A Day in The Life of a Mobile Phone in Seoul
1 Comment Published by Rudy De Waele October 5th, 2008 in Mobile Apps, Mobile Lifestyle, Analysis, LBS, mobile 2.0, Trends, Mobile Culture, Innovation, Location-Based, Convergence
As mentioned in my previous post, last week I spent a couple of days in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, for the Digital Leaders Forum at CHEIL Worldwide HQ (view the presentation I did on Mobile Digital Storytelling).
It is well-known that South Korea - together with Japan - has one of the most advanced mobile cultures in the world, it was thus a privilige to have a closer look on anything mobile there.
One of the first real mobile beahviour differences I noticed was that most people waiting for the bus in Seoul watch their mobie phone screens, opposed to having the device to their ears while in a phone conversation. People are totally immersed consuming digital media whenever possible on their mobile phones in Seoul.
Some statistics on South Korea’s mobile internet applications & services consumption usage. For more detailed staistics and insights, I recommend the Digital Korea book, authored by Tomi Ahonen & Jim O’Reilly.
- The country has 44.5 million mobile subscribers in total, or a 90.7% penetration rate (May 2008). MNO’s are SK Telecom (22.5 million subscribers), KTF (14 million subscribers) and LG Telecom (8 million subscribers).
- 63 percent of South Koreans make payments using their cell phones.
- Over 30 percent of South Korean students send over 100 text messages a day (source: Korea Times, February 9, 2006).
- Average amount of daily consumption of DMB digital TV on cell phones in South Korea was 129 minutes per day (source: MIC January 2007)
- Nearly 100% of South Koreans buy ringtones.
- Almost 80 percent of South Korea’s households have broadband access, fostering active online interactions.
- In 2006, 57 percent of South Korea’s music sales were digital
- 37 percent of South Koreans download cell phone games
- Naver is the most popular search portal in South Korea (also on the mobile phone). According to comScore, Naver received 2 billion queries in August 2007, accounting for over 70% of all search queries in Korea, and making it the fifth most used search engine in the world (!), following Google search, Yahoo!, Baidu, and MSN. Note that Google Inc. has recently snapped up South Korean blogging software company Tatter and Company (TNC) in a bid to expand the Internet search leader’s reach in Asia.
(image courtesy of LG Telecom)
Some of the apps/services that most surprised me are the Polygraph which is a mobile lie detector allowing South Korean girls to test if their boyfriends are telling them the truth about their where-abouts etc. Seems stupid but South Korean teenagers just love the service, wether you want to play with it or just take it serious…
Another interesting mobile service is the Navi Call Taxi Service. Calling a cab to specific number, and it knows where you are 
As to make the taxi experience more safe for young women, the service sends a text message to the parents and/or friends with the name and number of the taxi and its location. Ain’t that cool? Wondering when we get such a service over here in Europe and US.
You can view both services demonstrated and explained here below in a video produced by Andrew Berglund (Global Interactive Executive Creative Director at Cheil Worldwide) called “A Day in The Life of a Mobile Phone in Seoul” - An Interactive Exploration of Marketing Technology among the YMCs (Young-Minded Consumer) in South Korea.The video was originally shown in a workshop at Cannes Lions 2008.
The video gives a great overview and insight on mobile phone usage and behaviour of YMCs living in the modern digital metropolis of Seoul. How today’s youth consumer is making the mobile device an extension of his/her existence - utilising a wide spectrum of mobile services from video calls, SMS, MMS, vlogging/blogging, internet, mobile TV broadcast, digital multi-media broadcast, m (mobile)-commerce, m-banking, m-mags, m-movies and other dynamic multi-sensory social content.
You can view Part 1 soon here on YouTube’s iCheil’s Channel.
The big question to me is how countries like South Korea and Japan, in let’s say 5 years from now, will be able to sustain their closed ecosystem model in a growing global mobile market heading towards an open ecosystem ecomomy with new industry players applying different business models to connect the physical world with the internet using the mobile phone.
They have the choice to become an isolated island in such an economy or open up and - why not - become an industry leader on a global scale using the knowledge and experience they have acquired from the sucessful mobile applications and services models they have applied in their home countries.
Here’s my Flickr set of my trip to Seoul.
