SoHotRightNow!: February 2009

February 15, 2009

Nokia & Facebook Alliance?

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Apparently Facebook and Nokia are in talks about how to embed the social network into Nokia devices. What this may be able to achieve is integrating Facebook contacts and activity within the device's phonebook. I think this is a great idea and I'm sure other mobile manufacturers will be quick to follow suit, that is, if Facebook and Nokia decide they can work together. We'll have to wait and see. Although this seems like most obvious link for Nokia, they were also considering starting asocial network of their own. That's where I find this statement by Carlo Longino form MobHappy so very true.

“So, to sum up, if you’re an operator or a handset vendor, don’t try to sell your users on some new social-networking site. Make it easier and better for them to access Facebook, or MySpace, or whatever social site they’re already invested in. Don’t try to sell them on some new IM service that’s closed off to most of their friends; make Skype or AIM or MSN work better on their handset." MobHappy

What do you think???

Cheers!
Greg

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Mobile Trends In 2009

Issue 13 of SoHotRightNow!

Even though 2008 was an exciting year for anything mobile, it was however a springboard to what will be an even bigger 2009: primarily due to the breakthrough of Mobile 2.0. Mobile 2.0 refers to "a perceived next generation of mobile internet services that leverage the social web" (Wikipedia). Many would suggest that the Apple iPhone is largely responsible for the convergence of web and mobile applications and services, which I believe will continue to dominate in 2009 through products like the Google Android. In addition, mobile social media such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube have brought social networking to a new level. I have gathered short list of mobile trends that I believe will be prominent during 2009. They are in no particular order.

1. Mobile Access & Confidence (Australia Focused)

This is a huge factor in the evolution of mobile use and their users. In Australia at least, 2G phones still exist and are generally limited in their functionality with Mobile 2.0, and to be honest, even 3G is still poor at times. Sure, the phones might be getting smarter and customers are still buying them, but ultimately mobile access and confidence depends on a larger scale, like a fast and stable mobile network, which Australian's have yet to experience. Once achieved, Australian's will become more confident in adopting services like mobile internet packs etc. Although, in my opinion, customer confidence with using content is still significantly low, I think 2009 will see all Telcos pushing mobile content to increase ARPU from existing customers in a mobile market that is saturated and because of how popular sites like Facebook and YouTube have become over the past year.

2. Staying Connected & Getting Educated.

With mobile subscribers reaching 3.3 billion in November 2007, it is no question that we are addicted with being connected. Staying connected is now more accessible than ever before. Mobile phones are becoming cheaper and more advanced with features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and inbuilt GPS systems; and due to online social networking sites like Facebook (yes, I’ve mentioned it a few times now) staying connected via a mobile device will continue to be a prominent trend in 2009.

As staying connected becomes easier, the demand for receiving and sending information faster increases. This will continue to be an issue for TV, press and radio to overcome in 2009, as services like Twitter offer the ability to deliver news at an instant via a mobile phone.

Through all of this mobile communication lies the opportunity to educate those who have limited resources and live in remote locations. The great vision behind OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) will continue to progress, but will perhaps trail behind the exponential growth of mobile phones reaching the globe. Many of the children that the OLPC concept targets already have access to a mobile and are connected to receive education. View the ad below from !DEA Mobile, which highlights the power of mobile telephony to address the socially relevant theme of education.

3. Location

Location-based advertising will be popular in 2009, like augmented reality functionality (as described in Issue 8 of SoHotRightNow!), but the real emerging trend is believed to be around discovering services around a location. Applications such as Loopt, Rummble and perhaps even the new Google Latitude that allow users to discover recommended places, like restaurants etc, by their connected friends will be popular this year.

Loopt

Google Latitude

4. Consumption Of Virtual Goods

When mobile phones were invented over 15 years ago, spend on mobile phones was negligible. Now, we spend billions or if not trillions of dollars each year! We have consciously chosen to spend that “extra” money each month on our mobile phone and consequently less on other products. Does this mean we are now “users” or “consumers”?

Well, in the Virtual Economy alone, these “consumers” are predicted to spend more on games, songs, applications and virtual gifts in 2009 while products like wallpapers and ringtones will die out. This may not come as a surprise, but it is interesting to know that the Virtual Economy is already worth $1.2 billion and will reach a staggering $6 billion by 2010.

The Outtake

Although this is just a short list of possible mobile trends in 2009, the main outtake of this that mobile connectivity is and will continue to be a growing market. I remember 10 years ago I had very little need for a mobile phone, but now I think it'd be hard to live without one. The bottom line is that people want to be connected with one another, and mobile phones have provided the solution. The future of mobile phones will be an interesting area to watch evolve, and it will certainly be one difficult to avoid.

Thanks for visiting SoHotRightNow! and reading this post. Feel free to post any comments you may have and social bookmark this blog if you would like to share the love. Its all very much appreciated.

