Did any of you read the book, the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?  Study Karate? Practice, practice and practice and then you do not think about it.  Well this is a theme I think is interesting when we think of “Worlds Colliding and Mobile meets the Internet”.  We all know that mobile has its differences… smaller screen, personal, always on and with you everywhere you go.  But when it comes to the internet, I do beleive there is one  internet….  When will Interactive Marketers,  buyers find a routine where they just know about mobile as part of their daily routine/ budgets and not have to think about it as it blends into the Online, Social and overall marketing mix…results and synergies being symbiotic.

The debate of Cross-Media and mobile is what we made for this years theme at  Internet Marketing Conference- Mobile in NYC on Oct 12, 13th at the Helen Mills theater.   If you want to be involved, let me know….It is going to be a great event…. Stay tuned.

In the late 90’s emerged the SEO firm that specialized in building solutions and strategies off of Google’s Search Engine or Search API. This way of thinking is a key reason for the success of Google. Google also succeeded with syndication ( offering Search as an API to be built into sites).  Well when twitter launched, releasing an API has given them the ability to generate an amazing amount of traffic through twitter via the different clients.  At least  today it is a vertical game of different twitter clients competing that has created a closed loop to drive the business of Twitter. The same can be said about Android today.  Be original and open, release and API and let others build something on top of the core and bring in all of their creative spirit.

I love hootsuite, tweetdeck and seesmic, but they are in a game of competition amongst each other that has spiraled to grow twitter.

In this world of the web, creating API’s for others to leverage their creativity now only builds your brand as a base platform, but gives you the chance to organically grow through degree marketing ( I use this term as the different degrees of relationship as it is like a super distribution model).

This seems like a a no-brainer, but looking at the stats really makes one think about what are the platforms you can create with an API for growing your business. This is a real strategy for 2010 for the web and beyond as well.

As I have just relocated part-time to NYC, I have decided to really look at my needs when it comes to internet and broadband TV.   As most people in my building  just use Warner Cable here in Brooklyn,  it is almost like a no-brainer to call up Warner and set-up an appointment  to use the service.

I called two weeks ago to set-up an appointment.  It was Tuesday. They said they would send over a Service guy to set it up on Sat.  The going rate for Internet Only was about $33/month + the installation and box of about $100+.  To get Wifi was an extra $5/month.  So my costs would be for unlimited internet at broadband speed at about $38/month

Well I had a set window to meet the guy from 2-5pm.  He never showed up.  When I called into Warner Cable they said that he did show up but could not connect to me by phone. So the value of me sitting at my place, Why did he not buzz? So I proceeded to call Warner Cable and got the IVR telling me to wait to 5pm to call. If he did show up at 2:15 like they said, and I waited 3 hours for nothing, it kind of pissed me off that on a beautiful Saturday, I waited for 3 hours at home for somebody not going to show up again and I would have never known it.

So in my call that finally got through to a person at 5:15pm, I rescheduled for Thurs Evening from 5~8pm.  He wanted to set me up on Weds from 2~5pm, but I said that I had to go to work and could not sit at home for 3H on a Weds Afternoon.

Sure enough, I get a call from the Warner Cable guy that he is at my place on Weds at 2:05pm.  ” Bloody Hell, I thought, I told them I would not be there.  So when I got home, I then spent another 30 min on the IVR to get to an operator to again tell me that I was scheduled for Weds, with no record for Thurs.  I would have to wait till the following Tues for the first available appointment.

This really pissed me off. As I have been without Internet now for 2weeks, I was getting frustrated, so I wanted to see what my other options were.

1) Can not go to another Cable Company as my Apartment Complex is only Warner.

2) What about getting one of the Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile hotspot cards…. This way I will not be locked to my home for my connectivity.

So I started my check.  As I have been having broadband connectivity problems with my phone and AT&T, I decided to go into Verizon first.  This is what they offer.

Verizon

1) MiFi can be purchased for $180 or a 2 year contract for about $40.9 for the little credit card box ( you get up to 5 connections and good 3G speeds. 4 hours of battery life)    The costs is what was interesting $40 for 250MB ($0.10 MB or  $100 G after) or $60 5MB ( $0.5MB or $50GB after), the costs were pretty high for Data, so I decided to do a real check of what my needs are per day approximately.

