CardStar, which makes a smartphone app for storing loyalty cards, has released a free iPad version of the app that is intended to be used at home rather than in retail stores. Unlike the current smartphone app, the iPad one offers coupons from participating merchants including Best Buy, Blockbuster, CVS and PetSmart. The idea is that the Apple tablet will be used as an electronic coupon-clipper, allowing people to drag and drop offers onto the corresponding retailers' digital loyalty cards inside the iPad app. The device's larger screen will be better suited to duplicate the experience of browsing a Sunday circular than a smartphone. The saved coupons can then be redeemed at checkout via a customer's original plastic card or through the CardStar smartphone app for the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. Access to coupons through the smartphone app will not be available until September, starting with the iPhone. To help avoid information overload, CardStar will only send coupons for retailers stored on a user's card catalog, and allows people to easily see coupons they have previously selected or search for deals from specific brands. Coupons can also be shared via email, and users can check in through Foursquare when at checkout. CardStar in late July introduced an updated version of its iPhone app that included Foursquare integration as well as the ability to sync loyalty card accounts across multiple devices. Since launching in 2009, CardStar's smartphone app has had 2 million downloads and more than 700,000 active users. The latest edition of the CardStar iPhone app has received an average rating of three out of five stars in the App Store based on 225 ratings. The biggest complaint, indicated by reviews posted with ratings, centers on the inability to consistently scan the CardStar app successfully at checkout. One reviewer who gave the app a four-star rating, for example, wrote: "It usually doesn't scan at self-checkout machines but they can use a hand scanner and that usually works. Worst case scenario, you still have your card number and that's still better than carrying the actual cards around." Other reviewers were less forgiving. Nearly one in five smartphone owners made a special trip to the store after receiving a mobile coupon, according to new research released Tuesday by InsightExpress in Millennial Media's latest monthly metrics report. The survey also found that 45% of mobile users prefer to receive coupons via text message, 28% by finding offers through an app, and 27% by opting in to receive them in stores.
Hoping to be perceived as the genius who sits in the background and waits for the perfect moment to say something profound, IBM wants people to know it touches more than 1 billion mobile phone subscribers daily and continues to develop about 80% of the world's smartphone software made possible through a $100 million investment supporting mobile communications in semiconductors, cellular towers, mobile apps, networks and more. Millions of mobile phones shipped this year will include IBM technology. "IBM has joined the party; in fact, we've been powering the party for quite some time," says an IBM company spokesperson. "We're the plumbing in the background in transportation systems, smart grids and energy efficiencies. Now we're ready to say, 'Oh, by the way, we're also powering your mobile phone calls.'" Big Blue turned its largest software laboratory in Littleton, Mass., last June into a research and development lab, where the company will dedicate all projects to mobile software development. Nielsen estimates by the end of Q2 2010, 25% of the U.S. mobile subscribers owned a smartphone. That number should approach half by Q3 2011, as device manufacturers and wireless carriers increase their marketing push to graduate users to higher-value devices and data plans, according to eMarketer Senior Analyst Noah Elkin. In fact, increased ownership of smart devices, in part, led eMarketer to raise its estimate of the number of mobile users who will access the Web from their devices in 2010 to 85.5 million, up from 83.5 million in the November 2009 forecast. By 2014, the research firm estimates 142.1 million users, representing 53.9% of the U.S. mobile user population, will access the Internet using mobile browsers or applications. "Devices and networks will continue to become a key factor in the consumption of content on mobile," Elkin tells MediaPost, emphasizing the integration across multiple devices-television, mobile devices and personal computers-will become the next phase to support content and advertising. A move IBM will likely make. IBM also is working with the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament to connect sports fan to its Web site, USOpen.org, and mobile devices. The company has built an iPhone application, Around Me, it will introduce for free through the iTunes App Store on the first day of the event. The mobile application combines augmented reality with