It’s a gold-rush mood as companies line up to create - and ultimately cash in on - ad-funded schemes around mobile content and communication. One service to watch is the ambitious ad-funded text messaging from Mozes (and profiled in this BusinessWeek article). Anyone can use the service, but the company has cleverly chosen to target bands and artists - users likely to deliver fans a flood of text messages, concert alerts, and news snippets as they seek to forge a personal connection with their audience.

But it’s a new solution from Wapple that has captured my attention – and imagination. The company has effectively put together an ad-funded package service that allows content owners to create, host, and manage their WAP sites free of charge. It’s a game-changing solution that lowers the barrier to entry for individual content owners/providers and brings some excitement (not to mention badly needed inventory) to the mobile Web. (Wapple core technology automatically generates and submits a Google site map that describes each site’s pages and content to make sure mobile search engines pick up on it.) However, the service is ad-funded, which means site owners have to agree to display third-party banner advertising provided by Wapple’s partners: AdMob, Admoda, and Millennial Media. (NOTE: There is an option for site owners who would rather not incorporate banner ads. They can still use the standard Wapple Canvas Free package, with a small cost incurred for the Wapple Delivery Engine when the site goes live.)

But there is a potential downside to Wapple’s offer. Anne Thomas, Wapple’s Business Development Director told me site owners will not have much say over the ads displayed on their sites. Granted, the lack of relevancy and targeting may annoy some users, but I think the breadth of content choice we’re likely to get in return when individual publishers bring their cool stuff to mobile (!) will more than make up for it. I know I would be able to put up with even the most bothersome banners if I could access more sites that satisfy my eclectic tastes – and I can imagine other users feel the same way. (I should note that Anne has kindly offered to move MSEARCHGROOVE content to mobile – and develop a WAP site to accompany the site’s redesign and new functionality. I’m greatly looking forward to seeing the results.)

Moving forward, Anne assures me that the solution will build in more control for its customer content publishers. “They’ll be able to identify the ads that are relevant to their sites and display what fits best; it doesn’t make much sense for a financial services provider to display ads for ringtones, for example.” Against this backdrop, Wapple is also working with its partners to develop packages for specific types of publishers – such as a music content package for unsigned bands and more interactive content for companies that organize or host mobile social networks.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 11:51 am and is filed under Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.