It is not often that you hear a major news organization use the “word” regret when it comes to discussing their ventures in mobile marketing.
For USA Today this has sadly been the case, there is regret by the organisation over the launch of their IPhone Application.
The IPhone application, has captured the essence of the print edition of USA Today Paper and its supplements. The application allows the user instant access to the paper’s news stream with a host extras ranging from social media elements to GPS based features.
Given the popularity of their IPhone application, USA Today regrets that they made it available as a free download.
USA Today apparently feels that they have a gold mine… without the gold!
The announcement by USA Today may come as a lesson learned to other news carriers aiming for similar success in the mobile realm.
If you are interested in marketing or billing via mobile, no matter what your company or service, in the USA or World Wide then please contact txtNation.
About txtNation
txtNation is an award-winning provider of billing, content and mobile messaging solutions.
Our focus on flexible solutions, intelligently supported, has made us one of the most trusted providers in the business.
Our established connections to the world's mobile network operators, and our ability to source new connections on your behalf, means we help your business at prices that fit every budget.
We have developed strong partnerships with industry to ensure our solutions are saleable, well-connected and secure.
txtNation is an established registered company owned and operated privately in the United Kingdom, with an excellent history of innovation and support for business.
You can find out more about txtNation and the services we offer at www.txtnation.com or by emailing sales@txtnation.com or calling +44 (0)1752273491.
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Thursday, 12 November 2009
SMS Premium Short Codes – Voice Codes
Five-digit SMS Short Codes have proven to be a huge marketing success over the past few years thanks to their memorability and convenience.
Voice Short Codes are compatible with SMS Short Codes, making them the ideal complement to existing SMS services, and an effective marketing vehicle to combine voice and data components of any campaign or application. The same 5-digit short code number can therefore be used for both voice calls and SMS messaging.
The revenue from the charge to customers of Voice Short Code services is shared by mBILL and its customers.
Customers pay for premium rate calls in the normal way; either on their mobile phone bill or out of their pre-paid credit.
End users are able to make a range of differently rated calls to Voice Short Codes from their mobile phone.
Traditional premium rate numbers cannot usually be called from many mobile phones; and are often barred by the mobile networks by default. Even if this bar is lifted, end users can still be restricted on making calls to premium rate numbers. For example (uk), end users on Orange cannot call a premium rate number that charges more than 60p per minute, even after having the premium rate bar lifted.
Mobile phone users can, however, make calls to Voice Short Codes, allowing end users to call voice services that they may otherwise not be able to access if the service was via a premium rate number.
5-digit memorable numbers.
There are obvious advantages to Voice Short Codes. End users only have to call a 5-digit number, which is much more memorable than a standard phone number or premium rate number. Users are more likely to remember the short code and therefore re-use the service.
Cross Enabled Short Codes:
The same 5-digit short code number can be used for both voice services and SMS, MMS and Video call services.
Request more information
Voice Short Codes are compatible with SMS Short Codes, making them the ideal complement to existing SMS services, and an effective marketing vehicle to combine voice and data components of any campaign or application. The same 5-digit short code number can therefore be used for both voice calls and SMS messaging.
The revenue from the charge to customers of Voice Short Code services is shared by mBILL and its customers.
Customers pay for premium rate calls in the normal way; either on their mobile phone bill or out of their pre-paid credit.
End users are able to make a range of differently rated calls to Voice Short Codes from their mobile phone.
Traditional premium rate numbers cannot usually be called from many mobile phones; and are often barred by the mobile networks by default. Even if this bar is lifted, end users can still be restricted on making calls to premium rate numbers. For example (uk), end users on Orange cannot call a premium rate number that charges more than 60p per minute, even after having the premium rate bar lifted.
Mobile phone users can, however, make calls to Voice Short Codes, allowing end users to call voice services that they may otherwise not be able to access if the service was via a premium rate number.
5-digit memorable numbers.
There are obvious advantages to Voice Short Codes. End users only have to call a 5-digit number, which is much more memorable than a standard phone number or premium rate number. Users are more likely to remember the short code and therefore re-use the service.
Cross Enabled Short Codes:
The same 5-digit short code number can be used for both voice services and SMS, MMS and Video call services.
Request more information
Monday, 13 July 2009
Reality TV Driving Premium SMS Revenues
Telephia has published a report which says that USA premium SMS revenues totaled more than US$273 million, making up 32 percent of mobile content revenue in Q1 2007. Download purchases paid for via premium SMS (at off-portal storefronts) totaled nearly US$215 million, accounting for 79 percent of premium SMS revenue. These off-portal storefront purchases include content such as ringtones and horoscopes.