For my Korean readers, there’s an interview with me in the Maeil Business Newspaper.
| 모바일을 모르면 돈 벌수 없는 시대가 온다 |
| 세계적 모바일마케팅 전문가 루디 드웨일 사장 “PC시대는 저물어 가고 있어” |
a day in the life, Analysis, cell phone, cheil, convergence, digital korea, dotopen, innovation, korea, lbs, location based, Mobile Apps, Mobile Culture, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile phone, mtrends, rudydewaele, samsung, seoul, south korea, Trends, worldwide
Mobile Digital Storytelling
4 Comments Published by Rudy De Waele October 2nd, 2008 in Mobile Marketing, Social Media, Mobile Lifestyle, Mobile Content, mlearning, mobile 2.0, Trends, Innovation, Mobile Culture, Location-BasedLast week I was invited by CHEIL Worldwide HQ in Seoul - a global marketing and communications affiliate company of the Samsung Group, to do a presentation at the Digital Leaders Forum on Mobile Digital Storytelling.
It was a really interesting trip to learn more about the Korean mobile culture - more on this in a following post - and to dig deeper in the subject of storytelling in our multiplatform digital landscape of today. It was actually pretty difficult to find real case studies of digital storytelling using the mobile phone. Luckily there was twitter and the great tips and feedback I received from my tweeps by doing research on the topic - thanks to all who helped me with this!
I learned a lot of new stuff how digital storytelling is currently used in online marketing campaigns and I tried to project how the cell phone can be used in future digital cross-media marketing. Check my (slightly adapted) slides of my presentation here below.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss this topic in detail or leave a comment.
5 frames, augmented reality, cheil, comic touch, community, context, Convergence Culture, decentralized authorship, digital, dotopen, flixwagon, forum, geostories, handivi, hypersociability, innovation, jumpcut, korea, kyte, leaders, location, location based, machinima, mlearning, Mobile Content, Mobile Culture, Mobile Digital Storytelling, mobile learning, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile marketing, mobiola, mtrends, myview, nokia productions, our story, presence, qik, remix obama, rudydewaele, samsung, seesmic, Sekai, seoul, six word story, social media, storytelling, tikitag, Tonchidot, transmedia, transmedial play, Trends, viewdle, visual storytelling, zannel
15 Tips To Create Value For Mobile
7 Comments Published by Rudy De Waele September 4th, 2008 in Social Media, Operators, Mobile Apps, Mobile Web, Mobile Lifestyle, 3G, Mobile Events, Mobile Content, Cool Devices, Analysis, Mobile Advertising, MobileMonday, Mobile Marketing, Viral, User-Experience, Usability, Mobile OS, LBS, mobile 2.0, Trends, Mobile Monday, Innovation, Startups, Nokia, iPhone, Location-Based, Convergence, Events, DevelopersHere below the video and slides of my “15 Tips To Create Value For Mobile” presentation I did at MobileMonday Amsterdam #7 on Value, including a short overview on the evolving mobile ecosytem. Note that each of those tips could be a topic itself for a specific detailed presentation - maybe I should start a series in the future
About this video (from MobileMonday Amsterdam)
In this insightful 23 minute keynote Rudy de Waele gives 15 tips to create value for mobile. He shares his view on the various drivers in the mobile value chain. Each tip is accompanied with an real world example. The tips range from “The power of openness” to “utilizing the address book”. It’s a must see if you want to get an quick and clear overview of the value drivers in mobile.
Browse through the slides below while watching the video.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss some of the topics in detail or leave a comment.
3G, amsterdam, Analysis, Android, apple, channels, context, convergence, Cool Devices, Developers, distribution, ecosystem, events, getjar, innovation, iphone, lbs, location based, mobile, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Apps, Mobile Content, Mobile Events, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile marketing, Mobile Monday, Mobile OS, mobile web, mobilemonday, MobileMonday Amsterdam, mtrends. dotopen, nokia, Operators, platform, rudydewaele, social media, startups, symbian, Trends, usability, user experience, value, Viral, windows mobile
@ MobileMonday Amsterdam
1 Comment Published by Rudy De Waele September 4th, 2008 in Social Media, Operators, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Apps, Mobile Web, Mobile Lifestyle, 3G, Mobile Events, Cool Devices, MobileMonday, User-Experience, Usability, Mobile OS, LBS, mobile 2.0, Trends, Mobile Monday, Innovation, Startups, Nokia, iPhone, Location-Based, Convergence, Events, DevelopersI spend some time in Amsterdam for the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition for Dutch mobile startups, combined with a presentation I gave at MobileMonday Amsterdam. I have been nicely surprised by the quality of the local startups presenting in the competition, I can’t say much about them yet… the winners will be announced shortly and will present at the coming MOMO event at the PICNIC conference.
