Verizon announces 20 billion texts sent in a single month

Verizon Wireless announced that its subscribers sent and received close to 20 billion text messages in the month of February, just eight months after the operator’s first 10 billion-message month, June 2007.

Verizon adds that opportunities for messaging programs and short codes continue to grow, citing the increasing popularity of text-based contests, promotions and opt-in campaigns. "The volume of text messages being sent and received by Verizon Wireless customers is growing exponentially," said Verizon chief marketing office Mike Lanman in a prepared statement. "Whether it’s sports scores, news updates, the latest weather forecast, or the ‘joke of the day’, text messages are a tremendous way for anyone to stay on top of what’s happening in the world. Not to mention all of the parents–and grandparents–keeping up with their kids, or kids texting each other throughout the day, text messaging is becoming an increasingly important way to communicate for people of all ages." (Source – Press Release)

Red Herring reveals companies selected as finalist for The Red Herring 100 Europe 2008

London, March 26, 2008 – Red Herring today announced that Mobiya was named a Finalist of Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA region each year.

“This year’s impressive list of submissions from companies demonstrates Europe’s growing role as a major center of innovation in the global technology sector,” said Red Herring Editor-in-Chief Joel Dreyfuss. “The exceptional accomplishments of European technology startups and entrepreneurs are a testament to the rapid advancements being made in building the European innovation ecosystem.”

“Mobiya’s mobile classified service is available to 70 million people in the UK and Belgium only 18 months after startup” said Martin Davis, co-founder and CEO of Mobiya. “Today, we are negotiating licensing agreements for Mobiya System 1 with publishers in 8 other countries, a true micro-multinational startup at work with a global ambition driven by supportive customers.”

Red Herring’s lists of top private companies are an important part of the publication’s tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. Companies like Google, eBay, and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors, and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work.

Red Herring’s editorial staff rigorously evaluated several hundred private companies through a careful analysis of financial data and subjective criteria, including quality of management, execution of strategy, and dedication to research and development.

More information about Red Herring is available on the Internet at www.redherring.com.

iPhone and iPod touch: a closer look at Mobiya.be

It’s time for newspaper publishers to reset targets…

Publishers have to get realistic about their business, and reset advertising, circulation and profit targets “so we don’t live in a constant state of depression” according to Murdoch. Print margins will never again see 30% plus and it’s time for publishers to accept new lower goals.

Bennack’s advice to publishers is to expand to as many platforms as possible: televsion, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and download and read products such as Amazon’s electronic book reader, Kindle – “every gadget that people will use to tether themselves to their work, their friends and family, and to the news,” he said.

Complete article here. Contact us to understand our Revenue Share Plans for Publishers.

Mobiya’s weekly investor update

Investor News: The Enterprise Hub Network reports on Mobiya’s incorporation and their UK launch. The Enterprise Hub Network is a South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) backed network that helps entrepreneurs bring highly pioneering and distinctive ideas to the market. Aylesbury Vale Enterprise Hub Director Martin Brassell commented, “Mobiya’s rapid progress over the past year is a tribute to its highly effective management team and the strong market appeal of the concept; it makes classified advertising fit for the 21st century.”  Mobiya’s information sheet: click here.

Company Update: Mobiya has been selected as a semi-finalist for the "Plugg Start-Up of the Year Award." This competition is for European companies showcasing promising technology ventures and initially attracted 65 exceptional start-ups from 18 countries. The jury, made up of members of Europe’s leading venture capital firms, incubators and renowned internet experts, selected 20 semi-finalists who will pitch to the Plugg audience on stage at the event. More information: visit Plugg.

Competition: Mobile, and more specifically the mobile classified industry, continues to attract more new players making their move into our sector. Mobiya welcomes a new US-based company called CellySpace, debuting in the mobile classified market with their MMS Composer & Publisher platform. Similar to Mobiya it captures MMS messages with images for direct publication online (through widgets) and in print. Also CellSigns announced an upgrade of their mobile property marketing system. Competitive news here.

Press release: Mobiya announces Mobile Advertising System

London, England and Brussels, Belgium, 4 March 2008 – Mobiya, the new mobile classified advertising network available to 70 million people in the UK and Belgium, today announced the release of its Mobile Advertising System. "The principle of Mobiya’s mobile advertising service is simple but powerful" says Sacha Vekeman, VP of business development. "We deliver 100% opted-in mobile bounce back messages to users on our system." More importantly for the media buyers, Mobiya delivers three degrees of contextual advertising:

• Level 1: Generic bounce-back messages ‘sponsored by…’ for responders of classified ads
• Level 2: Geo-contextual bounce-back to users that have geo-tagged their classified ad
• Level 3: Tag-contextual bounce-back to users that have categorized their classified ad

According to Martin Davis, CEO of Mobiya, it’s a world’s first and it’s about engagement and dialogue with our users on the mobile classified platform. "Our users are real," said Davis. "We know where they live, what they are selling, who is buying what, when they trade and what kind of offline and online media they consume. A pretty unique proposition to media buyers."

The direct benefits of our mobile advertising system are broad in terms of media-mix, but very specific and result-driven:

• Driving traffic to mobile web portals via wap-links in bounce back messages
• Re-branded classified portals to drive interactivity around the brand
• Complimentry campaign inventory with print media, and online web properties

Mobiya is currently in discussion with top-tier marketing agencies in the UK and Belgium to prepare the inventory for advertising sales. Vekeman continues: "Mobiya compares itself to Blyk, the mobile advertising inventory of both companies is their value driver and both companies have a reported user base of 30,000".

Teen talking & texting: monetizing the transition from PCs to cell phones

Jupiter Research is producing more and more wireless/mobile concept reports. Just released: mobile coupons, mobile games,… and "Teen talking & texting, monetizing the transition from PCs to cell phones." Does someone have access to this recent report?

The opening statement is "Wireless-centric teens have been driving text-messaging (SMS) revenues for years, and carriers would like to see SMS activity perpetuate as teens age." I would say that companies like Mobiya are putting the foundations in place of a near-distance future, where marketplaces of classifieds are completely driven by mobile communciations. Goodbye to the dominance of online giants such as Craigslist and eBay. They are already facing a concerning downward trend, facing the reality of the boundaries in an online-only world. Mobiya welcomes the grown-up teens to its mobile classified platforms. How we monetize it, well that’s currently our trade-secret.

Microsoft enters mobile dating industry with killer app

Brilliant move from Microsoft, with a rock-solid concept. Microsoft patented an ‘Image-Based Face Search‘ that allows for complex facial recognition. The patent explains how a photo could be uploaded from a mobile phone (or PC) and compared with millions of other pictures to find similar matching faces. Next mobile killer application or not. It could give MMS a serious boost.

Mobiya recently launched the mobile dating site ’123 Contact’ and received already the first MMS messages with images of faces. Examples of a man or a women (click on image icon to see picture). Imagine Mobiya allowing you to upload a photo via your mobile phone taken of a certain hot celebrity or a close friend you can’t get and then returns profiles of all the users who looked like them and are single? All via mobile communication…