Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Texting just got easier!  Jott.com goes beyond Twitter to convert voice recordings into text messages, e-mails and more.  
 
You call 866-JOTT-123
A series of questions are asked and then you say your message.
Then your message is transcribed and delivered to email, text, Twitter, etc. 
 
I'm not sure about the accuracy or that this is very convenient. This seems more difficult than texting and I'm not sure I need to Twitter, if I'm soooo busy I can't even text.  Hey, every addict needs their fix and this is another way to get yours.

Kari Girade

As an avid mobile web user, I can say that watching this year's news has been a rollercoaster ride with severe ups and downs. Not one month after posting a topic entitled "America's Mobile Story Is Finally Catching Up", I read a post entitled "Is the Mobile Web Dead?" over at ReadWriteWeb. The question is really not whether mobile web is dead or not, it clearly isn't, but when the mobile Renaissance is going to hit, and that is where things get somewhat depressing.

The Mobile Web is inevitable
Sure mobile web adoption isn't quite living up to some of the more generous predictions. Sure US mobile sales are down for the first time in years. But, let's take the numbers out of the equation. The mobile web is inevitable, isn't it?

The internet is growing increasingly decentralized, growing less dependent on "web pages" or even traditional web browsers. Instead, we are beginning to speak in terms of hubs, portals, and devices. We are seeing a move towards cloud-computing on many fronts, Google joining forces with IBM and Microsoft announcing Mesh. Ambient devices and widget platforms are getting a serious financial boost. And there is a daily battle going on between Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Netflix, and even Google, to bring IPTV to the mainstream.

What does this all have to do with Mobile Web? The point is that data is growing more loose and devices beyond the desktop are growing more capable. With the adoption of more capable phones, with the launch of iPhone 2.0, Android phones, and HTC Diamond later this year... it is a simple equation.

Rich data is portable +
portable devices handle rich data beautifully =
Mobile Web Renaissance.

So what's the hold up?
Unfortunately, you cannot ignore those pesky numbers. Many cell phone manufacturers are seeing losses. The economic slow-down is having a visible effect on both handset sales and mobile data revenues. Without the renewed growth in smartphone adoption, it doesn't look good for 2008 to be the year of mobile web as once thought. I myself am holding off to purchase a new phone until the Android models start coming on the market.

So, where I used to get really excited about reading reports that Mobile Web is the New Hangout or that Mobile Web Use is Growing Faster Than Ever!!! I am not going to hold my breath. It's coming, it's inevitable. But for ever week of "mobile web is hot" comes just as many stories of "mobile web is cold".

Marta Strickland

Crackberry.com has purchased a currently unreleased version of the Blackberry - the 9000.
RIM has given the Blackberry a huge facelift - the user interface is a slick black with white icons, similar to a PSP.

Of course the list of technological advancements are huge: 650mhz CPU, video playback, Wi-Fi, 3G network support, hi-res screen, video recording, the list goes on.
 
View part I and II of the review here:
http://crackberry.com/blackberry-9000-smartphone-hands-review
http://crackberry.com/blackberry-9000-smartphone-review-part-ii
 
Morgan Tiley

If you've read any of my previous posts, you know I'm a big proponent of location-based services. Bright Kite is the latest in a long line of startups aiming to bring location-specific services to the masses. At its core Bright Kite is a location-aware social recommendation service. Users are encouraged to define their oft frequented locations, once at a defined location users can view a placefeed - think location-specific twitter - as well as, post notes, images, and check in. All of the site's functionality is also available through their excellent iPhone web app.
 
All in all it's a pretty slick service with tons of potential. It improves on at lest two very popular services [can you guess which?] and, if it can attract a large enough user base, might give them a run for their money. The other thing Bright Kite has going for it is that anything location-specific should be a breeze to monetize.   

Dan Neumann

Spike Lee is teaming up with Nokia to direct a movie pieced together from user-generated cell phone video footage.

"You are seeing first hand the democratization of film," Lee said in a statement on Thursday. "Aspiring filmmakers no longer have to go to film school to make great work. With a simple mobile phone, almost anyone can now become a filmmaker."

It's an ambitious idea that ties together the classic elements of social media, (particularly public voting), with the stamp of celebrity.

Organic explored a Spike Lee mobile film festival several years ago, with Sprint as the sponsor. The idea was ahead of its time - pre-YouTube - and didn't include the element of shared media. We were going to call it "Fifteen Seconds of Fame"!  I think the social component is a big improvement and shows how fast we are moving in terms of the adoption of user-generated content.

http://www.nokiaproductions.com

Misha Cornes

It's about time. Recent research from PEW Internet & America Life Project is beginning to tell a compelling story for American mobile web adoption. For the past two or more years, I have been somewhat astounded at the continual higher mobile adoption rates found in other countries. However strange as it seemed, there was an interesting and unique story in each case to justify these statistics.