MobileMonday Amsterdam #7 on Value was a GREAT event. The MOMO team has been building reputation since their kickoff event in June 2007 with Jyri Engestrom, putting together quality events ever since. I have been around seeing many MobileMondays a bit everywhere but MoMo Amsterdam is definately one of the best events in Europe focusing on mobile specific topics. What makes this a good event is the original venue and the TEAM working in perfect symbiosis with clear objectives to produce exciting events and not afraid to take risks trying out new concepts.
This time Raimo, Yuri, Claire, Maarten, Marc and Sam created a circle in the theatre for the first part of the event to stimulate audience participation. The discussions were in Dutch, the statements challenging and a bit controversial (user value vs. shareholder value) - why not? I particulary liked the discussion on the bankrupcy of a promising Dutch mobile startup, called Skoeps, as a learning experience towards the community. Wrong timing (flat fees not yet in place), contrary shareholder interest and not enough user base to create a user-driven news content site I believe were amongst the reasons the company didn’t make it.
The 2nd part included keynote presenations by myself, buddie Ajit Jaokar and Yme Bosma from the biggest social network in The Netherlands Hyves (5 million active users!). Ajit gave another interesting talk on what he expects to become a new boom on - non-voice - devices.
Yme presented (in Dutch) the coming rollout of the Hyves mobile platform, including rich adressbook (presence, status, profile, content, etc), communication options such as voice, sms, notes, www, blog, chat, video, photo, email, money, etc), location-based (cellid & GPS), bluetooth for physical identification in public area’s and multiplatform (J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile & iPhone). Yme and his team are very ambitious about the mobile platform, expecting mobile interfaces to be the dominant acces method on their platform in a couple of years. Note that Hyves was originally intented as a mobile social media platform years ago before its actual internet succes.
You can view the presentations of Ajit and Yme on Slideshare. The complete Flickr set of the event can be seen here. I’ll post my presentation in another following post.
3G, Ajit Jaokar, amsterdam, applications, convergence, Cool Devices, Developers, events, hyves, innovation, iphone, lbs, location based, mobile, Mobile Apps, Mobile Events, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile marketing, Mobile Monday, Mobile OS, mobile web, mobilemonday, nokia, Operators, platform, rudy de waele, social media, socialmedia, startups, Trends, usability, user experience, value creation, yme bosma
Telefonica Reveals iPhone 3G Pricing Plans
3 Comments Published by Rudy De Waele July 10th, 2008 in Operators, Mobile Apps, Mobile Lifestyle, 3G, Cool Devices, Announcements, User-Experience, Usability, Mobile Culture, mobile 2.0, Experience Design, Trends, Innovation, iPhone
Today Telefónica revealed its pricing plans for the iPhone 3G, tomorrow available in Spain in over 1.500 Telefónica stores and in 15 other countries. Telefónica is distributing the Apple iPhone in 12 Latin American countries and the Czech Republic. This builds on earlier exclusive, multi-year agreements signed between the two companies in the UK and Ireland, bringing the total number of territories in which Telefónica will sell the iconic device to 16, a combined addressable market of more than 500 million people – making Telefónica one of the leading global distributors of this revolutionary device.
Since the iPhone was launched by O2 in the UK, sales have exceeded all expectations and have greatly fuelled net customer additions, particularly high-end contract customers. Furthermore, the average monthly revenue of an iPhone customer is reported 30% higher than that of a regular contract customer, while the iPhone has generated the highest level of customer satisfaction of any terminal on the market.
Check these latest figures on iPhone consumption in US below by m:metrics (recently acquired by comScore)
Data from comScore M:Metrics confirms that the iPhone (and its associated mandatory data plan) is compelling consumers to consume mobile content by a considerable factor. The table below shows Benchmark Indices between 203 (two times more likely to send photos or videos than the market average) and 1208 (twelve times more likely to listen to music on their device than the market average) for the iPhone versus the market average. Even against smartphones, the rates of mobile content consumption are considerably higher. (please check m:metrics for full details on this survey)
Telefónica is aiming at its more than 23 million mobile customers in Spain, as well as customers of other Spanish mobile operators who switch to Movistar. Basically anyone can get an iPhone (even for FREE in some cases), as long as you are an existing customer or want to become a customer of Telefónica, there are price plans for existing and new customers, individuals and companies. You can consult all current priceplans and offers at iPhone 3G Telefónica Movistar website (http://www.iphone.movistar.es/).
