When I discuss mobile technology on this site, I try to accurately portray the user metrics of mobile phone owners to share with businesses the opportunity that resides in mobile communication. Today I feel a strong urge to change it a bit.

Today I need to share the emotion that is involved in the relationship we have with our mobile devices, and to do this effectively, it needs to come from a personal level.

What does a mobile phone mean to me? You would think that people will probably lean toward a detached feeling. A device that is as essential as it is intrusive. Often it’s described as “Something that needs to make and receive phone calls”.

There’s one question that needs to be asked to fully understand the emotion, romance even, behind the relationship “people” (I’ll explain what I mean by people a bit later) have with their mobile phones.

What do I want from a mobile phone?

You will notice that I did not use the term need. My needs and wants are completely separated, yet intrinsically connected. That is the difference between the “people” I mention above, and the older generation of mobile users.

So what is it that I want so badly from a phone?

1. 1. A large display with touch screen capabilities
2.  
3. 2. Built in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Internet
4.  
5. 3. A sexy form factor
6.  
7. 4. Exclusivity – the phone need not be available to the mass market
8.  
9. 5. Multimedia capabilities with camera and video options – A place to store music, pictures and videos and play them back whenever I want on the large display in #1
10.  
11. 6. A phone that I can customize to my exact liking. That includes applications I want to install keeping me connected on my favourite social media websites, mobile banking and micropayment capabilities.
12.  
13. 7. Fast and real internet. Not some WAP sites. Browsing fully loaded websites as I would on my laptop browser. And being able to do so effectively wherever I am.
14.  
15. 8. Open, receive and send business documents. This includes Word and Excel documents, PowerPoint presentations and even PDF documents.
16.  
17. 9. Location based services. GPS. Google Maps. For when I’m lost or just to show people how cool our earth really is.
18.  
19. 10. RSS – the ability to save relevant articles to my device; to store information that I could read at a later stage and the ability to sync the entire process with a similar service on my laptop.

This is quite an extensive list, and reading through it now I notice that I did not even include the basic options like making phone calls, sending and receiving text messages and e-mail. Those are a given.

I’m not the only one madly in love with mobile phones. There are millions of us sharing exactly the same sentiment. Apple did a sensational job of poking at the soft centre of our core, exposing our vulnerability and emotions toward technology. We want more than we need. And that’s good. We learn from it. We fight with each other. We compare. We brag. We long. We live.

Do you then understand that when I give you the permission to send me information, when I download your application, when I visit your website from my coveted device, that I am in fact sharing my loyalty, showing my appreciation and love for you too?

If you, as business brand, can make it onto my mobile phone, then you Sir, have ultimately succeeded in your goal in acquiring me as a client. Client is not even the correct word. Brand Ambassador extraordinaire.

The moment you have made it onto my phone, we have become one, and I will go to the end of this world to defend your every move. Now isn’t that a nice connection to have?

I’ve been doing tons of research on how to make money using mobile these past couple of weeks. I am happy to inform you that I’m now well versed in giving out valuable advice on how to best monetize your business with mobile.

This should be especially juicy since our less fortunate, and much more hyped up digital friend, the internet, is still a penniless mass (mess?) of user created content without a commercial model to support it.
So let’s delve right into the soft side:

1. Mobile social networking. If Facebook stopped cutting deals with money grabber Microsoft and focused on creating a superior mobile extension, they might actually turn a profit for a change. Not much chance of that happening though…so much more the better for anyone else out there.

2. Freemium. Isn’t it just the coolest word ever? Freemium explains a business model where you provide a base service for free and charge for premium services. Again, Facebook could’ve employed this tactic, which I guess they did in a way with gifts, although it’s hardly premium.

Also keep in mind that we’re focusing on mobile. What makes freemium extra special on mobile is because of mobile’s micropayment capabilities. Users don’t have to waste time through a multi-paged shopping cart and credit card submissions. Click, download, install. We’ll take care of the bill at the end of the month.

3. Subscriptions. If you have content of value, drive it through a subscription based model. This service increases exponentially in value if you run a news service, weather, stocks and other similar services.

4. Personalization, gifts and ego services. ‘Ego services’ is another term I really love. People are ego driven. Why else would they join social networks in the public domain? And if you run a service with the capabilities to have users stroke their own egos, charge a minor fee for it.

