i-nigma: is it winning the 2D barcode race?

Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote a short blog about 2D barcode readers for the iPhone, and today I've just downloaded the best one yet, albeit it only reads one type; the QRcode.

With 3 different types of barcode reader installed on my iPhone, I think I'm fully prepared for the mobile barcode revolution to begin...... er what revolution??

I don't get it, with such a huge amount of phones being capable of running the barcode reader, why don't more Brands and publishers use it?? Especially publishers, it's the perfect link between the printed magazine and rich interactive content. There you are, anywhere, reading a mag, and next to the riveting article there is this small barcode, which with almost one click takes you to some kind of additional rich content; video maybe, or audio, exclusive too, stuff you might even pay extra for, could be an associated competition, or a quiz.

I'm sure a lot of people that read a magazine do so on the train, or bus, even the bog, and they don't have (or want to get out) their laptop. But they do have their mobile device, so its perfect, immediate access to exclusive complementary content, that could have great ROI, and extend the usefulness of the printed publication as well.

Bluetooth Marketing - a story of the bleedin obvious

I was in my favourite clothes shop in Chelmsford shopping centre, chatting to the owner about what I do etc etc, as you do, and I got chatting about Bluetooth Marketing, telling him that to promote his summer sale would be very straight forward with the software and hard ware that I owned. We both got quite animated about testing it out, even though I explained that it probably wouldn't be that effective, without some kind of call to action. But I thought what the hell it would be interesting to see what kind take up could be achieved. So I created a mobile friendly advert 240x320 and off I went with netbook and bluetooth dongle.

To begin with I sat outside Starbucks on a nice sunny day with a coffee and watched the people go by for an hour or so. It was mid week but still quite busy and it didn't take long to discover 100 devices to which I delivered 11 messages. Pretty good I thought.

What could we achieve on a busy Saturday for a whole day. The bluetooth systems was all set, and I left it to do its thing all day, however on returning at 5.30 that day, was surprised to see I had only discovered 934 devices and delivered only 4 adverts - just under 0.5%.

Over the next couple of weeks I tried a few other different days and locations of the netbook. What was very obvious was the location of the shop, which was very much at one end of town, had a significantly lower footfall than in the centre, strangely where Starbucks was!

However, regardless of how many, or how quickly devices were detected, on average I did not get far past 0.5% delivered adverts.

When the message was delivered to a device, the user could see the name of the shop that the advert was coming from, and decide whether to accept or decline, so I don't think we were being too "spammy", and if the user had already declined, they wouldn't get sent another message if they walked into the Bluetooth zone again.

So it was an interesting experiment, which just adds more weight to the fact that users need a good strong call to action and incentive to accept and respond to bluetooth marketing, something that is difficult to do in an open high street, but very simple to do at an event.

If anyone is interested to see the full stats of the experiment, and to hear what ROI I achieved, please feel free to contact me.

App stores galore?

OK, I was a little bit impatient, the OVI store went live at the end of May. I'm not sure how the amount of Apps it had on day one compares with the Apple App store when it went live, but it looks like it might be a good start. I for one, am incredibly excited about the future of flashlite apps and content now. 

I also read the other day, that Sony Ericsson have teamed up with GetJar to supply Apps; that seems a pretty smart move too. With O2 and Vodafone creating their own App stores the mobile content arena foundations seem well and truly laid. Together with a plethora of amazing devices being launched by all the manufactures 2009 is going to be an amazing year in mobile. Oh apart from this damn economy, which is unfortunately affecting everything - even mobile. 

However, when things do pick up, the App Stores will be ready, the devices will be capable, there will be even better network access and data tariffs available, i.e. even more devices with WiFi and 3G, so don't hold your breath, but, this is going to be big... sooner rather than later!

Nokia opens the door...

... but has the horse already bolted, so to speak. The answer must be yes. May be that is why there is a delay in OVI actually opening its doors. With Apple's App store success, Nokia's version is going to have to be really good. However reading the Nokia developer forums, there may be cause for concern, but lets think positively, it will be great and it will provide the millions of dedicated Nokia users a much needed source of content. I just wonder though,.. there isn't too much publicity about OVI yet, and it is supposed to be launching this month, so how will the public know about it? With Nokia taking 30% share of the revenue, they could stand to make a decent amount of money (Apple are reported to have made upto $45 million from the first billion downloads, in well under a year) Lets hope that there is a TV advert campaign being planned, lets hope that the UI is simple, and I really hope it will be successful. Then we can look forward to Vodafone doing the same by the end of the year

