Welcome to our Textopoly Blog! We made this so clients, mobile groupies, and curious passer byers can not only get caught up on mobile news but be enlightened by our thoughts and interests. So take a look around and feel free to share your thoughts as well. And remember, text like no one is watching.
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 Written by KangApple is not accepting anymore mobile ad campaigns and are closing down current ad campaigns through the Quattro Wireless ad network. Back in January, Apple purchased Quattro Wireless for a cool $275 million and it seems like they are already over the ad network after 8 months. With so much money invested into their new mobile ad network, I have to wonder what the reasoning behind Apple closing shop on their new cross platform ad network to focus on the iAd network? This is good news for mobile advertising companies that have clients looking to execute mobile advertising on Android and other non-Apple platforms. There will be more available inventory options for smaller mobile ad players. However it will be impossible to execute a iAd campaign for a medium to smaller brand since the minimum buy is $10 million to execute. So really it’s a double edge sword, Apple has brought the light of understanding to major brands that big mobile media buys will be a norm and happen frequently. The catch is that no one with less than a $10 million for their mobile media budget will be able to run ads on iAds network. Apple has always developed all their products to exist in an Apple eco-system. I think when Apple purchased Quattro, it was a little bit of a shock that they were extending their reach beyond the eco-system of their products. Perhaps Apple felt pressure due to the highly popularized and drawn out Google and Admob acquisition? Or was it an attempt to maintain dominance, they purchased a massive ad network to gain more control over their inventory? One thing is for sure, Apple is casting off the non-Apple inventory and ceasing to run campaigns on Quattro’s network of publishers. So what gives Apple?! I understand that you have $40 Billion in cash alone and $275 million won’t break or make you; but what do you have up your sleeve?
In many states, August means a few things to parents – slow news, end of summer, and most of all, lower utility bills because – THE KIDS ARE BACK IN SCHOOL!!! From elementary school to college, most kids don’t know that parents quietly act as if they are going to work when the kids are off to school. What really happens is that the cash register at BevMo sings in anticipation and all over the nation, parents are partying like it’s 1999. Or maybe just sleeping… Unfortunately, there are repercussions to the glorious start of the school year. It is what most parents dread – filling out continuous, monotonous, and repetitious paperwork – which is further exacerbated if you have multiple children in school. I was recently speaking with some college friends, who are also parents, about the treachery of school forms:
“I abhor signing a form stating that you have read & understand the “handbook” that you have to go online to read. You can check a box if you need a paper copy, but only after you sign & return the form. What?! Streamline your processes! Oh, and all of the forms are due back the next day. ” - Dr. D. Owens I have experienced the same. I understand the need of having a paper copy back up on file of parents acknowledgement, student emergency cards and other pertinent information. However, when the school has to input this date into a database anyway, wouldnt it make sense for this to start on digital? I shouldn’t complain though, as my children’s school district is on the forefront of using mobile & digital. In the past, the school used to send pertinent information and notices home via my 6 year old, and of course, its either lost, made into a paper plane, or crumbled beneath the other stuff in their bag. This year, the school decided to GO GREEN & GO DIGITAL. Now, most of the notices are texted to me, with the dates able to populate my calendar on my phone. Which, of course, is synced to my desktop calendar. Also, an IVRU calls my phone with information if it needs to be longer than 140 characters and is also transcribed to my email with my google phone number. Some of the documents I need to view are online, and if I would like a paper copy, I can request one electronically where I can pick up at the school, saving postage. And believe it not, my children attend public school, not private school. Now this is not a knock on public schools or private schools, but what I believe separates the two is that some private (or charter) schools have to take a “start-up” mentality – looking at new and exciting ways to teach, do business and get parents involved. An LA Times article (http://leep.it/oT) noted that the Los Angeles School District lost $10 Million dollars due to to the inefficiency of its inventory tracking system. I wonder how old was the system? Some public schools could use the intelligence of innovation, but within cost range, because, alas, I dont think “talking benches” (http://leep.it/oU) are an efficient way to spend money, at least tax payer’s money…but I digress… I am not saying that digital and mobile should replace all paper correspondence, however, both allow for flexibility, convenience and cost efficiency. Maybe schools should consider joining the republic of digital…. Yes, you’re still at the Team Textopoly blog where we give you all things digital and mobile. However, in honor of my recent sighting of Rachael Ray, I started to think about the importance of mobile and what we eat. When I am traveling with no access to a farmers market, I usually pick up Fresh Express pre-packaged salads. However, that came to a crashing end when I read this 3 days after my purchase:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm of which gets lost in the mix of other emails. Yes, I