As a result, the mobile marketing community is buzzing this week over the recent speculation by Einar Rosenberg, Chief Technology Officer of Narian Technologies, Apple is currently tinkering with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip for possible inclusion in the next generation iPhone.

Apple’s impetus for seeking an RFID enabled iPhone is obvious. For Apple, turning the device into a handy payment tool makes the iPhone a far more convenient device than it already is. For mobile marketers, however, a group that has not yet had widespread opportunities to piggy-pack on such technology, the benefits could be equally bountiful.

Some mobile marketers have been gearing up for this eventuality just as aggressively as the tech world has.

In June, for example, Dairy Queen began testing an RFID-based customer loyalty program in Indiana. Customers who signed up for the program subsequently received coupons on their mobile phones via text message. The coupons were redeemable using RFID labels attached to the phones.

Apple’s potential foray into this arena could conceivably change the landscape of mobile technology forever in the US. And the impact on mobile marketing could be just as significant.

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The TwitterPeek device, which is solely built around Twitter, does exactly what you would expect from it. Using the device’s small keyboard, you can compose 140 character messages and follow your friends and associates on the popular social networking service.

However, that’s about all you can do. No e-mail, no text messages, and, consequently, no real opportunity for mobile marketers. Nonetheless, the TwitterPeek still comes at a somewhat substantial cost. The TwitterPeek is available on Amazon for $99 with six months of service included. A $7.95 a month fee is charged thereafter.

Although the US editor for Econsultancy, Meghan Keane, says TwitterPeek “works better as a mobile marketing device than a smartphone,” the mobile marketing community – for now at least – appears reluctant to embrace the device as a tool rather than a toy.

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Put simply, the platform makes it easy for marketers to send short-format mobile videos via MMS to almost all mobile users in the U.S.- regardless of whether they use a high-end smartphone or the latest free feature phone.  Furthermore, the platform allows marketers to measure the effectiveness and ROI of each campaign in real-time.

Mogreet claims current clients using the platform are routinely seeing open rates, video views and click-through rates 15-25 times higher than other forms of “advertising media”- though it’s a little misleading given the fact that its not compared to other forms of mobile marketing.

The fact that text-messages are usually read by a user within 20 seconds means brands can start seeing results almost instantaneously, versus hours or days for a similar email marketing campaign.  Another added benefit to using a mobile video-based platform is the fact that videos invoke a viral reaction, meaning videos sent via the platform have a chance to go viral much like they do Online.  Mogreet claims the viral aspect of its new mobile video marketing platform can result in 5 to 10 times additional reach.

I like the idea, and mobile video-based marketing will one day be a large part of the mobile marketing industry, but while Mogreet has created an all-inclusive tool to facilitate mobile video marketing, it’s still a slippery slope to conquer for those who are just now wrapping their head around the idea of mobile marketing in general.

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A new survey sponsored by a partnership between Millennial Media and DM2PRO decided to go directly to the source — meaning major brands and advertisers themselves– to see just how mobile marketing is working out for them, and to get an understanding as to how they plan on spending their marketing dollars using the mobile channel in the future.

100 leading agencies were surveyed to compile and in-depth analysis of mobile advertising performance and forecasts of future spending.  Dubbed “The State of the Industry,” the survey compiled data to provide a critical view on where the industry stands today, where the industry is and is not, and why agencies and publishers are planning to buy mobile in the future.

The survey indicated that 60 percent of non-mobile marketers are planning to employ some form of mobile advertising in 2010.  Subsequently, the increase in mobile spend was one of the more surprising aspects of the survey’s results.  Out of those surveyed; 31 percent of agency respondents stated they will invest between $100K and $249K next year, while more than 15 percent stated they plan on investing over $1 million.

More than half of Q4 mobile campaigns will represent between 1 percent and 10 percent of their client’s total spending, but for a few, the number could be an impressive 40-50 percent.  Overall though, nearly three quarters of the respondents stated that they had developed mobile campaigns for themselves or their clients, while around 28 percent hadn’t utilized mobile at all.  To me, a leading agency that doesn’t utilize the mobile channel for their clients shouldn’t be a leading agency at all.