Voting/sweepstakes entries generated more than US$35 million. While voting/sweepstakes entries generated only 13 percent of total revenues for premium SMS transactions, they represented 47 percent of premium SMS volume, equaling more than 34 million transactions.
"Premium text messaging continues to be an additional way to reach consumers directly - off the carrier decks. Premium SMS has grabbed a healthy slice of the mobile content market, accounting for an off-portal share of 32 percent," said Kanishka Agarwal, vice president of mobile media, Telephia. "Moreover, marketers are experimenting beyond the standard rate SMS voting pioneered by American Idol and tapping into premium SMS with voting/sweepstakes campaigns. NBC's Deal or No Deal has translated into a premium SMS hit, generating nearly half of the volume and revenue of voting/sweepstakes entries in the first quarter of 2007."
Voting/sweepstakes entries generated more than US$35 million. While voting/sweepstakes entries generated only 13 percent of total revenues for premium SMS transactions, they represented 47 percent of premium SMS volume, equaling more than 34 million transactions.
"Premium text messaging continues to be an additional way to reach consumers directly - off the carrier decks. Premium SMS has grabbed a healthy slice of the mobile content market, accounting for an off-portal share of 32 percent," said Kanishka Agarwal, vice president of mobile media, Telephia. "Moreover, marketers are experimenting beyond the standard rate SMS voting pioneered by American Idol and tapping into premium SMS with voting/sweepstakes campaigns. NBC's Deal or No Deal has translated into a premium SMS hit, generating nearly half of the volume and revenue of voting/sweepstakes entries in the first quarter of 2007."
Monday, 23 March 2009
The US Takes Top Spot For Mobile Browsing & Payments
The US hasn’t always been known for leading the way when it comes to mobile technology, but when it comes to certain aspects of mobile marketing, the US is leading the way.
The US has surpassed the UK for the number one spot in mobile Web browsing with 29% of the worldwide traffic. Interestingly, the growth in mobile traffic has coincided with a massive growth in mobile users paying for mobile-based content in the US as well.
This correlation is important to mobile advertisers because it signifies the relationship between mobile Web traffic, and the amount of that traffic that’s converting in terms of mobile spending.
Countries that have high mobile Web traffic, such as India and South Africa, don’t always have the corresponding high levels of mobile spending like the US and UK which means the way people interact on the mobile Web differs greatly from region to region.
In the end, these statistics solidify the opportunities for mobile marketers in the US by proving that consumers who use the mobile Web are becoming more comfortable with spending via the mobile Web- which has been a major hurdle since the beginning. People haven’t always been keen on paying for mobile content via their cell phone bills, but as technology and integration with mobile campaigns become more complex and prevalent, the usage numbers should steadily increase as well.
Ref: Mobile Marketing watch.
The US has surpassed the UK for the number one spot in mobile Web browsing with 29% of the worldwide traffic. Interestingly, the growth in mobile traffic has coincided with a massive growth in mobile users paying for mobile-based content in the US as well.
This correlation is important to mobile advertisers because it signifies the relationship between mobile Web traffic, and the amount of that traffic that’s converting in terms of mobile spending.
Countries that have high mobile Web traffic, such as India and South Africa, don’t always have the corresponding high levels of mobile spending like the US and UK which means the way people interact on the mobile Web differs greatly from region to region.
In the end, these statistics solidify the opportunities for mobile marketers in the US by proving that consumers who use the mobile Web are becoming more comfortable with spending via the mobile Web- which has been a major hurdle since the beginning. People haven’t always been keen on paying for mobile content via their cell phone bills, but as technology and integration with mobile campaigns become more complex and prevalent, the usage numbers should steadily increase as well.
Ref: Mobile Marketing watch.
Friday, 30 January 2009
eBay launches SMS alerts service
eBay has launched a service to alert buyers via SMS of events in auctions they are participating in. Text messaging is just one of three new alerts eBay launched, but is the only one available today. Alerts via phone call and IM will launch next month.
Once signed up for text alerts for a given auction, messages are sent when you are out bid or the auction is ending soon. In the case that you're outbid, you can re-bid by replying to the message. The SMS alerts feature costs $.25 per auction for up to 10 alert messages which appears on your wireless bill.
eBay also runs a free WAP site at wap.ebay.com that lets users search and bid on items.
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