2) Get an Android device and use untethering.  Well they do offer all you can eat for about $30, but to connect to tether, they charge an additional $20/2GB.  So for $50 I can get about 2GB ( $0.5MB after).

So if you are a daily user of 2GB, then the tethering with the mobile device is not bad, without jumping to the $100’s of month for extra bandwidth.  The 5GB is about 150% the cost of Warner for the monthly installments, but it is still limited.

Apparently.

T-Mobile

1) With an Android device with $30 all you can eat package, apparently you can do Tethering…. So this might just be the right way to go for a home-hotspot, but also a hotspot on the go?

*****************************

Daily needs.

Besides my work that includes massive social media, emails and web browsing.  I do stream music and I do watch movies and video’s. So this is my system.  ( I will add a chart of my usage patterns later after I study it a bit more).   But to watch a move it is about 250M. So for 5G, you only get about 20 movies a month for Verizon.  This might just be enough…. email and social is so small with Data I felt I was I would be OK.

*****************************

What an opportunity for the Mobile Operators to destroy the Cable companies for home internet.  Just thinking since they do have location-based services to identify the cell towers that are in proximity to your home, why limit the bandwidth when you are at home.  Charge a special unlimited rate of  $60 month, and then have it kicked in to a limited amount on the Go.  This way it is easier to start to understand the loads on the network as users do not move that often.  Can really grow services that become truely wireless.

I will decide now over the course of the next couple of days,  Verizon, TMobile or Warner Cable……

Here is published article in Marketing Sherpa based on a recent interview on moving forward with mobile marketing.

by Adam T. Sutton, Reporter

Technology always increases in power and decreases in price over time. The multimillion-dollar supercomputer of yesterday is today’s five dollar pocket calculator. Mobile phone technology is no different.

More people carry smartphones than ever before:

o 31.9% of all mobile subscribers used a Web browser on a mobile device in the three months ending in May 2010, according to comScore. That’s up from 26% in comScore’s September 2009 three-month average.

o 30% downloaded a mobile app in the three months ending in May, compared to 6.7% in the September 2009 three-month average, according to comScore.

“We’re definitely past the discussion of whether mobile is mainstream. It’s here,” says Matthew Snyder, CEO and Founder, ADObjects, a mobile strategy consultancy and agency.

Snyder has worked in mobile and consumer electronics for more than two decades. He spent 12 years with Nokia and eight years with Sony, based mostly in Japan, a mobile technology hotspot. He now helps companies understand how mobile channels can improve business and marketing performance.

We spoke with Snyder to get his take on what marketers need to consider before testing mobile marketing initiatives. Here are the five insights he provided:

Insight #1. Start with a mobile Web presence

Snyder is a strong believer in the Web. The cornerstone of any mobile strategy should be a Web presence, he says, whether it is a single landing page or a full mobile site. Even if a marketer is experimenting with sending SMS messages, these messages should include a link to a page where mobile users can learn more.

Here are four types of mobile Web presences Snyder sees:

1. Mobile versions of existing sites

Companies have built mobile websites which offer nearly the same features as their traditional websites, but which are adapted to a handheld format. A textbook example is Facebook’s mobile website (see Useful Links below).

2. Plug-in-based mobile sites

Similar to the first category, blogs and websites based on WordPress, Drupal or similar open-source platforms can use free plug-ins which format sites for mobile audiences (see useful links below).

3. Mobile landing pages

As the name suggests, these single-page entities can be created quickly to add a mobile-Web presence to a marketing campaign.

4. Dedicated mobile sites

These sites are standalone, multi-page entities, not mobile versions of a traditional website. They have their own designs and strategies to meet the needs of mobile visitors.

Insight #2. Consider all mobile options

Mobile networks and devices provide a range of ways to reach an audience — such as text, voice and email. When your team is considering how best to incorporate mobile into its marketing, consider all the major possibilities:

- Short Message Service (SMS)

SMS is capable of sending minimal, text-based messages to your audience, which can include links to call a phone number or visit a website.

- Multimedia Message Service (MMS)

MMS is similar to SMS technology, but can also send content such as images, video and audio files such as ringtones.