live location-based data streams of tennis matches. So, it allows sports fans to point their iPhone in any direction on the campus in New York during the U.S. Open to find the closest food station, restroom or public transportation. It works by streaming live data from on and off the court based on someone's exact location and connects with the global positioning system (GPS) embedded in the tennis fan's iPhone. The strategy aims to capitalize on the move by sports fans to view content on mobile devices, as sports properties adjust to active lifestyles by dedicated fans that want access to video highlights and scores on smartphones while on the go. Aside from the iPhone application, U.S. Open mobile content will become available through a dedicated mobile site, m.usopen.org, with USOpen.org radio, live scoring updates, video highlights and more. Fans can sign-up for more than 250 different types of free SMS alerts, including individual player updates for any player in the main draw, breaking news, weather information, TV schedules, ticket availability, and updates as to the latest events at SmashZone and around the grounds. IBM will build in two other applications on USOpen.org. This year, IBM will provide the U.S. Open with new data analytics capabilities and mobile applications. US Open PointStream will pull huge amounts of data around scores and statistics of matches. It will show aces, serve speed, winners and all other key data of a match visualized in real time, allowing the online fans to get an immediate and accurate visual sense of a match in progress. A Momentum Meter, also developed by IBM, will show the player with current statistical edge. So, a tennis fan can watch the match on TV while simultaneously using their iPad, laptop or netbook to view the scoring and match statistics, represented by visual images rather than difficult-to-navigate charts and graphs of numbers. Fans looking for stats can dig deeper. Single Stat View lets fans click on one stat, similar stats will become highlighted allowing the person to compare players. An analysis feature lets fans select analysis points to gain insights into the stats they view. The Point Rollover feature lets fans rollover data points to get a detailed view of the match they're watching
Tecate is tying its sponsorship of the forthcoming boxing title fight between "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Mexican-American Sergio Mora to Mexico's Bicentennial Independence Day weekend. The Sept. 18 fight, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, also has an independence theme: "200: Celebrate and Dominate." To further its sponsorship of the bout, to be held at Los Angeles' Staples Center and broadcast on HBO PPV, Tecate will tailor its TV, radio and out-of-home advertising carrying a "Cerveza Con Caracter" theme, with information about the fight. The brand will also augment the effort with retail programs in its key markets: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. Stores in these markets will have banners touting the fight, plus displays and posters with images of Mosley and Mora. Stores in Los Angeles and San Diego will host a Tecate and Golden Boy Promotions "Museo de Boxeo," a collection of memorabilia from notable fights. During a special promotion in Los Angeles, consumers also will have the opportunity to witness the antics of Univision Radio personality Piolín. Carlos Boughton, Tecate brand director, tells Marketing Daily that the appearances of Sergio Mora, Victor Ortiz and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will pull Mexican Americans. "We've seen Alvarez gain a lot of respect and popularity from fans on both sides of the border. But at the end of the day, what aficionados want to see is talent and character in the ring, regardless of where the fighters are from." He adds that Mexican Independence Day is a key occasion for Mexicans and Mexican Americans, and that since this is its bicentennial, there is "an added layer of pride surrounding the holiday from both first-generation Mexican Americans and those with deep roots in the U.S." As it has in the past, Tecate will also offer mail-in rebate coupons worth $25 off of the HBO PPV fight event with the purchase of a 12-pack or larger of Tecate or Tecate Light. Tecate says consumers with tickets to the Sept. 18 fight can participate in a text-to-win promotion dangling the chance to upgrade to arena-floor seats. In addition, the beer brand will have "Chicas Tecate" on site for photo sessions and commemorative 22-ounce and 32-ounce cups with the fighter's images for sale at the venue's concourse. The evening before the fight, on Sept. 17, the brand will sponsor a series of events outside Staples Center. The event includes Tecate Boxing Fan Zone with games, music, and the like; and a concert featuring local Mexican American bands. Later, Tecate sponsors a live broadcast of Telefutura's "Solo Boxeo Tecate" program, a fight series that is also outside the venue.
