Thanks to an anonymous MobHappy reader for sending this wicked piece of satire from The Onion. Ouch. Verizon Introduces New Charge-You-At-Whim Plan NEW YORK—Verizon Communications, Inc. announced a new service package for its wireless and residential customers that would charge them widely varying, but always high, fees every month depending how the communications giant feels [...]
Archive | August, 2006
User Generated Short Codes
When I was in The Valley last week, I met the charming veteran entrepreneur and angel investor, Ariel Poler, who gave me a demo of his new venture, TextMarks. He asked me to keep schtum for the time being, but he’s just dropped me an email giving me the OK, so here’s my thoughts. To [...]
What Should Friendster Do Now?
So Friendster (so 2003, no?) has received a $10 million lifeline from investors, allowing them to try to re-establish themselves on the social networking scene. This is going to be pretty hard, as there’s younger and cooler competition on the scene these days. They need to go from the wallflower they are today, back to [...]
Location Based Advertising
JR Hartley* would be truly befuddled by Yellow Pages’ latest marketing campaign, which involves London buses showing location-specific advertising messages. Claimed to be the first GPS advertising campaign ever (anyone care to dispute that?) Springwise¬†says that 25 buses will be fitted with LED panels (see pic), which will show the buses’ locations and highlight local [...]
Sprint Delivers Hotmail-a-like For SMS (Update: Well, Sort Of, In Theory, Almost, Anyway)
For a little while, I’ve been mulling starting a recurring feature here on MobHappy called Things My Phone Should Do, which would pretty much do as advertised: reveal the things that I think my phone, in an ideal world, would do (and of course give you plenty of opportunity to leave a comment saying that [...]
Hypertag Sets Up London Bluetooth Marketing Network
Bluetooth marketing company Hypertag says it’s launching a network in London of 80 sites with its Bluetooth and infrared units, through a partnership with Boomerang Media. The units will be located in Boomerang’s postcard pick-up displays in bars and cinemas, and will let advertisers distribute all sorts of mobile content. First things first — Hypertag [...]
Carnival 41 at MOpocket
Justin Oberman’s got the 41th edition of the Carnival of the Mobilists at his MOpocket site. Good work on the editing, Justin, and congrats to Rudy de Waele for getting selected as the best post. Also, don’t forget to vote for the best post of July, the winner of which gets a $250 prize thanks [...]
Mobile Youth and $27,996 Lifetime Spend
Bedtime reading for me at the moment is the fascinating mobileYouth 2006 report (or at least the stripped down press version), produced by the same people behind Wireless World Forum. I’ll be bringing you a few more choice facts if I come across them, but for now, let’s focus on their big picture. The average [...]
Gathering of the Mobilists at CTIA
We’re planning another Gathering of the Mobilists at CTIA in LA in September, so book your places while they’re still available – they go pretty quick. It’s a very informal thing – no presentations or anything, just hanging out and having a few drinks¬†with bloggers, writers, VCs, operators,¬†entrepreneurs and others in the mobile space. The [...]
Mobile Loan Sharks Target Nordic Teens
As financial institutions go, payday loan places are about the lowest of the low. They target low-income people by offering short-term cash loans, typically due on the person’s next payday, at ridiculously high interest rates, often skirting local usury laws by a variety of means. Now, a variation on the scheme/scam has come to mobile [...]
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