Combined with a voiceplan, the most significant data traffic packages are Tarifa Plana iPhone at 15 euro for 200Mb/month and Tarifa Plana iPhone Plus at 25 euro for 1Gb/month. When a customer exceeds this limit, Telefónica will slow down the user’s connecting speed, which I think is a smarter solution then starting to charge higher without the user’s knowledge. I’m not sure yet about the other options for heavy data consumers like me exceeding this limit, I suppose I’ll have to find it out when my consumption gets there…
But that’s it, I’m sold! I would have bought an iPhone 3G today but I will need to wait untill I’m back in the country next week. With my average monthly bills of around 400 euros (and many times higher) I’m the perfect new client for Telefónica I need to make sure though I get a good data roaming plan with all the travelling ahead the coming months.
What I’m looking forward is to start using the many available iPhone applications, now available through the iPhone App Store; in mobile it’s all about the channeling and the distribution of course!
I can only hope that in the end I will pay less for more data consumption on a better device then Telefónica’s competitors I will keep you posted how that goes!
3G, 3g iphone, Announcements, apple, apple apps, Cool Devices, Experience Design, flatrate, innovation, iphone, iphone 3g, iphone3g, M:Metrics, mmetrics, mobile 2.0 iphone 2.0, Mobile Apps, Mobile Culture, Mobile Lifestyle, mobileweb, Operators, pricing plan, spain, tarification, telefónica, telefonica, Trends, usability, user experience
Mobile 2.0 Europe - Thank You!
1 Comment Published by Rudy De Waele July 8th, 2008 in Social Media, Operators, Mobile Lifestyle, Mobile Events, mobile 2.0, Trends, Innovation, Spanish Startups, Startups, Conversations, Events, Links of Interest
The first Mobile 2.0 Europe belongs yet to the past. We had a great event with lots of interesting sessions and speakers from different area’s in the mobile ecosystem. Seventeen promising startups came from all corners in Europe to present their new ideas in mobile.
Below are some links with reviews and ongoing conversations:
IN ENGLISH
Some notes from the Mobile 2.0 conference (Nokia Conversations)
Europe’s Mobile startups come together (TechCrunch)
(The Next Web)
Mobile 2.0 Europe: exploring the future of mobile
Mobile 2.0 Europe: best-of-class startups
Mobile 2.0: Rummble, Zipiko and Dial2Do shine, but venture capitalists express caution (VentureBeat)
Mobile Europe 2.0: Recreational Mobile Search, Intention Broadcasting & Much More; The Future Is Here, But Will MVNOs Like Blyk Drive It? (mSearchGroove)
Mobile 2.0 Europa - It Takes Two To Tango (Inma Martinez - Shift6)
mobile 2.0 - VC panel summary (Tony Fish)
Mobile 2.0 - The Conversation in the Wireless Industry Becomes A Shouting Match (Max Niederhofer)
(Dan’s Blog)
Open Business Models at Mobile 2.0 Europe
Early Stage Startups at Mobile 2.0 Europe
Mobile 2.0 Europe Kicks Off
Rummble at Mobile 2.0 Barcelona (Rummble Blog)
Mobile 2.0 Europe is over.. (SPRX mobile)
Mobile 2.0: following up on the operator perspective (blog cpinto)
Zipipop wins at Mobile 2.0 Europe (Arctic Startup)
The Electric Knife Syndrome (Charlie Schick)
Shout’Em after Mobile 2.0 Europe (Five Minutes)
Recap: Mobile 2.0 Europe (Cultureslurp)
Rummble: A Unique Play On A Location-Based Mobile Search Engine (GPS Obsessed)
[tce] mobile 2.0 europe takedown (Vitor Domingos)
Live from Mobile 2.0 in Barcelona (Federic Dummeny)
There is no such thing as mobile internet - Mobile 2.0 Europe (Local Search)
Mobile 2.0 Europe -Wrap-up (Ric Ferraro)
IN SPANISH
Mobile 2.0, la evolución del acceso a la red y sus contenidos (BRM)
Mobile 2.0: las operadores se defienden (CanalPDA)
Mobile 2.0 Conference en Barcelona (digitalismo)
