It is everywhere… advertising, and escaping ads and marketing campaigns might just get a little harder. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Because, while Google may not have invented online advertising, its efforts certainly brought ads to sites that wouldn’t have otherwise been able to sell any sort of banner ads or generate other forms of revenue.

Now the mobile Web may begin to look a lot like the old Web. Google has announced the availability of AdSense for Mobile, a program that contextually targets ads to mobile Web site content. And there is money for those who serve up the ads too. The service allows ad partners to earn revenue from their mobile sites by placing the ads. AdSense for Mobile will be available to mobile Web site publishers in 13 countries including the United States, England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Russia, The Netherlands, Australia, India, China and Japan.

How successful this will be, still remains to be seen. For one thing mobile Web users don’t just tend surf the way that users do on a PC. Mobile Web users look for very specific content, so the ads will need to be even more compelling to get users to click-thru. But for developing nations where PC penetration is small the mobile Web could be very enticing. This could be a whole new game for Goggle.

Google Adsense

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced today that the iPhone will be available to British customers on November 9 of this year. The O2 network has the exclusive carrier rights to the iPhone brand in the British Isles. As MobileCrunch reported last month, Apple to Share Operators Revenue, it is believed that other European carriers are working on exclusive licensing agreements for the iPhone brand. Apple is requiring the European carriers to pay Apple 10% of all revenues generated from iPhone data functions. Steve Jobs said that in the next quarter Apple will launch the iPhone in some more European markets.

The British 8-gigabyte iPhone will initially sell for 269 pounds ($536). Customers will have to sign an 18 month contract with O2. It wasn’t that long ago when Apple reduced the U.S. price of the iPhone from $599 to $399 a few weeks after its launch. It will be interesting to see if Europeans wait a couple of months before buying iPhones in the hope of a lowered price, or if people are willing to pay top euro to get their hands on the device before anyone else in the neighborhood.

Apple
O2

The last concert I went to was a Black Sabbath reunion at Oz Fest. When Sabbath came on stage lighters flickered in the night and the air was filled with the aroma of oregano incense. The crowd swayed to the music and sang along with the lyrics. Bras flew onstage and television cameras captured the perky woman bouncing on their boy friend’s shoulders. No one there could afford a mobile phone because the crowd had heavily invested in tattoos and leather. Now this old school bacchanalia may be replaced by instant text messaging artists during a concert.

Pocketfuzz announced today the launch of a free new service that allows fans to send instant messages to performers during a concert. This new text-to-screen visualization system brings real time text and picture messaging capabilities that, until now, were only available to the largest acts in the world. At concerts, fans can communicate with their favorite artists, and with each other, using their mobile phones. These messages can be projected onstage or anywhere else in the concert venue.

Pocketfuzz’s new service was demonstrated at the Denver Post Underground Music Showcase in August, and was considered a hit with audience members, artists, record labels and promoters. It engaged hundreds of concertgoers, giving them a chance to interact with each other and provide the artists an easy to maintain archive of show highlights driven on user generated content.

One of the participating record labels, Morning After Records, was
particularly pleased with the service. “We were proud to be the
official beta-tester for PocketFuzz’s Visualizer,” remarked Dan
Rutherford, owner of Morning After Records. “The crowd response was
great and it allowed us to see how the show was received by fans. We
are excited to use this technology at all of our future events.”

A good concert has some level of audience participation, which varies with the type of music being performed. Most Italian Operas don’t have audience members flinging their underwear on stage for the fat lady to sniff. So some concerts may be able to utilize Pocketfuzz to enhance audience participation. But I see this type of service as more of a distraction, not an attraction, to concert going. It’s supposed to be about the music, every thing else should be on the periphery. If I’m busy sending text and pictures to Ozzy, I’ll probably miss that communal experience that a good concert provides.

Pocketfuzz

T-Mobile announced today that it will pay cash and assume the debt of SunCom Wireless, a company that T-Mobile is using as a roaming partner. The merger will cost T-Mobile $2.4 billion in cash and assumed debt. Under the agreement, sanctioned by both boards, SunCom shareholders will receive $27 per share. This purchase price represents 22.7% over the closing price of SunCom common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, September 14. Large shareholders like Highland Capital Management and Pardus Capital Management, who together own over 50% of SunCom’s issued common stock, have committed to vote in favor of the buyout.

SunCom has market share in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. SunCom operates a GSM/GPRS/EDGE network and has provided roaming service to T-Mobile in these markets since 2004. T-Mobile expects this acquisition to expand its U.S. nationwide coverage (excluding roaming) from 244 million potential customers to 259 million. T-Mobile also expects to realize synergies with a net present value of approximately $1 billion through reduced roaming and operating expenses. T-Mobile also hopes for growth in the newly acquired market areas.

