MMS grows in the USA
Mobiya is still testing MMS as key functionality for posting classified ads using images or video. Today we have been successfully deploying the image functionality, although more debugging is needed. Belgian beta testers can try the service using the premium short code 4050. More important is the latest market research from Mobile 365 indicating a strong growth in MMS (MO based use). The average month-over-month growth in the USA is 12%, peaking 40% quarter 1 to quarter 2 in 2006. Mobiya welcomes MMS.
Mobiya this week
We’ve been so busy this week that we forgot to mention an important milestone. On the 19th of July this humble startup had its second legal identity upgrade in one year. In the UK we have setup Mobiya UK and in Belgium, MAD Technologies bvba changed to Mobiya NV.
This means the Belgian Limited changed name, increased the working capital and created a board of directors, naming Martin Davis as president of the board and CEO of the company. The NV is a capital trading company (shares) and is ready to act as carrier for Mobiya’s global investors. Mobiya NV and Mobiya UK are an ideal foundation for globalization of the platform.
What are the advantages for our customers?
- More capital means more reliability for customers and suppliers
- An official financial auditor has valued the company and its assets
- A strong management structure controlled by a board and a president
Mobiya.com launches today
This morning we went public! Mobiya’s corporate identity towards customers, investors and press is online: www.mobiya.com. We are proud to have a strong portfolio of online properties:
- Mobiya beta: www.mobiya.com/beta
- Corporate site: www.mobiya.com
- Company blog: www.mobiyalog.com
Your feedback is crucial and very much appreciated. It is used to establish a strong foundation for growth and expansion in collaboration with our users, customers and any other stakeholder with an interest in Mobiya.
M&A Strategy of News Corp.
The acquisition of MySpace by News Corporation for $580 million was done after short listing a number of potential targets within a strategic framework developed by Ross Levinsohn, VP and GM for Interactive Media. The two main criteria I’ve extracted out of the Wired article:
- Aggressive vertical categories
- Speed is critical
Although Rupert Murdoch never considered speed to be an important element for his media machine, he was quick enough to keep MySpace out of the hands of Yahoo and MSN. His report even considered Yahoo- or MSN-style portal as ‘out.’ Why?
Focus! Creating aggressive vertical categories require attention, speciality, investment to standout. Mobiya is building the next generation classified advertising by exactly focusing on the user experience, the business model and its classified aggregation capacity. Are we a target?
Ruport Murdoch His Space
Wired features Ruport Murdoch in an article about the future of MySpace and how media groups should embrace the social networking and the power of this colossal marketing machine.
Rupert Murdoch acknowledges that technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishement, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are taking control. And he’s smiling.
"The Internet is media’s golden age." according to Murdoch. "Everything we’ve ever done is about giving peope choices," he says. "The Net has a billion people looking for news, sports, and entertainment (note: and classifieds). Another billion are on mobile phones, and another couple of billion are coming up behind those. That’s a hell of a lot more people making choices.’
Mobiya gives people also choices, the choice to create, post and track a classified advertisement anywhere and anytime. The choice to interact with different media over a mobile device.
Test drive Mobiya’s beta release
July the 1st, 2006: a historic milestone in our young company existance: the release of our first beta: www.mobiya.com/beta. This version allows users to sms classified advertisements and mms advertisements with images to a premium short code: 4050. Today, the short code is only accessible by Belgian users. Our international audience can create an online classified advertisement using MyMobiya.
Mobile enabled classified advertising allows our user to create, send and post a classified advertisement in a complete dialog over sms and mss. The dialog consists of three steps:
- Describe the item using an sms message (use mms with image)
- Provide tags to create intelligent classification and allow search
- Value your ad by putting up a price or ask for offers
Users that want to get in touch with the advertiser can make contact by texting the advertisement ID to 3256. The service is very sticky, so give it a try, and most importantly, give us the feedback to improve the service. Feedback can be posted on this blog or mailed: info@mobiya.com.