Gasta.com tech news: Virtual coupons for mobile savings

By Bob Bentz president of Advanced Telecom Services.


Mobile coupon growth
The mobile phone is quickly becoming the go-to medium for couponing. As mobile advertising struggles to gain acceptance, it is chipping away at the 300 billion paper coupons issued every year in the U.S.

A recent study by Scarborough Research found that virtual coupons sent via text message are making strides and are a significant force to be reckoned with. Coupon distribution in the U.S. is still dominated by the old-fashioned insert in the Sunday newspapers, with 51 percent of us still obtaining our coupons there.

Here's a breakdown of what percentage of U.S. consumers get their coupons from each medium, according to Scarborough Research:

* Sunday newspaper: 51 percent
* In store: 35 percent
* Direct mail: 31 percent
* Loyalty programs: 21 percent
* Circulars: 20 percent
* Weekday newspaper: 17 percent
* Product packaging: 16 percent
* Magazines: 15 percent
* Email/text messages: 8 percent
* Websites: 7 percent

Advertisers are always seeking the young and affluent, and mobile coupons pinpoint this market, which is usually full of early adopters. College graduates are 51 percent more likely to get their coupons from their mobile phone. Not surprisingly, mobile coupon users also tend to be young adults, with those 18 to 24 years old being 14 percent more likely to take advantage of them. Mobile coupon users are also decidedly female. And according to a study by Juniper Research, mobile coupons are expected to grow by 30 percent in the next two years.

Getting started with mobile coupons
The best markets to test mobile coupons are those with young populations. Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., are the best big city test markets, while college towns, like Blacksburg, Va., also make great test areas. Providence, R.I., leads the way in mobile penetration, with 12 percent of its residents using mobile or email coupons

Some mobile marketing sites, such as 84444.com, also allow for each mobile coupon to have a unique tracking code associated with it. With the code, advertisers can determine which customers redeemed the mobile coupons.

Big brands, including Subway, have embraced mobile coupons because the brands can reach their target audiences when those audiences are most likely to buy. Subway sends text messages to its opt-in database just before lunch time, when workers are deciding where to go for lunch. If they receive a mobile coupon, the decision is almost made for them.

Most mobile coupons start out with the brand creating a database of opt-in users. At Subway, for example, posters are hung near the line at the restaurants. When a customer is waiting in line, the only medium at his disposal is his cellphone. By sending a text message to a short code (for example, texting DIETCOKE to 84444), he can immediately receive a text message that either enters him in a sweepstakes or provides a discount coupon.

This is where the fun starts for brands. Once a brand has an opt-in database and an existing relationship with a consumer, it can send text messages to that consumer in the future.

A consumer may opt-out of any mobile marketing campaign simply by replying "stop" to the text message received. According to Anthony Wayne of the Text Message Blog, the opt-out rate for mobile coupons is only 3 percent.

"There's a fine line between sending enough and sending too often," Wayne said. "If you overdo it, and don't send anything of value, consumers will tire of your messages and opt-out more often."

Coupons go green
With more and more companies going green, mobile coupons fit the bill. Most of your mobile coupons won't end up in the landfill, but will ultimately be erased by the consumer's cellphone.

And, that's good for all of us, whether we are coupon users or not.

Mobile Search Ovum on Gasta.com

OVUM PRESS RELEASE

Melbourne, 7th October 2009. With a growing appetite for mobile applications, services, and content, consumers and business users will be looking to mobile search to streamline their information/content access and retrieval.

“Unfortunately, there is little ‘joy of use’ in the current mobile search user experience”, said Sarah Burnett, Ovum Senior Analyst, based in London. With a growing appetite for mobile content, consumers and business users will be looking to mobile search for information or content access and retrieval. Given the rapid evolution of mobile devices and networks in recent years, they would be justified in thinking that mobile search would provide slick interfaces and accurate results. But in most cases they would be disappointed. While search on the Internet has revolutionised how we access information, the same is not true of mobile search. This is still in its infancy, and the typical user experience leaves much to be desired.