Robert Dotson, president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile USA, said, “The strategic fit of the SunCom operations will make this a near-perfect acquisition. It will round out our domestic footprint, allowing us to serve 98 of the top 100 markets, and will significantly benefit our financial position by reducing roaming expense. Furthermore, it will add a talented group of employees that will enable us to serve more than one million new SunCom customers with industry-leading national products and services available under the T-Mobile brand.”

As mobile phone service starts to reach the saturation point in developed markets, it is only natural that companies will continue to merge as the competition for market share becomes more difficult. Cost cutting moves, like T-Mobile’s buying of a roaming partner, will make bottom lines blacker and services sleeker for customers. The downsides to such movers are a loss of jobs and the potential for less competition as fewer mobile phone providers control the airways and infrastructure that keeps us connected on-the-go.

T-Mobile
SunCom

Juniper Research, a company that assesses the current and future status of mobile user-generated content, predicts that revenue from mobile dating and chat room services are expected to surpass $1 billion worldwide by 2010. As the world population increases, it looks as though people are being choosier with whom they date. Mobile phones are a perfect platform for dating services. If a match is looking good, a call is only a few keys away.

Around 40 million people use mobile and chat room dating services in 2007. This number is expected to increase to 260 million by 2012. Much of this future increase is predicted to come from emerging markets, like that of India. 60 million sub-continent daters are expected to look for hook-ups by 2012.

Those of us without a match are willing to pay a mobility premium for services such as Match.com and Webdate. The human drive to find a companion will fuel the future of mobile dating. While it may be hard to break into the online dating service business, new companies that create cross-platform services may find a lucrative niche.

There are limits to how much someone is willing to pay for mobile dating services. The Juniper Report warns that excessive and confusing data pricing, especially pricing attached to prepaid customers, continue to act as a disincentive for regular usage and more widespread adoption. Mobile phone dating services aren’t the only way to find that perfect match. Mom may know somebody who is available, no fees required.

In the year 2007, Japan and India are the largest mobile dating markets. It is predicted that India will increase even more as mobile phones become more available to people. In this market people aren’t just looking for a date, but are looking for marriage. If mobile dating in India leads to matrimony such services are sure to explode in popularity.

It is difficult to predict how mobile dating services will fare in developed places like Europe and North America, with China quickly becoming a more mobile place. But as long as people continue to search for soul mates, mobile dating services will remain a good resource in the quest.

Juniper Report

As a frequent business traveler – actually a little less frequent these days – flying is seldom fun. I’m not the kind who likes to make small talk with the passengers around me, and watching the in-flight movie on a lousy six-inch 4×3 screen is not my idea of entertainment. And listening to other passengers talk turns even a short flight into an epic journey to the most inner circle of hell. Therefore I have mixed feelings about the idea of in-flight use of mobile phones.

On the one hand I could catch up on calls, and gab it up with friends to make the time pass. Of course I’d hate to have to ever be seated next to a guy like me! But the newly announced deal between Virgin America and AirCell sounds interesting. This will allow guests onboard Virgin America’s newest airline to access the Internet through their Wi-Fi enabled devices, including gaming devices, laptops PDAs and Smartphones; or through the Red In-flight Entertainment system in every seat. Considering that I was told to turn off my Treo on a recent flight, even though the phone functionality was already off, this is enough to make me jump from my normal carriers.

OK, so you can’t make calls – which is actually a good thing – but you can check and send Web e-mail through Red’s TALK, and use popular instant messaging services such as MSN, Google talk, Yahoo!, Skype and AIM/

“We believe that broadband connectivity on our planes will help enhance the inflight experience for our guests,” said Charles Ogilvie, Virgin America’s Director of Inflight Entertainment & Partnerships. “Whether it’s IMing with your friends, updating your blog, getting a stock quote, sending photos from your trip to friends, watching a movie or sending a work email, we plan to make it all available on a Virgin America plane.”

This service will be up and running next year on select Virgin American flights. Let’s see what the other carriers have to say about this feature.

Virgin America
AirCell

Meez, an avatar (which literally means a descent of a Hindu god in visible form) service and Vringo, a company which specializes in video ringtone sharing, announced today an alliance to fully integrate Meez 3D avatars into Vringo’s video ringtone service. The gods are pleased; though appear much smaller than in stories past.

Nearly 3 million people around the world have created their own unique Meez avatars from over 4,500 digital choices. Virtual clothing, accessories, hairstyles, tattoos, physical attributes and 3D animations allow a customer to create an avatar even Vishnu would be proud of.

With the help of Vringo, mobile phone users can load their 3D Meez avatars onto their mobile handsets. And it’s free. Free is always an attention getter. When a call is made, the animated avatar appears on the receiver’s phone screen as a Vringo, the name given to a video ringtone from Vringo. Every time a person updates his or her avatar with Meez, the Vringo will automatically be updated. Users can also personalize their handsets with avatar wallpaper.

