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At the Intersection of Content & Context

May
27

MSG mobile search research (the profiles and analysis I share on MSG, and the new-release white paper assessing search, which I co-created with my esteemed colleague Peggy Albright) has attracted the attention of a growing community of readers and influencers across a variety of online destinations and industry organizations.

I am pleased to report this work has also sparked interest at Eyefor Travel Research, a business intelligence firm known as the “leading voice of online travel.” Andrew Merrie, research analyst and Headmaster of the School for Mobile (the firm’s initiative for educating the travel and tourism industries on opportunities in mobile), reached out to me earlier today to collaborate on the firm’s series of free reports (which are essential reads chock-full of case studies, key statistics, and best practice) focused on mobile technology and solutions.

There is a special emphasis on mobile search (which we agree is the linchpin of a range of effective strategies to deliver mobile advertising, commerce, and CRM). By way of background, the Eyefor Travel report series consists of Vol.1 Mobile Technology in  Travel: The Introduction, and  Vol 2,  Mobile Technology in Travel Report: The Detail. Vol 3  Mobile Technology in Travel Report: Consumer Insight is work in progress, but you can sign up here for an alert when it is released later in June.

A trend that stands out is the new popularity of SMS search schemes as a sure-fire way to reach a mass market. As Andrew puts it: “SMS search is a tool that 99 percent of customers know how to use. In a consumer-focused industry such as ours, it [SMS search] represents a good first step in how companies need to move forward.” Another advantage beyond intuitive usability: Proven monetization models around the delivery of related text links and advertising.

This point came through loud and clear in this week’s AdAge article, which outlines the advantages of SMS search, and takes a look at the companies (notably 4INFO, which MSG profiled here, and ChaCha) cashing in on its newfound popularity among users and advertisers.

Rita Chang, who wrote the piece, contacted me for the article, and has since arranged a follow-up call to discuss the mobile search competitive landscape. The intention is to write a comprehensive feature on the models and companies I think set the bar. I gladly support her in this work, and welcome other journalists to reach out to me for comments or just a few company contacts.

The increasing excitement around SMS search isn’t limited to the U.S. (the focus of Rita’s AdAge article). It’s also going full-steam in Asia, where Mobile Content Networks (MCN) - a provider of mobile search and revenue solutions that deliver people connections to content, not links to content, on their mobile phones - has chalked up an impressive list of operator customers for its SMS search, which emphasizes content discovery instead of answers to specific search queries.

Today marks the company’s official launch of Smart Search (aptly named) in partnership with Smart Communications, the Philippines’ leading mobile operator with 36.9 million subscribers. The MCN-powered search service (an SMS triggered search service that lets people use a shortcode to text queries for their favorite downloadable music) complements MCN’s WAP search solution for the SMART Music Store, which launched in 2008 and offers subscribers real-time access to a growing catalog of ringtones and music tracks from local content providers.

Stephen Burke, MCN SVP Sales and Marketing, who pre-briefed me on the news announcement yesterday, also kindly agreed to a spontaneous Skype chat interview to connect the dots in MCN’s evolving search strategy. I produce an excerpt of it below, and will circle back for a more in-depth discussion once MCN formally announces a key customer win later in the summer.

Q: The news is Smart Search. What else is in the pipeline?

A: We will also be adding new WAP and SMS content channels with Smart this month and next, and are seeing steady and healthy traffic growth.

Q: What can you share about traffic and usage?

A: For the Smart WAP Music search, we have seen page views and queries double in the second quarter calendar. We add [the content categories] Games in mid-June and Video in late June, which is projected to increase traffic about 3x.

Q: SMS activity?

A: SMS Search [is] reaching all the non-WAP users in the world’s most active SMS market.We will be ramping advertising in Q3. In emerging markets, the first step is to help build the Mobile Ad ecosystem, which is happening now.

Q: Do they [Smart mobile operator] use allwords [MCN's own PPC mobile content promotion program]?

A: No, not yet. The Philippines’ carrier revshare/ecosystem issues aren’t quite in place yet.

Q: And what can you report elsewhere across your partners/customers?

A: AIS in Thailand, FYI has also tripled traffic as they’ve added our Search to almost every page on the portal in their preparations to launch 3G services. These “emerging markets” are catching fire. Basically, we are seeing growth in all markets (Scandinavia, Turkey, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, etc).

Q: SMS search is certainly on the upswing.

