Mobile value

With social networks and search going mobile the location comes into play for consumers all over the globe. It’s no longer who you are connected to its more and more who and where, the possibility to engage IRL, In Real Life, as an important functionality.

So the common ads that we are now used to see in the search and social network pages are less and less relevant unless they also tap into the location of where the viewer is using the service.

But then comes an interesting effect which Maartje Wouters, Interactive Marketer at Wecanbeheroes, reveals in her book ‘Location-based Services, from hype to hyper’. The consumer doesn’t see ads as enough, 63% think that mobile coupons are the most valuable form of mobile marketing.

So it’s obvious that GroupOn has some serious problems in customer acquisitions with skyrocketing costs and a constant? need  for new investments; could that have anything to do with the fact that they aren’t a social network or search service?

In the light of Google+ launch and what seems to be coming from Facebook, it might be relevant to also look at what Maartje Wouters lists as the six key drivers for mobile marketing value:

• Location search marketing: search engine marketing based on location is one of the most significant developments in location-based advertising.
• Gamification: it is expected that playing games on smartphones and tablets which are linked to location information are becoming more popular.
• Geospatial networking: More and more social networks are being equipped with location information which makes it possible to communicate with people in your close vicinity.
• The use of sensors: Smartphones are being equipped with more and more sensors, which can measure an array of metrics, such as temperature or energy use. This information can be combined with location information.
• Indoor navigation: The combination of different location techniques will make it possible to give more accurate and detailed information about a person’s location in the future. This creates opportunities for indoor navigation and advertising.
• Virtual money: Mobile payments will have a huge impact on the way we perceive money in general.

Homeplus Subway Virtual Store

Brilliant! Korea shows how you can use subways as supermarkets with help of mobile phones:

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Plans To ‘Launch Something Awesome’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters at the company’s Seattle office yesterday that the company next week plans to “launch something awesome.” The thing, let’s call it Project Awesome, was developed in that office, Reuters reports.

There has been speculation that Project Awesome – I know they aren’t calling it that, but still, humor me – could be the release of a long-awaited Facebook app for the Apple iPad and/or a specialized app for photo-sharing on the iPhone.

Stayed tuned for the awesomeness. Read at blogs.forbes.com

Google Takeout, An Easier Way To Take Your Data With You

#Lost in all the buzz around Google+ is an important new feature rolled out alongside it that makes it way easier to take all your data out of Google. It is called, appropriately enough, Google Takeout. It’s got it’s own separate site and is also part of settings within Google+. In settings, you click on “Data Liberation” and then you are given the option to download all of your profile data, stream data, photos from Picassa, Buzz data, Circles and Contacts.” Read more at techcrunch.com

HP in Discussions to License WebOS Software, CEO Apotheker Says

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), the world’s largest maker of personal computers, is in discussions to license its WebOS mobile software, Chief Executive Officer Leo Apotheker said.

“We are talking to a number of companies,” Apotheker said in an interview in Beijing yesterday, declining to elaborate on details. “I can share with you that a number of companies have expressed interest. We are continuing our conversations.” Read it all at bloomberg.com

The Self-Tracking Stuff that Broke

“Despite the fact that I am an editor at Technology Review, I am not typically someone who loves gadgets. And I have a low tolerance for getting them to work. So the fact that most of my self-tracking endeavors went smoothly is testament to the fact that these tools are, for the most part, ready for the average consumer…” Read more at tehnologyreview.com