TMW Ideas

The UK Mobile Report
Wednesday 15 August 2007

With the annual Digital Music Survey reminding us that most people are apprehensive about buying mobile music, whilst social networking sites are encouraging downloading, it wasn’t going to be long before someone put the two together.

So enters Oxy Systems’s Phling! a service that seemingly addresses the problem of flagging mobile music sales by providing a social network service that harmonises peer-to-peer streaming and legal downloads.

The service organises existing music formats on a PC, whilst a Java application downloaded over the air onto a 3G mobile allows the user to browse and stream that library of music.

As well as keeping in contact with friends through a profile, the user will have (legal) access to the music libraries of six other people (that's the social part), whilst being encouraged to buy songs from the operator’s music service.

Phling!is looking to spread the profit of data charges with operators, so streaming the music should cost significantly less, and there won’t be fees per message as the service uses the phone’s 3G internet connection.

A spokeman for phling! said:

• “Mobile music lovers want to be able to listen to music they already own. Waiting to get home and plug a mobile phone into a PC with a USB cable sort of negates the advantage of having a wireless device”.

But how will they convince operators to back a low-profit P2P service?

“We give mobile music listeners the chance to see what others are listening to, what songs have been rated, what songs are the most played, and to find others with similar tastes. The result of these discovery scenarios, we expect, will be music purchases and downloads from the integrated music store.” (Beren Neale)

This will be one to watch as it seals a gap in the market for those using their mobile phones for portable music rather than an MP3 player.

InBabble.com interviewed Phling! and the transcript of the interview with Graeme W. Smith, V.P. Marketing, is available here, they talk about product plans, competitors and challenges for the new service.

Posted by Michelle Kelly at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CLICK HERE…www.t-mobile.co.uk/music to see the new and improved music site for T-Mobile which encompasses both T-Mobile Street Gigs and now Transmission with T-Mobile too (Channel 4's hottest music show fronted by Steve Jones and Lauren Laverne which starts this Friday night).

The new elements are built onto the existing site which was completed in record time back in January following our digital pitch win. I'm delighted to say we've done it again, and virtually re-built the entire site in next to no time. It looks great, it sounds great, and I'm really proud to have been part of the team to deliver it.

Why not also sign-up to become a friend on our lovely new myspace page too whilst you're here…

www.myspace.com/yourtmobilemusic

Star performers (who deserve many thanks for endless late nights and stress) include…

Michelle Kelly
Ciara Meaney
Peter Mungeam
Gerard Myers
Windahl Finnigan
Millie Graham Campbell
Sam Cottrell
Luke Clark
Steven Haycock
Gareth James
Jon Menzies-Smith
Duncan Scott
Rolff Kruger
Marie Foster
Duncan Butt
Ben Winter
Sarah Guest
Chris Dale
Jamie Huxley
Stuart Mallinson
Miriam Foster

Apologies if I've missed anyone!

Watch this space for future updates about T-Mobile's home for music!

Thanks

posted on behalf of Rob Carter
Group Account Director

Posted by Michelle Kelly at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A group of British entrepreneurs who made millions in the dotcom era are taking on the might of Apple and its eagerly awaited iPhone with a new mobile music service which gives fans access to more than 1m tracks for just £1.99 a week. And users will not need to pay the hundreds of pounds that Apple is expected to charge for the iPhone as the service works on three-quarters of existing mobile phones.

There's a full article by Richard Wray, communications editor at The Guardian

Anybody that wants further information should go to Omnifone where there's a full demo.

It's definitely a strong competitor to Apple and something for all telecoms companies to look at as a player in the cut-throat content market.

Posted by Michelle Kelly at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Windows Vista viral from Ireland, featuring the brilliant Podge and Rodge….

Congrats to Dialogue our Interdirect partners in Ireland. Great work!

Posted by at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Wii is making quite a splash…I went round to my friends house and found myself bowling for money at 2am. And losing, but still enjoying it. This surprised me, as I usually can't stand Nintendo's overly cute fun for all the family games. Even Mario Cart.

But the cutesy elemnts of the Wii work really well. Interestingly, by simplifying the graphics they have moved the onus back onto the control system. In this sense they have increased the appeal - anyone can jump around a front room with a controller, gasping at graphics is a more specialised treat.

Anyway, here's some other, more interesting comments on it - the most revelatory, breakthrough gaming experience I've had since I first saw Myst in the mid 90s. (?!)

Riding the Wiils of Stiil…

Aussie-Nintendo.com demanding a Cricket game - presumably so they can lose at it…interesting to have a grass roots demand for a game to be made for a console. Mind you, the golf game on Wii Sports is shocking - Hopefully Tiger Woods is going to rock.

Posted by at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After a successful pitch win in December, I'm proud to announce the launch of our first piece of T-Mobile online sponsorship activity www.t-mobile.co.uk/streetgigs which has gone live this week! Check out our very own Street Gigs myspace page too: www.myspace.com/streetgigs.