A: In markets where WAP penetration/3G penetration is still lower (than Europe or U.S. or Japan), a transaction oriented, content and personalization oriented SMS service is an important addition. And it’s [SMS search] being specced into RFPs we are seeing elsewhere in S. Asia and Latin America.

My take: SMS search is a case of been-there-done-that? No way! It may be a rather un-sexy category of mobile search, but there is nothing unexciting about the demand for it across markets (and the increasing interest among advertisers). Indeed, comScore reports that SMS ads average a 16 percent response rate, outperforming typical 1-3 percent click-through rates for mobile display ads. While we may be enamored of the iPhone and the pivotal role this device has played in shifting mobile models (and the complete mobile business ecosystem) in the direction of mobile computing (as opposed to mobile communications), we should remember that the mobile device is about connecting us to the people and stuff (information, answers, content, and advertising - because it is content) that matters to us most. What works is what works. As Alex Meisl - Chairman of Sponge, a mobile marketing agency, and Co-Chair of the Mobile Marketing Association - pointed out in a phone interview yesterday, he is not bullish about bells and whistles in mobile. Most of his company’s campaigns harness text and messaging mechanisms people understand. Another advantage of text is the dialog it encourages between people and brands. This level of interaction can also bring a new dimension to mobile search, turning a search query into much more of a search conversation we can all understand.

Disclaimer: ChaCha has sponsored an MSG white paper; MCN has been an MSG supporter.

Apr
16

In-Brief: Consider this (the last in this week’s trilogy of iPhone posts) a place-setter for the news we’re likely to see later this month from Taptu, a provider of socially-assisted search I have had high on my radar since it broke on the scene just over three years ago. Look for a new service focused squarely on enabling mobile search across touch devices, and a short private beta before it launches in the Apple App Store next month.

Taptu’s approach, which takes universal search to the next level, crawling and indexing the social networking sites and destinations such as MySpace, YouTube, and Wikipedia, to expose an eclectic mix of results and content we might not have found otherwise, has been at the core of Taptu’s differentiation. But it’s the company’s latest release white paper (Touch Search: A New Vision For Mobile Search, which you can download by clicking the button in the sidebar) that signals an exciting shift in the mobile search paradigm.

The advance of touch devices changes how we browse the mobile Web and, naturally, it impacts what we expect from mobile search. What’s more, the touch Web represents a fast-growing subset of the Web, consisting of websites and Web pages that are optimized for access by touch devices like the iPhone.

andreas-bernstromHowever, as I point out in this earlier post, Taptu does more than acknowledge this trend; it has responded with a roadmap to encourage the innovation that content providers and brands agencies will require to deliver an optimized search and advertising experience for touch devices. I met up with Andreas Bernstrom, Taptu COO, a few weeks back to see Taptu’s prototype search service in action. Now I have the green light to post (I respect Andreas’ request not to give too much away here), so here’s a brief summary of my private demo and the details I can share.

USER EXPERIENCE: Search is dead simple and there is even the option to see and click on popular searches, cutting click distance and turning search into a recreational activity. See hot searches and share results. That’s a feature that no doubt builds on the learnings gained from 1-Tap, a feature of Taptu’s mobile search service that - true to its name- lets users share their mobile search results (including cool mobile content) in one click. To save users from typing in their friends’ details, 1-Tap can also tap into other services such as Web-based email and Twitter.

PRESENTATION: No dull lists of links or tedious trail of thumbnails. Results are displayed in a card format optimized for presentation on a touch device. I watched as Andreas not only breezed through the card results (depicting images and information in an easy-to-browse format); he could actually flip the cards over to see more details (say, the discography of a particular band or the tour dates of a group). And if you like what you see, then share it (!)  - Twitter it, post it to your personal site or just send it via email to your friends.

ADVERTISING: Advertising is indeed content, and judging from the emphasis on “cool” (and engagement), I would bet this is the business mantra at Taptu. Search ads (as we know them) still work, but the best ads are not only relevant to the keyword query; they enhance the experience. Andreas called them “engagement ads” and gave me glimpse of how this new advertising form dovetails with our content/search experience.

It’s early days, but this idea is one whose time has come. No more advertising messages and banners that annoy rather than excite. Imagine exploring advertising, using your finger to peel through its layers like an onion and immerse yourself in advertising that doesn’t seem at all like advertising. Now that’s a way to grab (and keep) my attention. “You can go into the ad and play with it.” Video, pop-ups, and a mix of content-rich cool stuff. Taptu showed it off to me, but it won’t be commercial for at least another six months. The strategy is about building an audience first and then introducing engagement ads, so watch this space!