YouTube and MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet arm of Major League Baseball, announced a partnership Monday to offer baseball fans in Japan a way to follow the game. Fans in Japan will have an option to watch full-length MLB games on-demand, along with multiple highlight reels of every game from the 2009 and the 2010 seasons on MLB.JP's YouTube Channel. The ad-supported videos allow fans to watch free of charge, and games from the current season run within 36 hours of completion. The channel also will support the library's best moments, short-form video such as Condensed Games, game replays, and FastCast, a quick recap of every game played on a given day. The emergence of viewing options outside carrier networks and third-party TV services spells opportunity for ad-supported video. Of these three primary revenue streams, the ad-supported component will become the fastest-growing. eMarketer estimates that ad-supported mobile video revenues will reach a 60% CAGR between 2009 and 2014. The eMarketer report, scheduled for release this week, points to a staggering statistic. In July 2010, Google announced that it served 100 million videos daily on its mobile site and in apps. Like many of Google's HTML5-based mobile sites, the relaunched YouTube mobile now provides a distinctly app-like experience through the browser. Google and YouTube have begun to emphasize mobile, according to Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst. One of those deals revolves around the MLB and mobile video content. Elkin explains in the report -- Mobile Content: Games, Music and Video Take to the Cloud -- scheduled for release this week, that Major League Baseball built live-game online streaming into a $40 million business in 2009, and sales of its live-streaming MLB At Bat app for the iPhone also proved popular. Sales of the $9.99 app topped the $1 million mark early in the season. MLB At Bat returned for the 2010 baseball season with additional enhancements, including availability on the iPad, at a cost of $14.99. YouTube's MLB Japan deal represents the largest partnership for premium sports content in YouTube history and might provide insight into negotiations between Google's video site and Hollywood's movie studios to launch a global pay-per-view video service by the end of 2010. The ongoing talks were reported Monday by the Financial Times. Google will use its search technology and YouTube to direct viewers to the new service, according to reports. Negotiations have been ongoing for several months, but intense competition between media and technology companies over the digital delivery of film and TV programming sparked interest. This week, Apple is also expected to unveil improvements to its TV device.
Nine West is launching a mobile marketing campaign to promote its Vintage America Collection, offering music downloads and other videos featuring music artist Joss Stone, who helped design the line. The mobile campaign, which launched earlier this month and will run through October, features a specially designed barcode created by agency Jagtag. Consumers are encouraged to use their cell or smartphones to photograph the design (which follows the pattern of Stone's signature floral tattoo) and text or email it to the company. The company will then send back email, photos and video content viewable on the phone over the course of the promotion. Jagtag's servers determine the type of device (smartphone or feature phone, for instance) the consumer is using, and send content based on that device, Ed Jordan, the company's CEO, tells Marketing Daily. "Our server returns content that is tailored to the device that requested it," he says. Content for the Nine West campaign will begin with simple email messages (such as tips from Stone on how she likes to wear the product), and move into music and multimedia content through the course of the campaign. (Consumers who enter the campaign late will have access to all of the content, Jordan says.) The entire effort is intended to launch an ongoing dialogue between the company and its consumers. "It enables the brand to start the conversation with the consumer, whether that is basic text or multimedia content," says Jordan. Nine West has incorporated the barcode into print advertising (to run in Lucky magazine's October issue), in-store signage, boxes and on a special microsite for the campaign, all clearly marked how to use the virtual barcode. "This is the first time we've been on packaging," Jordan says. "It's a way for people to interact with the brand in ways that might not have been done before."
Add Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps to the roster of those who oppose a net neutrality proposal put forward by Google and Verizon. Writing in the Washington Post, Copps says the plan "creates a two-tiered Internet at the expense of the open Internet we now have," while also transforming the FCC "into an agent of big business." Earlier this month, Google and Verizon proposed that Internet service providers should be prohibited from degrading or prioritizing traffic that currently travels over the public Internet, but that providers should be allowed to prioritize managed services like telemedicine, advanced educational services and new entertainment offerings. Google and Verizon also said they don't think the government should require wireless carriers to follow non-discrimination principles. Copps criticized that blueprint, saying that he supports an alternate plan that would "put broadband back under Title II, where it belongs." The FCC is currently considering whether to reverse a 2002 decision that classified broadband as a Title I information service and recategorize it as a telecommunications service, which would subject broadband providers to some of the same common carrier rules that govern telephone companies. FCC chair Julius Genachowski recommended reclassification after a federal appellate court ruled that the agency lacked authority to enforce net neutrality principles because broadband was considered an information service. A host of neutrality advocates have criticized the Google-Verizon plan, arguing that wireless services should be subject to neutrality rules and that allowing prioritized fast lanes would create a two-tiered Internet, with private fast lanes for big companies willing to pay extra and smaller businesses shuttled to a slower public Internet. "This could stall investment in the open Internet -- freezing the public Internet in 2010 while the new high-speed lanes take a few big players into the future," Free Press research director S. Derek Turner said of Google and Verizon's proposal. The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation added that any decision about prioritizing specialized services should be made on an individualized basis. Meanwhile, AT&T this week submitted a report to the FCC arguing that paid prioritization already exists online. "AT&T alone has hundreds of third-party customers for such services," the company said, adding that these customers include "healthcare providers, community service organizations, restaurant chains, car dealers, electric utilities, banks, municipalities, security/alarm companies, hotels, labor unions, charities, and video-relay service providers."
