The Age Of Micro Mobile Banners

So the question of the day is have you ever clicked on a banner on your cell phone? The industry is all a buzz that we MUST start buying up this 'much needed real estate' for our clients. While I don't necessarily disagree right now, it seems that the banners are more brand placement (ergo amping up brand equity) than actual click-through (CTR).

Click here and take a quick poll for me here regarding this topic.

The bigger conversation here is that we're all doing our best to figure out if we marketing our audience in the right way or are we simply thinking of it (the mobile platform) as a mini version of the web? We are doing better creating mobile enable content which is essential to this nano-attention demo. But is it enough? Are we looking at the tool through the lens of the mobile-minded user? Only time will tell if we are doing it right but I can tell you that mobile users are going to expect more than ads and tiny sales page.

The future of the mobile web advertiser:

• Make it fast
• Make it fun; educational; shocking or addictive
• Give me something for my time (people think of their cell phone even a closer tie to them than their laptop or desktop units)
• Have it link to a supporting mobile OS run application
  • The app better do something more than push your marketing message
  • The app better not make me feel like my time has been wasted
  • The app better have a reason to use it, again and again or it'll be deleted in a second
  • The app needs to feel like a part of the brand "fabric" – if your Harley Davidson it better be hard core and irreverent; if your Acura it better be sleek and techie-proof – dig it.
• Make getting the app feel seamless
• Keep your content fresh and topical; version control, version control, version control!
• Support your brand with a nod to the related industry (exclusivity is becoming seen as uneducated) and remind the user why this brand, product and or service is better than all the rest.

The Buzz On "Google Buzz"

While the world is still doing the best to figure out just what buzz.google.com actually does, we do know the following:

• It works with gmail (Google's free email service)
• It allows you to post your emails and it's contents a recipient, group of recipients or the general public
• It allows you to tag in content into your messaging fromt the web
• Pushes YouTube video and flickr respectively as it's delivery medium of choice (IMHO, the best at least today)
• Comments to posts are then sent to your inbox, much like email replies
• Social integration with Twitter, Picasa and more
• Google buzz makes recommendations on content popularity and I'm assuming profiling criteria based on what it finds in your gmail account and posts

Smart phone integration:

Related Mashable.com articles on Google buzz:

• Google Buzz: What It Means for Twitter and Facebook
• What Google Buzz Means for Mobile
• Google Buzz: Competitors and Experts React
• Google Buzz: Will You Use It?
• The Location Implications of Google Buzz

The Demi-Phone Attacks With First Blood

No surprise here but Google's new phone the Nexus One has made a cooperative with Adode to run flash. While this is not a death-blow to the iPhone it's probably the catalyst they were waiting for to make the deal actually happen.

So riddle me this. Years, ago in 2008 Apple releases the SDK to the developmental masses to sink their teeth into and get the 'App Revo' started.

"On October 17, 2007, in an open letter posted to Apple's "Hot News" weblog, Steve Jobs announced that a software development kit (SDK) would be made available to third-party developers in February 2008.The SDK was released on March 6, 2008, and allows developers to make applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as test them in an "iPhone simulator". However, loading an application onto the devices is only possible after paying an iPhone Developer Program fee. Since the release of Xcode 3.1, Xcode is the development environment for the iPhone SDK. iPhone applications, like iPhone OS and Mac OS X, are written in Objective-C." ~ wikipedia

We've been waiting for flash ever since. But it occurred to me many moons ago that with application revolution spreading like wild-fire that having flash as a developmental tool could supersede to applicational progress. I know, sometimes I'm slow on the uptake. Nevertheless, my question still remains – Will Apple impede Flash for the iPhone knowing that it [might] take a significant beating in application sales? And when it will open the door for wickedly talented flash developers to exploit the marketplace? Now I'm also not so slow as to think they said flash guru won't want to get paid, but it would level the playing field to an extreme. Thoughts?