And whilst you're there, why not sign-up to register to get updates about this and many future T-Mobile Street Gigs due in 2007.Last year featured acts such as The Strokes, The Rakes, Dizzy Rascal, Basement Jaxx and the Streets. This year kicks off with Mika - live in a big top in Berkeley Square on 5 February. And if you're a T-Mobile customer, you can register for the chance to win two free tickets.

All of this activity (and much more besides) has been delivered in record time to meet with challenging client deadlines, and is the combined monumental effort of so many people who deserve so much thanks. The client is absolutely over the moon with the finished product, what better way to kick-off our new remit as their digital agency. So all of you lovely people, please take a bow for a blinding performance!

Peter Mungeam
Gerard Myers
Ross Taylor
Windahl Finnigan
Millie Graham Campbell
Ciara Meaney
Sam Cottrell
Luke Clark
Steven Haycock
Gareth James
Jon Menzies-Smith
Duncan Scott
Rolff Kruger
Marie Foster
Duncan Butt
Ben Winter
Sarah Guest
Chris Dale
Jamie Huxley
Stuart Mallinson
Miriam Foster
Michelle Kelly

(Apologies if I've missed anyone)
Watch this space for future updates about future Street Gigs!

Thanks all,
Rob.

Rob Carter
Group Account Director.

Posted by Michelle Kelly at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sorry for the delay in posting but interesting none the less…

Coca-Cola is online with one of the first YouTube co-marketing efforts. It's called Holiday Wishcast and it's a mini-site based on YouTube service which allows visitors to upload and share their video greetings. Among the users who have submitted content, we find the sweet Geriatric1927 who is already a star among YouTube fans.

Marketers look with interest Coca-Cola's initiative to exploit a new advertising space crowded with young users (read Contagious for example), while YouTube purists hope this is not the beginning of a brand invasion on the popular video sharing service. I don't want to sound pessimistic but, since in the end, someone has to pay the (bandwidth) bills, I'm not sure there's much we can do to stop the brand invasion…

As said Coke is not the first, but among the first brands which are launching campaigns through YouTube. New Media Age reports today that also Levi's has opened a channel for branded video content. It's called Levi's One To Watch Tour 2006 and it features exclusive video footage from upcoming (but already signed) bands like The Fratellis (I love them!), The View and Forward Russia.

Posted by Michelle Kelly at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Feed2Mobile
This service converts your RSS feed to a very neat mobile format. This company also enable the QR codes featured in a recent post to enabled on one's blog.
All you have to do is point your camera phone at the QR code (looks like a early video game graphic gone wrong, works like a barcode, carries URL data), take a pic, activate your free QR code reader which will then fire up your wap browser so you can view the content. Boomshanka!

Now if you cant think of a use of this, how about print the code on a flyer and have it be the link to your Ts & Cs. Banish annoying small print for ever.

Posted by at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The greatest rock mag in the world breaks new ground with a mobile phone application for barcode reading.Robert Price - Kerrang Magazine Now Using Mobile Barcodes.
This is a tremendous piece of technology usage. The possibiliites are endless really.

Posted by at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A long, long time ago, before the advent of blogs and Web 2.0, the world was pretty much the same. The tools to create a website and update it regularly were available, but just like all early tools, they were a bit of a bugger to use. However, used they were, and some early internet stars started to appear. And I don't mean Danni Ashe.

One in particluar, and one of favourites for, ohh, ever since I can remember really starting to “research” (cheers for the new definition, Charlie) is Maddox, and his great website, The Best Page in the Universe. In fact, it was 2002 when I started reading it, because that's when I read the classic “I am better than your kids”.

The reason I'm sharing is that Maddox is a genuinely influential figure in the online world,and that is interesting, because he breaks all the rules. He doesn't update regularly. Probably once a month, if that. And yet, by looking at the counters on his front page, over 60 people per minute visit his site. He abuses his readers. He is unbelievably offensive. But he is very, very funny.

Now, imagine you are Sony, and you read this post. And dig the animation. I love the way it's been dropped into a PSP as well.

What are you going to do to counter that? Again, look at the bottom of the page - 417, 526 people have read that page at the time of writing. It was 402,000 when I looked yesterday. There will be half a million people reading that in less than two weeks. What are you going to do? A press release? Offer him a tour of headquarters? Set up a rival co-created community with User Generated Content that is more entertaining? Good luck.

Anyhow, I'll conclude by letting Maddox explain why he's better than Pepsi.

Posted by at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Check out landrovers IPTV site - go beyond

Building this kind of site is not a daunting as you might think. The excellent adliterate has posted some helpful thoughts and advice on the subject - I love IPTV

Posted by at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I stumbled across this quite useful introduction to Mobile marketing on www.clickz.com.

It is only brief, and you'll have to ignore the annoying insistance on spelling utilise with a 'z', but I think it's a pretty good summary on what it is, what you can do with it, and what to look out for.

Posted by at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The results of what sounded like an interesting debate on kids and phones.

