The hype around mobile advertising turns up the pressure on brands and Web properties to get their message out on mobile – fast. The options are many and confusing (one reason why I’m researching a strategic white paper on mobile advertising and also interviewing c-level execs to make some sense out of all the hyperbole). As the experiences (and some major hiccups) of the last weeks have shown, formatting Web content to fit the phone (let alone match the user) is a tall order. So, you have to ask yourself: If the mobile Web is going to look a lot like the fixed Web – and mobile operators are going to be gateways to the likes of eBay, MySpace and Co. – then why not simply pursue an approach that dynamically converts Internet content for delivery to the mass market of mobile phones in real-time?
This brings me to Singapore’s Global Mobile Technology (GMT), a nimble newcomer that has recently filed a patent for a new technology (aptly called Push-It) that will let Web destinations deliver their rich content and ads to IP-compatible phones. While some low-end phones don’t support IP, the company estimates some 1,000 devices do – and that makes for an addressable base of some 2 billion users to start.
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Intrigued by the concept and frustrated by the lack of detail in the press release, I caught up with Don Stern, the company’s CTO, to learn more about how Push-It pushes live Web content & advertising out to – even if the user hasn’t opened the phone’s browser. Integrated within that delivery mechanism is also the ability for users to respond. |
Put simply, a push via Push-It from an eBay on an item, for example, will include options for users to make a bid, ignore a bid, or take whatever action the site owner has approved. (Naturally, part of the package can be interactive advertising bundled with the option to click-through and/or call-through.)
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- Usability, Mobile Advertising
I caught up with DP Venkatesh, mPortal CEO, to hear his take on the ODP market (and the inevitable shake-out), the outlook for mobile search and his company’s push to deploy triple-play content discovery - an approach that combines a software client, a storefront and an infotainment channel of pre-packaged content. In his view, the industry is ready to ride the “next wave” in content discovery, a development that is driven – in part – by the recognition that enabling “discovery, preview and purchase” is what will drive the mobile content business.
I had a pre-briefing with Atakan Cetinsoy, MyStrands VP of Business Products, to discuss the funding and the future roadmap. To be sure, the company, which has launched both Windows and Symbian versions of the player, is gearing up to announce some operator wins soon. “Operators are a big part of the equation” but so is their growing disillusionment with mobile search providers who claim they can do it all.
I had a pre-briefing with Colm Healy, Xiam CEO, and a man who has his eye on the prize of orchestrating and executing content recommendations across fixed and mobile platforms. To this end Xiam has developed a recommendation engine on steroids, which effectively enables a holistic view of the subscriber and allows the operator to respond with a well-rounded offer of entertainment content.
