Mobiya and Metro launch mobile classified service in Belgium at mTrends - mobile media lifestyle trends

Mobiya and Metro launch mobile classified service in Belgium

Published by Rudy De Waele March 26th, 2007 in Mobile Marketing, Announcements, Mobile Advertising, Trends, Innovation, Startups Tags: Announcements, classified advertising, classifieds, innovation, Mobile Advertising, mobile marketing, mobyia, startups, Trends.

Mobiya inked a strategic deal today with Metro in Belgium. From tomorrow readers of the free newspaper Metro in Belgium will be able to place classified ads using SMS and MMS. The Belgian-British company Mobiya, market leader in the mobile classifieds industry, is providing the supporting technology and mobile services. The service is live since today at Metrotime.be.

This is definately a breakthrough for Sacha and Martin who have been working hard turning this really great idea into reality. I met both last summer in Brussels where they explained me their idea of ‘Next Generation Classified Advertising’, bringing classifieds from the offline and online world to the mobile phone, I think this is a winner!

Mobiya successfully closed a financing round last month: a capital injection of a quarter million euro has been approved by an international group of private investors, among which venture firms like Big Bang Ventures and Solid Ventures. The Mobiya Application Suite, launched in October 2006, offers any publisher the opportunity to integrate classifieds in their magazines, newspapers and/or websites, handle the content billing, formatting, distribution, etc. The system is patent-pending; an approval is expected within the following 6 months.

Mobyia’s take is on the explosion of mobile user generated content (text, image, audio, video, etc.) and the rise of mobile advertising as disruptive business models of traditional classified advertising. The Mobile Classifieds industry is believed to grow into a 4.2 billion dollar industry by 2010.

Mobiya’s go-to-market strategy is twofold: indirectly (mobile enablement of publishers’ classified content and activation of user generated content initiatives) and directly (by working with partners on large-scale projects to provide full outsourcing of existing or new classified business). Mobiya is actively looking for media partners looking to create a full-scale classified gateway, and has already struck deals with national daily newspapers and classified advertising giants in both Belgium and the UK (where they have installed a sales office).

Time to put this one on your radar!