A little mobile taste of things to come:

The "Demi-Phone" Has Arrived To Slay Satan

What we 'actually' know:

Operating System : Android 2.1
Device Name: Nexus One
Manufacturer Branding: Google
Hardware Manufacturer: HTC
Carrier Unlock: Yes
Network: GSM
Chipset: Snapdragon Processor
Launch Date: January/February 2010
Display: 3.7-inch display
High-resolution Capacitive multitouch OLED screen
Keyboard: Onscreen keyboard only
Hardware Buttons: HTC scrol ball
Size: Thinner than the iPhone 3GS
Other: 2 mics, one in the front for talking and one at the back to reduce background noise

Engaget has the best review thus far (Key Findings):

• By all appearances, the company will have a new phone portal where buyers can pick between an unsubsidized, unlocked Nexus One for $529.99, or sign up for a two-year agreement with T-Mobile and purchase the phone for $179.99
• Google Maps with no pinch-to-zoom
• 5 megapixel lens and flash took sharp (iPhone 3 megapixel, no flash)

Other items of note based on buzz:

• Open system
• Higher Resolution 800 x 480
• Thinner than iPhone
• 1Ghz Processor, 512MB RAM (Almost 2x more than the iPhone GS)
• Video recording 720×480 pixels at 20fps (iPhone is 30fps)
• Same charger for the Nexus One works with Bluetooth headsets
• Alphabetic list of all installed apps
• Does not Sync your Calendar with Exchange
• Replaceable battery
• 10k apps vs. "one meelion"

Guy Kawaski says:

"The Nexus One is a serious challenge to the iPhone—particularly because this is version 1 of Nexus One while the iPhone has been out for years. It is the phone that Palm should have created, but that’s another story.

Right now I cannot use a Nexus One as my primary phone because it cannot sync my calendar (something my teenage son doesn’t care about), I use it all the time (without a SIM card, just as a Wi-Fi device) while my iPhone charges around the house. The day that calendar syncing works will be very interesting."

Chase Jarvis on Cell Phone Photography

Well known advertorial photographer (and creator of "The Best Camera" iPhone application) Chase Jarvis has done a little memorable chit-chat regarding cellphone photography and the capturing of the moment. He's also a very active blogger and Nikon/iPhone enthusiest. And because I'm a brand whore and own both, I just wanted to point that out.

Chase Jarvis iPhone photo gallery.

http://www.thebestcamera.com

Obey The Frozen Head Of Mobility!

If you’re under 18, get your parent’s permission first. It reads at the bottom of a brief statement on the company blog for Walt Disney World theme parks. The company today is releasing screen shots of their new Smart Phone application. It will initially be – bringing attraction wait times, FASTPASS return times, extensive information on character locations and more for Walt Disney World and Disneyland theme parks to your Verizon Wireless phone.

Other funcationality of note will be rich GPS enabled maps of the parks. Based on what I can see there's nothing new to this content that's not being done in a mapping capacity. The power will be the integration within their queue-line setup to determine and dynamically feed wait-times.

Here's the knife in the devil's throat: "If you are not a Verizon Wireless subscriber, you can still use your mobile phone to access select information via text and on the Disney Parks Mobile Web site. It’s just better from our friends at Verizon Wireless." Nothing cracks me up more than Thomas Smith, Social Media Director, Disney Parks giving a wink to the vendor, while Steve Jobs sits on the steering committee at Pixar. Seconds after the post to be followed by these comments:

For Disney's sake I hope they're listening. I'm an iPhone/Apple/Beer/... snob. Additionally, I love the brand! I'm like most everyone in Orlando, I love all the parks! Especially as a new father I can actually see what joy they can bring. Even with that said it's simply beyond shortsighted for them to overlook such a appropriate demographic as iPhone users. Bare in mind there are other mobile apps, released prior that is making Disney now fight for the "me too" spot.

The icing on the top of the capitalistic cake however is this: I was told this mobile application is available for download and purchase beginning in November for $9.99 for six months of service! YAY! While most apps are a couple of bucks and updates are free, Disney is herding you into the Cool-aid line for cash? It's IMHO that they just go this one wrong. There's plenty of time to fix the "ID-10-T" error here, a one time app charge will fix this issue.

I see pay website content coming for Disney's future and I think it's fine. Taking on the Club Penguin genre with a monthly subscription fee for a safe place for our children to have fun online – I'm a believer. With that said you cannot just break the mold for mobile applications and expect zero backlash. Maybe Disney's brand can afford the impact, but I cannot see why you'd be willing to take the hit when you don't have to.