Aiming to boost revenues ahead of its planned IPO, Skype Monday formally rolled out its phone service for business users. Previously in beta for the last six months, Skype Connect 1.0 ties into a company's existing private branch exchange (PBX) or Unified Communications (UC) phone systems to make low-cost voice calls. Businesses using the Internet-based phone service pay $6.95 per line and calls made to landlines or mobile phones are billed at Skype's standard rate of 2.1 cents per minute. Incoming calls from Skype subscribers are free and companies can receive calls from Skype-connected users worldwide by adding a click-to-call buttons to their Web sites. A hotel, for instance, could use that button to let Skype users make a reservation. So the idea is essentially to extend Skype's low calling rates for consumers to companies and tack on a monthly fee per user. In its securities filing earlier this month for a $100 million IPO, Skype revealed that of its 560 million registered users, only 8.1 million, or about 1.5%, are paying customers on a monthly basis. Skype's plan is to increase that proportion by building up the enterprise side of its business. "As we seek to develop new communications services products and expand our Skype for Business offerings, we expect our net revenues attributable to our consumer users to decrease as a percentage of total net revenues and our revenues from business users to increase both in absolute terms and as a percentage of total net revenues," the company stated in its IPO filing. During the beta period for Connect, Skype said more than 2,400 customers worldwide had signed up for the service. It also noted that Connect is certified to work with PBX and UC systems from Avaya, Cisco and ShoreTel, among others, and now offers dedicated customer support including real-time chat. The same goes for Skype Manager, the Web-based tool that allows IT administrators to set up and control Connect. The launch of Connect comes on the heels of TechCrunch reporting that Cisco had made an offer to acquire Skype before the company completes its IPO. The tech blog speculated the price tag could run as high as $5 billion. In the Risk Factors section of its S-1 filing, Skype admitted that cracking the corporate phone business may not be so easy with Internet competitors including Google and Microsoft as well as large telecom companies and VoIP providers. It also acknowledged that concerns about the security of Skype's underlying peer-to-peer technology could hamper expansion into the enterprise market.
What was the most important lesson I learned during the fun, informative three days of peace, love and mobile at the Mobile Insider Summit last week in Lake Tahoe? After all, in addition to a full slate of informed panelists, we had killer prezzos from Initiative's Eric Bader, MMA's Michael Becker, Android development lead and Coupons.com CTO Steve Horowitz, Steve Madden's Drew Koven, and Isobar's Gene Keenan. Predictions for the coming year were flying off the stage as everyone got into the spirit of the Summit's "Next-Steps Agenda" theme. The roundtables were buzzing with shared experiences and frustrations, commiserations and collaborations. In the coming weeks I will be sharing some of the details. But after all of this, the one point that stands out most all for me is this: When going to industry events, even in beautiful resort locations, don't bring the fiancée. "Why haven't you married her yet?," Drew Koven asked as I happened upon them on the "Tahoe Gal" cruise of the lake. How the hell did this happen? Of all the fires an event organizer has to put out along the way to a show, this is one blaze I didn't see coming. Just my luck, Koven himself is getting hitched in a couple of weeks and had succeeded in digging a hole for me that only got deeper as the days progressed. I should have just tied myself to a cinder block and tossed it overboard at that point, because things only got worse. We had dinner with another of our guests and his lovely girlfriend the next night and it turns out they were moving in together in two days. But wait, there is more. As we were preparing to leave the Tahoe Hyatt resort on Saturday, wouldn't you know it but we happened upon a bridal party (one of two scheduled for that weekend at the Hyatt) as they took pictures of the bride in the lobby. My significantly better (and incredibly patient) half had by that point stopped underscoring the obvious and just shot me a 'you are so screwed' look. "Oh, look, other people who have found time in their busy schedule to get married in under a decade." Where's the lake? Maybe our disagreement over a suitable engagement period has to do with the fact that she is packing a Droid and I carry an iPhone? Yeah, that must be it. I am going to go with that. According to Coupons.com, the differences between Google Android users and iPhone owners could be just as wide as the gender gulf. In a fun bit of data mining, the maker of the Grocery IQ app on iPhone and Android compared coupon use across the platforms. The app is a