Spend much time in the halls of mobile companies these days and you’ll be privy to prolific chatter about the second generation of Apple’s precedent-setting iPhone, scheduled for release on July 11th.  Even before the original iPhone was released, back when there were only whispers, smoke and mirrors about Apple’s plans, industry insiders speculated feverishly about when the juggernaut would awaken from its mobile slumber.

By almost all accounts, Apple’s first pass in the mobile space was an unmitigated success. The device was stunningly beautiful, the touchscreen worked surprisingly well, the accelerometer (the doohickey that changes the screen based on the orientation of the device) was an instant benchmark, and the browser served up rich HTML. Undergirding its incredible functionality was Apple’s utter mastery of UI; the device was simpler to use than a preponderance of lesser devices. (more…)

Good news, mobile marketers! According to Nielsen, mobile commerce is picking up!

This is from Wireless Week:

Nielsen Mobile reported that already 9 million U.S. mobile subscribers say they have used their mobile phone to pay for goods or services, and half of all data users say they expect to participate in mobile commerce in the future. (more…)

Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather yesterday. I know I did, and my skin can prove it. It’s as red as salmonella-contaminated tomato.

I haven’t caught up on my mobile marketing research yet, so instead of informing you of the latest mobile news, I thought I share with you two small tidbits from Miss Mobile’s personal life. (more…)

For seven years, I didn’t have a landline phone. As they say in the mobile industry, I had cut the cord. My cell phone and I were free to roam (and believe me, it roamed constantly) across the country. Those were the most telemarketing-free years of my life. Never did I receive a call from a stranger who mispronounced my name and then had the audacity to ask for money. My email may have been full of unwanted solicitations, but my mobile was not.

Until recently. Ladies, gentlemen, I have received text message SPAM. (more…)

Happy Monday everyone! Miss Mobile here. I just read about the amazing results of Jaguar’s recent mobile campaign. Who knew that you could use mobile to target a specific age range and income level in order to advertise a new product or service? Oh wait, I did. But my name’s Miss Mobile, so that’s pretty much a given. (more…)

Miss Mobile here. I was just reading that Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it would be the national coordinator for a “cell phone alert system,” which would, I’m guessing, send mobile alerts to warn people of natural and man-made disasters. I say “I’m guessing” because the article wasn’t very clear about what the system would actually do. (more…)

Too many people in this industry make grand statements about how mobile-savvy they are….How tapped into the market they are, how they know what users want, how they can tell you the seven best ways to blah blah blah. I know. It’s annoying. Well, here’s one more person to add to that list.

I’m not an expert. I don’t have twenty years experience in the telecom industry. I’m just your average 26 year-old gal living in Atlanta who gets a little panicky when there’s only one bar of battery life left on her cell phone. Enough of the introductions. Welcome to my column.

So much of my life right now orbits around the moderately-sized screen of my RAZR. I have a tendency to exaggerate, so let me prove it to you with a brief but detailed view of my life. (more…)

For each Ask The Expert column, we consult a different industry expert, depending on the nature of the question. Today’s expert is Dale Gonzalez, Air2Web’s CTO. Have a question for the Expert or want to submit someone to be the Expert? Submit it here.

Q: What is a double opt-in? When is it necessary to use? As a content provider, what do I have to do to create it?

A: Great question. I’ll answer it in parts. What is a double opt-in? A double opt-in is a process that ensures that a user wants to participate in your mobile campaign. Usually this is done through text messaging, but it could also be initiated through other channels. Here’s the basic idea… (more…)

For each Ask The Expert column, we consult a different industry expert, depending on the nature of the question. Today’s expert is Bill Jones, Air2Web’s President. Have a question for the Expert or want to submit someone to be the Expert? Submit it here.

Q: My company would like to try mobile marketing. What are the steps to launching our first mobile campaign?

A: The first step you should take, even before you start thinking about mobile marketing providers, is to answer these two questions:

1. What are my overarching marketing goals and can mobile help achieve those?
2. Who is my audience and what do they find valuable? (more…)