Mobile Social Networking News

Mobile Social Networking: Can it be Monetised?

2009-07-10T21:16:30+00:00

I have just finished a really interesting (in my opinion) panel at MEM09 titled “Mobile Social Networking: Can it be Monetised?” with Stefan Rust, Co-Founder and CEO, Catalist Group and Chairman, MEF Asia; Mark Curtis, Chief Executive Officer, Flirtomatic; and Steve Ives, Chief Executive Officer, Taptu. Unlike most panels I speak on, this one seemed quite frank and to the point about some of the challenging things facing mobile social networks and how they are promoted and monetised. The discussion shifted from marketing to revenue to devices to usage trends and as it kept shifting one thing became very clear: mobile social networking, and mobile internet in general, represents a different kind of experience to the user that is, in some ways, more suited to use in your life as you live it.

Mobile Social Networking: Another Dimension for Communication

2009-07-10T21:15:52+00:00

In present times, human awareness has advanced to the digital world opening up yet another dimension for communication. With the advent of the mobile phone, it has become yet another tool for communication through the digital medium. In the modern cyber age, it is not essential for people to be physically present in front of each other to socialize. So, a physically visible audience is not the priority, since the cyber world allows people to communicate and socialize digitally with each other.

Analysts question T-Mobile’s choice of myTouch over Hero

2009-07-10T21:13:34+00:00

Some analysts worry that T-Mobile USA may have missed a trick by opting for a new Android device, myTouch 3G, which is mostly the same as HTC’s first one, the G, except for its slimmer shape and lack of a physical keyboard. According to T-Mobile USA Chief Technology Officer Cole Brodman, the No. 4 U.S. carrier currently has no plans to sell Hero, another HTC phone that runs Google’s Android but has an updated user interface that looks similar in some ways to Palm Pre.

Live Blogging the T-Mobile - Google MyTouch 3G Launch

2009-07-10T21:04:46+00:00

11:03: The T-Mobile-Google MyTouch 3G Launch event at the Skyline Studios on the west side. This event is a much more casual affair than the G1 launch from last September. There's no agenda in the USB drive and seemingly no Google people present. Google must be the surprise speakers. Also, the press releases are the same two T-Mobile and Geodelic issued June 22 when the news formally broke. Cole Brodman, senior vice president, chief technology and innovation officer, and Denny Marie Post, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, are slated to speak.

Cascadia Investments, Inc. Launches a Mobile Social Networking Site

2009-07-08T15:00:24+00:00

Cascadia Investments announced today that the company will launch twelve properties over the next six-to-twelve months. And, to keep investors abreast of all these latest developments, the company has set up www.cascadiainteractive.com as the home page for all of its current and future Internet properties. Cascadia's newest product is phace.mobi, a mobile social networking site that allows people to set up online profiles; add pictures, links, and music; and share common interests. Social mobile networking sites are gaining popularity with people all over the world as they allow large groups of people to stay connected while on the go. While Cascadia's first two websites, ticktweet.com and tinytwirp.com, were purchased as acquisitions, phace.mobi was built entirely in-house.

Entry Level LG Social Networking Mobile Phone

2009-07-08T14:59:42+00:00

Europe : LG in Spain has released details of a new GPRS / EDGE mobile phone which will be launched for the European market in the first instance. It’s called the LG GW300 and looks to us to be an entry level mobile phone which will attract a price accordingly. We would call this a social mobile phone as it targets those interested in mobile social networking and in particular the Facebook community. Only the bare details are currently available as follows : 1. Facebook special client on board 2. Supports GPRS and EDGE 3. QWERTY keyboard 4. 2.4 inch display ( 240x320 pixels ) 5. Weight 95 grams 6. Stereo Bluetooth 7. USB stick 8. MP3 player on board Pricing and availability to be announced nearer to the official LG launch.

Mobile Social Networking Revenue Will Grow to $60 billion in 2012 Says New Report

2009-07-08T14:57:44+00:00

To illustrate the scale of mobile social networking, the number of unique visitors to the Facebook mobile site increased fivefold from 5 million per month in January 2008 to 25 million in February 2009. The latter figure represents 18 percent of Facebook’s 120million-strong user community in February 2009. Social communities, or online social networks, can be defined as an online area where people with similar interests meet, such as Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. User generated content is simply content created by the users of a service, such as YouTube. Such sites are immensely popular, with Facebook, MySpace and YouTube amongst the top ten most popular websites globally. According to the report, revenue from mobile social networking and user generated content will grow to around $60 billion in 2012. The report “Mobile Social Networking and User Generated Content Market Insight 2009-2014” is available from Report Buyer at: www.reportbuyer.com/telecoms/mobile/mobile_content/mobile_social ..

Future of Social Networking is on Mobile

2009-07-08T14:50:43+00:00

One of the biggest assets of a mobile phone is its ability to gather location co-ordinates which adds context to a situation. I have talked about mobile social networking and location in my previous posts. In this post, I am going to talk about two of my favorite mobile applications that have become more relevant due to context. There purpose here is to illustrate how mobile enhances the experience of social networking as compared to that on PC and why mobile social networking is likely to be successful in future:

Mig33 is most downloaded mobile app — have you heard of it?

2009-07-08T14:50:35+00:00

Mig33, a company that lets millions of users communicate on mobile phones via IM, chat rooms, and photo sharing, says it’s the most popular downloaded mobile application ever. You’d hardly know it, though. Chances are, if you live in the US, even if you’re tech-savvy, you’ve never heard of Mig33. Sounds like the Russian fighter jet, right? Most of its users are on the hundreds of millions of low-end phones sold by Nokia and other Java-based phones that have most of their distribution in developing countries. Mig33 is increasingly popular on Windows-based phones, and Blackberries, but is not on the iPhone, and has yet to make a real dent in the U.S. Still, it says it has been downloaded more than 50 million times and has 20 million “registered” users, or those who have actually signed up for membership for the service. The company does not reveal how many “active” users it has, i.e, the number who have used the site within the last 30 days. Steve Boom, the company’s chief executive, says that number is in the “millions” and that from his best estimates, that make Mig33 “the biggest” app period.

Mobile Social Networking Service Flirtomatic Gets $4 Million Funding

2009-07-08T14:49:49+00:00

London-based mobile and online social networking service Flirtomatic has secured $4 million funding from Seraphim Capital to finance its expansion into international mobile markets…Flirtomatic allows users to create a personal profile and flirt with other users both online and using their mobile. Three-quarters of Flirtomatic’s traffic comes via mobile, reports Guardian. It claims a combined web and mobile audience of 380K users in the UK, recording around 103 million page views every month.