(Here I am immediately reminded of a presentation from Tomi Ahonen, mobile luminary and author, in which he recounted why he believed Asian operators have their head around mobile - much more so than operators elsewhere. In it he quoted BJ Yang, CEO of AirCross, the number one South Korean mobile advertising company and the mobile advertising arm of mobile operator  SK Telecom,  who said mobile must be regarded as a “very close personal playground.” If that’s the attitude we need to make mobile (and mobile advertising) work, then Taptu’s approach might get us there, delivering fun (to consumers) and money (to the business ecosystem).

The demo Andreas showed me was a car ad that allowed me to move through the car and experience driving. I could sign up for test drives, see which dealers where had which models, check out related information, news, and reviews, and share the works with my friends.

Andreas and I mulled over what this could mean to viral marketing. Would the ability to share make seeding viral videos a new form of advertising. (It sure worked for Quicksilver, maker of surfing clothing whose “dynamite” video spread like wildfire with kids asking when they would ever be able see it on TV (!) People clamoring for advertising - now that’s a change…)

Would all this interactivity lead to a new monetization model? Say, pay-per-view instead of pay-per-click….

SURPRISES: From Taptu - I’ve come to expect it. This mobile search experience is full of them. I’m encouraged to explore my search results and all the content related to what I asked for in the first place. On each card, alongside the results, I have a wheel symbol that allows me to discover connections between content (some I couldn’t even imagine). I tried it out on music results, finding bands that were like my first pick and tracing their roots and the roots of each member in the band. An element of serendipity to keep content fresh and our minds active? Sorted.

So the mobile search and advertising experience are in synch for the Touch Web. But how big is the market and the opportunity?

Taptu offers this trio of industry predictions. (The methodology is explained in detail in the white paper.)

1)      Total global mobile search volume will grow rapidly from 63 million searches per day at the end of 2008 to 620 million in 2012 - almost 10 fold growth in just four years.

2)      The volume of searches from touch phones will grow even faster, to overtake the volume of searches from normal phones by the end of this year.

3)      By 2012, over 60 percent of all mobile searches will come from touch phones alone, representing less than 10 percent of the installed base of phones and just 20 percent of annual shipments.

My thanks again to Steve Ives, Taptu CEO, and Bob Last, Taptu Head of Business Development, for providing me the opportunity to contribute to the white paper.

Disclaimer: Taptu has collaborated with MSG on white paper projects.

Apr
06

MSG is proud to have deep ties with AltSearchEngines (ASE), a destination synonymous with news and quality analysis on all things related to alternative search engines (defined as all search engines other than Google), and a deep friendship with Charles Knight, ASE publisher and the “Voice of Alternative Search” (as he is regarded by a growing community of professionals and practitioners passionate about search). So, when Charles asked me to support him in his annual effort to showcase alternative search by asking readers to go a day without Google, I naturally agreed.

google-day

To be clear, this is not about being anti-Google; it’s about encouraging people to explore the choice of alternative search engines available to them. Last count there were some 1,500 alternative search engines - ranging from FAROO, which enables peer-to-peer Internet search, to Kosmix, a new twist on old meta search that delivers search results across a multitude of categories, including opinions from Omgili, video from Truveo, social search results from Mahalo, and the basics from sources such as eBay, YouTube, and Wikipedia. And the list goes on…

Charles tells me his annual call to action was as popular as ever this year, resulting in posts, tweets, and emails from readers sharing their experiences as they went through a day without Google. For just one day, I would like you to use an alternative to Google when you perform searches on your mobile phone.

I know from my own work researching mobile search and compiling a comprehensive directory of mobile search providers, that the choice in mobile search engines is impressive. If you want to know results that really resonate with real people, then you might consider Taptu. If you want downloadable content that you are likely to appreciate, then you might try abphone. If you are searching for shops and offers, then you might give Slifter a spin.

And if you are conducting a search with your cameraphone, then you can pick from over a dozen visual search providers including Thrrum MMS Search (provided by 23half Inc. and available to T-Mobile and Verizon subscribers in the U.S.), and TinEye Mobile, an iPhone app from Idée that lets you get pricing info, reviews and more on a specific music track by taking a picture of the CD cover.

