Student suffers from 'text messenger's thumb'

We always encourage you to text at Club Texting, but as with all good things, do so in moderation:

A medical student in New Zealand has been diagnosed with ‘text-messager’s thumb’ as a result of her excessive use of SMS.

Fleur de Vere Beavis is said to be suffering from the condition of Texting Tenosynovitis, which has seen her tendons swell up and her thumb become inflamed.

Sending up to 100 messages every day has caused her physical pain, says the New Zealand Herald, with the problem one of only a few cases in the world.

Read the entire story @ MobileMarketingNews.co.uk.

Report: Text Messages Sent To Grow To 2.3 Trillion In 2008

Think Text Messaging isn't an important marketing platform? Think again:

Gartner estimates that about 1.9 trillion messages were sent this year and next year will see 20 percent growth to reach the 2.3 trillion mark.

Now before you say, 'wait a minute, you're talking about Europe, not the States,' consider this:

Gartner notes that the least amount of growth will come from Europe, where use is leveling off and may even reach its zenith this year. North America, on the other hand, will see significant growth. We're expected to send more than 300 billion messages, up from 189 billion in 2007. That means North America alone will account for roughly 25 percent of the growth in message use in 2008.

Are you communicating with your customers through SMS Text Messaging yet? If not, it's time to get in touch with Club Texting.

Read more at Information Week.

Nokia Ad Chief: "Why retailers need a mobile edge"

iMedia Connection recently ran a piece by Mike Baker, the VP of Nokia Ad Business, on the importance of mobile marketing to the retail industry.

First, he succinctly defines the medium:

Mobile advertising is the opportunity to serve potential customers with a relevant, appealing offer on which they can easily act. For instance, a consumer is browsing mobile content or viewing a mobile map when an opportunity is presented to click through a banner ad to receive a mobile coupon that can easily be redeemed at a store, or to schedule a test drive of a new vehicle model or to find the nearest retailer of a certain product, with useful directions to the nearest point of sale.

He also provides some informative examples of how retailers might utilize the mobile platform:

• Mobile alerts update customers of sales, new products and shipments or extended hours.
• Mobile coupons drive customers to the store with special deals they don't need to worry about clipping from the newspaper and remembering at a later date.
• Mobile coupons sent on a card member's birthday enhance loyalty.
• Text notifications of coupon expiration dates drive store visits.
• Mechanics like birthday reminders, mobile access to wish lists, recipes or shopping lists stored on or sent to the phone encourage in-store shopping.

Head over to iMedia Connection to read the entire piece--it's worth your time.

The Wall Street Journal's SMS Christmas Cartoon

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a Christmas cartoon that really reflects our  SMS-obsessed culture:

Happy Holidays from Club Texting.

FCC Asked to Stop Telecom Censorship of Text Messages

A COALITION OF ADVOCACY GROUPS Tuesday asked the Federal Communications Commission to prohibit wireless companies from censoring text messages. "Discriminating in providing mobile services is contrary to the principles which have governed both wired and wireless carriers for decades," the organizations argued in a petition filed Tuesday.

Why is this so important?

With more and more consumers relying on text messaging, advocates say it's critical to stop telecoms from blocking messages. "There's a lot at stake because this is the way people are communicating now," said Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge. The groups argued to the FCC that declining to transmit messages from certain senders violates common carrier rules, which prohibit telephone companies from picking and choosing which conversations to allow.

If you think the advocacy groups are overreacting, then consider this:

On at least two occasions this year, wireless companies refused to send certain text messages. In September, Verizon barred the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America from sending messages to supporters, even though they had signed up to receive them. The company reversed its decision after an article about the situation ran in The New York Times. And earlier this year, several carriers refused to run text messages from a rival, Rebtel, that offers Voice over Internet Protocol service.

Read more at OnlineMediaDaily.

Asia's Wireless Operators Eye The U.S. Market.

Business Week has posted an interesting story about the potential for Asian wireless firms to jump into the US Market:

The renewed interest in U.S. wireless assets might seem puzzling with average monthly phone bills holding steady and the supply of potential first-time customers dwindling fast in a nation where more than a quarter-billion of the population already carries mobile phones.

The answer may lie in mobile Internet access and data services. "We have more opportunity in terms of data [services] growth than any other developed country," says Gene Frantz, a partner at Texas Pacific Group, which, along with another private equity firm, purchased No. 5 U.S. wireless carrier Alltel for $27.5 billion in November.

What is at stake?

