With new developments in the mobile market happening almost continuously, I thought it was worthwhile to visit some of the recent highlights.
Currently a number of businesses are taking notice of mobile search and trying to carve out their niche. I guess you could argue that we have been slowly becoming more and more mobile in all areas of our life. Take for example the home stereo system giving way to the boombox and the boombox giving way to walkmans and walkmans giving way to iPods. It’s not earth shattering news to report that a number of developments have been moving us closer and closer to a world without wires for some time now. That being said, I think there have been a number of very recent advancements that do deserve a nod of recognition for their contributions to the move towards mobile.
Mobile Direct Marketing:
Boston based startup MobileLime is taking advantage of technologies like Bluetooth, infrared, and Wi-Fi to send direct marketing offers via text messages to cell phones and BlackBerries. Along similar lines as the door hangers that have been employed by pizza shops for years, these unsolicited text ads could be considered intrusive and annoying. Also like the old door hangers though, they could prove to be an effective method of reaching customers with promotional offers and spark an increase in sales.
Mobile Google Ads:
Don’t think for a moment that Google is going to let the mobile web pass them by, or their AdWords revenue stream for that matter. Recently that they have been testing a mobile ad system in Japan as well as working on voice activated mobile search.
Mobile Product Reviews:
Toshiba has developed a mobile phone enabled technology that allows the user to take a snapshot of a UPC symbol, or a product’s bar code, and search the web for product reviews. Once fully operational, Toshiba hopes to provide consumers with the ability to instantly see whether the buzz is positive or negative for just about anything you might buy including toys, appliances, electronics and food products.
The Pre-Packaged Mobile Web:
Side stepping the need for a mobile Internet connection, Webaroo has developed the ability to pre-package web pages that can be viewed from an laptop regardless of where you are or if you can find a Wi-Fi signal. The California based startup’s product will be coming preinstalled on Acer laptops worldwide, and can be added to other systems by downloading it from their website. The user is given the ability to store any of their bookmarked sites as well as selected search queries to the Webaroo program. When the laptop is connected to the Internet it will cache the current version of the sites that are bookmarked as well as the first 20 search results from Google to be available at a later time offline. When offline, the user is able to navigate these sites as well as perform searches within these results, AdWords and all. The SEO slant? Your site will need to be holding a top-20 position in Google for your keywords if you want to be available to Webaroo users.
AOL Makes a Mobile Move:
Not to be left behind, AOL’s “Surf the Web” is hoping to take mobile search beyond the world of web pages designed to render on tiny cell phone screens and offers something closer to the original page design, reformatted for your device. Without a doubt, the mobile searchers of the world will appreciate a more attractive mobile web space.
Mobile Profits Continue to Rise:
As would be expected, in the face of several aggressive moves towards the world of mobile, the major mobile phone carriers are continuing to experience soaring profit margins as recently reported by The E-Commerce Times.
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