5. Revenue share model. If you can charge for the content that your users create, repaying them in revenue shares would create a snowball effect…more content, more views and even more revenue.

You might have picked up on the fact that one specific word is remarkably absent from this article. Advertising. Yes, the one thing that so many businesses reckon would make them their money.

With budgets tightening by the minute, marketers are being forced from their comfort zones to come up with ways to monetize businesses without the aid of advertisers.

I have the ability to be rather annoying when it comes to the shape of the future with mobile technology. One of my favourite analogies that I present to most of the people that care enough to listen is that of the Sony Bravia commercial on television a while back. I have said on numerous occasions that I thought it to be one of the best commercials I’ve seen in a long time. In addition to that, I have quoted on a previous blog article of mine, that should the Sony Bravia had a mobile hook to the commercial, with the user being able to order a Bravia by return text message from a number on the television screen, that the sales of the television might have increased dramatically.

The pipedream when I explain it to my friends is a world where mobile networks and our local banks would come to some sort of relationship whereby it is possible for a consumer to use his mobile phone as a purchasing mechanism, much like a credit card.

This was all more than a year ago, and while it seemed to have been a pipedream back then, South Korea has now already advanced to the stage where more than 100,000 people in the country are using mobile phones as purchasing mechanism, varying from credit to debit transactions using multiple technologies for it like bar code reading. Simply by creating a SIM card where banking details and credit card information can be stored, the phone can then be used at checkout points to purchase the item. The user’s account will automatically be debited with the appropriate amount, rendering the actual plastic version credit card as rather useless.

In fact, the credit card facilities in South Korea now include this mobile credit technology as a default into their subscriptions, offering the plastic credit card as an optional extra.

The greatest problem, as explained on the Communities Dominate Brands Blog, is that countries like South Africa still has an entrenched status quo where it seems that the banks are situated in one corner, mobile operators in another, credit card facilities yet again in another and for some reason cannot fathom the idea of merging technologies and expertise to create a more convenient user experience.

I have no doubt that in the nearby future such mergers and relationships will be performed and I quite look forward to the day when I can use my mobile phone for every day purchases.

To prove this many of you would probably acknowledge that nearly a year or two ago it was unimaginable to even suggest writing an entire blog article using nothing else than a mobile phone, which is exactly what I have done. From the recorded voice file, I simply transferred the sound clip to my laptop and have a programme, Dragon’s Naturally Speaking, convert the text that I recorded into written text. The interaction I had to date with my keyboard was to make minor edits and change around some words and sentences.

We are rapidly entering a world where convenience forms the pinnacle of consumer decision making and with a mobile penetration rate in South Africa of close to 90%, the logical progression would most probably be the advancement of mobile technologies in our everyday life.

What are some of the more profound things you use your mobile phone for?

“South Africa is a hotbed of mobile social innovation. From a depression-and-anxiety group helping teens via SMS, to assisting with compliance for tuberculosis medication, and the ‘cellphones for HIV‘ programme we have described earlier, diverse health initiatives are findings ways of using mobile phones.” – MobileActive.org

(South) Africa is in that peculiar situation where our mobile uptake outranks every other communications medium available today. Figures vary between 75% penetration rates to about 90%.

It is therefore not surprising and rather pleasing to see various healthcare organizations realizing the value communication via the mobile phone could add to their service offering. It is been long overdue and I predict a massive flux of mobile oriented campaigns for 2009, especially in the healthcare industry.

From a device called SIMpill (see the play on the word simple), sending text messages to users as reminder to take critical medication, monitoring and tracking in real time to Cell-Life’s “Cellphones for HIV” project, collaborating with various institutes to provide a lower cost service to people suffering from this dreaded disease, we should see the awareness around our health and the betterment of our lives drastically improve through the integration of mobile and online.

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) has launched a text message initiative especially developed for teens as many of them are reluctant to speak about the problems they experience, and this way they are able to anonymously communicate a cry for help to SADAG.

From their press release: “This service is a new and exciting way for teenagers around South Africa to reach out for help. Teenagers often prefer to communicate via sms, as they may feel uncomfortable expressing themselves verbally. This service is also instant, and a teen in crisis will never get a busy signal when he or she is in crisis. This service is also cheaper than a telephone call, as messages are charged at standard sms rates. In this way, teenagers around the country can get help, information, and practical advice on how to deal with depression and suicidal feelings. The teens can also request school talks and find mental health resources in their area.”