- Voice

Mobile phones have click-to-call functionality that enables audiences to reach you directly, or to click to request a call from your team.

- Web

Similar to traditional Web browsing, the mobile Web is continually adding pages of content designed for easy access from handheld devices.

- Proximity marketing

Smartphones with GPS and similar technologies are capable of broadcasting locations. Some marketers are taking the opportunity to deliver ads to mobile users in specific locations, such as when they’re near brick-and-mortar stores.

- Applications

Computer programs specially designed for smartphones are widely available and have their own marketplaces. Some marketers have directly integrated campaigns into their audiences’ phones by designing and offering a branded mobile app.

- Content

Branded content — including ringtones, images, videos and ebooks — are just a few of the many different types of digital information marketers can provide in a mobile format.

- Email

As any business professional with a Blackberry will tell you, email is a mobile channel. People frequently receive and send digital letters through handheld devices.

Insight #3. Mobile does not stand alone

Mobile marketing does not succeed as an isolated channel, Snyder says. Instead, it works best when integrated with other channels and tactics to form a cross-platform strategy.

Examples include:
o Combining SMS or barcode calls-to-action in traditional advertising
o Mobile apps that integrate with television shows
o Mobile coupons for in-store sales

Mobile promotions should also be integrated with other channels. For example, mobile content should be promoted on your website — e.g. if you’re advertising a free whitepaper download and it’s available in a mobile format, mention this in your website ads.

“Mobile, in general, is the glue that connects all media,” Snyder says, “As smartphones become more prevalent, the more they will be associated and attached with existing media channels.”

Insight #4. Mobile requires a well-planned strategy

It can be tempting to quickly test proximity marketing or a mobile website just to see what happens. But mobile marketing initiatives should be carefully planned, Snyder says. Otherwise, you risk wasting time and money, and possibly damaging your brand.

Areas to consider:

- Overall marketing strategy

Mobile devices are extremely personal. Owners carry them everywhere, and during all stages of the buying process.

Given mobile’s “constantly-connected” attributes, you must understand the impact of making mobile information available throughout your entire marketing strategy. Your team should know:
o Which specific goals you want to achieve
o How the tactic will help achieve those goals
o What possible negative impact it could have

- Usage cases for your audience

Determine the ways in which your audience would, or already does, interact with your company on mobile devices. Put yourself in their shoes — how could they use a smartphone to learn more about you?

By checking your website’s analytics you may find mobile visitors are already accessing your site.

“I’ve seen anywhere from 5% to 20% of existing websites getting hit by phones today,” Snyder says.

- Media buying and budget

Your team also will have to consider where mobile marketing fits into its media budget and priorities. You will have to gauge investment and potential return while ensuring the overall media plan is capable of meeting its targets.

Some mobile channels are inexpensive to test. For example, your team could easily add a call-to-action to your traditional advertising to ask viewers to send you an SMS message or visit your mobile site. Others are more expensive, such as mobile applications, which can cost between $20,000 and $100,000 to develop a quality product, Snyder says.

Useful links related to this article

Members Library – Mobile Website Advice from Taco Bell: 5 Considerations to Reach More Mobile Devices

Members Library – Consumer Behavior in the Mobile Channel: 4 Trends Marketers Should Note

comScore: May 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

Wordpress: Mobile plug-ins

Drupal: Mobile plug-ins

Facebook mobile

Mobile Marketing Association

ADOstrategies

This week the Android Platform was cited as the most shipped platform in the Smartphone Category in North America.  Given the fact there are very low-end products now being produced in regions like China and the rest of the world to house the Android Operating System, the momentum is absolutely incredible.

If they keep going along the same growth trajectory, they will be in a position to ship 1 Billion Android devices/ year by the end of 2011.   As we all have heard the statistic that over 50% of the US market will be occupied by Smart phones at that time, it is not surprising that a variety of low to high end Android devices could absolutely take over the marketplace globally. Where is Nokia in the battle of momentum and explosive growth? Where is Microsoft? Will there be another player to emerge? With NTT DoCoMo and Softbank in Japan embracing Android, it looks as though they have the momentum on thier side with this platform.  What will the world be like with (Free monetized by Adverting ) Google now in a position to enable access of the worlds information,  have all the data and in a unique position to monetize in new forms.