Double Whamy

I was really excited yesterday with the news of the iPhone 3.0 software, and not just because of the news, but the way in which I learnt about it - using Twitter. Ok I know Titter has been around for quite a while, but it was the first time I had properly used it to get live information on an event. I found that the Macworld guys were posting their tweets live during the event. It was great; every minute or so we all got a blow by blow account of the presentation. Not really sure why there wasn't a live video cast of the event, but I enjoyed the experience of being able to do some work and read what was going on at the same time. Oh and there really is some great new features for the iPhone, Im sure there will be new hardware to follow later in the year as well.

churn rate thoughts

I'm well aware of the age old problem of churn rates, but sometimes the solutions are as much the problem. The other day whilst on the tube, I saw an Operator advert for and exclusive on a mobile device (cant call em phones any more!) Obviously there is nothing new with an Operator or MVNO to get an exclusive on a mobile to attract new customers, but then as they all get exclusives doesn't that just perpetuate the whole churn cycle. Why don't they all get together and decide that no one should get exclusive deals? every one can get any phone from any network. OK I'm not that naive, that isn't going to happen and at least Apple would strongly disagree with that idea. What's the solution? well I believe the Operators should finally start to do something with their content and internet access, I know things are getting better, but it's so slow, it seems strange to me that it has been down to the handset manufacturers such as Nokia and their content service Ovi to start creating content. But hey what do I care, I've got an iPhone, so Im happy!

jealous? me!

I think I'll have a little moan. At the last agency I worked for I was know to be the mobile Geek, and at every opportunity I would try and ram mobile content down everyones throat. The agency wasn't particularly well known as being 'digital' although they did do some world class 3D animations and stills. So when we presented mobile content to our clients such as Ford, Mazda and Volvo, content such as 2D barcodes etc, over the last 18 months or so, may be we were just too early? Ford would say, 'well its a bit niche, not quite right", then go and do something with our parent company (who were digital) 6 months later. And now I see Volvo are including QR codes into some of their UK campaigns.

I left a really small company to join a big company, because being small I couldn't get to work on the type of jobs I wanted, and then blow me the same thing happens again.

The point of this entry? None whatsoever, just letting off some frustration. 

Oh by the way, I need a job, any offers... :-)

The future of mobile advertising...

...and the end of printed daily newspapers?
I'm talking about an A4 e-reader that is thiner than a pad of paper, lighter than a quality magazine and has a touch screen for simple page turning and navigation.

Imagine each morning simply wirelessly downloading your chosen newspaper to your e-reader prior to leaving the house, ready for your journey ahead. Or, if its not a newspaper the device can store thousands of work documents such as pdf's etc. With its A4 format and no glare screen, reading documents will be a breeze.

The product is its final phase of development from the Cambridge based company PlasticLogic and is due for full release early next year. They already have many content providers signed up from the publishing world, the FT being one.
Could this be the way forward for publishers to finally charge for their online content, by supplying a full electronic version of the paper to the e-reader? surely it would be cheaper than the printed version, and more environmentally friendly.

So could the future of printed news papers be finally drawing to an end? I'm sure not for the next few years, but as these e-readers become mass produce and prices tumble I'm sure many people will see the benefit of a paperless news world.

There are no published plans to be able to connect the e-reader to a mobile device, but if possible, this would another extra dimension to mobile communications and presentations

Happy New Year

Well, here we are, 2009, financially and politically, it will certainly be an interesting year, but I won’t go into that here!
Almost two years ago, Steve Jobs announced the launch of the iPhone; it was to be launched in June, first in the US and then later in November throughout Europe.
I’ve now had my iPhone for over a year, well I’m on my second one as I upgraded to the 3G version in July, and what a difference a year makes.
Apple have made big impressions in not just the handset market, but even bigger impressions in the mobile content arena, and proven to the world that users are hungry to look at and download content on a mobile device.
Most manufacturers have brought out, or are planning to bring out, a touch screen mobile device, all of which, in my opinion have easier to use interfaces. Some of the devices have better features than the iPhone, but all that ensures is the further development of the iPhone itself.
Then there is the Apple App Store; such an excellent source of great content, from the really useful to the downright silly, but fun. Some Apps that are free, I download open and then delete, but its free and doesn’t cost me anything extra to download, so I don’t care. And that’s the important point, and that’s why ad funded content is growing massively on the iPhone, according to AdMob. If something is free, fun, informative and or relevant, people will down load it, and see the advert. Whether the App is kept is really down to the content, which in turn is down to the campaign, its intentions and its budget.
As Google and Nokia are attempting to replicate the App store with their own versions, I’m sure the future could be looking pretty bright for Ad Funded mobile content.