New, inexpensive (under $150) cellphones for the holiday- 2008

Thanks to industry newsletter FierceWireless.com for this helpful overview we’re offering to parents looking to buy that first cellphone as a gift. These are the “new” phones that have just come on the market at various price-points. There are, of course, free phones as well, depending on the contract you sign.

Starting with the least expensive (just considering the phone price only)…

Click on the link under each label for more details about features.

Motorola VU204
Verizon Wireless- $29.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=2

Pantech Slate
AT&T Mobility- $49.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=4

Samsung Rant
Sprint Nextel- $49.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=8

Motorola i576
Sprint Nextel-$70 (with a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=1

Pantech Matrix
AT&T Mobility- $79.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=3

Blackberry Pearl 8130
Alltel- $79.99 (after $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=5

Samsung Propel
AT&T Mobility- $79.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=7

UTStarcom Quickfire
AT&T Mobility- $99.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=10

Samsung Highnote
Sprint Nextel- $99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=6

LG Rhythm
Alltel Wireless-$119.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=0

Samsung Sway
Verizon Wireless- $119.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=9

Wild Card
Virgin Mobile USA- $89 (pre-paid service details at http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do)
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/pics-holiday-handsets-under-150?img=11

New openness toward phone consumers! (Er, who wanted that?)

Pity the poor family looking to buy new cellphones and reading how “in the last nine months, carriers, software developers and cellphone makers have embraced a new attitude of openness toward consumers,” as The New York Times reported this week.

Sounds great. Where is it in the store?

As the NYT explained, “The market for smartphones, which are really handheld computers, has quickly expanded beyond business users. They have gone mainstream, with teenagers and women finding novel uses for them — texting snippets of their lives to friends or tracking friends on maps. The carriers and the handset makers realize they have to make the phones adaptable to those new customers.

Super! So, therefore…

Well, deep into the article, it explains that “Of course, consumers should be careful what they wish for. Already there are at least six major operating systems for cellphones — Linux, Symbian and BlackBerry, as well as those made by Microsoft, Palm and Apple. And more are coming. Google expects the first phones in its Open Handset Alliance, which will use its Google Mobile operating system, to be out this fall.

“Consumers may find it confusing that some applications work only for certain phones because developers do not have the time or money to adapt projects to every operating system.”

“Consumers will also come to realize that “open” comes with an asterisk. The word means what the carriers, handset makers and software developers want it to mean.”

Of course, it’s even worse if you are a “mobile marketing” professional trying to figure out your next move.

Texting “A Pain in the Neck”

I loved the August 1 story in the Washington Post how seniors are tapping into texting. Kim Hart did a great job. But, really, the point of the article was: Not really.

The story starts off with:

“Jane Stohlman, 69, stared intently, trying to figure out why in the dickens that tiny envelope kept appearing on her cellphone’s screen.

The helpful young man sitting beside her explained. It was a text message, and it was far more useful than one of those old-fashioned voice mails.”

“Not at my age,” Stohlman informed him. “And who the heck was texting me?”

Hart reported that, “for wireless companies, senior citizens are a relatively underserved market. About 50 percent of seniors over age 65 own a cellphone, compared with nearly 90 percent of consumers 18 to 29, according to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.”

Seniors make up the fastest-growing market for cellphone firms like AT&T, the article said.

The reporter was covering a demo for seniors by AT&T. One compay rep showed a woman how to designate her daughter as a contact under “ICE,” short for “in case of emergency.”

But when he typed the wrong letter, he was one who was stumped. He couldn’t find the delete button.

Now it was Esler’s turn to show off her cellphone skills. She proudly pointed out the correct button. “It may be old, but it still works fine.”

The story concluded with this:

Tap, tap, tapping away in search of the right letters to spell out “Hello” for a text message seemed a bit overwhelming to Stohlman.

It’s all about rhythm, she was encouraged by Damon Frazier, also an AT&T sales representative. It just takes practice.

“It’s a pain in the neck!” Stohlman said.

Actually, Frazier said, texting can be quite addictive.

“Trust me,” Stohlman said. “I have plenty of other things to do.”

Evolution of the cellphone

Understanding all of the excitement and confusion about mobile marketing is summed up in this 90 second fun video.
via videosift.com

Easy does it

As we’ve noted, mobile technology is getting cheaper and cheaper, which is great news for users and content providers.

But, don’t get too excited because users are not getting excited. Last month, the Israeli “Service Adoption Management” firm Olista published the results on their in-depth analysis of who is doing what in the real world of mobile. Their findings, from from monitoring over eleven million mobile users across five different mobile operators, using their software is worth noting. As Cellular News first reported, usability rather than price is slowing the adoption of new mobile data services.

One eye-opening stat: 85% of mobile TV users abandoned the service after the first viewing and after passing through the advice of notice charge without hesitation. “The indication from the Olista findings being that the user was experiencing navigational difficulties in moving from one TV channel to the next,” Cellular News said.

Even more interesting was that over 70% of users who sign up to content bundles failed to consume any mobile content. They had paid for it but did not use it. Another worrying statistic for content providers showed that around 50% of all application downloads failed to complete successfully.

Oren Glanz, CEO of Olista, said in releasing this data, “The key to unlocking the pent up demand for mobile content lies in understanding and addressing these barriers to adoption.”

Mobile data continues to get cheaper

Sprint has announced a new plan called “Simply Everything.” The U.S. pricing plan is said to offer subscribers “unlimited voice, data, text, email, web surfing, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect for $99.99 per month.”