When it comes to how mobile marketing is performing overall, 78 percent of respondents said the medium met their campaign goals, while an additional 9 percent said mobile performed “beyond our wildest expectations.”  Nearly one third of respondents stated that mobile has become an “indispensable” part of their media mix, while another 67 percent ranked mobile as “somewhat valuable” and only 2 percent said it wasn’t valuable at all.

It’s interesting to note that nearly 89 percent of respondents indicated that mobile was only a small part of a much larger multi-platform buy, and that internal resources remains the number one barrier to entry into the mobile channel.  More than 80 percent of agencies surveyed, who have participated in mobile campaigns, have hired or developed internal resources to support them.  Agencies expressed concern over the fact that it still involves multiple partners to “expertly execute on the promise of mobile media,” meaning things like technology partners, metrics, buying networks and app developer resources, among others.

Still, it’s always interesting to get a better understanding of how mobile is being used and what the future plans are for those who are actually involved in the practice of mobile marketing.  Check out the survey itself for much more info and supporting data.

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The MMA received hundreds of submissions in 12 categories from companies across the globe regarding completed mobile marketing campaigns and their outcomes.  Finalists were selected by the MMA Awards Selection Committee, which is comprised of global industry leaders from wireless carriers, technology and content providers, agencies, and industry publications.

All finalists and award winners will be honored at the Annual Global Awards dinner and ceremony on the evening of November 17 in Los Angeles, and will be the concluding event of the MMA’s 2009 Mobile Marketing Forum.

“The finalists for this year’s Global MMA Awards represent the mobile marketing pioneers and thought leaders who continue to shape our industry’s best practices through innovative and increasingly effective campaigns that raise the bar for all stakeholders within the mobile marketing community and beyond,” said Mike Wehrs, president and CEO of the MMA. “As the mobile marketing channel evolves and our awards process grows more competitive each year, we look forward to honoring our industry’s finest leaders and most successful campaigns.”

Hit the “read more” link to see all the finalists broken down by category.

Display

North America

• Disney.com Mobile, The Walt Disney Company
• Dockers iPhone Shake, OMD
• Pizza Hut iPhone App, Pizza Hut; Inc.

Central & Latin America

• Banorte movil, Mobext
• Citroën: Real Time Maintenance Stage Detector, Media Contacts, Mobext & Citroën
• Trident Fresh, F.biz

Europe, Africa and Middle East

• Coca-Cola Buvez-Bougez, PHONEVALLEY
• Coca-Cola’s Tele2 Happy Hour, Mobiento & IUM
• LMfootball.mobi, Livemobile (Pty) Ltd
• Soccer stars in your pocket, Mobiento

Asia Pacific

• Affle’s SMS2.0 faces its Moment of Truth, Mindshare India
• Notorious BIG, The Hyperfactory
• PUMA F WAN, PHONEVALLEY

Global

• Drinkspiration by Absolut, Absolut Vodka (Developed by: apegroup / Great Works / 24HR)
• Nokia Batman – The Dark Knight, 12snap Germany GmbH
• The Virtual Zippo Lighter App, Moderati, Inc.

Messaging

North America

• Best Buy Product Information on Demand, MyThum Interative
• Creating a Safety Movement by Encouraging Conversation: Just Look for UL, MS&L
• Text to Remember 9/11, Mobile Commons and September 11 Memorial & Museum
• Keith Urban 2009 Escape Together World Tour, Sponsored by KC Masterpiece & Kingsford Charcoal, Powered by Mozes, Mozes, Inc.