Cheers!
Greg Beazley

February 12, 2009

Nokia Good Vibrations Mobile Festival Guide!

Issue 12.

With all the excitement of the summer festival season in Sydney, it came as an interesting surprise that with the upcoming Good Vibrations Festival, Nokia have released a handy Mobile Festival Guide.

I received a notification of this through one of the many emails Good Vibes send to subscribers to keep them updated with competitions, Good Vibrations Mambo clothing (what the?), new band line-ups and other festival information.

At the bottom of the email was this message.

~~~

NOKIA GOOD VIBRATIONS MOBILE FESTIVAL GUIDE!

Nokia have created the Good Vibrations mobile festival guide, which not only provides loads of opportunities to win free music, get Good Vibrations VIP treats, and win Comes With Music phones; it also provides the essential festival map, timings, info on the line up and allows you to plan your entire day so you don’t miss a thing. Just text ‘Nokia’ to 19930300 and we’ll send you an SMS to download it to your handset.

Nokia are also providing free WiFi across the festival site, so don’t forget to turn on your WiFi on your mobile and take a look at the mobile festival portal where you can find out everything you need to know about Good Vibrations Festival and rate your favourite acts of the day.

~~~

You can view the email here if you're interested.

So, as curious as I am I decided to send the text message and download the Festival Guide application. It's awesome! It has a very simple user interface, making the application very intuitive. I'm sure it will be very helpful during the festival.

There were no charges indicated on the email, however according to a forum about the Nokia Music Festival Guide in the UK being available for the Reading and Leeds Festivals (over a year ago), the download and message alerts are free, but standard network rates may apply.

After receiving this email, I decided to send a social email at work because I knew many people from the office were attending the festival. I was then asked a couple of times how much the app was to download. To me, this was interesting because it made me believe that people are still skeptical about download charges, despite Telcos reducing data fees and encouraging customers to use mobile content. This is certainly one obstacle Australian Telcos face this year.

This type of mobile app was the first I'd seen utilised for Music Festivals in Australia, however Nokia has been using this technology for a long time now. This makes me question why has Australia fallen behind? Is it because our market wasn't ready to accept downloading content to their mobiles? Whatever the answer is, I'm glad Australian Telcos are beginning to push this content and make customers more comfortable with the concept.

Overall, the opportunity here for Telcos is that they become more active in the Australian Music Festival scene as they become more popular than ever before. Take an example from what other international carriers such as O2 and Orange are doing in this space and start to implement similar ideas. I believe there is huge potential in this area, and if done right, can have massive rewards. Telcos leverage sales from their own music stores, promote exclusive content from popular artists, and x-sell new handsets with specific artist content packs (???). Its a target market that has not yet been taken advantage of by Australian Telcos and owned (aside from Virgin's V-Fest), but it is only a matter of time before they do.

Cheers!
Greg

PS. If you would like to subscribe to receive email updates, please enter your email address at the top right-hand side of this page. Please post any comments below and social bookmark this blog if you would like to share the love. Finally, thank you for reading SoHotRightNow!

February 2, 2009

Facebook Polls = SoMoneyRightNow!

Issue 11 of SoHotRightNow! looks at Facebook's new monetisation plan, with Facebook Polls.

Facebook holds a plentiful amount of personal information about its 150 million users and according to the Telegrah, it plans to exploit this by creating the world's largest market research databases and make some serious money in the process.

Although this may sound like an invasion of your privacy (you're probably right!), what it also means is that companies will be able to target specific groups of individuals that meet a particular criteria. For example, 20-25 year old female mobile phone users that use Pre-Paid in Sydney, Australia. Can you see the potential for marketers yet?

What makes this market research plan so powerful is that unlike conventional focus groups that are expensive and take a long time to conduct, with Facebook Polls results are received in real-time.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Randi Zuckerberg, Facebook's Global Markets Director said "I had tonnes of people saying 'this could be so incredible for our business'. It takes a very long time to do a focus group, and businesses often don't have the luxury of time. I think they liked the instant responses".

Polls will be less intrusive than the typical Telemarketing calls you receive during dinner time that most people try to avoid. Instead, they will appear in your Facebook News Feed as simple poll questions. The poll's will therefore be highly visible to users, but participation in the polls will be voluntary.

This money spinner comes at a good time for Facebook as it faces the effects of the economic downturn, with many advertisers cutting back on their advertising spend. eMarketer predicts US advertising spend will drop by 20% this year.

Research company IDC said "advertisers are turning their backs on social networking sites because they have a lower "click-through rate" than traditional online ads. Only 57% of social network site users clicked on an advertisement and made a purchase last year, compared to 79% on the internet at large.

Ultimately, whether you like it or not, Facebook is here to stay and will continue to make an impression on global society this year. It will also continue to provide many opportunities to marketers and advertisers along the way.

To read more...
Facebook's Monetization Plan? Polls. And Lots Of Them
Networking site cashes in on friends