shopping list that has been downloaded over 1 million times. According to the data, there is a weird gender or culture divide in categories like body wash products where iPhone owners favored women's body wash eight times more than the same coupon on the Android app. When it comes to magazines, Android users indexed higher on news and iPhone owners were 2.3 times more likely to get entertainment magazines. Food? Android-ers went for pork ribs almost twice as often as iPhoners, who were six times as likely to prefer chicken. In personal care, iPhone users were all about parenting, favoring baby product 41 times more than Android users, who in turn were twice as likely to use coupons for pain relievers. Even the pets category showed a stark difference, with Android users 3.6 times more likely than iPhoners to go for bird food, while iPhone indexed fish food 26 times higher than Android. What do we make of anecdotal data like this? Probably not much, although there is an air of truth to it. Intuitively, it always seemed to me that the Android had more of a geeky pocket-protector ambiance to it than the iPhone. Most of my engineering and IT friends get excited over the next oversized Android-powered brick of a phone. A lot of them still have their Palm Pilot holsters in a drawer somewhere. Google still can't help itself from expressing its core engineer-driven culture at every turn. My fiancée hasn't finally chosen the Droid yet, as I was loaning her mine while in Tahoe in order for her to stay in touch while she hiked. I find the Droid interface cluttered and cold myself. But she, a computer scientist and programmer, is warming up to it. In fact, we got a taste of Google culture in Tahoe. "There are many geeky guys with Google t-shirts hiking," she texted me as she walked in the Tahoe hills. Apparently, the company was having a secret retreat of some kind for a chunk of staff at our own hotel. "They were in the middle of this beautiful landscape," she told me, "and all I could hear them talk about was database structures. They were pretty oblivious." "They didn't look very married, either," she added. Maybe I am packing the wrong phone.
Dear Google, Please create a tool that allows me to send SMS text messages for free. You did a great job with the call feature on Gmail. Now it's time to move on to similar mobile features. The carriers will move in to take advantage if you don't create a method to lower SMS campaign costs for advertisers and make it less expensive for consumers to share. The biggest problem: Carriers can't support the increase in use of services by mobile subscribers in any capacity. For example, when I exceeded my limit of 200 monthly SMS message for $5, my carrier AT&T called to try and sell me more. During the conversation the call dropped and the sales rep had to call me back. Today, society tells us to share. Share information, content, and knowledge through searches, links and networks. Mobile consumers are prone to share content and broadcast what they do. So, as people increase sharing, and content gets more social, eMarketer estimates staggering numbers for mobile use in the United States outlined in a report released Tuesday. 1) 94.9 million U.S. mobile gamers in 2014 will generate $1.51 billion in revenue, up from 64 million and $849 million in 2010, respectively 2) 52.2 million U.S. mobile music listeners will generate $676.5 million in mobile music revenue in 2014, up from 52.2 million and $143.2 million in 2010, respectively 3) 56.7 million U.S. mobile video viewers in 2014 will generate $1.34 billion US mobile video revenue in 2014, up from 23.9 million and $548.3 million in 2010, respectively The question of free or fee content seems to baffle service providers, marketers and advertisers. They don't seem to have a clear footing on what works when. As eMarketer Senior Analyst Noah Elkin explains in the report-Mobile Content: Games, Music and Video Take to the Cloud--consumers will pay if it means unlimited access to music and fewer ads for example. "With app downloads tilting in favor of free apps, publishers and marketers must adopt a multipronged strategy built on a small number of successful paid titles and an extensive back catalog of paid apps that capture long-tail searchers," he writes. "They also need a comprehensive approach to monetize free downloads that includes ad support and sponsorships." Maybe ad-supported targeted text messaging with a non-intrusive blurb at the bottom that reads sponsored by AT&T, sponsored by Verizon, or sponsored by Nike. The consumer opts into the service, which might include direct text messages from merchants providing specials and coupons. Similar to a Promoted Tweet on Twitter, except this would become a Sponsored SMS. Advertising or marketing in the age of overload, as Mark Kroese, general manager for the Advertising Business Group, Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft, put it in a blog post. He's suggesting a variety of features on XBox Live apps, but I believe a more subtle approach serves as continuous reminder.