Apple is growing fast, but not as fast as they do not have that same multiplier effect of multiple hardware manufactures on their side.  Is it time for Apple to improve their growth strategy?  How interesting would it be for Apple to combine forces with another major Hardware manufacturer that is known for a different brand vertical and value proposition then Apple in this explosive world domination game.

We all know the fight going on between Flash and Apple over the iPad and iPhone……so it looked like we were going to see HTML5 as a potential  standard cross-platform for mobile and online potentially little faster then normal.  Blackberry 6 has brought WebKit and HTML5 to the world of mobile browsing, and Android keeps pushing the envelope with HTML5 evangelism even though they do have been a strong believer as well in Flash 10.1.

However, yesterdays news that Microsoft will not include HTML5 in IE7,IE8 might not have been the most strategic move even though there was the discussion of HTML5 in IE9.    In my opinion it is not HTML5 vs. Flash, but Developer vs. Platform we are talking about here. Now there is a very strong split between the camps supporting either HLML5 or Flash.    If Microsoft would have made the strong statement right away to move forward with HTML5, at least there would have been one platform for all that would bring mobile and online together in a very eloquent way today.  So Developer, it is just going to take time to get that consistency across all devices…..

In a diagram laid out by Tim OReily back in the end of last year, he showed the possibility of a unique convergence between Native and Browsing in 2010.

Well it looks like it is going to take more time.  Either Apple will come to grips and add Flash Support, or we need to wait on Microsoft to move a bit faster to integrate HTML5 support in existing browser platforms.

All and all, I believe in a couple years time we will see both platforms ubiquitous, so why all the fuss in 2010.  Why not make everything open and available for the web developer community and let them decide what is best.  At least this way we will not have inconsistencies for the end-users….or double to money and effort for developers

Today Multipled Media announced their Gas Price Search Engine as part of their different search engined federated around a unique location based map application.   I saw this product at CTIA in Las Vegas in March and was very tickled on how local-local they have made this.  Is there room to compete against Google Maps or Bing Maps? According to Multiplied Media- Yes.  Create a deeper more relevant intimate user experience that refines more verticalized search engines around maps.  As Google only adds many new features and content at a National and Global level, can they keep up at a local level?   This Calgary based company ( funny that a lot of Oil for North America is also coming from their back yard) is finding a way to innovate at a local level.   As Search products grow organically, Google has looked at a media strategy at the Global => Local level, where as many of  these emerging companies are growing from hyper-local => local => National level.

As they build this local audience and grow, where does this position them with the Mega providers? Acquisition or fragmented marketplace?

*****************************************************

Multiplied Media Announces Addition of Gas Price Search Feature to Poynt Application for iPhone.

The 21st century with ubiquitous internet access has in my mind brought us four main categories of Personal Screen Media ( PSM).  When I think personal, I feel that with the growth of social media and the ability to be always connected to the internet, in many ways all screens will become somewhat personal as when you log-in or connect the interface and experience begins to optimize for that particular user.   They will not only have the ability to communicate and share with their community, but have channels of personal media consumption and privacy.   We may not think of a TV or a Decktop PC  as personal, but when a user may log-in, the experience and layout has morphed for that user.  Multiple people may access that device, but there definitely will be the growth of customized interfaces like we have seen especially in the PC world.  Other devices such as smartphones, ebooks and laptops are even more personal as usually they are occupied by only one user.

I have been thinking a lot these days about the different categories of media. Even though, I might see this different 6 months from now, at this juncture  for me it appears that there are really these basic four main areas of convergence and growth.   Although many people have classified the iPad as a completely new category, it is an entertainment and multimedia device at its core for consuming  mainly ” New Media” .  A lot of the creative input going into applications and content is coming from an entirely new exciting creative perspective.  We are seeing the same thing happening in parallel with Smart Phones….. growing rapidly to millions of Applications, crushing the portable game devices  and becoming your trusted assistant.

With Smart Phones we see this converge  quite rapidly with Navigation devices, portable game consoles, Music devices, etc…. Each category in many ways leads to a variety of deep differentiated categories  as products  simplify or expand with their own unique targets for price point and focus on certain types of media linking to the internet.

