Sprint's ambitious "Now Network" campaign this spring, which included home page takeovers on sites including Yahoo, YouTube and AOL, laid the groundwork for the June launch of the Palm Pre, the carrier's much-hyped answer to the iPhone. The Internet effort, by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, garnered much attention for its innovative interactive elements and last month took home a Gold Lion in the Integrated Campaign at the 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. But did it work?

With all the focus on smartphones lately, it's easy to forget many people around the world don't have access to basic mobile services. A new report from ABI points out that underserved markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America have great potential but also present formidable barriers. Low disposable income is among the most immediate.

Wednesday's Mobile Intelligencer incorrectly described the business of Truphone. The company offers various free and low-cost calling and communication services but does not subsidize calls by requiring customers to listen to ads.

Google Voice, the centralized voicemail and Internet calling service Google announced in March, is now available via mobile applications for BlackBerry and Android phones. While users could access the service on mobile phones before, the new apps make it easier by allowing people to place calls directly rather than having to type in phone numbers.

Apple announced today that 1.5 billion applications had been downloaded for the iPhone and iPod touch in the year since it launched the App Store. It now boasts more than 65,000 apps and more than 100,000 developers for the iPhone. But Apple's head start with the App Store certainly hasn't stopped other smartphone makers and wireless providers from launching their own app storefronts in response.

Earlier this year, MySpace CEO Chris De Wolfe expressed big ambitions for the company's mobile business. Since then, De Wolfe has been replaced by Owen Van Natta and MySpace has cut 30% of its U.S. staff and up to two-thirds of its international workforce. Where does that leave mobile? Unlike the social network's flattening growth online, the rapid growth of MySpace Mobile in the last year suggests the company may be content to leave it as is for now to focus on overhauling its online presence.

In its ongoing quest to save itself from financial peril, it was reported Thursday that The New York Times is considering charging a monthly fee of $5 for online access to the paper. It sent out a survey to subscribers asking if they'd be willing to pay $2.50 a month, or a 50% discount for existing customers, to access NYTimes.com. What about the Times iPhone app? Free.

Why should anyone, especially iPhone owners, buy a Kindle at all when they can simply download the Kindle iPhone app and get an e-reader along with all the other functions of a smartphone in one package? Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has said reading is an important enough activity that it warrants its own purpose-built device.

You can't accuse Forrester Research of being overly effusive about mobile marketing. In its latest interactive forecast, the firm describes mobile as "one of the most anticipated, least adopted interactive channels in the mix." Forrester analyst Shar VonBoskirk goes on to cite hurdles such as complexity around metrics, carrier relationships and limited consumer mobile data use as stifling mainstream mobile marketing today. The firm doesn't expect mobile spending to pick up until mid-2011 as brands continue to rely on more established avenues for flogging products and services.

Despite the successful rollout of new smartphones like the iPhone 3G S and Palm Pre, with more to come this summer, these must be increasingly unsettling days for the wireless industry. The latest threatening cloud is news that the Department of Justice has begun looking into possible antitrust violations within the telecom industry covering areas from landline voice and broadband service to wireless.