A whitepaper has been launched by the Mobile Marketing Association on Rich Media Mobile Advertising.  The aim of this whitepaper will be to educate the mobile marketing industry about the rich mobile media ad units.

The whitepaper will be containing definitions, attributes and examples of Rich Media advertising in the market place. The MMA has created a definition for Rich Media Mobile Ad Units with this document which is interactive or non-interactive ad units displayed on a mobile web page or in a mobile application. It offers the following: inclusion of streaming video content or animated GIF within the ad unit, inclusion of sound, and a richer interactive feature set than basic mobile click-through.

The whitepaper has been created by MMA member companies serving on the organization’s Mobile Advertising Committee including Quattro Wireless, Crisp Wireless, Eyewonder, Millenial Media, Greystripe, GOGII, JumpTap, Medialets, Rhythm NewMedia and The Weather Channel.

According to Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, APAC, MMA, the 2009 Asia Pacific Smartphone market is estimated to be 52 million devices, which indicates a tech-savvy consumer group that wants to get the most out of their mobile experiences. And with the increasing penetration of these feature-rich Smartphones, marketers have now started to increase mobile ad capabilities and provide richer content on mobile devices.

ZTE is all set to change its low-cost handset maker image and enter into the business of higher smartphone market. Android-powered smartphones will supposedly be the next big target of this Chinese company. However, the latest venture to find its way to the market is 4ZTE phones. These phones are expected to circulate even outside China.

ZTE Smooth, the Palm Pre like device has features like Android 1.6, 2.8-inch QVGA display, QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM radio, and 3g (UMTS) connectivity. ZTE Blade is another high-end device and has features like Bluetooth, Android 1.6, WiFi, FM radio, GSM/UMTS connectivity and 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen.

ZTE Racer another Android 1.6 phone will have 3G, WiFi, GPS, and 2.-inch QVGA while ZTE Mercury, which is a look-alike of HTC Hero comes with 3.2-inch HVGA display, GPS and EDGE data.

The only problem these Android phones are expected to come across is the distribution otherwise ZTE is super committed to Android.  The ZTE Smartphones will soon be popping on every comer of Europe and US.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to a research, the global handset sales have been increased by 8.3% in the fourth quarter of 2009 triggered by the growing popularity of iPhones and BlackBerry devices.

The sales reached 53.8 million units in Q4, up 41.1% from the same period in 2008 while the total handset sales for the quarter passed 340 million units.

With 23.8% increase from 2008, full-year smartphone sales totaled 172.4 million units. The result came despite a 0.9% fall in total phone shipments to 1.21 billion. The handset segment last year was dogged by “intense price competition” that pressured Average Selling Prices (ASPs).

The market was successfully captured by Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) thus controlling 14.4% and 19.9% of the worldwide smartphone market, respectively.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile Number Portability is being rolled-out in the Isle of Man today. Both Sure and Manx Telecom are introducing MNP. Manx Telecom is making an investment of around £1 million to make it happen. The telecommunications companies say they want to make it as simple as possible for customers and it’s all about consumer choice. It is anticipated MNP will bring competition among the providers.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Three UK mobile operators Cloud9, Manx Telecom, and Sure, will launch Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in Isle of Man from 29 June. MNP will allow subscribers in Isle of Man to keep their current mobile number while they have the freedom to change their service provider. An informative Consumer Code has been compiled by Cloud9, Manx Telecom, and Sure, which answers many of the questions mobile users may have about the initiative, and sets out how the porting process will work.

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