1) Personal Computer ( PC);   Laptop, Desktop computer

2) iTelevision; Large Screen TV’s, game consoles, Entertainment Systems

Google TV’s…..

3) Multimedia Computers; Smart Phones and Tablets

* We might say there is another category that is developed off of this as simpler more focused vertical products, such as portable game devices, navigation systems, music players, accessories, and other forms of entertainment devices.  These are the main devices for convergence today as they are growing as our wallet, our time piece, our portable map and our with our  engagement  loyalty programs.

4) eBooks;  Kindles, etc..

…. so when we are thinking of how many devices do you need to carry or have it is clear that with these 4 categories you are in a good position to consume all media.   Old and New, Fixed or Mobile.

I was touched by the crisp and thoughtful strategy presented by Jeff Bezos recently on Charlie Rose ( also covered by Techcrunch) .

Why?…… well the questions that Charlie Rose asked recently on this interview, have been no different from what any New York Times, Techcrunch or other Media have asked recently;  ” How are they going to compete against the tablet hype of the today, i.e. iPad”.  I felt that that really missed the point entirely.  Jeff Bezos did explain this quite well on what is needed for optimized book reading and a device that is focused clearly on that experience.  What he missed in my mind is drilling down into the real genius behind what Amazon has been doing with access, conversion and fufilling a business model for the old media world in a new media era .   Many ask and  compare the product and the category to the iPad, when it is categorically totally different.   It is like comparing a bicycle to a bullet train as if they were competing products?  Well you can bring your bicycle onto a bullet train, like you can get book titles onto an iPad or iPhone, I guess, but the key is in the usage and the experiences are totally different. eBooks are carving a way to bring centuries of literature into readable 21st century form.  Reading hours on end is clearly an area in user experience that must be optimized.   There are those that gravitate to something new ( such as in new media), and those that cherish and gravitate toward something in the past ( centuries of long-form media for reading).   As Jeff Bezos put it,  - You want the hardware to disappear and for the user to experience the book.

Collecting and consuming media on devices is like an antique collector vs. a Ferrari collector, I guess.   In this case, the News Media has been digging at the core of what is special about the creation of  ”New Media” and business models, when we have something incredible powerful going on here.   The eBook trend is now at the tips of our  fingertips to give us  the ability to get  access to all of the past readable media more readily…. like having those wonderful antiques to experience  right by your side.  As Amazon is now 600K titles strong, how long will it take to get to the 10’s of millions.

According to Wikianswers “How many books exist in the World”,  the answer  comes out to be 3.5Billion.  Most of these books are part of the “old media” and they are not “new media”.  Bringing them to live on an electronic device suited for reading can be a very powerful thing. When we think of “New Media” we might compare that to 700Million Websites ( A statistic I recently learned from a colleague at Google). The books of yesterday may have charts, pictures and have color, but fundamentally they are content in long-form  for researching and for sizable reading periods.  During the 1900’s with the growth of other media such as Radio and Television, the old media of books was paralleled by 20th century new media, but the amount of recorded songs or TV programs does not even come close to the number of 3.5Billion books.   For instance, the library of congress has over 18M books, alone.  So bringing this legacy of information, knowledge is like bringing the worlds libraries to not only access immediately, but to consume in the way we have done for centuries….simple book reading.

So the Kindle as the showcase product of the category “eBooks”  is bringing that “old media” into a more efficient way to consume and access.  This was very close to the original vision of Google ( Access to the worlds information)  that has seemed to morph quite significantly with their obsession for “new media and advertising as well”.   As we now see Google chasing the iPhone and iPad with their Android strategy in many ways they have become ” me too” in their strategy of new products evolution in a category that has been called the  ”Multimedia Computer”.  Maybe we will see simplified Google Android devices that will go head-to-head with the Kindle for purposes of reading as the main design priority.  This will be a very interesting addition to Google Books and Google Print, but it has not yet happened.

As Amazon grows with the Kindle, so will the tendency to migrate the mass numbers of literary form into simple eBooks.  It is clearly a unique additional convergence device worth having to take reading to the next level.

( See Next post on the categories of Personal Screen Media)