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Smaato Welcomes the Pioneering Social API Initiative of Alcatel-Lucent

SMAATO — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:49:15 +0000

Alcatel-Lucent announced the industry’s first packaged API (Application Programming Interfaces) bundles, and an associated revenue sharing model that radically transforms application development by eliminating upfront costs for developers and opening new revenue opportunities for service providers. The announcement is part of a larger push by Alcatel-Lucent to give developers the ability to use the network as a development platform in the same way they currently build applications for mobile devices and the Web.

The company also announced a powerful new business and application modeling tool that allows developers to get the most out of their applications. This new functionality helps developers and service providers improve the potential for the success of services they are introducing and helps them better manage the overall business of their applications.

Alcatel-Lucent will showcase these and other tools, which are part of its developer platform and program (and core elements of its Application Enablement vision) at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, (March 11 – 16, 2010 Austin, TX) in the “Eleven API Lounge” of the Hilton Hotel, directly across from the Austin Convention Center.

New Bundled APIs

A bundled API is a unique offering from Alcatel-Lucent that blends service provider and third party application capabilities to support the easy creation of new applications. These API bundles enable a new revenue share model intended to transform service provider networks into an application development platform by unlocking network resources and functionality – similar to what smartphones and apps stores did for the device world.

The company’s first vertical API bundles include three social bundles supporting the creation of new mashups in the rapidly growing social gaming, advertising and virtual goods markets. Collectively, the APIs included are SMS, advertising, location, virtual goods, credit card and billing. The initial delivery of these API bundles targets the 14+ million developers worldwide and the two fastest growing and increasingly profitable applications markets today: mobile advertising and virtual goods. Recent industry research suggests mobile advertising will exceed $3 billion by 2013 and that today’s virtual goods market is between $4-6 billion globally. Alcatel-Lucent is providing developers access to beta versions of the social API bundles within a virtual sandbox for non-commercial use in a laboratory type environment. Developers can access the bundles via Alcatel-Lucent’s Open API Service here.

We welcome the pioneering social API initiative of Alcatel-Lucent to provide more upside for developers to reach better monetization through added targeting value, such as location, stated Harald Neidhardt, CMO and Co-Founder of Smaato Inc.

See the entire article at Connected Planet here.

Mobile Advertising to Grow 45% in 2010 to $3.8B

SMAATO — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:06:18 +0000

According to JP Morgan’s 2010 Internet Industry Outlook released January 4th, online display ads are set to rebound, and the mobile advertising industry is on the verge of an even stronger return.

JP Morgan’s analyst Imran Kahn released the 328-page Interest Industry outlook which notes that total U.S. mobile advertising for 2009 is estimated at $2.6 billion, up 62 percent, with $2.3 billion of that from text messaging.

Just 178 million was mobile search, and $140 million was display. Both of these were up 80 percent last year.

Turn to 2010, and mobile advertising is, according to Kahn, forecast to grow 45 percent to $3.8 billion ($3.2 billion SMS advertising, $253 million mobile display, and $31 million mobile search.)

Source: JP Morgan’s 2010 Internet Industry Outlook

(via mobilemarketingwatch.com)

Apple to Launch iPhone 4G in April?

SMAATO — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:12:38 +0000

Koreatimes.co.kr wrote:

“KT, an exclusive local partner of Apple to sell iPhone, plans to introduce an upgraded version of the device ? 4G iPhone ? to the domestic market in April at the earliest.

Talks over initial sales volume of such gadgets have already been under way and KT is set to sell the devices to its bigger local corporate clients as a “litmus test” in April, KT officials said.

KT, the runner-up of SK Telecom in the local telecom market, however, plans to provide the upgraded iPhones to local distributors in June.

“We don’t see any bigger hurdle to introduce 4G iPhones here, as legal issues were completely cleared. It’s possible to launch the devices within the first half,” a high-ranking KT executive told The Korea Times, asking not to be identified.“

Mobile Stats: Mobile Media Rocks!

SMAATO — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:33:58 +0000

“According to the latest data, the use of social networking services by mobile users has increased by almost 139 percent compared to last year. Stimulated by the introduction of the iPhone, digital media consumption on mobile devices has increased by 17 percent.

Not only Apple, but also Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung are driving this development. The mobile games and mobile internet sectors also profit from these trends. “M-Days – The Home of MOBILE”, the largest congress trade fair of its kind in Central Europe, will take up these topics and give the starting signal for the coming mobile year on 28th and 29th January 2010 at the BMW Welt in Munich.

