Agency exec tackles mobile site vs. app debate at Canadian event – Mobile Marketer – Advertising.

Great stuff from Phil Barrett of Canada’s bStreet, who adovcates having both a mobile site AND a mobile app:

Five advantages to having an app
1. Allows brand to build a richer experience without affecting data speeds
2. App takes advantage of native phone features such as GPS, camera and voice
3. Features can work offline when consumer is not connected to mobile Web
4. Integrates with other services such as Facebook Connect
5. Can become an extension of brand attributes

Six advantages of having a mobile Web site
1. Mobile site can work on 100 percent of devices that have browsers
2. Experience can be optimized to highlight common denominator
3. Brands can publish when they want – no approval from manufacturer app store is necessary
4. IPhone and new BlackBerry, Palm and Android phones have same Safari open source app framework Web kit
5. Easier to drive to mobile Web versus drive to mobile apps from mobile advertising networks
6. Content from mobile Web is searchable and search-friendly

Ten tips for designing a mobile Web site
1. Define specific purpose for experiences
2. Make the most important information instantly findable
3. Ensure that there is relevance to users
4. Don’t try to create wired Web experience
5. Have intuitive navigation
6. Think about leverage location-based services and other social tools in overall experience
7. Avoid frames, Flash, heavy graphics and horizontal tool
8. Leverage free online tools to check for mobile readiness
9. Design for high common denominator
10. Optimize for creative excellence

From MobileMarketer.com.

iPhone 3.0 Update: 10 Hidden Features – PC World.

I’m just upgrading now so I can’t really comment just yet…

It has been a crazy night trying to download the latest iPhone update, with many reporting that they are unable to access Apple’s servers due to unusually high traffic. But Apple’s servers are now up to scratch and everybody should have the 3.0 software update installed on theiriPhone and iPod Touch…

Mobile Coupon Trend Beginning to Pick Up Speed….from Supermarket News,  of all places.

I’m thrilled to pieces that the supermarkets themselves are seeing the value of the mobile coupon, and even more excited that some of them are using tag-reading technology to implement.

 Unilever and ShopRite are conducting a program in conjunction with mobile marketing firm Samplesaint, Chicago.

In this initiative, consumers use their cell phones to select coupons with “rich images” for a range of Unilever products, and the coupons are scanned at the front end directly from shoppers’ phones. The on-phone scanning capability is what makes this experiment different. ShopRite is limiting the test to a single New Jersey store whose customers are relatively young and affluent professionals likely to have cell phones capable of texting and connecting to the Internet….

…How will we know if mobile marketing and couponing meets its promise? The rates of consumer sign-ups and usage will be key indicators.

Another important factor will be the ability of mobile coupons to support both supplier and retailer needs. The Unilever-ShopRite venture makes good progress on this front by offering not only coupons from the supplier, but also private label ones from the retailer.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Mobile couponing, in our opinion, is one of the most promising opportunities within the mobile channel. Redemption is an issue, as the infrastructure of many supermarkets may not be able to support it – those scanners can’t always read a mobile screen – but per this article, it may not affect all stores.

We’ll be looking for the results of these trials…

eMarketer today published a report sharing data from Deloitte showing that mobile phone users between the ages of 14-42 text a LOT.  Millennials dominate, with 86% texting regularly –  but 75% of Generation X mobile users seem to have well-developed thumb muscles as well.

eMarketer Mobile Texting Opportunity

BrightKite puts the number of texters even higher, stating that 83% of the younger group and 85% of the elder were texting at the end of ‘08.

The table above shows that 65% of mobile users are texting overall. BrightKite raises that overall number to 68%, while Yankee Group estimates it’s as low as 45% and Scarborough Research places it at around 48%.

So…with everyone’s favorite target age group so actively engaged with their mobile devices….why are so many marketers slow to adopt mobile?

Train’s leaving the station. Get on board, people.

Read the eMarketer report.

Teens texting at terrific rate.  (say it 10x fast)

…an average of 2,272 text messages per month in Q4 08, per Nielsen. 

(And that’s why parents of New Jersey are rejoicing that MetroPCS has entered the game.)