Central & Latin America

• Auto Racing SMS Advergame, HANZO SA
• Carefree Mobile Campaign, pontomobi interactive
• The Mummy 3 DVD Promotion, 2ergo

Europe, Africa and Middle East

• Kraft Foods Turkey / Patos, Mobilera
• Turkey Love Bonus, RABARBA ILETISIM HIZMETLERI

Asia Pacific

• Because We Can, The Hyperfactory
• Pampers Hearts Club, Procter & Gamble Philippines
• Quaker Oats Eat Well and Win SMS Promo, Pepsico International-Philippines

Global

• Obama SMS Speech Excerpts Sent to Cairo and Ghana Regions, Clickatell

Emerging Technologies

North America

• Ace Hardware Memorial Day Sale, Ace Hardware, Horizon Media & Mobile Posse, Inc.
• Groundbreaking LBA Trials Prove Effectiveness, Useful Networks
• Pizza Hut iPhone App, Pizza Hut; Inc.

Central & Latin America

• Bluetooth marketing at Pacaembú stadium, F.biz
• Close Up Mobile Campaign, pontomobi interactive
• Jeito Chiclets; Jeito Lhama, F.biz

Europe, Africa and Middle East

• Fanta More Play, The Hyperfactory
• Pepsi Makes Your Day, RABARBA ILETISIM HIZMETLERI
• Vodafone myCampaign, Vodafone D2 GmbH

Asia Pacific

• Cadbury Be The Gorilla, The Hyperfactory
• The MegaSim – An advanced Device client working as a single discovery UI or SMS / USSD / Voice / GPPRS and 3G services, Phoneytunes.com
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, AURA Interactive

Multi-Mobile Channel

North America

• Rogers/Live Nation – Wireless Box Office, MyThum Interactive
• Rogers/MTV Leak Live Tour, MyThum Interactive
• The Bouncer iPhone App, Mobile Site and SMS Marketing Campaign, iLoop Mobile, Inc.

Central & Latin America

• ClubMovistar – Mobile Loyalty Program, Movistar Chile, AndinaTech
• Petrobras Brazil GP 2008, F.biz
• Skol Beats 2008 Mobile Campaign, pontomobi interactive

Europe, Africa and Middle East

• ‘Handy leer? Fanta her!’ (Need a top-up? Grab a Fanta!), YOC AG
• Mini Mobile Dealer, Mobile Dreams Factory
• Pepsi Makes Your Day, RABARBA ILETISIM HIZMETLERI

Asia Pacific

• Selling Notebooks through Mobiles – A campaign for HP, Affle
• Sony Quantum Code, AURA Interactive
• The Car in my Pocket, Group M – Maxus

Global

• Coca-Cola Global Mobile Festive 2008, The Coca-Cola Company

Social Media

North America

• Gap StyleMixer iPhone App, AKQA
• Real Housewives of New York City: Ultimate Virtual Viewing Party, Bravo Digital Media
• Toyota Matrix Dark Alley – Your Other You, The Hyperfactory

Europe, Africa and Middle East

• Garnier Seasons Greetings Generator, Mobile Dreams Factory
• My 2009 Resolution, Mobile Dreams Factory
• The Fastest on Facebook, Mobile Dreams Factory

Asia Pacific

• KFC engages consumer on mobile internet, Madhouse Inc.
• Sony Quantum Code, AURA Interactive

Cross-Media Integration

North America

• Live A Little, A lot, Team One/Lexus
• Sprint Win a Disney Vacation Sweepstakes, Vibes Media
• UPS jobs – Problem Solved, UPS & TMP Worldwide

Central & Latin America

• Dobre o seu salário, F.biz
• Super game + Figurinha, F.biz
• TIM Father’s Day: Gift Express, TIM, McCann Erickson & Mobext

Europe, Africa and Middle East

• Be Cheeky and Eat By The Face, MOBILE ONE2ONE
• Vodafone McLaren Mercedes App, OMD Mobile
• Who Killed Summer 09 (Vodafone Group), OMD Mobile

Asia Pacific

• Go For It, Tribal DDB India
• Honda Jazz – Prodcasting, TELiBrahma Convergent Communications Pvt. Ltd
• The Olay mCoupon Campaign, P&G