Japan
As of Q1 2007, half of Japanese mobile consumers use the mobile Internet, which contrasts 10% of Europeans and a significantly lower amount of Americans. Why? Japanese consumers tended to use mobile web to get information that was timely, location driven, and actionable for their life on the go. Japanese never had a highly adoptable SMS program, and so mobile web quickly took over the void. Things like ringtones and wallpapers were pushed using this method instead of SMS which was more popular in the US and Europe. Add that to lengthy train commutes into work, and you have fast mobile web adoption.

Apple’s announcement of a series of iPhone products and services attached to the launch of the device’s 2.0 update has seen a lot of analysis in the past 24 hours. Most seem to agree that the latest iPhone offerings are right on target.

Apple has licensed the Active Sync Exchange protocol from Microsoft which will bring the iPhone’s messaging capabilities in line with Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices. It’s a big step toward removing barriers to corporate adoption.

In addition to push email support Apple announced the release of an iPhone SDK and outlined a distribution and monetization model for third-party applications. The plan is for a 70 - 30% rev-share deal with developers. Distribution is to be handled through iTunes giving Apple control over the types of applications available.

If they aren’t already, advertisers and marketers should be paying close attention to the iPhone developer community over the next few months. The breadth and sophistication of third-party apps at launch will likely foreshadow iPhone market share for Q2 and Q3, and potentially into next year. Not only is there potential for development of branded applications, but because Safari handles HTML so well, wider acceptance of the iPhone has the potential to shape the direction of mobile web development well beyond 2008. 

The device’s 2.0 firmware update is scheduled for release this June. It will include the application loader software that is to provide access to native application downloads. Mark your calendar. 

Dan Neumann

While it looks well… ugly, to be frank, this little baby was all the rage at this week’s Mobile World Congress. That’s right, it’s an Android phone. Or at least, it will be.

A full write up can be found at last100, but I will summarize the highlights of what everyone is getting so excited about:

1. A benefit no longer reserved to desktop computers, Android will allow for the integration of different applications. Texas Instruments gave this example: “a real estate agent could combine information from a database with mapping software to let customers easily locate properties on the go.”

2. One of the first applications finally brings multi-player gaming to the US market, but in an interesting twist, combines real world activity. It is a called WiFi Army and allows players to meet on the street using Google Maps and use their phone cameras to “shoot” at each other.

3. With so many manufacturers on board, people feel that means an almost sure success rate for adoption.

Android fans should also look out for an upcoming application called ZERO. It is Organic's first effort developing on the Android platform and is based on the winning concept from a recent Camp Organic.

Marta Strickland

Photo Credit: Engadget

So everyone was talking about the Google Phone.  Now everyone is talking about Android.  It’s not iPhone-level buzz.  Not yet anyway.  If you don’t know the details, well, Google “Open Handset Alliance”.  The short answer is it’s a bunch of wireless players (T-Mobile, Sprint, HTC, Samsung, Motorola and the like) getting together with Google around a new, open platform for wireless devices.

So what do the participants get out of it?

Google gets an opportunity to become a major part of the wireless landscape and to significantly extend its ad network.

The lagging carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile get a platform that, in theory, enables them to develop richer data applications more quickly and easily. It’s also probably the closest that they’ll get to countering the iPhone in the mid-term.  The brand association with Google probably doesn’t hurt either.

For manufacturers, Android will simply be added to the stable of platforms they use in developing new devices.  HTC, for example, is currently developing a new device using Android, but isn’t planning to abandon Windows Mobile 6 used in most of its current smart phones.  

So what about consumers?  I’ve seen very little talk about what the user gets out of this.  Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO said "The fundamental problem that most phones people have today is that they don't have fully powered Web browsers."  It is? I’d say one of the more fundamental problems they typical user would note is that the phones don’t perform as they expect them to.

The Pet Shop Boys single, "Integral," which snipes Britain's national identity card system with the dry sarcasm the duo is known for, now has a music video to carry the message even further.

The stop-motion video centers on a pixelated flipbook of sorts. This doubles as the mobile-friendly version of the video (remove the filmed background and...voila!) and carries in it over 100 "subliminal" QR (quick response) matrix codes. When you scan these frames with your reader-enabled camera phone you get URLs relevant to civil liberty issues, hand-picked by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant. The individual frames can also be downloaded to create your own homemade version of the video, which are slowly popping up on YouTube.

The whole package—music, message, meme, media—comes together nicely. Like the best cultural phenomena, this can be enjoyed at several levels of participation—at least one of which involves a dance floor.

(Thanks to Les Orchard, whose tweet hepped me to this video.)

Sam Cannon