The Mobile Marketing Blog - TellMyCell

On The Mobile Web, Users Still Prefer Google To Bing...For Now

Microsoft's Bing search engine has had a great 2009, jumping to just over 10.3% of the US search market. Not resting on their laurels, Microsoft is targeting the mobile space, looking to turn things around. Right now, they are playing from behind:

Mobile phone users are considerably more interested in having access to Google compared to Bing, according to Strategy Analytics.

In “Facebook and Google Most Desired Brands for Mobile,” Strategy Analytics investigates interest in the ability to use various applications from mobile devices. Survey respondents said they desire the ability to access Google and Facebook from their mobile devices.

“The key finding is that Facebook and Google are the most desired brands to have on a mobile phone in both the U.S. and Britain,” said Chris Schreiner, senior analyst of user experience practice at Strategy Analytics, Boston.  

So what's Microsoft doing to close the gap? In short, they're focusing on local search, betting (we predict correctly) that when it comes to mobile search, most users are looking for local content. They recently released a slick Bing app for the iPhone, to compliment the apps already available for the BlackBerry and Windows Mobile platforms:

Users will be able to get turn-by-turn directions with Bing Maps, along with traffic information. The focus is on local results in other areas as well, with movie listings, weather and local businesses. Omitted from the app's home page is Bing Shopping. It's not clear whether Streetside, a feature of the Bing Maps Beta akin to Google's Street View, will make the leap.

Of course, the app can be used to search the Web, read the news, and look up recent and favorite searches. Matching Google's app, Bing also lets users search the Web by voice.

Other features include the ability to open multiple tabs within the Bing application, pushpins for saving locations and multiple locations shown on a single map.

If Microsoft is serious about the mobile space they need to release and Android app. They also need to either a) get their act together with Windows Mobile and release WM7, or b) give up on producing a mobile OS and focus on the mobile web and apps for other platforms that are so compelling you just have to use them. On the topic of having to use Bing:

BlackBerry smartphone users on Verizon Wireless’s U.S. cellular network may have noticed a small but significant change within their mobile web browsers in the past week or so: The only search engine option that’s currently available to some Verizon customers via their BlackBerry Browsers’ “Start” or “Go to” pages is now Microsoft Bing.

That's one way to gain marketshare, though it probably isn't a way to win fans...

You can read about a slew of other Bing mobile updates over at their blog.

Mobile Marketing Association Says SMS Marketing To Dominate 2010

We built TellMyCell to allow businesses to deploy cost effective, enterprise class SMS marketing campaigns. We know how well SMS text message marketing campaigns work; we're glad to see that the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) agrees:

SMS is one of the oldest wireless technologies still in use, and for good reason: It is nearly ubiquitous in terms of device and network support, enjoys wide consumer awareness across all demographics and is relatively inexpensive for consumers, brands and marketers.

All of those benefits make SMS a highly effective way for a mobile marketing campaign to reach the mass market – far more than, say, smartphone applications, which have a rapidly growing yet still small addressable market.

That is why in 2010, SMS increasingly will serve as the glue that cements multichannel campaigns.

More campaigns that span print, direct mail, digital signage and broadcast will use SMS to enable calls-to-action, e-coupons and metrics such as the number of people who view an advertisement.

Read more @ Mobile Marketer.

Learn more about SMS marketing at TellMyCell.

10 Wireless Predicitions For 2010

2009 was quite a year for the wireless world. This fall was especially busy (read some analysis about why fall 2009 was so important for the future of wireless). If Juniper Research is right, 2010 is going to be even more exciting. They're predicting all sorts of interesting developments:

1. Mobile Data Traffic Explosion to put strain on 3G Networks

Though 3G is less than ten years old, 2010 could be the year when 3G networks begin to fall over under the burden of mobile data, due largely to some 33.8m IPhones that have been sold since launch.

6. Mobile Social Networking to Integrate with other Applications including M-Commerce

With mobile access to the likes of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter commonplace, adding commerce capability is the next step. And its development will start in 2010.
Viral marketing is something that marketers aspire to achieve and there is no better way of reaching that goal for those younger than 35 than through social networking on the move, featured already in many phones.

9. Smartphones to Get Augmented Reality Makeover

Augmented Reality (AR) is still in its infancy on the mobile: until Q2 2009, just a single AR app – Wikitude – was available for a single handset (the G1). However, with a raft of new Android handsets fitted with the key AR-enablers – cameras, Internet, GPS, accelerometers, digital compasses – and with the launch of the similarly-equipped iPhone 3GS and Nokia N97, new AR apps are emerging every week.

Read all ten predictions here.

FamilyFirst Alerts Now Powered By TellMyCell – The Mobile Marketing Company

We're proud to relay the news that FamilyFirst Alerts, a leading provider of emergency SMS notifications for schools and other educational institutions has rebuilt their service atop the TellMyCell platform. Check the press release:

FamilyFirst Alerts has released a significant upgrade to our popular and widely used emergency SMS alert notification system. We have partnered with TellMyCell, The Mobile Marketing Company, to provide the industry’s most advanced text messaging platform to independent schools and large districts alike.

Our new TellMyCell-powered platform offers our current users a more reliable service that preserves our best features and brings a host of new, exiting ones. Text message notifications, whether to one student or one thousand students will be delivered faster than ever—in mere seconds. Our voice broadcasting offering, which replaces cumbersome phone-trees, will also benefit from the TellMyCell platform.

Learn more @ FamilyFirst Alert's Newsroom.