Unfortunately it seems that there was no outreach programme for this particular service, so no matter how effective the idea, if the execution lacks, the campaign falls flat on its face. I don’t believe teens will consciously search the net for help. They are afraid, reluctant and shy by nature and their problems worsen this feeling.

It is therefore critical to devise campaigns that deliver this initiative to them. There are social elements that cater for every teenager’s individual needs, Mxitand Facebook only but two of them. These channels should be embraced. Schools, public services and community outreach programmes should actively market this initiative as well.

While I believe this specific campaign has been around for a while and probably idling in the background, you can look forward to better execution and marketing of healthcare mobile services in 2009. Hopefully, including SADAG’s.

Important Update: Arrogance sometimes has its upside. I haven’t done my research on SADAG well enough, and subsequently received a phone call from the founder of SADAG, Zane Wilson, who has delightfully informed me on the astounding efforts they do to spread the message of their teenage text campaign. They visit a lot of schools where they give talks, hand out flyers and have appeared on various radio stations and television shows as well.

They also advertise in a variety of magazines, and while not necessarily addressing people through the media of my choice, their efforts certainly outperforms my wildest imagination. I apologise.

I have discussed where my expertise might complement their efforts though and I’m very happy to assist them in spreading the word through the media I specialise in. I look forward to everyone that’s ever been touched by this disease to help where they can. Leave a comment if you desire more information.

I struck a rather startling epiphany on New Year’s eve when I embarked on my annual ritual of sending celebratory text messages to almost my entire contact list on my phone. It has been documented ad infinitum that South Africa boasts with one of the most impressive mobile penetration rates in the world, with roughly 90% mobile phones held among the 49 million South Africans.

I was running a hypothesis through my mind at the time and while my numbers may be profoundly inaccurate, I believe that the crux of the idea is still a viable one to document.

What struck me as devastatingly obvious is that between the three major cellular networks, Vodacom, Cell C and MTN, their collective potential to aid to social responsibility in South Africa is ridiculously easy.

Assuming that every single mobile phone owner sends at least one text message during the period from December 24 to January 01, a long shot I know (but then, many of us send more than 20), and averaging the cost of a single text message at 30 cents, if the three cellular networks donated only three cents (3 cents for crying out loud) to charity, a respectable R 179 100 would have made it to people in dire need during the festive season.

Also assuming that half the mobile enabled population of South Africa sends at least one MMS message (cost thumbed at R 1.50) during the same time, with Vodacom, MTN and Cell C donating only 20 cents per MMS to charity, another respectable R 661 500 would have filled the coffers of charities in need.

Add a couple of cents for each call made, every e-mail sent and kilobytes browsed on smart phones and you’ll find yourself a handsome amount.

You see, large corporations have the advantage of numbers. And with very little effort, and undoubtedly an enormous boost in revenue during the festive season, that little effort each year could profoundly change the face of a third world country.

My hypothesis is a simple one, but with numbers like these and about half and hour for any able brained person, the benefits could be staggering.

Time to put on our thinking caps and for large corporations to join in on the responsibility we have toward the less fortunate.

Unfortunately, the festive season also goes along with depression, loneliness, desperation and despair. While the majority of people are merrily basking away in the sun, drinking, sharing and laughing with family and friends, there are the selected few that, even with people around, are desperately seeking for some solace.

When we read “the selected few”, the word niche should pop into our heads immediately. During the festive season, there is an opportunity for churches, social services and even welfare to tap into this niche and provide some much needed solace, inspiration and in some cases, life saving services.

[Why churches still don’t keep databases of its flock is possibly still due to the ongoing debate among religions over whose god is real. It’s all about prioritizing isn’t it?]

Pity, because an opt in text message service for people in desperate need of reassurance, faith and guidance during these testing times would actually serve a much greater purpose as the bickering over which of us will actually make it into the pearly gates.

This service could also be categorised to include suicide messaging, either distributing constant support messages or have an actual representative of the church in various areas available on call-out for severe cases where SOS messages are sent in.

Only last week I found myself in a conversation of a person whose friend’s parents were killed in a freak car accident, and while friends and family are there to offer their love and support, it’s often in silence that these people suffer. A message service for people in morning and despair would add much needed solace during a season in which we are to celebrate.

