Mobile Groove

Is your company driving more personalized mobile content discovery and content sharing, making it easier for us all to find, purchase and popularize mobile content? If the answer is ‘yes,’ then stand up and be counted. You have three more days to submit your entry to the Meffys. Now in their 8th year, the Meffys are the industry’s most coveted awards, honoring innovation and achievements across mobile content and commerce.

The deadline for entries was extended to May 6 due to popular demand, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to showcase your service and have it viewed by the top journalists and analysts who sit on the judges panel.

If your company is shortlisted, then you can count on being center stage at the annual gala event (and top of mind with the hundreds of leading industry execs and decision-makers who attend the ceremony each year). TV personality, comedienne and author Ruby Wax will host the 2011 Meffys Gala Awards Dinner (July 7) at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s Covent Garden.

The meteoric rise in the number of connected devices and the advance of hardware and software products by providers including Google and Apple to leverage the three screens – mobile, TV and Internet— has whet consumers’ appetites for new and connected experiences that deliver us content across time, place and platforms.

Indeed, 2010 has turned out to be the year for multi-screen content services and – more importantly – for multi-purpose applications and solutions that allow consumers to call the shots. Nielsen Three Screen Report – a regular analysis from Nielsen’s Cross-Platform Audience Measurement initiative to analyze consumer behavior –reveals a steady climb in the number of Americans that use the Internet (in many cases accessing the Web on their smartphones) and their TV simultaneously. As Nielsen observes: “New mobile devices and enhanced TV quality allow viewers to engage in more content than ever before.”

The special podcast series promoting excellent upcoming industry events continues with an exclusive interview with Dan Gilmartin, VP of marketing at WHERE. The Boston-based location services company has been profitable for the last 12 months thanks to its two-pronged approach to monetizing location: a downloadable app and a hyperlocal location-focused ad network. Think of Google with a sharp focus on local merchants and businesses…

Dan — who will be speaking tomorrow at the Location Business Summit USA in San Jose, organized by the wherebusiness .com – gives us the scoop on some company stats, including the number of hyperlocal ads it has served, the number of publishers on board and the overall reach of the WHERE network.

In-brief: An in-depth look at the pivotal role of personalization and some excerpts from a recent briefing with Sidebar, a company that combines conversation (via text), personalization (via algorithms and recommendations) and exposes the results to us (via smart menus) to help operators, content owners and media companies get the right stuff (apps, content, marketing) in front of the right people.

Personalization – being able to present individuals with mobile content, services, apps and experiences that are in tune with their profiles and preferences – is shaping up to be the factor that separates a successful sales/marketing pitch from a FAIL.

In brief: Moving on with another in the “best of” selection of executive interviews from the Netsize Guide 2010 and setting the stage for a new white paper revealing the results of the Netsize Mobile Trends Survey looking at mobile commerce acceptance and attitudes. We speak with Scott Dunlap, Founder & CEO of NearbyNow, a U.S. – based provider of personal shopping services.

The sale of digital goods continues to be a robust business. In fact, the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) – the global trade body for the mobile media and entertainment industry – told MSG in this podcast that overall confidence in the mobile entertainment market continues to climb. Little wonder that the organization projects that the value of the mobile media market will rise from $32 billion for 2009 to $36 billion for 2010. (listen to the podcast here.)

In brief: The Meffy awards, the 10th annual MEM Conference (the Mobile Entertainment Market), and the release of a new must-read Smart Enablers Guide outlining how everyone can/must work together to deliver a good consumer experience and streamline payment. The last weeks have seen a flurry of activity and announcements around the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) – the global trade body for the mobile media and entertainment industry. I discuss the key takeaways and progress made with Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director.

A raft of announcements and events from the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) signals a new level of excitement and activity in the global mobile media industry. From the advance of smartphones and app stores to the widespread recognition that service enablers (offered by mobile operators and handset makers) are essential to the health and wealth of the entire business ecosystem, the industry is in a new phase of development and mindset. As Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director, puts it: “There’s a real sense in this $36 billion global industry that we are at a new stage of innovation. We’re seeing consumers around the world using their mobile phones as their key point of access to content and media, and the industry is evolving to make that user experience one that is more engaging and more holistic.”