What You (may have) Missed - Part 35

Even in a 30-day month, the news came thick and fast during September. The big news of the month was the announcement of the launch date for the first Android OS-based phone, the (un)memorably-named ‘T-Mobile G1 With Google’. Poor old HTC, who made the thing, don’t get a look in. It may not quite have set the world on fire in the way that Google et al might have liked, but the consensus seems to be that it’s not a bad start.
Another piece of news that could be just as significant, even if it didn’t grab quite as many headlines, was the appointment of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) to promote mobile as an advertising channel. If it has half the success it has had in promoting the web, a lot of people in the mobile ad business should be very happy.
One thing everyone agrees is needed if brands are going to use mobile is statistics, and there were no shortage of those last month. Bango released figures showing that mobile web usage is on the increase in the US, to the point where it soon will surpass the level of traffic the UK. Bango also reported a corresponding rise in US WAP billing revenues.
A report from Portio Research suggested that 80% of the world’s population will be using a mobile phone by 2013. But they probably won’t be using it as much as they could, if WDSGlobal is to be believed. It commissioned a study that found that only 20% of a phone's services and features are used regularly, and that up to a quarter remain completely undiscovered.
Staying with stats, online and mobile dating service Flirtomatic revealed that it had signed up its 1 millionth user, while mobile music discovery firm Shazam was crowing about the fact that it had been used by 20 million customers to identify music tracks across the world. Separately, Shazam disclosed that its iPhone application had been downloaded by over 1.5 million people in the first six weeks of its availability on the Apple App Store. 
Elsewhere, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) was busy, finding time to launch a Whitepaper on Mobile Search, another on Mobile Applications, and a set of guidelines on Bluetooth marketing.
Also busy was FuturLink, which unveiled Wimob 2.0, a free, web-to-mobile platform that enables consumers to transfer multimedia content from websites to their mobile phone via Bluetooth, infrared or USB, without paying network data charges. And 3-ple Media, which launched Mercury ViralTrack, which it says is the first solution to offer full viral tracking for image, audio and mobile video content that is passed between subscribers. 
The busiest mobile network by a long chalk was O2. It started the month by hailing its NFC (Near Field Communications) trial in London, which saw a Nokia phone used as a mobile wallet and oyster card, as a success. Not content with that, it then confirmed details for the launch of the Pay & Go version of the iPhone 3G, which went on sale on 16 September priced at £349.99 for the 8GB model and £399.99 for the 16GB model. Finally, it revealed that its customers in Scotland would soon be able to use their mobiles on the Glasgow underground system. Nice work.
As ever, there were deals aplenty. Mobile ad firm Amobee Media Systems signed a Global Framework Agreement with Vodafone. Perhaps not a massive surprise as Vodafone became a minority strategic investor in Amobee Media Systems at the end of 2007.
Mobile search company Medio Systems announced a partnership with mobile ad network AdMob, under which AdMob will deliver targeted mobile search ads to consumers, using Medio's mobile search service.
NVIDIA Corporation and Opera Software revealed that they are collaborating to bring "the full desktop web-browsing experience", including support for JavaScript, accelerated vector graphics, and video content, to Smartphones and mobile Internet devices. 
And mobile marketing firm 2ergo revealed that it had secured two major deals in the US. Proof, if any were needed that even a company from the frozen north can make it big in mobile. 2ergo may have satellite offices in London, Mexico City, Bogota, Buenos Aires and Arlington, Virginia, but I love the fact that Global Head Office remains in unloved, unglamorous Rawtenstall, just a few miles from where I grew up myself.   
On the campaign front, digital solutions agency Jigsaw launched a campaign for clothing retailer Topman, including in-store vouchering and redemption pods, plus mobile interactivity, to drive footfall for flagship stores. In the US, FunMobility announced that it was working with Access360Media, to create a mobile destination to build brand loyalty among fans of the Vans brand. And in Ireland, mobile payment solutions company Macalla announced the launch of permanent tsb's mobile banking solution, powered by the Macalla Platform. Mobile banking? Let’s hope they remembered to include a ‘Withdraw Everything Now’ option. 
That’s it for now. Stay tuned throughout October for all the latest news.

David Murphy
Editor