Final del Mobile 2.0 (Unkasoft)
Resumen del Mobile 2.0 (Carlos Mantero)
Resumen del Mobile 2.0 (Carlos Blanco)
(OJOmóviles)
Congreso Mobile 2.0 en ESADE Barcelona
Mobile Social Media
Sesión Statups
La perspectiva de los inversores de capital riesgo
Startups Pre Series A
La perspectiva de los operadores
Startups Post Series A
Modelos de negocio abiertos
IN CATALAN
Mobile 2.0 Europe (alCim)
IN DUTCH
Mobile 2.0 Europe – Een terugblik op de toekomst (onetomarket)
PICTURES
TechCrunch Euro Tour - Mobile 2.0 Europe (Mike Butcher’s set on Flickr)
Mobile 2.0 Europe (Rudy De Waele’s set on Flickr)
VIDEO
Mobile 2.0 Europe #m2eu (QIK videos by Mark a.m. Kramer)
Revolt at Mobile 2.0 Europe (Mike Butcher)
NOTE: links to discussions are added daily so check this post at Mobile 2.0 Europe website for updated links.
2.0, Barcelona, business models, conference, Conversations, dotopen, Entrepreneurship, ESADE, event, events, innovation, Links of Interest, m20eu, m2eu, mobile, mobile 2.0, mobile 2.0 europe, Mobile Events, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile social media, mobile2, mobile2.0, mtrends, Operators, social media, spanish startups, startups, Trends, vc, venture capital
Mobile 2.0 Europe: Companies Attending
1 Comment Published by Rudy De Waele June 29th, 2008 in Social Media, Operators, Mobile Apps, Mobile Web, Mobile Lifestyle, Mobile Events, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Content, Announcements, Mobile Advertising, User-Experience, Usability, Mobile Search, Mobile RSS, Mobile OS, LBS, mobile 2.0, Experience Design, Ubiquitous Marketing, Spanish Startups, Proximity Marketing, Trends, Mobile Culture, Innovation, QR codes, Mobile Video, Startups, Nokia, Urban, Conversations, Mobile TV, Mobile Games, Location-Based, Convergence, EventsA couple of days before the event, some 150 companies registered to attend MOBILE 2.0 EUROPE event, including startups, investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, mobile application and service providers, bloggers, press and web technologists. If you want to attend the event to connect to industry leadership and broaden your C-level relationships, you can still buy tickets here.
NOTE there’s also a Mobile 2.0 Europe TechCrunch Party at the Shôko Lounge Club in front of the beach, all details about this after event meetup here.
Here’s the list of the companies attending the MOBILE 2.0 EUROPE conference in alphabetical order:
24 Access Solutions
7 Syntax
Acquamedia Technologies
AdMob
Ajuntament de Barcelona
aka-aki networks GmbH
Alcatel-Lucent
AlpinaSearch
Altaide Valley
Alumnus Software
AMF ventures
antrak capital
Atlas Venture
Atos Origin
Avui
AZ Interactive
Balderton Capital
Bango
Barcelona Digital
Barcelona Media
Beabloo
BeepMarketing
Between Brackets
bluenove
Blyk
Bullnet Gestion
CanalPDA
cellity AG
Centro Español de Servicios Telematicos
Channer Medianet
cirici new media
Clicmobile
CommonSensus
Comunicano
Coreobjects Ltd
DD&H
Debaeque Venture Capital
Dial2Do
dotopen
Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
eBuddy
Economic Promotion - Barcelona City Council
Eden Ventures
El Paìs
Ericsson
Esade
European Commission - Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)
Facoria de Canales
Five minutes
Fjord
France Telecom
Futurlink
GeoMe Communications
Getjar
GoodmintonPartners
Google
GSM Association
Halmstad University
Hewlett-Packard
Hiwave GmbH
Ideal Interfaces
Interactive McCann
IT University of Copenhagen
Itinerarium
itsmy.com (Gofresh)
Jaeson Associates
Jupidi GmbH
Kalerion Computing
Kimia
kooaba AG
La Vanguardia
Longreach Mobile
Lorem Ipsum
M:Metrics
Materna GmbH
mikamai
Mobiclip SL
Mobifriends
Mobile Distillery
Mobile Economy GmbH
MobileContact Software
MobileMonday PL
MobileMonday Ltd.
