Frontiering Talk

A recent Nielsen study of more than 22,000 active mobile data users, shows gaining acceptance of mobile advertising in the US reports Marketing Charts.

23 percent of US mobile subscribers (58 million people) say they have seen mobile advertising in the previous 30 days.

Half of mobile data users (51 percent, or 28 million people) who recall seeing a mobile ad say they responded to the ad in some way.

However, just 10 percent of US mobile data (e.g., text-messaging) users say they think advertising on their mobile devices is acceptable - but an increasing number appear to understand the value proposition of ad-supported mobile content, Nielsen said.

Nearly 1/3 of mobile data users say they are open to mobile advertising if it lowers their overall bill, according to the survey.

Among other findings of the study:

• The number of data users who recalled seeing mobile advertising between the second and fourth quarters of 2007 increased 38 percent (from 42 million to 58 million).
• Teen data users (age 13-17) were the most likely age segment to recall seeing mobile advertising (46 percent recalled seeing some type of mobile advertisement, compared with 29 percent of all data users).
• 26 percent of those who saw an ad responded at least once by sending an SMS text message, the most popular ad response.
• 9 percent say they have used click-to-call to respond to a mobile ad (i.e., users follow a link on their phone to call a specific number).
• 13 percent (18 percent of males) said they are open to mobile advertising if it improves the media and content currently available.
• 14 percent said they are already open to mobile advertising so long as it is relevant to their interests.
• 23 percent expect to see more mobile advertising in the future (up from just 15 percent in Q1 2007).

Perspective:  The Australian market is probably 12-18 months away from these numbers, due to barriers such as access speeds and cost. 

Mysupermarket is a free shopping and comparison website for supermarket shoppers that includes direct links with the big four UK supermarket chains.

Each product also shows the weight or volume, price, special offers and price per unit, as well as detailed nutritional information.

Once you get to the checkout the site’s Trolley Checker tool displays the cost of purchasing those contents at each of the 4 online stores. In addition a Price Checker tool recommends changes to save you money. There is also a Health Checker tool to help remind you of healthier product options.

mySupermarket definitely provides a valuable service which puts it in good place to be a kind of Supermarket Concierge.

As a suggestion, I think it would be nice to see them add Ratings / Reviews of delivery services.

Lots is being written about how the internet will evolve into a semantic web (sometimes known as web 3.0).
The Semantic web promises to provide a framework that will revolutionise how components of the web can connect to establish meaningful actions.

It’s often easiest to explain a future state with an example of how the semantic web will address a challenging problem.

This article by Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler and Ora Lassila does just that.

The entertainment system was belting out the Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out” when the phone rang. When Pete answered, his phone turned the sound down by sending a message to all the other local devices that had a volume control. His sister, Lucy, was on the line from the doctor’s office: “Mom needs to see a specialist and then has to have a series of physical therapy sessions. Biweekly or something. I’m going to have my agent set up the appointments.” Pete immediately agreed to share the chauffeuring.

At the doctor’s office, Lucy instructed her Semantic Web agent through her handheld Web browser. The agent promptly retrieved information about Mom’s prescribed treatment from the doctor’s agent, looked up several lists of providers, and checked for the ones in-plan for Mom’s insurance within a 20-mile radius of her home and with a rating of excellent or very good on trusted rating services. It then began trying to find a match between available appointment times (supplied by the agents of individual providers through their Web sites) and Pete’s and Lucy’s busy schedules. (The emphasized keywords indicate terms whose semantics, or meaning, were defined for the agent through the Semantic Web.)

In a few minutes the agent presented them with a plan. Pete didn’t like it�University Hospital was all the way across town from Mom’s place, and he’d be driving back in the middle of rush hour. He set his own agent to redo the search with stricter preferences about location and time. Lucy’s agent, having complete trust in Pete’s agent in the context of the present task, automatically assisted by supplying access certificates and shortcuts to the data it had already sorted through.

Almost instantly the new plan was presented: a much closer clinic and earlier times�but there were two warning notes. First, Pete would have to reschedule a couple of his less important appointments. He checked what they were�not a problem. The other was something about the insurance company’s list failing to include this provider under physical therapists: “Service type and insurance plan status securely verified by other means,” the agent reassured him. “(Details?)”

Lucy registered her assent at about the same moment Pete was muttering, “Spare me the details,” and it was all set. (Of course, Pete couldn’t resist the details and later that night had his agent explain how it had found that provider even though it wasn’t on the proper list.)

This is a great story, and just a small glimpse into the many changes coming our way !