Have a browse (if you can) but (not related to phones) this caught my eye - “For instance, while a third of children now regularly blog, only one per cent of their parents know what the term means.”

There's a very short synopsis here.
and a handy academic paper here.

Posted by at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been tasked to do a section in the upcoming digital symposium about Digital Usage. I've decided that's boring, so I'm expanding the section to be “Why is Digital such an important channel”. Internet usage will of course be included (fastest growing channel, spread of broadbrand, blah blah blah) but I think it's more than that - I think the stats are a symptom of the importance, not the importance itself.

Is it because no other channel can create an engaging conversation between brand and consumer?
Is it because no other channel is as ubiquitous in consumer's lives?

Thoughts please…

Posted by at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A while ago, Sony made alovely ad for their fancy Bravia TVs. Filmed in San Fransisco, they threw a load of balls down a hill, with beautiful results. It was also spoofed wonderfully by CHI for Tango - but that's a different post.

A nice touch about the previous ad was that they managed to get some PR milage from the fact that they actually did throw the balls down a hill - no CGI, no special effects. Imagine, in this day and age! That's craft, my friends.

Anyway, the success of this meant that they went and made another spectacular ad, which debuted on Tuesday. I'm sure you have seen it -

This ad has been nicely built up online on Bravia-advert.com, a nice, underdesigned, low-key way to tell the story of the filming. This was a great idea - I couldn't wait to see the ad. I actually looked forward to seeing an ad. For that alone they deserve massive credit.

I found the ad itself curiously underwhelming. Maybe it's the music, or the fact it's all in realtime, or something. But it doesn't make me go “oohhh” like the previous one did. Maybe I expected too much?

Posted by at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Help needed!

I've been making the effort to move out of my comfort zone and try all new things digital! My latest project has been to buy a domain name. That was easy. What I didn't realise was that you then have to sort out hosting….

So, my question is, how do I get from owning a cool domain name to actually having a fully functioning website?? I've already spent hours trying to work it out myself, to no avail.

Can anyone help guide me through (without being too technical!!)???
Lisa

Posted by Lisa Vigurs at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another gem from The Economist - the phenomenon of “leapfrogging”. This is the term for a market that is so far behind the technology curve that when they are in a position to catch up, they don't bother with the intirem step more developed nations had to go through and move straight onto the upgrade. For example, the spread of mobile technology in Africa. African business doesn't have the time or money (or stability) to invest in a continent-wide fixed line network, so they have skipped straight to mobile phones.

Similarly, our TV pictures are better quality the in the US, because we got TV later than them so moved straight onto a superior technology.

Anyway, this week The Economist comes with Technology Quarterly - well worth a few bob.

Posted by at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bitmove has just been appointed to provide the kiosks at the new Arsenal museum to allow fans to capture videomails and the chance to have them played on screens during home games.

Visitors at the museum can send an online VideoMail message through a touch screen console to friends and family. This VideoMail message will be viewed by several recipients at www.arsenal.com. At every home game, a few handpicked VideoMail files will possibly be displayed at the large stadium screens. The Arsenal design strengthens the brand experience. Furthermore Arsenal will build an email database and conduct market research.

Posted by at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Six Apart have released a mobile blogging app for certain phones…

If you have the right type of cell phone (one that runs on Palm OS, Windows Mobile 5 or Symbian Series 60) you can download a mobile client to post to any TypePad Blog that you have access to, according to Sixapart.

You can also download the application directly to your mobile device at typepad.com.

(Thanks SmartMobs)

Posted by at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Is Sony fighting a losing battle?

Is Sony fighting a losing battle?

Sony is facing a struggle over its PlayStation 3, with critics concerned about the processor and the price. Jack Schofield reports on the next stage in the console wars

Posted by at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this blog we post (amongst other bits and bobs) interesting web stuff and new t'ings. Well, here is a bunch of it. This guy Bob Stumpel has compiled a fairly serious list of widgets, mashups, apps and sites. He and his “web 2.0 group” have the list that they presumably keep up to date. Check it out here (thanks Sacred Cow Dung).

If I feel really geeky in the next few days I'll pull out some particular items of interest. In the meantime, feel free to help yourself.

Posted by at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The PC's 25th birthday | Getting personal | Economist.com

Getting personal
Jul 27th 2006
From The Economist print edition
It has had a glittering career. But are the PC's best days now behind it?

?ENDLESS LOVE? by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie was at the top of the charts. Ronald Reagan was staring down the Soviet Union. And Princess Diana, aged 20, was on her honeymoon with Prince Charles. It was August 12th, 1981?and International Business Machines of Armonk, New York, unveiled the IBM 5150, its new entry in the nascent market for ?personal computers?.
This beige box, with a starting price of $1,565, had a mere 16 kilobytes of memory and used audio cassettes to load and save data. (A floppy-disk drive was optional.) IBM's press release trumpeted the screen's ?green phosphor characters for reading comfort? and ?easily-understood operation manuals? that made it ?possible to begin using the computer within hours.?

Posted by at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)