MobiLuck
Motorola
Motricity
mSearchGroove
my247.mobi
MyFrame Inc.
MyVocal
Nauta Tech Invest II SCR
NextWell
Nimbuzz
Nokia
Nova Ventus Consulting
Onetomarket
Orange
Oxynade
Ozmota
Palringo
PBS MediaShift
Peperoni Software GmbH
Plugg
Qelp
Qualcomm
Quodis
Refresh Mobile
Route Forward Ltd
Rummble
Safiratec
Samtel Consultores
Service Innovation and Interaction Design
SFR
Simba Technologies
SMS Text News
Some Bazaar
Spinverse Ltd
SPRXmobile
Stanford HCI Group
Stradbroke Advisors
Sun Microsystems
Sydes nv / Arkafund nv
Ta with you
Taptu
TAT AB
TechCrunch
Telecom Italia
Telefonica I+D
Telefonica Moviles
Telgraph Hill Group
Tertius Advisory Services
T-Mobile International AG
Tooio Mobile
Treasuremytext
Trutap
Trutap Ltd
Uniteddogs and Cats OY
Universal McCann
University of Salzburg
University of VIC
Unkasoft
Valoris
ViaMobility
ViiF Mobile Video GmbH
Vodafone
Webwag
Worldwide Rights Management Ltd
Yahoo!
Yiibu
YouLynx
Zipipop
ZYB
2.0, Announcements, attendants, Barcelona, companies, convergence, Conversations, dotopen, europe, events, Experience Design, innovation, lbs, location based, mobile, mobile 2.0, mobile 2.0 europe, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Apps, Mobile Content, Mobile Culture, Mobile Events, Mobile Games, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile marketing, Mobile OS, Mobile RSS, Mobile Search, mobile tv, mobile video, mobile web, mobile2, mtrends, nokia, Operators, participants, Proximity Marketing, QR codes, social media, spanish startups, startups, techcrunch, Trends, ubiquitous marketing, Urban, usability, user experience
Blyk announces further European expansion
5 Comments Published by Rudy De Waele June 25th, 2008 in Mobile Music, Mobile Lifestyle, Mobile Content, Mobile Marketing, Announcements, Mobile Advertising, Viral, Mobile Culture, mobile 2.0, Trends, Startups… Germany, Spain and Belgium to go live in 2009 …
Blyk, the new mobile network for 16-24 year olds funded by advertising, announces its next wave of European expansion into Germany, Spain and Belgium in 2009, following its announcement to enter the Dutch market earlier this year. Blyk’s rapid expansion is subsequent to its UK success where members embraced the Blyk concept so quickly that its annual member targets of 100,000 were reached six months ahead of schedule, establishing it as a powerful new media for connecting advertisers with young people.
Blyk’s CEO and Co-founder, Pekka Ala-Pietilä said, “There is a great opportunity for Blyk in these markets. Our research shows that young people in Germany, Spain and Belgium are interested in the Blyk proposition because they want to interact with brands they like in exchange for free communication. Our success in the UK, illustrated by robust member adoption, has proven that Blyk is a youth media that works and we hope to replicate this success as we enter new countries. We are also working to attract local talent who share our enthusiasm and can help build Blyk into a significant youth media in other countries.”
The press release mentions Blyk has run over 900 campaigns in the UK for brands such as Coca Cola, STA Travel, Penguin, Buena Vista, L’Oreal and music artists The Kooks and Alphabeat with an average response rate of 29 percent, an extremely high level for any media platform. For example, Penguin’s campaign to promote Nick Hornby’s new novel, saw 7 out of 10 members engage with the publisher in a dialogue.
Blyk will make further announcements related to activities in each of these countries in the near future.
I asked the company about the choice of operator network they’ll partner with in the next expansion series of countries but Blyk replied it hasn’t taken a decison yet… I can only think about this perfect strategy having the operators to fight to get the popular brand on their network… Ahead of the curve as we say… To follow!
