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WiFi usage growing rapidly in US and UK

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AdMob is highlighting the growing WiFi usage in the US and the UK in its November 2008 Mobile Metrics Report. Worldwide iPhone requests grew 52 percent month over month to 359 million in November, giving the iPhone 6.3 percent of total requests. In the US the iPhone is now the top device with 9.9 percent of requests.

The iPhone has by far the most WiFi usage, with 42 percent of requests coming in over WiFi instead of a mobile operator network. The inclusion of WiFi on popular new smartphones such as the G1 and BlackBerry Bold indicates WiFi usage will continue to grow in the coming months. WiFi only devices such as the iPod Touch and Sony PlayStation Portable also generated significant traffic. [Read more…]

Originally posted on December 23, 2008 @ 12:11 pm

AmericanTowns, Cell Phones for Soldiers to help troops overseas stay connected to families and friends

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AmericanTowns.com and Cell Phones For Soldiers, a charity that recycles used cell phones for pre-paid calling cards, announced a promotional partnership to increase the collection of used cell phones and community drop-off locations across the nation.

Under terms of the alliance agreement, AmericanTowns will provide local residents with details on how and where to donate their used cell phones to the Cell Phones For Soldiers program, and will provide instructions on how to establish new drop off locations, as well as its free “one click” publicity tool to help communities increase consumer participation in the program. Cell Phones For Soldiers will promote AmericanTowns in its publicity initiatives and online promotions to encourage consumers to visit or establish Cell Phones For Soldiers collection centers in their communities.

Cell Phones For Soldiers is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that recycles used cell phones for cash and uses proceeds to buy pre-paid calling cards for US troops deployed away from home. It’s mission is to help American soldiers overseas call home and encourage other Americans to help make this possible. Used cell phones are donated around the nation through a network of over 3,000 collection sites and then sent to ReCellular, which then pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each phone collected. To date, the program has raised more than $1 million in donations and has distributed more than 400,000 prepaid calling cards to our troops overseas.

Originally posted on December 19, 2008 @ 7:16 pm

Mobile social network itsmy.com supports US auto industry with 100 million free ads

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Mobile social network itsmy.com announced its support to the US automotive industry with 100 million free of cost mobile web page impressions for brand advertising with banners. The social campaign will be displayed between January and March 2009 in mobile Internet for customers of all carriers in the US.

A social survey conducted with more than 1,000 respondents within itsmy.com in December 2008 has shown that 81% would love to support the automotive industry which is so heavily affected by the financial crisis.
 
On the other hand, carmakers have been amongst the best mobile advertisers at itsmy.com in the past. Therefore the itsmy.com Management decided to support the industry by giving away 100 Million mobile page impressions for a symbolic total payment of 1$.
 
All the car manufacturers marketing units or the lead media agencies have to do is to contact the itsmy.com team via email: [email protected], send the mobile creatives and fill out the PO for 1$. The inventory offered will be split among all applicants.
 

Originally posted on December 17, 2008 @ 12:55 pm

go2 launches music portal with Zvents

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Mobile company go2 Media has teamed up with Zvents to create go2 Music, the industry’s first complete mobile music portal with national coverage and local concert recommendations.

Mobile users visiting m.go2.com can set their location and click Music to browse new music reviews, news, venues and local concert picks or to search for known local shows and venues, all for free.

go2 has partnered with Zvents to bring its local event content to go2 users in a manner optimized for mobile devices. go2’s mobile publishing platform blends Zvents’ sourced events and go2 local recommendations with services like maps, directions and local search to deliver a complete mobile site for discovering and connecting with local music.

Originally posted on December 15, 2008 @ 12:24 pm

Consumers to become less passive with mobile social networks

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Consumers using mobile social networks today are mainly checking messages, status updates and comments of friends rather than posting photos or comments themselves, according to a recent study by ABI Research.

However, this pattern is changing as more consumers have access to better-equipped phones and social network applications that allow for easy uploading and communication.

Today more than half of those who use a social network on their PC do so on a daily basis, while only approximately 17% of those accessing a mobile social network do so as frequently. This disparity in usage between online and mobile social networks will shrink over time as consumers become more accustomed to using their mobile phone as one of the primary means of keeping in touch with their networks of friends and associates.

The data in this report are derived from two separate surveys conducted by ABI Research. The first, conducted in March 2008, was a sample of just over 1,000 mobile subscribers in the United States. The second, conducted in July 2008, was a sample of just over 500 mobile subscribers that were users of online social networks.

Originally posted on December 9, 2008 @ 11:21 pm