“Vringo’s video ringtone technology helps fulfill the long-awaited promise of avatars in the mobile world,” said Sean Ryan, Meez CEO. “Meez avatars make great wallpaper, but what our users really want is the ability to share their animated avatars with friends. Now they’ll be able to put their Meez on display whenever they make a call.”

The partnership between Meez and Vringo allow users to easily deploy their avatars on a variety of mobile phones, including those made by Nokia, Motorola, SonyEricsson and Samsung. Now Meez avatars that users post as digital IDs on their favorite social media Web sites and instant messenger services can be shared on yet another screen, the mobile phone screen. Gods and goddesses around the Universe are pleased.

“When we developed Vringo, we knew there was extensive graphic content on the Internet that wasn’t being utilized to its fullest extent,” said Vringo CEO Jon Medved. “By taking Meez avatars and blending them with Vringo, we’re able to deliver additional value and widen the audience.”

Meez
Vringo

Each week MobileCrunchArcade compiles the biggest news from the world of mobile gaming.

This Week’s Headlines:
Gameloft Dealt In; Greystripe Allows Gamers to Get Hands-On Titles; Pandemonium at Eidos; I-play Plays It Casual, Glu Sticks To Inc 5000

(more…)

The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) last night adopted a Report and Order (Order) which clarifies that wireless carriers must meet the Enhanced 911 (E911), Phase II location accuracy requirements at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) service-area level. To accomplish this, the Order requires carriers to meet interim, annual benchmarks over the next five years in order to ensure that they achieve PSAP-level compliance no later than September 11, 2012.

The Commission’s adoption of this Order further ensures that E911 service meets the needs of public safety and the American people. The primary objective of today’s Order is to advance policies, rules and initiatives that support the efficient and reliable transmission of meaningful automatic location information from wireless 911 callers to PSAPs to better ensure rapid emergency response and save lives. And the Commission’s action has received widespread support from the public safety community.

To ensure that carriers are making progress toward compliance with the location accuracy requirements at the PSAP level, the Commission has established a series of interim requirements. These annual benchmarks include interim progress reports, as well as requirements to measure the Commission’s accuracy requirements on progressively smaller geographic levels until the PSAP-level is met. This includes:

• Fulfilling the Commission’s location accuracy requirements within each Economic Area in which a carrier operates by September 11, 2008;
• Satisfying the location accuracy requirements within each Metropolitan Statistical Area and Rural Service Area that the carrier serves; and demonstrating significant progress toward compliance at the PSAP-level, including achieving this requirement within at least 75 percent of the PSAPs the carrier serves, by September 11, 2010; and
• Achieving full compliance with the PSAP-level location accuracy requirements by September 11, 2012.

As part of their efforts to achieve compliance with the interim benchmarks, wireless carriers must account for only those PSAPs in their service areas that are capable of receiving E911, Phase II location data.

The Wireless Association President and CEO Steve Largent responded this morning with the following statement:

“The wireless industry is proud of its comprehensive efforts to bring Enhanced 911 service to American consumers. To date, billions of dollars have been invested so that consumers can wirelessly contact public safety in their time of need. America is safer for it.

“CTIA – The Wireless Association® and the wireless industry are committed to improving location accuracy. Today’s action by the Commission will hamper that important effort.

“In addition to today’s item being procedurally flawed, I am concerned that the Commission’s action may lead to unrealistic – and potentially harmful - consumer expectations. I had hoped the Commission would move forward in a collaborative effort involving experts from industry, public safety, and government. I am sorry to see that is not the case.”

Wireless Association
FCC

The famous, and seldom attributed quote “I don’t know art, but I know what I like” probably holds true for most of us. I run into very few professional art critics in my daily grind, but everyone and their brother will tell me why opinion on art is wrong. But in fairness I’m more likely to head to the Arms and Armor Gallery at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art than just about anyplace else. And I’ve never been to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, because it sounded a tad… boring.

But today I found out what I was missing. I didn’t visit the museum or even their Web site, but rather heard about the launch of the MFA Mobile program, which is the first of its kind in the United States. It was developed by communications agency Hill Holliday and allows users to wirelessly download museum masterpieces to their mobile handsets. Want a Claude Monet water lily or Egyptian sculpture in the palm of your hands, now you can get it!

“We’re thrilled to be the first museum in the country to initiate a Mobile Wallpaper program, enabling users to carry a Museum masterpiece with them, wherever they go” said Kim French, Deputy Director of Communications at the MFA. “The MFA continues to explore opportunities to broaden the distribution of its encyclopedic collection of art through new technologies.”

A single wallpaper is priced at $1.99, while users may also choose an MFA Mobile subscription for $4.99 a month, which includes up to five wallpapers a month, plus the option to choose a bonus special wallpaper of the month.

OK, so some art fans may find this sharing of significant works or art to be just another way of diminishing their importance, but it is actually allowing people who might otherwise not visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston appreciate these pieces. And if it puts a smile on someone’s face then the art is truly doing what it was intended to do in the first place.

MFA Mobile
MFA Mobile WAP