I didn’t expect Blyk was going to grow that fast on other European markets. I’m looking forward the brand launches in Spain, I’ll have the advantage my daughters will have 16 by the time Blyk launches here, so it will be fun to discover the added-value services with them and get their direct feedback
FYI Leif Fågelstedt, COO of Blyk is participating to the Mobile 2.0 Europe conference next week in Barcelona as part of the Open Business Models panel moderated by Mike Butcher of TechCrunch UK.
advertising, Announcements, belgium, blyk, brands, free communication, germany, Holland, marketing, mobile, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, Mobile Culture, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile marketing, mobile music, mobile network, mvno, Netherlands, spain, startups, Trends, UK, United Kingdom, user adoption, Viral, youth, youth media
Carnival Of The Mobilists #129
11 Comments Published by Rudy De Waele June 23rd, 2008 in Carnival Of The Mobilists, Social Media, Mobile Apps, Mobile Lifestyle, Mobile Events, Announcements, Mobile Advertising, User-Experience, Usability, LBS, mobile 2.0, Trends, Innovation, Conversations, Location-Based
Choosing the 1st summer weekend to edit a Carnival of the Mobilists was probably not a great idea at start, but it turned out well for me reading all contributions after siesta in the shade on a Sunday afternoon, with a fine mix of the latest albums of Osunlade, Jaga Jazzist, Terry Callier, Ron Trent & Jerome Sydenham, Hercules and Love Affair, and The Herbaliser as a background… laid back and inspiring!
Luckily there were not too many entries this week due to the fact that many mobilists have changed the “blogging from home” to a more “hectic travelling the globe” lifestyle. Ubiquitous computing has progressed tremendously but hasn’t yet provided us with the perfect tools to keep the blogging up to speed from wherever we are.
Not too surprisingly more than half of this week’s contributions are on the “Location-Based Applications and Services” topic. Better get used to the coming hype words, since they’re going to be everywhere the coming months/years… Geotagging, location tracking, Assisted GPS (AGPS), location based advertising (of course!), location based aggregation, cost per location, zone detection, location based social media, location stamps, location reporting strategies, discovery, sensoring, geocaching, spatial data, geographically-oriented communities, location-based (life) streaming, social mapping or geo-social networking applications, etc.
Realising how advanced we may be with our ideas and technology these days, I still had to wonder where this week’s contributors actually lived? So, how come no-one is using an online tool to know about one’s location? How about then using this on the mobile?
This brought me to the idea of creating this week’s Carnival of the Mobilists map so you can read the entries browsing the map or just by reading this post. If you find out you’re near to one of the mobilists, who knows you might soon bump into him/her
But hey enough now as an introduction… let’s hear it from the mobilists themselves!
Read all this very interesting and insightful posts on LBS:
Mobile 2.0: Addicted to LBS by Tarek Abu-Esber (London, UK)
Top 10 Location Based Startups to Track by Zhou Wenhan (Singapore, Republic of Singapore)
Add context to your photos with Geotagging by Sachendra Yadav (Hyderabad, India)
Convergence or cooperation? by Igor Faletski (Vancouver, Canada)
Has Google won the location battle already? by Andrew Grill (London, UK)
Which GPS Reporting Strategy is Right for You? by Patrick Brannan (St. Louis, Missouri, USA)
Check also my contribution this week on this low-tech location-based urban travel guide from Louis Vuitton, called the Louis Vuitton Soundwalk.
My take is that location itself will become obsolete soon, it is something technical the user doesn’t really want to know about, unless he/she needs to read a map… But what about the many people who can’t read a map? Voice-activated GPS is one of the widely used GPS solutions, but what about all the services being build around locations? Who is around, interesting things to do, places to visit, find places? Top down information vs. bottom-up user-generated content?
I believe it’s more important to develop services based on discovery, but linked to your social network of friends, and contacts who can tip you on the best stuff and who can leave valuable comments about places and events - it’s about the value and quality of the recommendation. That was probably one of the missing pieces in Nokia’s LBS strategy and why Nokia bought Plazes.
Other topics this week:
Mobile Workforce
Hiring Opportunities and Redundancies in the Converged World of Telecoms and Mobility by Justin Oberman (New York, USA) and pointing to an Interview by Ajit Jaokar (Oxford, UK)
Mobile Advertising
Interesting presentation on Using mobile social networks to target advertising… one day by David Cushman (London, UK)
And more on context: NFC interaction by Barbara Ballard (Lawrence, Kansas, USA) and must read on Updates from mobile phone researcher Jan Chipchase by Bryan Alexander at Smart Mobs and Rob Knight entered this Video Interview with Ray Haddow and Tom Farell from Nokia.