(I count 15 types of mobile search and 60+ providers, all of whom I intend to profile on MSG in the coming weeks/months. If you are a mobile search provider that I haven’t yet covered on MSG, or if you would like to be included in the directory, then please contact me directly. I am eager to hear your story! )

But it’s not just about more choice. I also know from my own road tests and analysis that made-for-mobile alternative mobile search engines excel where universal Internet search engines such as Google have been known to fall short.

Additional independent confirmation of this view comes from a number of sources quoted on MSG over the last months, including Mobile Commerce (which revealed data during a recent Mobile Search Masterclass that proves Google mobile search results tend to be less than satisfactory) and a recent report from Bernstein Research, which points out Google may have brand recognition, but stresses Yahoo delivers a potentially better quality and more holistic user experience. (I’ll have more on Yahoo after Chloe Graf confirms a date for my upcoming podcast interview. My personal thanks to Chloe for her extra effort and hard work in making this possible.)

And there are other good reasons to explore alternative search services. In fact, I’ll have more concrete data soon when my associate Peggy Albright (founder of Albright Communications) and I release our evaluation of voice search on an iPhone later this month. What started out as a basic services road test has developed into a 25+ page comprehensive analysis of leading voice search providers. It has taken a little longer than we planned, but the research stands out as the only work of its kind in the industry today.

I encourage you to explore the wealth of search services available on mobile and circle back to share your experiences. How was YOUR day without Google?

Disclaimer: Taptu and abphone have collaborated with MSG on white papers and research projects.

Nov
06

This explains some of the radio silence at ChangingWorlds and why Barry Smyth, ChangingWorlds Chief Scientist, sought me out at the recent recommender conference Recsys 2008 to demo his new and super-cool social search app. I can’t give too much away now, but let’s just say search (like advertising) is fast becoming content and Barry, who was the brains behind ChangingWorlds’ path-breaking personalization technology, has developed a game-changing approach that will rock when it comes to mobile (and it will!). I did an in-depth Q&A with Barry earlier this week, so check back early next week for the inside track.

But the news today is the acquisition of ChangingWorlds by Amdocs, a company that has quietly and cleverly added capabilities that build on its billing expertise to deliver the right content to the right user in the right context. As I observed in this earlier analysis of Amdocs, the company isn’t there yet (no one is), but they have correctly placed personalization and relevancy at the core of their competitive strategy. The decision to acquire all of ChangingWorlds’ shares for $60 million in cash is a brilliant move - and one that makes Amdocs the one to watch.

A larger trend at play here is the run on personalization companies. Think of Qualcomm snapping up Xiam, a company specialized in personalization and recommendation technology. Go further back, and you might recall Real Networks acquired Sony Network Services (a company that had perfected personalization to stream mobile music according to your mood), or that Microsoft-owned FAST also bought AgentArts, a personalization and recommendation company based in Australia. And the list goes on…

In fact, my standard PowerPoint presentation, which I have presented at several mobile search seminars and a recent master class in London, contains a slide explaining the pivotal importance of recommendation and personalization (aptly titled Was it good for you too?) which also recounts the recent raft of M&A that has transformed the space.

Personalization companies are hot - and with good reason. If the end-game is about delivering advertising, apps, content and even search results that I am likely to find both genuinely useful and interesting, then technology provided by the likes of ChangingWorlds, Xiam and others I have high on my radar is crucial. (It’s all about relevancy here, but frequent exchanges with Ogilvy’s mobile advertising evangelist Jonathan MacDonald have broken me of the habit of using the term too loosely. Read his rant and you’ll understand why.)

Connect the dots and Amdocs’ acquisition, coming on the heels of a strategic decision to bundle its search and advertising capabilities in one division, is on the money.

By way of background, ChangingWorlds, an Irish provider of personalization technology, is best known for its ClixSmart platform. Designed to provide individual consumers with “proactive recommendation of content based on their preferences and context,” the platform has been deployed by 50+ mobile operators around the world.

(In a nutshell, ChangingWorlds’ ClixSmart platform includes a variety of solutions in areas such as content recommendation, mobile search and mobile advertising. Sitting at the core of this platform - and taking center stage in all ChangingWorlds does - is a profiling and personalization engine that is capable of capturing subscriber intelligence by automatically monitoring the implicit behavior of how users use and navigate the mobile Web.)