Global

• Ad Council That’s Not Cool, R/GA
• Becks City Attach 2009, Shine
• Pepsi Dear Mr. President, R/GA

Best Mobile Campaign Overall:

• Pepsi Makes Your Day, RABARBA ILETISIM HIZMETLERI
• TIM Father’s Day: Gift Express, TIM, McCann Erickson & Mobext
• UPS jobs-Problem Solved Mobile Media Campaign Delivers Hires, UPS & TMP Worldwide Advertising
• Who Killed Summer 09 (Vodafone Group), OMD Mobile

The award finalists for the 2009 MMA Industry Awards are:

Innovation: Creativity

• SMS2.0 – Changing the paradigm for Mobile Marketing, Affle
• SMS2.0 – Changing the paradigm for Mobile Marketing, RABARBA ILETISIM HIZMETLERI A.S.
• The Fastest on Facebook, Mobile Dreams Factory

Innovation: Reach

• Save the Children Gaza ceasefire, Incentivated
• SCORECENTER, ESPN
• The 100.000 treasure boxes, Mobile Dreams Factory

Social Impact

• Center for Community Change Mobile Action Network, Mobile Commons Inc; and the Center for Community Change
• Earth Hour, The Hyperfactory
• Text ALIVE Mobile Donations, Mobile Accord Inc.

MMA Award for Overall Excellence

• Clickatell, Clickatell
• comScore & the GSMA in partnership with UK Mobile Operators – Telefonica O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, and Three UK
• Fanta Stealth Sound System, Ogilvy Advertising

The award finalists for the 2009 MMA Academic awards are:

Individual

• Margherita Pagani, Bocconi University
• Michael J. Becker, VP Strategy, iLoop Mobile
• Tao (Tony) Gao, Northeastern University

Institution

• Ball State University, Ball State University
• Woodapples – Information people love, tisco & TU Vienna

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Neil Mawston, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, is predicting the return to growth after a year of declining sales, but warns that major price-cutting will be a leading factor to the recovery- a strategy that should have been implemented long ago in my opinion.

Similarly, ABI Research also predicts an improvement in fourth quarter sales with Symbian-OS-based phones poised to lead the pack.  Though smartphones and new-age  mobile OSs such as the iPhone and Android OS seem to steal much of the spotlight, it’s Symbian-based devices that will remain number one throughout the return to growth in Q4.

ABI noted that Symbian’s proliferation is attributed to Nokia retaining 37.3 percent of the market in Q3, though it’s losing market share to competitors rather quickly.  Samsung, for instance, gained market share in Q3 to corner 20.7 percent of the market.

What’s unclear is whether the influx of Android-based devices to enter the market before years-end will influence the overall sales of handsets for 2009.  ”The dark horse in all this is Android,” said Kevin Burden, ABI practice director, noting that Motorola’s Droid smartphone is just one of many Android phones waiting in the wings to be marketed before the end of the year.

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The potential service, which may launch as early as 2010, has been kept on the down-low for some time. But the recent wave of information leaks about Apple’s allegedly aggressive push for the service likely means its about to debut.

Peter Kafka at MediaMemo said Apple’s subscription proposal is “not based on any specific piece of hardware, like the Apple TV or forthcoming tablet. Rather, the plan would stick with the existing iTunes desktop software.”

Although no firm commitments are known to have been made in support of the possible service from major content providers, some expect Disney to dive in head first. Disney and Apple, after all, have long had a very positive relationship as evidence by Disney being the first to provide its content on iTunes – a move that worked well for both Apple and Disney.

It’s likely that an announcement of the new service will come soon. As we’ve seen in recent days, Apple is laying the groundwork for what would appear to be a host of new ventures (which could translate to new opportunities for mobile marketers) by shoring up their strongholds. Apple TV software, for example, was updated to version 3.0, which introduced a redesigned interface and host of other attractive attributes.

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By having a jailbroken iPhone, you also have access to pirated or “cracked” apps that are available from a variety of sources.  Cracked apps usually include premium apps otherwise only available for a fee via the iTunes store.