And last but not least the ongoing discussion on Mobile Browser vs. Native Applications:
Browser as an application platform by Gábor Török (Miskolc, Hungary)
Apps on smartphones = Geek. Apps on Facebook = Fun. Why? by Dean Bubley (London, UK)
When Will Facebook Take Apps Mobile? by Carlo Longino (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)
I also wanted to inform that Mobile 2.0 Europe is now fast approaching. Tickets are selling fast, so if you’re interested, don’t wait last minute to order your ticket, we’re heading for a full house. You can check the full program and complete list of speakers.
You can also follow latest Mobile 2.0 news on Twitter.
Also of your interest might be the Mobile 2.0 link exchange and discussion room we created on FriendFeed. When this goes mobile, it’s going to be next place to be Subscribe and join here - http://friendfeed.com/rooms/mobile-2-0
That’s it for this week, I learned something more this weekend and got to know some bloggers I haven’t heard about before, that’s what it’s all about, right?
Monday, June 23, 2008. Carnival of the Mobilists 129 edited by Rudy De Waele (Barcelona, Spain)
Next week, Andrew Grill is hosting the Carnival of the Mobilists at http://www.andrewgrill.com/blog
advertising, Announcements, Assisted GPS (AGPS), Carnival Of The Mobilists, carnivalofthemobilists, Conversations, cost per location, discovery, geocaching, geographically oriented communities, geotagging, innovation, lbs, location based, location based (life) streaming, location based advertising (of course!), location based aggregation, location based social media, location reporting strategies, location stamps, location tracking, mobile, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Apps, Mobile Events, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile workforce, mobilists, sensoring, social mapping or geo social networking applications, social media, spatial data, Trends, usability, user experience, zone detection
Louis Vuitton Soundwalk
4 Comments Published by Rudy De Waele June 22nd, 2008 in Mobile Lifestyle, Mobile Content, Announcements, User-Experience, LBS, mobile 2.0, Trends, Innovation, Urban, iPhone, Fashion, Location-Based
Whilst the whole industry is looking at location-based technology solutions as the new nirvana, Louis Vuitton enters the digital mobile space with a series of value-added content products using low-tech location. Creativity at its top!
The Louis Vuitton Soundwalk, a unique location-based urban soundtrack, produced in collaboration with Soundwalk is a cutting-edge audio guide, available in six languages, offerring a vibrant portrayal of three Chinese cities – Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai – following the footsteps of the three greatest icons of Chinese Cinema: Gong Li for Beijing, Shu Qi for Hong Kong and Joan Chen for Shanghai.
Ideally for people travelling to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, each hour-long soundwalk features a story whose narration perfectly synchronizes with the itinerary - the voice of the narrator geographically guides the physical visitor in real time through an area of a city or a district - accompanied by the signature sounds of the city.
Original soundtracks composed by Kubert Leung and Albert Yu. Shan Sa (”The Girl Who Played Go”) and Mei Feng (up-and-coming young Chinese author), have written these journeys much like film scripts —- subtly blending reality and fiction to offer a cinematic experience in the heart of the city.
Each Louis Vuitton Soundwalk are available in six languages: English, French, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin. Each Louis Vuitton Soundwalk can be purchased separately in six different currencies: 17 USD, 12 EUR, 8 GBP, 2 000 JPY, 140 HKD, 130 RMB.
The mobile Java MIDP 2.0 client, powered by Clicmobile, will be released on July 4th; this version adds exclusive mobile content such as images, texts and maps to the audio lifestyle experience.
2008, Albert Yu, Announcements, art of travel, audio, audio art, audio experience, audio guide, audio walk, audio walks, Beijing, China, cinematic experience, cinematographic experience, city, city guide, city guide series, city guides, contemporary, digital luxury, elegance, fashion, Gong Li, Hong Kong, innovation, international, iphone, Joan Chen, Kubert Leung, lbs, lifestyle, location, location based, louis vuitton, louis vuitton soundwalk, love stories, Mei Feng, mobile, Mobile Content, Mobile Lifestyle, mp3, multimedia, Olympic Games, Olympics, passion, secret places, Shan Sa, Shanghai, Shu Qi, soundwalk, travel, traveller, travelling companion, Trends, universal, Urban, urban travellers, user experience
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