As Barry explained it to me a while back, the combination allows ChangingWorlds to create richer preference profiles and combine this profile information with external sources of complementary data - ranging from user demographics to mobile billing records. (Little wonder billing giant Amdocs snapped it up.)

And let’s not forget the recent tie-up with Sprint Nextel in the U.S., which sees the mobile operator launching ChangingWorlds’ ClixSmart technology both on the carrier’s own portal, Sprint Web, as well as providing advanced personalization solutions for a number of Sprint’s cable partners and wireless wholesale customers. (I was scheduled for a podcast with Sprint and ChangingWorlds’ CEO David Moran to get the inside track on this deal, but I can imagine this project is on hold indefinitely.)

Nonetheless, we get an idea of the use case from Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product and technology development for Sprint, in a recent press statement. In his view, the aim of the deal is to “automatically learn what content the customer likes and put it on their homepage,” thus enabling Sprint customers to access genuinely useful content they will most likely appreciate. In this scenario, ChangingWorlds’ ClixSmart solution automatically generates personalized, dynamic content teasers that enrich the user experience of Sprint Web and stimulate increased click-through. ClixSmart teasers, which include text and images, are rotated dynamically and personalized according to the ClixSmart user profile to provide a compelling and relevant user experience designed to encourage Sprint Web users into using more mobile data.

ChangingWorlds and Amdocs share several customers including Sprint, the Vodafone Group and Telefonica O2.

During a recent industry event, David told me the company was preparing to broaden its focus beyond mobile operators and content companies to address the wider opportunities around content discovery such as voice-activated content portals, online destinations and electronic program guides for digital television. This is no doubt attractive to Amdocs, which has its eye on the bigger prize: Personalized and converged services.

I just this minute saw an email from Jessica Francisco, Account Executive, Weber Shandwick, with the news that James Patmore, Vice President of Amdocs Advertising, Content and Entertainment division, is available to speak with me later today and discuss the growing importance of mobile personalization. I’m excited about the opportunity and will have more after the call. Thanks for the prompt response Jessica!

BTW: MSG is still setting up a few features including a search box - so apologies that you can’t find the reports on Xiam and others easily. But be patient - we’re on it.

Oct
23

Peggy adds: Just got back from a great meeting with alternative search engines (going mobile!) in Berlin and now off to Switzerland to connect with some super-cool recommender companies. Yes, it is a bit hectic for the next few days - but the excellent (and exclusive!) content I bring back to MSG makes it all worth it!

Regular readers will know I consistently track developments in mobile search, but it’s recommenders (companies and technologies that take the Amazon.com people-like-you-liked this/content-you-liked-is-like-this to the next level) that really excite me. Why? Because mobile search is primarily about delivering users what they want. Recommenders, however, are about picking up the clues we leave behind to suggest content and services we are likely to appreciate. The bottom line: Recommenders encourage cross-sell, up-sell, and the all-important impulse buy. Of course, the combination with mobile search is the most powerful indeed.

But don’t take my word for it. Orange, which has harnessed recommender technology provided by Xiam, a Qualcomm company specialized in this space, reports higher sales in this podcast. Likewise, content retailer/aggregator FoneStarz tells us in this podcast that its in-house recommender technology has led to a significant uplift in content sales.

It’s early days - but that’s why it’s important to watch this space carefully. A “Google” hasn’t emerged yet - but it’s only a matter of time, which is why I am so honored to take part in Recsys 2008 (held this year in Lausanne, Switzerland). Even better: I have been asked to judge the best early-stage project in the area of recommendation technologies. More about these super-cool companies further down in the post.

This bleeding-edge conference, sponsored by companies including Unilever, Telefonica ChangingWorlds and Strands, a recommender company MSG has tracked since the start, highlights recommender trends and technologies sure to have an impact.

I say this from experience since my participation in last year’s Recsys gave me the opportunity to connect with Aggregate Knowledge long before the company made their mark on mobile. In fact, I’m pleased to say MSG had a head start on this one, publishing in-depth analysis of the company and interviews with senior management just weeks before the company announced a tie-up with CBS Mobile.

Knowing the caliber of companies that attend this event, I am confident that I’ll uncover some great material for MSG. I’m also greatly looking forward to demos from the five finalists that have been invited by Strands to present during the conference as part of their first-ever $100K Call For Recommender Start-Ups. True to the name, the winner will go home with a $100,000 investment from Strands. According to the company blog, 68 scientists and entrepreneurs from 24 teams in 15 countries presented 26 projects.