Subjects like mobile media, mobile content, mobile entertainment or locationbased services (LBS) as well as aspects like “business solutions, applications and development” will also provide fuel for discussions. M-Days 2010: Samsung, HTC, Vodafone, Qualcomm, YOC, E-Plus group, Cellular and many more will participate.”

We appreciate the M-Days as the designated leading congress fair for the mobile medium. Its selection of executives of large media production companies, as well as innovative startups from Europe, is the perfect mix for the congress and the exhibition. This is definitively the best possible start into the mobile year 2010 in Northern Europe!, stated Harald Neidhardt, Co-Founder & CMO of Smaato Inc.

See the entire M-Days PR here.

Why To Go Mobile When Marketing Budgets Are Shrinking

SMAATO — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:00:23 +0000

mobileStorm wrote:

In today’s economy, marketing budgets are being slashed across the board. Subsequently, marketers are having to re-think their strategies in terms of getting the most bang for their buck.

When faced with smaller budgets, mobile provides the highest ROI of any marketing channel available to you. Unlike mass communication via TV, radio, newspapers and even Online advertising, mobile allows you to pick and choose your audience according to a wide array of targeting capabilities, location-based benefits and much more.

Combining the immense targeting capabilities of mobile, the fact that consumers are much more apt to respond and interact with mobile and the simple fact that everyone owns a mobile device of some sort equates to an ROI that’s simply unmatched by any other medium.

» Immediacy – Mobile campaigns are easy to create and execute; messages are delivered to recipients within seconds.

» Affordability – No need to pay for postage, printing or air time, just a nominal per text message fee; prices are very modest and they decrease as volume increases.

» Distribution – Reach out to people all over the world. Delivery is almost always guaranteed, unlike email, direct mail, and other forms of advertising.

» Response Rate/Effectiveness – The average respose rate is approximately 15%, versus 2 – 3% for other advertising mediums such as direct mail.

» Personal /Targeted – Content is targeted to individuals who have opted to receive them; the medium provides the ability to customize the brand message to a diversified audience.

» Mobility/Reachability – Messages reach recipients wherever they are. No need to be by a TV, radio, computer, or mailbox; phones are within our reach 80% of every day.

Read the entire article at mobileStorm here.

Google Acquires AdMob For $750 Million

SMAATO — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:45:46 +0000

Google has just announced that it has acquired AdMob, the mobile ad platform that has been especially popular on the iPhone, for $750 million.

AdMob founder Omar Hamoui sent the following letter to customers:

“Today we announced that AdMob has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Google for $750 million. We are extremely excited about this new partnership and what it means for our advertiser, developer and publisher partners.

AdMob’s people, products and tools will continue to work to deliver successful campaigns for you and to effectively monetize your mobile traffic – no interruptions. Our product and engineering teams will keep building great products for our customers. Our sales team will keep working with our thousands of advertisers to deliver successful campaigns. Our business development team will keep working to maximize ad revenue for the more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications that make up AdMob’s publisher network.”

The Mobile Internet Is Going To Explode

SMAATO — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:58:35 +0000

Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker’s presentation on Internet and the economy (10 mins):

Mobile internet is bigger than you think.
iPhone is becoming THE mobile platform.
Social media, mobile devices are changing communications and commerce.
Mobile internet trends in Japan show how the future will be. (Hint: Not much mobile advertising)
Carriers will be crushed by demand.
The Walled Gardens collapse.
Apple wins, Google maybe wins, Research In Motion withers

You can also flip through Mary’s slides here. Or view the whole presentation here.

via businessinsider.com

How Big Is the Apple iPhone App Economy?

SMAATO — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:22:43 +0000

GIGAOM.com wrote:

“If I were to tell you that Apple’s app economy was worth more than $2.4 billion a year, you would laugh hysterically, shake your head and walk out of the room, yes? Surf on over to some other web site? But here I am telling you exactly that!

There are some $200 million worth of applications sold in Apple’s iPhone store every month, or about $2.4 billion a year. Just to put that in context, Apple says about 1.5 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store.

In comparison, the Android marketplace brings in about $5 million a month or on a run rate to do $60 million in a year.”

Read the entire article at GIGAOM.com here.

Smaato Blog » Industry News

Smaato Welcomes the Pioneering Social API Initiative of Alcatel-Lucent

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