What about fun? Festive ringtones, MMS message templates, jingles and literature could all add additional value to every person’s holidays. I found myself sending fifty text messages this morning to friends, family and clients wishing them the merriest of Christmas. Adding a fun element to the church helps keep the relationship active while we are away.

There are so many opportunities to add value to people’s lives during a time when our peers, our god and our churches are so easily forgotten.

What do you think?

I’m away on vacation and what better way to entertain than to provide you with my “mobile and the holidays” snippets where I’ll explore the world of mobile communications, marketing and value added services that I pick up or conjure up during my vacation.

Getting right into it then. It is my brother’s birthday today and his phone has been ringing off the hook with text messages and congratulatory calls.

One such text message came through from his Medical Aid Service Provider. My immediate reaction was to commend them for the personal connection they have with each of their customers, if only until my brother mentioned that he had signed with another Medical Scheme more than a year ago.

Pity? Bad database management? Or a way to remind my brother that they’re still out there?

What do you think?

$1 000 000 000 000. Say it like you mean it: “One trillion dollars.” The mobile industry is the world’s latest trillion dollar baby. What’s more profound is that it was achieved in slightly more than ten years.

How does it compare?

1. 1. Combined with radio, the broadcasting industry is still nowhere near a trillion dollar industry, only about half of that.
2. 2. Advertising is worth roughly half a trillion dollars, in very round terms.
3. 3. The IT industry? Another half trillion there.
4. 4. Air travel is also in the half trillion dollar range.

Does anything compare?

1. 1. Cars,
2. 2. the global food industry,
3. 3. and believe it or not, the global weapons industry are all trillion dollar businesses.
4. 4. Now add mobile to that list.

Where there’s money, there’s people. And where there’s people, there’s a target audience.

Back in 2001 when I got my first mobile phone, text messaging and calling was the only luxury we had. Mobile content was a pipe dream. However, on the 5th of December 2008, exactly 10 years prior, the first downloadable mobile content was launched, the ringtone. Unbeknown to the world population at large, a booming industry was born that day.

For anyone, any business in whatever shape or size not yet fully convinced that the future of digital marketing starts and ends with mobile, allow me to highlight some examples of this ridiculously growing industry (This is a long post, but you WILL be wow-ed, so bear with me):

• 1. The latest numbers reveal that the total number of unique mobile phone owners is now 3.05 billion (46% of the planet’s population do have a mobile phone, even after we remove the multiple subscriptions).

 

• 2. There are 1.4 billion TV sets in the world. But there are 2 billion mobile phones with a colour screen and at least 2.5G network connectivity, meaning they can display “streaming” ie live TV and video.

 

• 3. Of the four digital camera giants, only Canon and Nikon remain in the camera business, Konica and Minolta no longer exist in the camera market; and the world’s bestselling camera brand, since 2004, has been Nokia. (I have a phone with a 5 megapixel camera)

 

• 4. Music on mobile phones today, at the end of 2008, is passing the 11 billion dollar annual revenue level. When we bear in mind, that the total global music industry is only worth 30 billion dollars - it means that more than one in three dollars spent on music globally, is spent on the mobile phone.

 

• 5. 50 Cents with his smash hit, In da Club, in 2003 earned more as ringtone than all other music formats combined - and most annoyingly of course the Crazy Frog - to the tune of 500 million dollars of global sales of their ringtones and related services in 2005 – that’s one ringtone earning more than all of iTunes’ global sales that year.

 

• 6. A third of the mobile phone subscribers on the planet sends MMS picture messages - that is 1.3 billion people for those who are counting. Comparing that with 1.2 billion active users of email, and suddenly MMS is very interesting indeed. Worldwide, you can reach a larger audience if you put your content (or advertising) on an MMS picture message, than if you put it into email.

 

• 7. This year mobile social media passed $9 billion and next year will easily cross the 10 billion dollar level of annual revenues. From zero to 10 billion dollars in six years. Mobile social networking is by far the fastest-growing billion dollar industry ever. For comparison, the online internet side of social media is three times as old, and still hasn’t passed a billion dollars in total revenues - where most of that is advertising revenues. Mobile social networking sites are making oodles of cash, and many have already become profitable in this very short time.

 

• 8. In the past ten years, mobile content has turned into a global giant industry worth over 71 billion dollars of annual revenues. That is as big as all Hollywood box office revenues, plus all global music revenues, and all videogaming software revenues - put together. Hollywood and music are 100 year old industries. Videogaming is a 30 year old industry. But mobile has already grown bigger than all three, combined, in only ten years.

