Wireless Business Forecast articles from January 2006

Wireless Business Forecast archives from January 2006

The Entertainment We Think We Want...Maybe...Well, To Try, At Least.
January 12, 2006... This is all so 1996 in so many ways. Major media brands finally "got" mobile in 2005, and so the land grab is on for them to put some sort of stake into that teeny-tiny screen before their competitors do. And, like 1996, much of this new...

The Wireless New Year: Executive Resolutions And Predictions.
January 12, 2006... The holidays are a time to catch up with old friends, and so here at Wireless Business Forecast we reconnected with many of our high-level industry contacts during the break to get their read on where wireless is, or should be, headed in...

Company To Watch: VOCEL Apps Poke Through The Deck Abyss.
January 12, 2006... The perennial problem for mobile-content providers is not just discovery but rediscovery. It's hard enough for users to locate and understand the content offers they want. But even if you get that initial buy-in from a customer, your...

Ad-Supported Mobile Kicks In.
January 12, 2006... In what may be the first but certainly not the last attempt to bring the free content model to mobile, MobilePlay beta-launched a downloadable mobile app that offers fully ad-supported content from major brands. For now, the technology works...

Go Figure! Ringtone Pricing Actually Makes Sense.
January 12, 2006... One of the smartest bits of mobile-content market research Wireless Business Forecast has seen recently is an analysis on the supposed pricing disparity between ringtones and full-song digital downloads from NPD Group and analyst Drew Hull....

Amp'd Mobile: Can Content Really Crank Up A MVNO?(Mobile Virtual Network Operator )
January 12, 2006... The exceptionally well-funded Amp'd MVNO, now in limited distribution, is pouring those venture-capital dollars into what had to be one of the biggest dice rolls yet in the mobile category. In addition to a slew of branded content partners...

CBS Leaves The Herd, Opting For VCast And Google.
January 12, 2006... Apropos to our discussion this week with eMarketer's Debra Williamson (see "The Entertainment We Think We Want" in this issue), CBS seemed to resist the tide moving Apple's way by electing not to plant its mobile content with iTunes and for...

Deal Sheet 01/12/06.
January 12, 2006... Who's Doing What?: Yahoo! [YHOO], headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.; 408/349- 3300 To launch mobile applications with AT&T/Cingular Wireless [SBC and BLS], headquartered in Atlanta; 404/236-6153 What to Expect Near-Term: Yahoo! Go...

Banners And Buttons And Eyeballs On Mobile, Oh My!
January 26, 2006... Was it only a year or two ago that consumers and even many ad buyers insisted we would never see much advertising on the mobile platform? Look again. The stars are aligning for a major push by some publishers to running small banners on...

Company to Watch: Nellymoser -- Rich Media And Their Rich Media.(Company Profile)
January 26, 2006... Sure, cellphones are in the pockets of hundreds of millions of Americans, and 3G is rolling out aggressively from the three major carriers. But in the real world of practical ROI and extending a brand effectively to a broad audience, none of...

Thinking Inside The [Search] Box.
January 26, 2006... Content discovery will become one of the dominant themes of a 3G world as the sheer volume of available applications, content and services simply overwhelms handset interfaces. "Menu"-ing and personalization schemes are flying left and right...

3G's Mixed Signals.
January 26, 2006... Until carriers finally come clean and they all start issuing regular statistics on data-service uptake, the actual state of the U.S. mobile-media market will be rife with speculation and dodgy surveys that ask customers about future purchase...

For Wireless Usage, Ethnicity Matters.(ethnic group)
January 26, 2006... The difference in wireless usage patterns among U.S. ethnic groups is stunning, and it should have profound implications for marketing and packaging plans among carriers in the future. According to Telephia's analysis of thousands of...

Phones Are Serious, iPods Are Fun.(superpower Starcom)(Brief Article)
January 26, 2006... A couple of potentially important gems emerged from otherwise unremarkable research on mobile video by advertising superpower Starcom. In surveying 1,000 subjects, the researcher found a clear division of media labor between data-capable...

Google Mobile: A Platform Too Far?(Motorola handsets)
January 26, 2006... Google starts its major push onto mobile this year with a series of deals and rollouts, but some of the early signs suggest this massive company is dabbling in a few too many areas to make a compelling case in all of them, especially mobile....

Deal Sheet 01/26/06.(Illustration)
January 26, 2006... Who Did What With Whom?: Gannett Co. [GCI] headquartered in McLean, Va.; 703/854-6000 Invests in and deploys mobile search services of 4Info, headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.; 415/551-9621 What To Expect Short Term: Gannett's major...