Burnett said, “Vendors and content providers have to recognise that people interact with their mobile phones in very different ways than they do their PCs. The interaction is dictated by the tiny screen, typically awkward keypad and limited on-screen navigation. Given these constraints, navigating a long list of search results is hardly user-friendly”.

“Mobile search should deliver answers, not links”, advised Mark Blowers, Ovum Principal Analyst. There is more to mobile search than just browsing. In mobile devices there is an increased need for accuracy, relevancy and contextual results. This is not to say that PC users do not require the same, but on a PC it is much easier to create an advanced search query that improves the probability of getting the right answer. The need for a simple and easy user interface and user-friendly results is amplified in a mobile device. Already, mobile search tools such as Taptu only list sites that are optimised for mobile viewing. As more people switch to mobiles for web access, site sponsors will see their hits decline unless they provide better mobile support.

Google and Yahoo have begun to offer location-tailored results. Given their Internet search presence, it is not surprising that they are two of the leading players in the mobile search market – helped by alliances with mobile service providers that place them as preferred search solutions on web-enabled handsets. Their solutions are optimised for mobile use and, to facilitate speed of delivery, URL and search suggestions appear as you type. Another vendor, Apple, provides a good example of how successful location-based search applications can be – there are many offerings within Apple’s App Store that use the handset’s location to provide details of local facilities (such as restaurants) and other tailored information.

“The giants of PC-based search will be difficult to topple. Small technology companies will continue to create niche mobile search applications, but brand recognition and deep research & development pockets make existing market leaders obvious favourites in the race for mobile search queries and, ultimately, the associated advertising revenues”, concluded Blowers.

- ends-

Gasta.com: Support New Irish Band BabyJenx Growing

Gasta.com are supporting two new bands from Ireland that are tipped for the top, venues and musicheads have been going mad on Myspace and Facebook to download the latest singles from Babyjenx, and The Beat Poets, to get information about these fantastic new and emerging talents, you can find links to both bands on Gasta.tv


About Baby Jenx
BABY JENX

"So beautiful, so intoxicating, so heavenly . . . Gary Reddy's voice reaches soaring glorious falsettos with an ease that would make Thom Yorke envious" – Musician.ie

THE BAND: Gary Reddy – guitar/vocals; Ewen Ferguson Denny - keyboards; Mick Reddy – bass; Graham Carey – drums

THE PAST: Named after a character in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, Baby Jenx have been together since the summer of 2005. Influenced by the big stadium sounds of U2, Radiohead and Muse, but with their own musical aesthetic firmly to the fore, they played their debut gig in legendary Dublin venue Mother Redcaps later that same year.
“Thrilling and epic, two words to describe the performance on the night… with melodic grooves and superb vocals on board, this is one act you need to get out and see” - Musicreveiw.com

Over the following months, Baby Jenx honed their live skills with a multitude of gigs. Their sparkling shows at the Irish IMRO showcase, Boston's NEMO Music Festival and Castlepalooza earned them rave reviews.
"... singer Gary Reddy is a natural performer and exceptional singer" – IMRO magazine

They recorded their first demo with producer Declan Lonergan in Bluebird Studios in Co. Kildare. This demo received extensive radio airplay, and was immediately chosen as Hot Press magazine's 'Demo of the Fortnight' by none other than Jackie Hayden (the former CBS boss, known for giving U2 their first record deal).
"The real gem is 'So Long', which opens around a slow staccato piano before it builds with sensitivity and pathos to a real ear-opener" – Jackie Hayden - Hot Press

THE FUTURE: Baby Jenx are currently in studio recording their debut album proper. Entitled “Trial By Fire” it will be released early 2009.

"… the band of this year to hit the music scene, with melodic, streaming vocals and uplifting sounds … you must catch a live gig from these guys, you are missing something special" – Hotpress.com

Gasta News: Music goes portable again.

