LetsBuyIt Blog

Some of you might remember that we have written about Loopt in July last year (here) already but we would like to introduce Loopt to the rest of you because Loopt is the proof that we are living in a new era. Loopt is a mobile phone application, which acts like a social network (incl. groups, chats, etc.), the difference being that your current location is indicated on a map and you can see the location of your friends on that same map in real-time. Needless to say that the notion of people/companies tracking your whereabouts 24/7 is more than frightening but finding Apple promoting its iPhone Application Store with Loopt is even more fascinating. This is how far you can go in one year with people-tracking technologies.

Source: Apple

I have taken a particular interest to Mobile Marketing and M-Commerce and after having heard about Mobile Banking in developing countries I came across this article “Pakistan: Begging for alms via SMSe“. Apparently beggars are asking for mobile phone credit instead of money for food. This might sounds strange but most probably these beggars themselves treat mobile credit as some sort of virtual bank/money account, which they can use in return to pay for goods and services. I heard about this phenomenal idea, which seems to have been developed in Africa. If you have more information please don’t hesitate to letting me know.

While the use of QR Codes in the European Advertising Industry is still in its infancy, the Japanese have gone the last step it seems. Today I read on Reuters that Ishinokoe-gravestones have taken that step that clearly shows that Japan is already living in a new generation and Japan is the land of high-tech. Gravestones can now be ordered and equipped with a QR Code that entails the information, the videos, the photos and general information about the deceased!!!

This Silicon Valley start-up has taken social networking and geolocalisation to a new dimension, the mobile phones. This Boost Mobile System (only available in the US) not only provides the social networks with all its usual facets (communities, IM, blogging, etc.) but it traces each member via GPS in real time on a map. On the spot you can chat with your friend near you, everybody knows when the other is the neighbourhood or happens to be in the club that you thought about going.

“Using location-based technologies, Loopt lets you know where your friends are by automatically updating maps on your mobile handset. Loopt even lets you send messages to nearby friends or receive automatic alerts when they’re nearby so that you never miss an opportunity to meet. Loopt also lets you journal your life so that your friends can see what you’re up to. “

Now you are not only being myspaced, facebooked, digged, chatted-up but also traced via GPS. You may like it or not but it is definitely interesting from an entrepreneurial view.

We went to a meeting this morning on the growing opportunity of marketing on mobile phones. The interest of all techniques and methods - SMS, MMS, Bluetooth points or QR code - has been proved regarding to different marketing goals and objectives of the advertisers.
Effectiveness of these mobile campaigns was one of the most significant points of the demonstration: opening rates up to 98% for SMS campaigns, return rate of 25% in average for communication campaigns, in addition to a penetration rate of the mobile phone use in Europe that doesn’t stop increasing.

I must confess that I still have some remaining questions about mobile marketing:
- Return rates are still very high today because commercial mobile messages are not very spread, and spam does not exist on this terminal. But what will happen when spam will appear among sms and mms as they are today by emails? Will we all have to get a anti-spam solution on our mobile phones?
- What about answer and/or website connection fees included on these messages? Will they be carried by the advertisers or is it gonna stay the way it is today: surprises?
- As for QR codes (or 2D codes), I must confess I’ve always been puzzled about them, but never really saw them since they appeared.. I barely believe that just by tacking a picture from any angle of a small code, it will really redirect you with no mistake to the good website!