Mobile Groove

Thanks to all the cool companies for reaching out to me over the last weeks with briefings and product demos. Keep those emails coming and I’ll pick the best to feature on MSG. A company that has been high on my radar is Nimbuzz, a mobile social messaging app that

Regular readers will recall that I am sharply focused on tools/technologies and companies providing personalization and recommendations solutions to mobile operators and content owners. My passion stems from my own ongoing research into content discovery and – more recently – work on a new report on mobile personalization and recommendation. (If you are a company in this space, then I invite you to contact me directly.)

In brief: We have hard words and constructive advice for Nokia, hone in on what makes Flirtomatic a textbook case of how companies should approach mobile and discuss this year’s deal flow. A preview of the upcoming podcast series looking at winners of the Smaato Mobile Advertising Awards 2009 (Flirtomatic, Aloqua, Waze, Yoose and SPBTV). We also raise our goblets of Rock to companies (rather than individuals) making mobile exciting: Spanish games start-up LemonQuest and the line-up of cool companies in Augmented Reality (specifically, GeoVector and Layar) and visual recognition (Kooaba).
Mobile Groove — the monthly podcast I produce with Inma Martinez, leading digital media strategist, “free radical” and advisor to venture capitalists — is back. This time we kick off with a hard look at Nokia strategy and question the wisdom of its decision to sue Apple.

U.S. MOBILE DATA REVENUES ROSE 31 PERCENT in the first half of 2009 compared to the previous year, according to trade group CTIA’s latest semi-annual industry survey. Data accounted for more than a quarter of all wireless service revenues, ringing up $19.4 billion in the first six months of the year. CTIA also says that 740 billion text messages went across U.S. operators’ networks in the timeframe, double the number

In brief: Inma Martinez – a leading digital media strategist, “free radical” and advisor to venture capitalists – is back for the second in the series. Following her last take on Blyk she comes back from lunch with Antti Öhrling, Blyk Co-Founder, with deep insights into the Blyk model. Other topics/companies include: VouChaCha and other startups high on the radar; social media buzz and Vodafone 360; a review of Mobilize and Mobile Marketing Forum Europe; the new mobile brain drain; and why developers need to tune into women. We salute Mark Curtis, founder of Flirtomatic; Dagmara Brylack (for innovative and thoughtful mobile campaigns at P&G); and Mark “Mr. Mobile” Wächter, for his work to take the partnership between the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and the German Federal Association for the Digital Economy’s mobile division, the BVDW Section Mobile, to a new level.

Mobile Groove, the monthly podcast that focuses on the news and companies that matter most in mobile — is back with a great line-up of topics and the usual mix of insights and outspoken observations from co-host Inma Martinez, my über-connected and always professional partner in crime. (We missed posting on Friday, but the reason for the delay will be clear when I take the wraps off an all-new MSearchGroove, so watch this space.)

Mobilize, the conference Inma attended in September, left a lasting impression. Her SWOT analysis: a great line-up of startups and a high level of energy and VC activity in the Valley. Where does this leave Europe? Inma (also based in London) connects the dots in some recent investor reports and concludes Europe may see its best and brightest in mobile “defect.” Is the U.S. the place to be if you are a mobile entrepreneur? Listen in and let us know what you think.

Speaking of startups, Inma also outlines the highlights from Seedcamp, a program created to jumpstart the entrepreneurial community in Europe by connecting next generation developers and entrepreneurs with over 400 mentors from a top-tier network of company builders; including seed investors, serial entrepreneurs, product experts, HR and PR specialists, marketers, lawyers, recruiters, journalists and venture capitalists. One company that stood out: VouChaCha, a U.K. startup that delivers vouchers to your mobile phone. Where is the hold up in Europe and why aren’t coupons a de facto part of our daily mobile routines (as they are in the U.S.)? You tell us!

Other success stories Inma shares: Flirtomatic, iScoot and eBuddy.

CONTEXT MATTERS?

Will location-based services excite women? Well, we beg to disagree.

US MOBILE PENETRATION EDGES UP, says eMarketer, and will reach almost 97 percent in 2013. Meanwhile, they add a number of other stats pulled from other reports: in the first quarter of 2009, US mobile users sent an average of 486 texts per month and made 182 calls, with heavy use by 13- to 17-year-olds skewing the numbers up strongly.

The firm adds that the mobile Internet audience in the U.S. is now a third of the size of the wired Internet market, with the gap narrowing by the early part of the next decade. Source

The bottom line: No big surprises here, but some good insight into US mobile usage – in particular, the mobile internet audience is already a big target market for content providers and advertisers.
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DON’T FORGET BLACKBERRY WEB USERS, says mobile web firm Bango. The company says BlackBerrys now account for 14 percent of all mobile web traffic, pulling ahead of the iPhone. Given the length of time BlackBerry has been in the market, plus the fact that essentially every such device comes with an unlimited data plan, it’s perhaps a little more surprising that the iPhone was ever ahead of the entire BlackBerry range. Source

The bottom line: Once again, we’re reminded that the mobile web is a lot more than just the iPhone, and that users of other devices generate significant traffic for publishers and content providers. It’s also another reminder that fragmentation among devices and the multitude of mobile web browsers on the market isn’t going away anytime soon!

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TWO-THIRDS OF TWITTER USERS ARE UNDER 25, says eMarketer – or at least they were in May – while a tiny group of the service’s users account for most of its activity. Just 1.1 percent of Twitter users update more than 10 times per day, while 85 percent do so less than once per day; consequently, 5 percent of Twitter users account for 75 percent of its activity.