The five finalists are:

Gravity R&D, which has developed a “magic button,” providing TV viewers instant personalized entertainment at any given time with relevant program tips instantaneously on customer demand. It automatically schedules recordings with the highest probability on user’s interest. (Hmm - I’ll have to check if the team is also thinking about mobile TV.)

SentiMetrix, which has designed (and automated) a method to extract and quantify the huge and growing number of text-based opinions expressed by users across online media. Get this right and the implications for all media - including mobile - are profound. Understanding sentiment is the first step to understanding and engaging with people on their terms.

Iletken, which has created a hybrid recommendation engine for services like news and RSS feeds, allowing users to share and pass on relevant information to their friends. In contrast to traditional social networks, it maintains weighted graphs of social proximity among users for different categories of interest.

Reccoon, which harnesses location information to help people discover new places based on their input, current location and current time. Reccoon responds to the simple question: What are my options for tonight?

Commendo, which uses recommendation technologies to optimize the drug design process in the pharmaceutical industry, including speeding up drug development and the minimization of adverse drug reactions.

I also look forward to the opportunity to catch up with Oliver Bremer, VP Mobile, and get the inside track on Strands’ strategy and roadmap. Earlier this week I spoke with Gabriel Aldamiz-echevarria, Strands VP Communications, who filled me in on some new - and very intriguing - developments.

Strands has quietly and cleverly sharpened its focus on life-streaming, developing tools and techniques to sift the clues to our preferences/tastes we leave across platforms, devices and virtual spaces to help us discover stuff we’re bound to like across the Web. At another level, this same technology helps Strands’ clients (banks, retailers, content providers) improve sales, engagement and CRM.

As Gabi put it: The key is to organize all the information we leave across the Web into one integrated profile, and facilitate the sharing of our tastes and behavior. “This way discovery does not only happen in one site, it will take place across the Web.” (The scenario: When I buy a product from an online retailer, I can share that purchase event on Strands.com for my friends to discover. They will be exposed to that product, as well as seeing similar products I liked. I can broadcast my purchases to my friends and we can discover new stuff together. The retailer is also part of the conversation - and there’s a direct trail to the store where it all started.)

It’s easy to imagine that these approaches - when adapted to mobile - will go a long towad solving some of the problems we face in mobile advertising. Could recommenders allow brands to be part of our conversations without dominating them?

Mobile advertising evangelists Jonathan MacDonald and Andrew Grill remind us that brands must ask our permission and preferences before they deliver advertising. My take: Maybe intuiting our preferences (by following the clues we leave behind) and making some helpful suggestions based on this insight (with user opt-in, of course) is a great way to get the dialogue started…

Oct
07

bnet_interview_screenshot.jpgAs regular readers might recall, bnetTV and MSearchGroove joined up during CTIA to produce a hard-hitting series of interviews focusing on the mobile trends and mobile companies that matter. To provide you the proper context in which to understand and appreciate these companies and their impact on the mobile space, I have also signed on with bnetTV to publish a weekly column looking at my pick of the movers and shakers. In my first column, I chose to focus on InfoGin, a provider of content adaptation solutions with an impressive track record among mobile operators (35+ to date) and mobile search companies. (You can view the entire video interview by clicking on the image. It’s one of 25+ I conducted during CTIA, so I hope you will explore the others as well. My analysis will be posted here and features in bnetTV’s weekly newsletter.)

So talk about timing! I finish the column and then Eran Wyler, InfoGin CEO, pre-briefs me on the news that Telefonica in Spain, a mobile operator with around 20 million subscribers, has officially deployed InfoGin’s solution.

movistar.jpgIn fact, Telefonica deployed the solution few months ago and already shows a significant increase in mobile data services. According to a press statement, the solution fits with the operator’s overall strategy to facilitate access to mobile content and deliver services to its subscribers “giving an optimized access to Web sites that aren’t mobile compliant.”By way of background, the prime contractor in the deal, ATOS Origin - an international IT services company - was responsible for overall integration of InfoGin’s Intelligent Mobile Platform, a patented approach that lets users access any Internet website from their mobile, independent of the device capabilities. It’s a feature Eran tells me has allowed InfoGin’s mobile operator customers to chalk up “20 percent [growth in mobile data usage] every month, and sometimes much more than that.”

Another stat that speaks volumes refers to what users are accessing.
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