Mobile analytics provider Pinch Media decided to take a look at the issue and discovered the problem is bigger than most think.  They’ve been tracking jailbroken devices for several months now and have started to get a handle on this previously unexamined ecosystem.

According to their data, which includes 4 million jailbroken devices, 38% have at least one pirated application installed.  Pinch Media says this estimate is low since pirates often take extra steps to avoid detection.  Still, it’s worth noting that this percentage is nowhere near being the majority of jailbreaking users, since there’s a majority of people who just want extra control over their device and not necessarily an opportunity to steal apps.

Surprisingly, the findings indicate that app piracy is relatively low in the US, UK and Japan where a majority of iPhone users reside, and rampant in countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and Mexico where it’s negatively correlated with per capita national GDP.

The number one excuse jailbreakers give as the reason for pirating apps is that they simply want to try before they buy.  Pinch Media wanted to examine that claim as well and proved the opposite by setting a baseline for typical conversion rates of legitimate “lite” to paid applications and found that the conversion rate there is 7.4%.

This means about 1 in 14 who try the “lite” version go on to purchase the paid version.  However, among the pirate community, pirated-to-legitimate conversions are 0.43%, or only 1 in about 233 installations.  In other words, few users of pirated apps are truly “trying before they buy,” they’re just trying.

Jailbreaking and pirating apps will never go away, and Apple and its app developers will continue to take steps to curb the situation, but in the end it’s safe to say that anyone that would utilize pirated apps would never pay for the same apps in the first place- so the developer isn’t really losing revenue, they’re just gaining users.

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One of the biggest problems with email marketing is the turnover rate of email addresses. Within one year 33% of email addresses in your campaign list are no longer valid. Cell phone numbers have a far lower turnover rate, and most people keep their cell phone number for life. With virtually no delivery issues and 95% of cell phones SMS enabled, getting the message in front of eyeballs is much easier via mobile than an email campaign.

He concludes that the biggest hindrance to mobile marketing is the opposition from e-mail marketers, who are bitter about problems with email marketing and don’t understand how mobile marketing differs from email.

“I speak with prospects all the time that won’t try mobile because they feel their customers will get upset,” writes Reitzen. He points out that mobile marketing can equal a “horrible user experience if not executed properly.”

The if, though, is the key. You do have to be careful because, yes, users can get pissed off at your brand if you are sending them SPAM. But if they’ve opted in to your campaign and you are sending them useful messages, mobile marketing, especially SMS marketing, can yield great ROI. Much better than email marketing.

Reitzen points out some useful tips:

• Your first approach to a mobile strategy should be to offer something only available via the mobile phone.
• The incentive should be good and be the only place your customer can take you up on your offer.
• All mobile clubs should have a double opt in so you cannot sign up anyone but yourself. The subscriber takes the action of responding with a “YES.”
• Make sure when you are opting people into your database, you not only get them to respond “YES” to join, but you manage their expectations with the types of messages they will get, how often they will get them, and how they can opt out.

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Continental Airlines recently ran a marketing campaign aimed at the Hispanic-American demographic in which consumers could enter by texting a keyword to a short code or by clicking on a WAP link within an SMS alert from Univision and other various publishers.  The contest let consumers enter to win a trip for two anywhere in the world — up to $2,500 worth of plane tickets — by submitting a video.

The airline ran ads on TV, on-line banners, search engine ads, out-of-home, radio and mobile — both SMS and WAP.  After it was all said and done, the company found that their interactive ads (mobile and on-line) were more effective than their off-line ads by a long shot (not surprising) but, most interestingly, the mobile ads were five-to-ten times more effective than on-line advertising.

A ten-times better response for mobile over other forms of marketing isn’t that surprising, but mobile getting a ten-times better response over Online ads for the same campaign is pretty impressive- and speaks volumes as to what the best way to reach the Hispanic demographic is.

The case study taught Continental Airlines a thing or two about not only what mobile can do when used properly in a multi-media campaign, but also how to bolster response from certain demographics.

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