were correct. This funding will allow us to accelerate on an international scale. On the one hand, we will consolidate our presence in Europe and North America and on the other hand, MobPartner will strengthen its presence in emerging markets:Asia, Africa, Latin America, where mobile phone is the main internet access mode.”
Jeremy Uzan, investor at Alven Capital says: “We have been impressed by MobPartner’s ambition and ability to roll-out its model across the five continents. The platform besides being robust in handling huge quantities of data is highly scalable and adaptable to the varied needs of both advertisers and affiliates. This has lead them to establish themselves as market leaders in this vibrant sector. This has established them as market leaders in this vibrant sector”.
Charles-Antoine Morand, of Newfund, added: “On the web, performance marketing now represents a lion’ share in advertising investments. Mobpartner’s expertise will attract major brands and advertising agencies, looking for performance-based solutions on mobile phones.”
Motricity acquires Adenyo for $100 Million
Motricity has announced that it is paying US$100 million to acquire Adenyo, a mobile marketing, advertising and analytics solutions provider with operations in the United States, Canada and France.
According to Ryan Wuerch, CEO of Motricity, the power of highly targeted mobile advertising, combined with highly targeted mobile commerce solutions is going to transform the mobile data industry. Adenyo’s technology, mobile marketing and advertising expertise and their long-standing relationships with powerful enterprise customers will significantly strengthen their position in the mobile data services ecosystem.
The acquisition of Adenyo will be made for initial consideration of $100 million (subject to certain adjustments for working capital and indebtedness), consisting of cash, expected to be paid out of cash-on-hand, and shares of Motricity’s common stock.
A minimum of 50% of the initial consideration will be cash; however, the cash component can be increased up to 100% at Motricity’s election. The agreement with Adenyo also contains an earn-out provision pursuant to which Motricity would pay between $0 and $50 million, in cash, common stock, or a combination thereof, at Motricity’s election, based on Adenyo’s financial performance during the 12 month period following closing of the transaction.
Messaging to rule the future Mobile Marketing
As per the recent survey 61% of mobile operators think that coupons or vouchers would become the leading form of mobile marketing by 2015.
Moreover, 58% of these surveys confirmed that SMS and MMS-based messaging would be the second most accepted form of mobile advertising in the next five years.
The research also revealed that users in 2015 will more likely be utilizing mobile marketing or advertising promotions that are sent to them via their mobile phones more willingly than those generated through search, display or navigation.
Presently, UK mobile subscribers send more than 11 million SMS messages per hour, adding an approximate 7.7 billion per month. This clearly shows the potential for mobile operators to take advantage of the 15.4 billion engagements between consumers and the SMS medium that are generated each month.
Airwide Solutions Chief Marketing Officer, Jay Seaton, believes that messaging is the ideal platform to unlock the potential of mobile advertising and marketing. He stated that the widespread use of mobile messaging creates a far-reaching and significant marketing opportunity for brands which in turn, creates a significant revenue opportunity for mobile operators. By putting a reliable infrastructure in place, and a means of controlling and measuring campaigns, mobile operators can deliver some of the most highly effective mobile marketing initiatives through mobile messaging.
The study was conducted by mobileSQUARED on behalf of Airwide Solutions.
iPad to enter mobile market courtesy luxury brands
iPad has the potential to woo luxury marketers into the mobile space and it is expected that it might change the theory that Luxury brands have not been too quick to adopt mobile marketing practices.
The Apple’s high price makes it very much like a luxury brand. Owing to its large screen, which adds to its advertising and marketing potential, iPad has already won over luxury brands such as Diane von Furstenberg Mercedes-Benz.
According to Rob Longo, vice president of sales, marketing and support at Dilithium, Petaluma, the iPad and Apple in general command strong hi-tech and high-quality brand recognition. He believes that this is not a professional opinion, but it appears Apple users can be characterized as higher-income, higher-educated users with discriminating taste.
Sky Bet to launch iPhone Gambling Service
Sky Bet has unveiled its mobile betting service optimized for iPhone. it has been powered by mobile marketing firm, mkodo.
According to mkodo’s Mark Gibson, the company is delighted to be working on some exciting new developments coming out with the Sky Bet iPhone Sportsbook.
In his opinion, the mkodo platform provides the ability to deep-link to optimised iPhone betting markets from banner ads on Sky Bet’s other mobile applications this makes the proposition very exciting from a targeted promotion and user-acquisition perspective.
Rulers of the world of Mobile Innovation
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: When innovation in the telecom sector is highlighted, surprisingly, it is believed that it’s not the highly and technologically advanced European countries or super power America which is at the fore front, but the Asian countries like Japan and South Korea which have emerged as the world leader in mobile innovation.
Although the above fact has been questioned every now and then, Japan’s superiority in the field of mobile innovation is still undeniable. The innovative world of Japan’s telecom sector is reflected through the ubiquity of mobile Internet usage, 90% 3G penetrations in the island and many more. The cultural uniqueness of the country has been attributed as one of the factor behind the success.
Even urban China and India are moving with leaps and bounds and might over take Tokyo and Seoul in the near future while Turkey has seen an unprecedented growth in mobile marketing and advertising with emerging countries ready to take on the world of mobile money.
All this has raised a very important question. Are European countries and the USA lagging far behind in mobile innovation? The answer to this question can be no! The most talked about names of mobile world like Google, Apple, RIM, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and eBay are the product of the USA. Mobile e-mail or Instant Messaging usage is higher in the US than in Europe. And when it comes to Europe, who can forget GSM standard, the greatest contribution made by the continent to the world.
mmCHANNEL unveils Mobile Storefront API
mmCHANNEL, mobile marketing and digital content firm has unveiled a new b2b API (Application Programming Interface) Service. This service aims at enabling any digital agency or brand to launch their own digital download store as part of a marketing campaign.
Once the digital store is built into an existing mobile portal or website, customers can choose whether to have content pushed to their phone via SMS or saved to their PC.
Greystripe gets Advertiser Interest in iFlash for iPad
Greystripe, a Mobile advertising network, has released the results of a survey among its advertisers that show more than 50% expressing interest in the company’s iFlash advertising units on the iPad.
With the sale of over 300,000 iPads and downloading of 1 million apps on the iPad on the very first day, it is being predicted that the iPad can act as a catalyst for growth among application developers and advertisers.
According to the reports of Apple, iPad users downloaded more than three apps Apple reports that iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of opening their new iPad. Before the iPad’s official launch, there were already more than 1,000 applications written specifically for the iPad.
According to Josh Mallalieu, Director, Mobile Media & Integration at mobile marketing firm, Ansible, Greystripe’s iFlash technology allows advertisers to easily integrate the online world and the iPad.
T-Mobile Marketing Chief joins Vodafone UK
Srini Gopalan has been appointed as the Consumer Director of Vodafone UK. Gopalan will be responsible for the UK’s Consumer Business Unit and its P&L.
Before joining Vodafone UK, Gopalan was working as Chief Marketing Officer of T Mobile UK.
According to Vodafone UK CEO, Guy Laurence, Srini brings a wealth of knowledge around delivering great value to new and existing customers by driving effective marketing campaigns which increase market share.
In his opinion, his experience in improving business performance in competitive industries will have a positive impact for both their customers and their business.