Gad. Now, if there could be come progress on getting mobile devices to use similar formats for display and agree on some software standards, the market for mobile data really might boom. And, you know it’s going to happen.

But, we’re not there. Yet, at the same time people’s habits are forming, new channels are being created. Mobile can’t be ignored, but who has a lot of time and money to risk on formats that may or may not work.

The same week Sprint announced this, they were in the news with a reported $29.5 billion fourth quarter loss.

Where families are moving online in 2008: Peter Grunwald reports

Peter Grunwald has gotten the respect (and ear) of organizations such as the National Association of School Boards. His Grunwald Associates LLC is said to be a pioneer with “new media market intelligence and industry surveys including Children, Families and the Internet.” Grunwald’s “Social Networking Study” has established useful benchmarks regarding the media habits and attitudes of American households, according to the Ypulse newsletter.

Grunwald has now gotten interested in the “multi-generation networked family,” which, of course, has those of us involved in WuduPlz interested. A polite email from him last week said he’ll have more data later this year.

It will be interesting to see if he has something to say about WuduPlz when it’s released, considering how Grunwald sees the major trends shaping up.

Here, in a nutshell, is how he sees 2008 shaping up, according to an article he wrote for YPulse.:

• Collaboration: Web users will seek “sites where their contribution, in collaboration with others, realizes a common higher purpose.”

• Ubiquitous networking: Constant networking is blurring the line between our online and offline lives. “While most consumers will appreciate the novelty, convenience and immediacy of information anytime/anywhere, advertisers will face challenges mastering associated short-form communications and optimizing drill-down.”

• Technology is a family affair: Grunwald Associates Social Networking Study found more than a third of parents already text message with their children and two-thirds of kids say they’ve gone online with mom or dad at least once in the past month, including more than 60% of teens. “Look for new applications and communication tools designed with families in mind as a unit for both entertainment and communication,” Grunwald says.

• Schools are driving home internet use:  Now many districts, even poor districts, are directing their students to use the Net outside the classroom

• Marketers need to move toward “integration and interaction” instead of “intrusion.”

It’s his last point where we believe WuduPlz best makes the case for sponsors. WuduPlz demands that the user creates content. WuduPlz is a highly-personalized environment. Users will, therefore, have a heightened sensitivity to advertising and news they see on the service.

“Smart marketers have begun to provide tools, information and environments that enhance online experiences and user control, building brand loyalty through voluntary participation,” says Grunwald.

2008 is Year of the Cellphone??

So says one of my favorite tech journalists, the New York Times’ David Pogue. “If you think there was a lot of cellphone news this year, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. The coming year is going to be the real Year of the Cellphone.” He explains, ‘there are gigantic tidal shifts happening–in three big categories.”

1. Carrier openness. (Thanks to the iPhone, says Pogue.)
2. More openness: Here Pogue points his readers to open source Android. I didn’t know that “over 30 of the industry’s biggest players have either joined Google’s Open Handset Alliance or are considering it.” I can’t argue with Pogue’s conclusion that, “Nobody knows what’s going to happen with Android.”
3. Public pushback. “Evil cellphone-carrier greediness,” has gotten the public’s attention, says Pogue, pointing reader to this month’s Consumer Reports.

Visit David Pogue’s blog on the Web at DavidPogue.com.

Popular mobile content gets free access to carriers’ customers

MySpace, the social networking service, said this week it would optimize its service for all U.S. carriers, then Sprint today announced it would directly link to the free MySpace Mobile website in early 2008. Plus, the Sprint will also offer free direct links to other mobile websites owned by Fox Interactive Media such as Photobucket, IGN, FOXSports.com on MSN, RottenTomatoes and AskMen along with a host of MyFOX local affiliates.

“Our partnership empowers Sprint data subscribers with easy access to their MySpace community at no additional charge,” said MySpace’s VP of business development.

Free access to popular content is going to be one way that carriers such as Sprint add value to their brand. This is going to make it difficult for the smaller guys to compete (which is exactly what Sprint has in mind, no doubt).

Publishers who offer popular mobile content are going to find themselves very popular with those who operate the system. Free access means more users, more users means more value to marketers, which means more dollars in innovative publishers’ pocket.

WuduPlz offers mobile “content discovery”

Content discovery–or lack of it–is a huge problem for wireless operators, says Sue Marek of Fierce Mobile Content. “Consumers are unlikely to purchase mobile content that they don’t know exists or can’t find.”

With its user-driven content, WuduPlz addresses “content discovery” well. Publishers can, of course, market others services on the WuduPlz web pages, but the best investment might be to offer consumers their own content. Considering that the WuduPlz user has bought into the idea of the cellphone being something other than a cellphone (albeit, in a small way) this is the perfect audience to build new mobile services on.

Ten years from now consumers reaching out to each other’s cellphone via services such as WuduPlz will be common, especially as the technology improves and platforms merge.

Stephanie Grossman, founder and CEO of Digital Sidebar, is selling her new application to carriers to improve content discovery. Her marketing case: carriers need to solve the content discovery solution soon because if open access networks become the norm, operators are going to face more competition from off-deck content aggregators. “With open access a user can go off deck and get whatever content they want from any number of sources,” Grossman says. Now, says Grossman, is the time to lay a foundation to be a channel as habits are being formed.

WuduPlz is one of the few “now” mobile services that can reach every potential user’s cellphone.