know. Now wouldn’t it be great if we could segregate those alerts based upon location, food (for vegetarians, etc), instead of merely date of recall? And this goes for other recalls as well. Many fathers like myself have cringed when finding that a toddler toy has been recalled, after having spent 23 hours assembling it. And if we could get it sent to our mobile? awesomeness…. The purpose of government is to protect (i.e. military) and inform its citizens (thankfully with organizations like the FDA). However, as time moves on and black & white television is replaced with color, and Big Blue Computers are replaced with minicomputers the size of your palm, the government should be on the cutting edge of reaching its citizens with all things digital…and mobile… UPDATE: So, while writing this, I was reminded again of tools the FDA could use as I read about the massive egg recall (http://leep.it/mP) , of which a brand I recently purchased (AND USED) was included, Lucerne. Here is a Rachel Ray-like thought. The grocery stores already know what we buy when we use those reward cards and programs. (and yes, we know you’re collecting data on us) Additionally some, like Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons have your number tied to the reward card. Wouldnt it make sense to be able to automate this recall process with those two pieces of data? SMS? BTW, if Rachael Ray did work here, she’d probably would be doing this:
 Written by Evan
Vitaminwater recently launched their newest campaign staring the genius that is Gary Busey. In the new ads Gary Busey plays Norman Tugwater, Fantasy Sports Attorney. He’s fighting to get monetary compensation from fantasy sports players for the athletes that he represents. The whole thing is pretty funny and quite entertaining, but Busey’s nut-job cheesy TV attorney character takes the cake. The most interesting part of the whole campaign would be the texting component that they have going on – we are a mobile company and into the whole mobile thing. It’s nice to see a campaign with integrated mobile components. By texting in TUG to 70734, users receive a call from Gary Busey followed by an SMS with a link to their mobile site. Once on the mobile site, users can watch the viral video and share it via Facebook and Twitter. It’s a pretty robust campaign, from the Facebook page, videos, billboards, and OOH. We salute you Vitaminwater, welcome to the mobile club!  Written by NaushadThe CTIA is an international nonprofit membership organization that represents the wireless communications industry. Membership in the association includes wireless carriers and their suppliers, as well as providers and manufacturers of wireless data services and products and everyone in between. CTIA organizes 2 wireless trade shows each year that everyone who does anything related to the word “mobile” attends. (If you want mobile antennas, find a Aggregator, see new mobile marketing technology or even need a new fuzzy cover for your blackberry, you attend the show!) Over the years our team members have attended the show (Vegas one always rocks!) and each year, before the the upcoming show we get reminder pamphlets. This year the number of pamphlets for the Fall show just exploded and we thought it was hilarious that the wireless association who advocates the use of wireless would send out so much paper to us! Couldn’t they just send us a text message with a link to a mobile site for me to get info on the show and a way to register! Here are some fun snapshots of the stack we got in the mail last week! Do you wish some of the paper you get in your mailbox would go mobile with an App or mobile site?
 Written by AsifYou want exposure? You want people to know about your brand, your product, or your service; well the answer is in your pocket! Mobile usage across the globe is growing faster and stronger than a 13 year old girl can say Justin Bieber! First, let me hit you with some facts: - According to the International Telecommunications Union, mobile subscribers will surpass 5 billion in 2010, which is over 70% of the global population! The world population in April was 6.8 billion! The ITU says growth is being driven by advanced services and handsets in developed countries and increased take-up of mobile health services and mobile banking in the developing world. - Gartner (March 2010) predicts that by 2011, over 85% of new handsets will be able to access the Mobile Web! - LeBron was never the king, SMS ruled all! According to Portfolio Research (Feb. 2010)
If your brand isn’t capable of reaching more than 2 million people, you’re not using mobile! And if you’re not using mobile, you are definitely not at full potential! Check the facts, call us up, let’s have some lunch, and then drop it like it’s hot. Want to be at full potential? Email me at: asif[at]textopoly[dot]com. – P.S. – I don’t think Miami is going to win the championship this year.  Written by KatieAs most people in the United States know, mobile phones are no longer used simply for calling someone for a piece of quick information or directions from A to B. Mobile phones have become our lifelines. If you’re anything like me, which probably 80% of the people I interact with on a daily basis are, we would be unable to function without the use of our handy (no pun intended) mobile phones with their ever-expanding capabilities. Whether it be the iPhone, Android, or Blackberry, users have become infatuated by the unlimited number of games, messaging applications, and internet use that are available with one touch of a finger. To support my belief that mobile phone users are becoming more and more addicted to the multiple capabilities of a smartphone is a statistic showing that between the months of March and May 2010, smartphone usage has increased by 8.1%. A few statistics that should have companies who want to sell their products salivating;