 

• 9. There are under 500 million newspapers sold daily. There are 900 million personal computers connected to the internet. There are 1.3 billion internet users. And 1.4 billion TV sets. But 1.5 billion people will receive ads on mobile phones this year. How many more will receive them next year?

I have a tip for you today. If you walk down the road and spot a public pay phone, take a picture of it, because, like in Finland, they’ll all be gone pretty soon.

My second tip is to get with the times and comprehend the superpowers of the mobile industry. The future of mankind’s commercial business models will rely on a piece of equipment you will rarely leave home without.

Thank you to Tomi Ahonen for his articles, content which I shamelessly copied and shortened for the convenience of my readers. If there are two articles you have to read before Christmas, it’s these two.

With mobile phone technology advancing rapidly, the critical role of citizens in today’s society has changed dramatically. People are becoming more involved through the mere fact that they are able to connect to a plethora of platforms using an array of media at the drop of a penny.

Citizen journalism, a term phrased for a society able to capture breaking news and distribute it immediately has seen many organisations embrace this new form of reporting. Arab news corporation, Al Jazeera has started incorporating mobile reporting into their repertoire of services.

With the quality of the mobile phone’s camera, the ability to connect through 3G, GPRS and Wi-Fi and location based services such as GPS capabilities, accurate portrayals of global happenings can now be distributed to the news corporations in an instant.

During the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks, one such citizen managed to capture a burning Taj Mahal and uploaded the images to his personal blog via his mobile phone.

From the New York Times: “At the peak of the violence, more than one message per second with the word “Mumbai” in it was being posted onto Twitter, a short-message service that has evolved from an oddity to a full-fledged news platform in just two years.”

“Some people transmitted video from inside the Taj hotel to news networks via cellphones. And reporters used cellphones to send text messages to hotel guests who had set up barricades in their rooms.”

In a time where the mobile phone continues to serve as value added device, an enormous advance from simply making phone calls and texting merely ten years ago, the role of marketing and communications are changing.

The mobile phone forms a critical part of everyday life now and companies should realize the potential this device poses to them.

The most widely recognized definition of a bank is an institution that acts as safeguard for money that should’ve been hidden under your bed, seeks for a million ways to deduct amounts so small that it’s hardly noticeable, yet leaving you well short on cash at the end of each month.

For more evidence on this, I recommend renting the documentary Zeitgeist and indulging yourself in the alleged fraudulent behaviour of the Reserve Bank of America. You’re welcome to form your own opinion around this.

When ABSA Bank changed their slogan to Today Tomorrow Together I was rather upset, because besides my credit-crunching girlfriend, it seemed I had another life-long partner sucking me dry for every loose penny I own. However, sometimes banks manage to produce some new, albeit still money grabbing, initiative that actually adds value to the consumer’s banking experience.

ABSA Bank calls it CashSend and it’s the first bank in Africa to facilitate funds transfer mechanics without actually having to be a bank account holder.

“CashSend will allow Absa customers to electronically transfer funds using an Absa ATM, self-service kiosk, mobile banking or internet banking, to a recipient who is then able to withdraw the funds without needing a card or bank account.” – MyBroadband.co.za

The cash sender will need to input a six digit code, the recipient’s mobile phone number and the amount they wish to transfer. The recipient can then easily withdraw the money by using the withdrawal number, access code and the specified amount. Simple, efficient and progressive. Mind you, that’s not bad for a new slogan, is it? Something like that would make me breathe easier.

With marketers, especially these new, improved and self-obsessed types of marketers building massive personal empires on the internet today, we find tons of examples of new age mobile marketing campaigns that is as outrageous as the money they charge for them. I’ll take this as the ideal opportunity to commend the team behind this initiative: a simple, effective value adding service that I’m sure will be well received throughout the country.

I spotted only one downside though which will hopefully be rectified soon. It seems the CashSend initiative is not built into ABSA Bank’s internet banking service. A quick scan through my own account and I couldn’t find it. This of course doesn’t imply that it’s not there, only that it might be slightly troublesome locating the service.

If ABSA continues on this path in using technology to streamline my banking, I would be more than happy to let them extort some (please note: SOME) money for value added service delivery.