Mobile & Wireless Roundup - Innovation & Industry News

A very interesting article has been published by News Wire Today showing how ethical mobile marketing can generate a positive marketing strategy.

Mobile marketing has always been seen as intrusive, mostly implementing “opt out” ensuring that the end users will receive the marketing unless they specifically tell the campaign management that they no longer wish to receive marketing information. However, this has been met with much criticism, and the introduction of double “opt in” which allows the user to make the choice if they wish to receive the information that will be targeted at them. This process ensures that the user is comfortable with the marketing before receiving it. Firstly the user must find the service and request information, then a message is returned asking if they wish to receive further information.

This method was used by the fashion retailer Up Against the Wall for its latest marketing campaign. An unprecedented amount of users decided to receive further information through the service. The figure reached 63%, and then only 1% went on to cancel. But as stated on MoCo News there is no details on actual figures, only percentages.

So does this cast an end to the theories that people are unwilling to allow marketing through intrusive methods in mobile? We must wait to see other results published to find the true outcome.

Nokia has announced beta release of its new mobile content sharing community called MOSH.

MOSH is a content sharing site where community members upload, distribute and manage content to be viewed and enjoyed on mobile devices. With MOSH, anything from applications like mobile games, to videos, blogs, songs or photos are now accessible and distributable on your mobile device.

The idea is simple, and combines the concepts of YouTube, Flickr, and File Sharing into a single mobile site. All the content is currently free, and anyone can upload any content items they wish, and share with the rest of the community.

As its made by Nokia, there is a Nokia Application that can be downloaded to Nokia devices to ease the process of uploading content items from a phone, though ive not been able to test this yet. There is also a PC based website that can be found at mosh.nokia.com which allows the users to download the content item throug, then transfer to their mobile device if they do not have a data plan, or to reduce their data tariff. The mobile site, mosh.nokia.mobi, is just a simplified version of the PC site, but still allows users to upload content items through the mobile browser (if supported).

There are thousands of great content items that can be already downloaded free of charge, but there is currently only 4500 users on the service. But as this is powered and promoted by Nokia, expect the community to rapidly grow in size. This will especially be the case if Nokia preload the software onto their devices before sale, which is highly likely. The downside to this product is that it is not device aware, it serves all content items to all phones, regardless if the device can support it or not. This will cause the user much frustration, as they may be spending a while searching for the “ideal” content item, only to be told it will not work on their device.

From http://mosh.nokia.com/help

DEVICE COMPATIBILITY

Does MOSH only work with Nokia devices?

While the service is optimized for use on Nokia devices, the service is compatible with all mobile handsets, provided they support the kind of content you are downloading and that you are able to access the Internet. Please note that Nokia does not test any compatibility issues.

Will all content work on all phones?

Most content will work on a large number of devices. However, there are always older devices and different capabilities, so MOSH leaves it to users to judge which content will work best on their device. Since there is such a wide variation of device capabilities for applications and games, however, we allow users to search MOSH for application or game content that is compatible for their specific mobile device to ensure that they are accessing content that will work. For more information, consult our special FAQ section devoted to applications and games.

This said, it is beta, so expect many more features, users, and resolution of compatibility issues. We may also see charges being brought into the site, allowing content producers to earn a revenue share from their content. The terms and conditions also state that there is no moderation of content, unless a content item has been reported as abuse or inappropriate.