This is great news for companies who are hoping to expand their products and advertise in the mobile world. With the rise of smartphone usage, and overall web browsing on any mobile phone; companies and agencies are now given the opportunity to reach out to their audiences and give them the information they are seeking through WAP/mobile sites (which in my opinion are brilliant), text messages, and applications. These tactics just make things that much easier for their consumers to devour whatever their hearts desires! If you feel like your brain just hasn’t taken in enough to convince you, feel free to check out the article yourself and let me know your thoughts! http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=131673&nid=116386 Written by NaushadI was happily camping a couple weeks back with some buddies in Pismo. On one of our regular visits to the convenient store I saw a mobile call to action for Powerade! The promotion was to win prizes for their World Cup sweepstakes. The print call to action had cool soccer players in the background playing under dark skies, and the ad was stuck right on the glass door of the Powerade section of the 10 glass door cooler. Placement of the call to action along with the appealing graphic and visibility was phenomenal. Of course I texted in, keyword was PA2010 to short code number 878787. (Personally I would have used keyword that was all letters and not a combination of letters and numbers, but I’m sure they had their reasons.) What would you have replied back with? Why couldn’t there be a multiple choice!? Is this the best execution for a Coke brand? Am I making too much of this and everyday people totally get this? Holla’ back if think I’m off base on saying this is poor user experience. Written by AsifSo, ever since Avatar exploded onscreen with a 3-D extravaganza of color and ‘in your face’ goodness, 3-D movies, TV shows, and even video games have been popping up everywhere! Check out how Disney plans on using this reborn technology! http://leep.it/jy Let’s chat about it! Holla at me at: asif[at]textopoly[dot]com Recently, I was at a Financial Times Conference that focused on the business of luxury goods, examining trading research for my investment fund. One of the more interesting quotes included the following: “Digital connectedness is becoming too much of a burden. Disconnected will become the new luxury” As the resident horologist for Team Textopoly, I began to look into how many luxury watch brands are using mobile wap, app or sms and eschewing Mr. Powers’ analysis. Some of the luxury watch brands use mobile to not only connect, but also inform potential buyers, giving them additional tools to use when they visit their authorized dealer. Venerable watch maker Patek Philippe, with pieces starting from $12,300 up to $1 million, believe in the Powers quote with good reason: “When you buy a Patek Philippe, you need to feel and touch it and you need good advice. Patek Philippe is not only about business but also about passion. If I sell online, I’ll lose that,” said Thierry Stern, chief executive of one of the very few remaining family-owned Swiss watchmakers. Mr. Stern is absolutely correct, as the weight of the watch, the look of the crystal, the feel of the material or metal is important. However, some other brands are not only embracing online, but are looking at mobile apps and waps to engage future potential buyers. Here is a review of some: IWC1 – IWC, a Schaffhausen-based watchmaker known to adorn the wrists of people like John Mayer and designer Tom Ford, offers a mobile application that allows users to envision an IWC on their wrist, as well as detailed collection information. Most importantly, it offers locations where buyers can go and take Mr. Stern’s advice. BELL & ROSS2 - Bell & Ross is another Swiss made piece founded by French watchmakers. Entertainers such as Zach Braff and Bruce Springsteen prefer this brand. B&R’s mobile site & app offers a display of their collection, locations to purchase and a short in-house produced video to show the power of their “instrument” watch. A LANGE & SOHNE – ALS is an older, German brand whose mobile app offers a view of their collection gallery, in addition to messages from the firm. Point of sale and service information is also included on the mobile app. PERRELET – Perrelet originated the self-winding mechanism in 1770 and jumped into the mobile app world in 2009. Their app showcases their turbine model as well as contact information for the company. HUBLOT- Hublot is an iconic brand built upon their Big Bang series and offers a Maradona watch for football fans. This brand has a robust wap site that shows their diverse collection and news. MARVIN – Swiss based Marvin Watch has an iphone and wap enabled site that offers news, brand information, collection and contact information. Marvin takes it further and has a “Community Manager” Jerome Pineau who actively uses social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs like Hodinkee.com) to connect with current and potential buyers. His participation has definitely influenced me to get my hands on the brand. Clearly, there are some luxury brands that understand the importance of having a presence in the digital world and using that presence to introduce new generations to their wares. If that presence begins with mobile (or facebook, or iPad, etc), then Team Textopoly is the one you should call. PS Here is something interesting, too. Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin3 recently announced plans and a website (http://www.uncells.com/) for the worlds first hybrid luxury watch and cell phone (“The Chairman”) running on the Google Android. Similar to how a mechanical watch is powered by kinetic energy, The Chairman’s battery will be backed up by the mechanical rotor inside the phone. Eat your heart out iPhone and Vertu! *For the record, I am a hardcore Paneristi, but my collection includes Big Pilot1, a BR01-922 and a Maxi Marine3 |
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