Facebook have just made life a little easier for its users! They just released a new mobile app which allows Facebook friends to call each other for free.
The App, which was produced by internet telephony company Vonage, lets users call their Facebook friends using voice over internet protocol (VoIP), providing both parties have the app downloaded. The app will be available on iPhone, Android, and the iPod Touch (for outbound calls only).Vonage Mobile for Facebook is free to download and use and will work across Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G networks.
Later versions will look to include instant messaging, SMS and the ability to make call to mobile numbers directly from the application. An iPad version is also currently being developed.
Although this app does appear to offer Facebook users a very convenient way to contact their friends, it does raise an unavoidable question: how many of your Facebook friends would you feel comfortable being able to call your mobile phone?
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Lonely Plant has made a move to expand its reach within the digital space, with the launch of a series of augmented reality (AR) apps on Google’s Android Market.The company already has a strong hold in the Apple App Store but wants to expand its mobile readership beyond this one domain.
The Lonely Planet Compass Guide apps use AR and the phone’s GPS features to display local attractions in 25 cities, including Bangkok, London and New York.
Matthew Cashmore, innovation and ecosystem manager at Lonely Planet, said the apps, priced at $4.99 (£3.14), are designed to drive premium revenues for the company, and ruled out any third-party ads.
In addition to the release of the AR city apps, they have recently introduced a discover eBooks series, which profiles areas of interest, on Apple’s iBookstore.
Lonely Plant’s expansion into these new digital arenas demonstrates their commitment to developing innovative and exciting products for their consumers, while at the same time developing their online operations.
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Sales of Android phones have risen by more than 300% since the beginning of 2010! With 1 in 10 mobile contracts sold in the UK now running on Google's mobile operating system.
From the beginning of 2010, most of the UK's major mobile operators have started selling a number of Android based mobile devices, running on Google's Linux-based software. The HTC Desire and HTC Legend are among the devices hailed by critics and consumers alike. HTC, the Taiwanese manufacturer of many devices running Android, posted a 41% global sales increase for the first six months of 2010.
"The figures suggest an increasing number of consumers are now asking for Android handsets by name," said GfK analyst Megan Baldock. "Operating systems are no longer simply a by-product but a key selling point in their own right."
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Aiming to increase the success of the Android App Market and reduce the gap with the Apple App Store, Google has released a web-based system which it says needs "NO programming knowledge" to write your own app.
The program, known as App Inventor, is attempting to bring app programming and creation to the masses. The web based application makes the whole process simpler by removing the tedious process of writing code and allow users to drag and drop display elements and use blocs to specify the app’s behavior. The creators said that there are blocks available for just about everything you can do with an Android phone, as well as the more depth function calls.
Google said it had been working on the system for a year and were pitched at those with little knowledge of programming.The programming system was developed with the help of computer scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who created a similar coding system known as Open Blocks.
Obviously Google’s main objective in producing the system is to increase the number of apps in the Android App Market and to add allure of their platform. However it will remain to be seen if App Inventor will lead to thousands of useless basic being developed or genuinely useful apps that will allow Android really challenge Apple as the rulers of the App space.
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Foursquare are moving things to a higher level with the introduction of a new tool called “Location Layers”. Location layers will effectively tag information onto geographical locations.
To give a clearer picture, say you are near a location that was used in a famous film; you would receive an alert giving you information on that location and its connection with the film! The possibilities are endless for the type information that could integrated, such a live news needs, historical facts and more importantly commercial brand information!
The idea that brands can feed consumers information based on their current location sounds very promising, however foursquare would have to try and prevent it from descending into location information overload…
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Nielsen Mobile have released new stats that indicate the adoption of mobile web has reached a critical mass and can now support large scale marketing efforts.
The news comes in the same week as Admob announced that, as far as they're concerned the mobile web has grown 104% over the past 12 months with the US an UK growing substantially faster.
According to Nielsen 15.6% of mobile users regularly access mobile internet from their handsets which equates to some 40 million consumers.
(All in all, 95% million US subscribers access mobile internet, only 40 million do so on a regular basis however)
The UK and Italy followed the US, with 12.9 percent and 11.9 percent respectively, of subscribers going online from a mobile device.
The Nielsen report shows that the top things to do on mobile include - visiting music portals, email access, weather reports, news/politics, search, city maps and sports.
Surprising how search feature far down on the list when key industry voices are maintaining that the evolution of search over mobile will be the single most influencing factor in its growth.
Top 5 handsets used to access internet over mobile, according to Admob, are; Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Apple featuring at no.9 which is impressive considering that the iPhone hasn't been on the market a wet weekend!
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Tags: mobile internet, statistics, admob, nielsen mobile
The Direct marketing association is reporting that new research conducted by them indicates that SMS is by far the most effective direct marketing channel.
A bold statement and it has been proven as 70% in the online survey confirmed that they had responded to a marketing message via mobile vs. 41% had completed surveys and a dissappointing 30% had answered an email offer.
The survey also revealed that a massive 24% of those asked have acted on a mobile offer and the remaining members of the group who had not responded claimed that they had never received a marketing message.
The study also revealed;
- 71% of those who responded to a marketing message over mobile have fixed data plans with lack of interest and cost of airtime cited as the primary reasons for non
response;
- 21% have replied to 3 or more mobile offers per month;
- Teens between 15-17 years old (19 percent) and young adults between 21-30 years old (19 percent) are twice as likely to respond to offers on their mobile devices as
individuals between 18-20 years old (seven percent);
- Top 3 industries where consumers had acted on messages: 44% food/Beverage; 21% Telecoms/mobile; 15 Beauty/personal care
Posted by lisa | Comments (0)
Tags: dma, statistics, mobile marketing, sms marketing
The results of a new study were released this week which claim that mobile devices are becoming the dominant marketer - consumer touchpoint.
The study was commissioned by mobile search and advertising solutions provider Jumptap and carried out by Research and alalysis of Media (RAM).
RAM conducted their research with a sample group of 200 Swedish Telia Surfport users to measure recall, purchase intent and quality on mobile.
When compared with online ads it was found that Jumptap's mobile ads had on average a 20% greater recall rate. Further to this users caid that they would be much more likely to seek further information after seeing a mobile ad - 10% of 16 - 24 year olds and 28% of 45 - 79 year olds.
Women are especially more inclined to follow up with a purchase (15%) upon seeing a mobile ad.
Gartner group predict the worth of mobile advertising to reach €1.7 billion in 2008.
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Tags: mobile internet, statistics, jumptap, ram, research
Results of a new study on mobile internet browsing have found that men outnumber women 9 to 1.
According to Opera Telecom 88% of mobile web surfers worldwide are male. Additionally, the majority of consumers accessing mobile internet via Opera's mini browser application are between the ages of 18 and 27.
This disputes Return2Sender research that clearly shows there are no real gender differences when it comes to mobile use and attitudes. In fact we found that women are more inclined to download ringtones and wallpapers than their male counterparts.
To request a copy of the Return2Sender lansdowne market research please click here
Posted by lisa | Comments (0)
Tags: mobile internet, statistics, oprera telecom, reeturn2sender market research
Yep well it wasn't long before Ryanair cashed in on some mobile action... a premium service that allows you to access live flight information from your phone.
So for €2 Ryanair passengers can call or text Flight Tracker to receive up to date information to their mobile phone on the status of Ryanair flights to or from the UK and Ireland.
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Tags: ryanair, mobile idea