While most North American wireless users currently pay less than $10 a month for data services, that spending may rise to nearly $38 a month by 2012, according to Insight Research. Over that same period, the consultancy says, wireless data spending by Europeans, Asians, and Latin Americans is only expected to roughly double, to about $20 a month. Overall, North American data revenues are projected to grow 36.4% a year—faster than in any other region of the world—to reach $132 billion by 2012, up from $28 billion this year, according to Insight Research.

Head over to Business Week to read the rest of this article.

Microsoft bringing ads to mobile devices

The C|net News blog is reporting that Microsoft is rolling out a new mobile ad platform:

Microsoft is set to launch on Monday its first mobile advertising.

Going forward, people will be able to see mini banner ads optimized for their browser type and screen size on their mobile devices when they visit the MSN Mobile portal, which works on any mobile phone, said Phil Holden, director for online services for Microsoft.

The MSN Mobile portal offers news, information on weather and stocks, as well as movie reviews and listings. It also offers access to search, Hotmail, Messenger, and Windows Live Spaces.

MSN Mobile will also now enable users to buy movie tickets over the phone with a credit card and download background images and ringtones.

The initial advertisers are Bank of America, Paramount Pictures, and Jaguar.

See the original story @ C|net

More Than One-Third Of U.S. Pre-Teens Have A Mobile Phone

Mobile Marketing Is The Future:

PRE-TEENS IN THE U.S. ARE more connected than ever before, thanks to the widespread use of mobile phones.   

The Nielsen Co. released the findings of an in-depth study on the mobile media and cross-media behavior of U.S. "tweens" (ages 8-12). The report estimates that: 35% of tweens own a mobile phone, 20% of tweens have used text messaging, and 21% of tweens have used ring & answer tones.

While text-messaging and ringtones remain the most pervasive non-voice functions on the phone, other content such as downloaded wallpapers, music, games and Internet access also rank high among tweens. According to Nielsen, 5% of tweens access the Internet over their phone each month. While 41% of tween mobile Internet users say they do so while commuting or traveling (to school, for example), mobile content such as the Internet is also a social medium for this audience: 26% of tween mobile Internet users say they access the Web while at a friend's house, and 17% say they do so at social events.

Forget toys--texting and downloading are preferred activities of the tween set, who are turning to their phones for in-home entertainment. About 58% of tweens who download or watch TV on their phone do so at home, 64% of tweens who download or play music on their phone do so at home, and 56% of tweens who access the Internet on their phone do so at home.

Read more @ OnlineMediaDaily

 

AT&T confirms 3G iPhone due next year

AT&T let slip some exciting news last week:

A long-anticipated 3G version of the iPhone is guaranteed for 2008, AT&T's head has told a meeting of the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California. "You'll have it next year," said CEO Randall Stephenson.

Apple, notoriously tight-lipped, refused to comment on the AT&T CEO's remarks. Some people have begun to speculate about the uncharacteristic leak:

...the better question is why Stephenson said it and why now?  For AT&T, his announcement looks, frankly, stupid.

Here's a guy who is head of the largest telephone company in America and its largest mobile phone company. He has a five-year iPhone exclusive giving AT&T the number one selling U.S. smart phone and a huge generator of primo subscribers mainly poached from other carriers. Christmas is a month away and 1-2 million Americans have been planning to give -- or hoping to get -- an iPhone. So what does the guy do? He lets it slip that next year Apple will release a faster iPhone that will make the existing model obsolete. The only impact this can have on current iPhone sales is to stop them in their tracks, unless Apple offers a free 3G upgrade, which believe me they never intended to offer and may not.

So, what is AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson up to?

I don't think Stephenson's statement was by accident and I don't think he is out of touch with reality. I think, instead, he was sending a $1 billion message to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

It is no coincidence that Stephenson made his remarks in Silicon Valley, rather than in San Antonio or New York. He came to the turf of his "partner" and delivered a message that will hurt Apple as much as AT&T, a message that says AT&T doesn't really need Apple despite the iPhone's success.

It's one thing to have a private disagreement between companies but quite another to take it public in a way that costs real money.

What I believe is troubling the relationship between AT&T and Apple is the upcoming auction for 700-MHz wireless spectrum and AT&T's discovery that -- as I have predicted for weeks -- Apple will be joining Google in bidding. AT&T thought its five-year "exclusive" iPhone agreement with Apple would have precluded such a bid, but that just shows how poorly Randall Stephenson understood Steve Jobs. Steve always hurts his friends to see how much they really love him, so AT&T probably should have expected this kind of corporate body blow.

To his credit, Stephenson took the dispute to the streets this way, showing he isn't intimidated by Jobs. It was a bold and rare response for big business and was definitely unexpected by Cupertino, which won't underestimate AT&T again.

Read more analysis @ PBS.