In a week that will see heavy coverage of MySpace Music when it launches, SanDisk (NSDQ: SNDK) has announced an ambitious venture to sell its microSD memory cards pre-loaded with DRM-fr*ee MP3 music from all the four majors EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. The service, dubbed “slotMusic”, will launch this coming holiday season in U.S., at Best Buy and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), among others, and then will be launched in Europe, though no specific timeline was given.

The MicroSD format, a SanDisk invention, is used mainly in mobile phones, and also in some MP3 players. When slotMusic goes on dale, these cards will be packaged with a tiny USB sleeve so that they can be compatible with various PCs and laptops, and any other device with a USB connector, including say an in-car sound system. The MP3-based music tracks will be played back at up to 320 kbps, the company said. With 1GB of capacity, slotMusic cards can hold songs, as well as liner notes, album art, videos, and other content that an artist/labels may choose.

There have been previous attempts by SanDisk and others to sell music and content cards through retails, though with limited success.

SanDisk is also in the midst of a takeover attempt by Samsung, which made its $5.85 billion public bid for the company last week, but the company rejected it as too low.

Gasta Branding: Organic Search listings

Purchasing your keywords in InstantAds or SearchMatch on the Gasta and Europasearch network will significantly increase you web presence for the minimum price.

Google has unveiled its first major piece of research to prove search can have a big impact on a company brand . The move could help to drive significantly more brand budget online. The findings, from a pan-European research project commissioned by the search giant, showed coming top of organic listings raised purchase consideration of a brand 4%. It also found exposure to a listing in the top paid position, with no organic listing on the page, increased purchase consideration 20%. The new and (to the tech savvy generation) most important factor in branding your company is to get into search listings and Gasta.com is a really simple and inexpensive way of doing that.

Gasta Tech News: Mobile TV

Mobile TV is not that far away, Gasta.com has been looking at the leading companies that are ready to offer the middlepath software to enable mobile devices to become Mini television recievers.

Mobile TV services are based on two different technologies: the incumbent 3G-based services and the now emerging DVB-H-based services. Axel Technologies' solutions enable mobile TV services based on both technologies. The company's flagship product, Salmonstream Mobile, enables the implementation of full digital mobile TV service based on DVB-H. In addition to comprehensive middleware products, the company develops user interface software that supports several digital television standards.

Gasta Tech News: Mobile Email for the Masses

Mobile Email for the Masses

Until recently, mobile email use has been limited to business users who can afford to buy an expensive smartphone and are willing to accept a costly data plan. But there have been strong signs over the course of 2007 that the age of mobile email for the masses is upon us. The combination of the adoption of industry standards enabling push email on mass market feature phones and affordable service plans is set to make mobile email for the mass market a reality. Evidence of this shift is seen in particular in emerging markets, where fixed-line infrastructure is limited and PC penetration is low, whilst mobile phone penetration is soaring.

The mobile operators in emerging markets now have the opportunity to make the mobile phone the primary method of accessing the internet, with mobile email probably being the most popular application for both business users and consumers. As a result, I can see mobile email consumption in the emerging markets of Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe leapfrogging the 'developed world' in Western Europe and the U.S., which will mostly remain limited to high-end business user email.

However, to make this happen, it is important to use middleware that can support the majority of the mobile phones that are already out there in those markets. Communication only works if it can be sent and received; so, by using standards such as IMAP (LEMONADE), SyncML, and email-to-SMS conversion, we will see email and synchronization services extended to every single mobile phone on the planet.

While we are all drawn to sexy new devices such as the Apple iPhone, the fact is that smartphones represent only a tiny portion of the addressable market. The vast majority of phones in use today (and in the foreseeable future) are mass market feature phones. Therefore, it is essential for service providers to offer push email and synchronization solutions that work well on the phones that are already in users' hands today. In 2008, the time is right for mobile data pricing plans to fall and, as customer numbers increase, we will start to see mobile email becoming the next generation SMS.

*Source: Visiongain Mobile Email Market Report