Mobiya at The Next Web Conference – Amsterdam
Mobiya is participating at the Next Web Conference, June 1, Tuschinski Theatre, Amsterdam. We have been invited to present in the startup arena amongst 20 other Web 2.0 startups.
- More info & programme: click here.
- A big thanks to Big Bang Ventures!
Free newspapers and magazines: booming business in Europe
The recent launch of Dag in the Netherlands, a new free magazine venture in France, distribution of 1.6 million free papers in London and much more in the folowing article by Total Content + Media: Download free_newspapers_the_paper_chase.pdf .
It seems that free newspapers are looking for synergies with the online world by partnering with popular internet portals. Why and what about classified revenues? Mobiya creates synergy between the printed newspaper and the online version. It lowers the production costs for publishers to access an online classified service using Mobiya’s application suite. Let us explain before partnering and sharing the revenues.
“Web 2.0″ in just under 5 minutes
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Mobiya is growing fast, now 12 people in the company
Mobiya welcomes three new colleagues to support our growing number of customers and new projects in the pipeline. Annemie Boden joins Mobiya as a senior consultant serving the community of classified users and advising our media customers. Alex Hippel, a veteran in project management, delivering global rollouts of technology services, is driving the implementation of what soon will be our biggest customer. Stefan Torcq has been in the electronic payment industry for many years and joined Mobiya to lead new customer projects. His expertise will drive Mobiya’s leadership of mobile payment services in the global classified industry.
"Never give in! Never, never, never. Never – in anything great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." Sir Winston Churchill.
Belgium’s Roularta launches new classified ad site
Congratulations to the joint venture team from Rossel Group and Roularta Media Group with the launch of Vlan.be (announcement). As product manager of the original classified ad site Easy.be in 1999, I am very proud to see how the initiative has grown into a national leading site and brand.
Holland does it, launches DAG today
The first end-to-end interactive newspaper has been launched, not in the US, not in the UK, but in progressive Holland. A true first and a global example how to bring news in the 21st century through a cross-media sauce! Today, DAG (translates as DAY), a free daily newspaper has gone into circulation, backed by a rich-media portal: www.dag.nl. DAG is a joint venture between a strong Dutch media giant, PCM, and the incumbent mobile operator KPN.
Differentiation is driven through mobile interactivity, sms to be very specific. Sms is the interactive backchannel between the editorial in the newspaper, the man in the street looking at billboard ads and the portal visitor. Sms allows the user to text in specific ‘offline’ commands and codes to populate his ‘online’ profile. The Dutch call it a ‘pluk’ code… translates almost as ‘weeding information.’
DAG claims to have a circulation of 300.000 dailies, although I expect this to go down once the big launch campaign settles down. Mobile classifieds aren’t introduced yet; I consider this as a natural next step: Mobiya here we come.
- DAG Portal: www.dag.nl
- Digital paper: http://www.dag.nl/OverDAG/LaatsteDigitaleKrant.htm
- Must read article (in Dutch): "Gratis verovert de wereld" follow link.
Mobiya opens UK office and moves HQ to Oxford
We are proud to announce the opening of our UK office: Mobiya Limited, 30A Upper High Street, Thame, Oxfordshire.
Having our HQ closer to the University of Oxford and just outside of London allows us to attract young professionals and get closer to our precious customers. In preparation for our next funding round we are targeting London-based VCs. Here’s wishing success to the new team!
Mobiya plans its first acquisition this year
The Anglo-Belgian company, Mobiya, revealed its plan to make an acquisition in the mobile advertising space later this year. "The reason we have started our fundraising round is not because we are lacking financial resources, but because we see acquisitions as a key element to our growth" says Mobiya’s chief executive Martin Davis.
The company remains focused on deploying mobile classified solutions within the media industry, but according to Davis "our laser sharp focus on our clients’ ROI is taking us from premium sms revenue models to deploying first generation mobile advertising solutions. This allows us to create incremental revenue streams for our clients on top of the premium sms traffic." Companies interested to discuss M&A and that are active in the mobile advertising space can contact Mobiya here e-mail.
Mobile advertising industry movers and shakers
While ScreenTonic was acquired by Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solutions division last week, the founders of m-Qube, sold to Verisign last year, start a new company: Quattro. According to the CEO of KillerStartups.com, Gonzalo Arzuaga, about 20 new startups register each day. This brought the total to 1,000 startups in three months. As Laura Marriott, director of the Mobile Marketing Association says "mobile advertising is probably one of the hottest spaces in mobile marketing."