Verve Wireless Partners with A.H. Belo, Media News, Hearst, Cox Newspapers, Examiner.com and Khaleej Times to Mobilize Publishers’ Properties,
Launches New iPhone Web App and mobile video for Publishers
Verve Now Live With Over 450 Local Media Properties, Further Building Largest Local Mobile Network
Published: June 25, 2009 12:00 AM ET
Encinitas, CA – June 25, 2009 – Verve Wireless, the leading provider of mobile publishing technologies to local media companies, today announced partnerships with Media News Group, A.H. Belo Corporation, Hearst Corporation, and Cox Newspapers to mobilize local media properties such as The Denver Post, The Dallas Morning News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Palm Beach Post, and Examiner.com. Verve now mobilizes over 450 local media properties, covering the top 200 designated market areas in the U.S. and continues its international expansion by partnering with the Khaleej Times of the United Arab Emirates. In just three months, Verve increased by 85% the amount of local media companies that it has brought to the mobile web reaching more than three million consumers, serving over 47.5 million monthly page views, and delivering more than a million mobile video streams per month.
Main Street Adopting Mobile Faster than Madison Ave.
Local media publishers like Media General’s Richmond Times Dispatch and their portal (Richmond.com) are using Verve’s proprietary publishing and mobile advertising system to extend their communities and readership onto mobile phones as well as utilize their local ad sales teams’ knowledge and existing relationships with local businesses to offer mobile ad solutions. Small businesses from all across the country are using mobile in new and innovative ways to reach their customers.
"We have been advertising in print and online with Media General and are quite impressed with the results we have gotten from our initial mobile campaigns," said Brent Barkin, vice president and director e-commerce for Shoe Station, a regional shoe store in the southeast with an online retail store at Shoestation.com. "We created a mobile campaign that included a text code that we added to our website and to the paper receipts for in store purchases, within minutes we were seeing responses that converted into sales."
"Our core focus remains making it easy for our local media partners to easily bring their content to mobile including news content and advertising," said Tom Kenney, president and co-founder of Verve Wireless. "We have a training program for our local media partners to educate them on how to best take advantage of mobile. Once they start using it, they see the potential and their ad sales teams start to create unique and creative programs for their clients."
Deep Regional Reach for National Brands
Verve has the largest local mobile ad network covering the top 200 DMAs in the U.S. In just the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Verve serves over two million mobile page views a month. National brand advertisers are increasingly leveraging Verve’s AdCel ad platform to reach mobile consumers based on a variety of targeting parameters ranging from regional down to a hyper-local neighborhood level, creating additional revenue streams for their partners while providing efficient and scalable media placements for national brands.
"We are serving over a million page views in each of the top DMAs and even in the smaller markets, there are increasingly larger numbers of mobile views. People want to stay connected with news and events that are occurring in their communities, and mobile is quickly becoming the preferred method," Kenney remarked.
New iPhone 3.0 Web App Module and Mobile Video for Publishers
Additionally, Verve rolled out enhancements to their platform that automatically creates a version of the publisher’s site optimized for the new Safari browser on iPhones, as well as providing mobile video delivery across the leading smartphones in the market.
The iPhone module allows publishers of all sizes and markets to participate in the fastest growing smartphone segment. Publisher’s can create a specialized version of their own mobile site to take advantage of the Safari browser’s unique capabilities, such as location awareness, automatic short cut that places an app icon on the phone for quick access, exceptional layout and navigation elements, and world class rich media delivery. The demand for this new module was stemming from news organizations like The Orange County Register who see in excess of 40% of their mobile web traffic coming from iPhones.
Demand for mobile video is also increasing, and Verve’s partners are now able to distribute their video assets across the leading mobile handset devices, taking advantage of the immediacy and impact of short-form video clips of local news and events. In less than two weeks since expanding the video capability network wide, Verve has seen mobile video consumption more than double to over one million discrete views per month.
Rick Loughery
Dig Communications
rloughery [at ] digcommunications [dot] com
415-233-4935
About Verve Wireless
Based in Encinitas, CA; Verve Wireless, Inc., and their proprietary Verve Local Content Platform(TM), allow local media companies and advertisers to seamlessly extend their reach into mobile devices across all the major carriers. Verve Wireless currently works with leading media companies from across the US, Canada, and Europe/ Middle East including dailies, radio, and local broadcast stations. For more information visit http://www.vervewireless.com.
All brands, names, or trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Will Apple's New iPhone OS Change the Game for Newspapers?
By Jennifer Saba
Published: June 05, 2009 12:53 PM ET
Editor & Publisher, June 5, 2009
NEW YORK Next week Apple will host its annual software-developers conference in San Francisco -- and while there's always speculation around the event, this time many are wondering if CEO Steve Jobs will reappear to unveil a new iPhone.
One thing's for sure -- Apple has released new features within the iPhone OS that are going to be relevant to publishers. "The iPhone has redefined mobile and now the iPhone is going to give publishers the technology to redefine publishing news and advertising delivery," said Art Howe, CEO of Verve Wireless.
mobile platforms.
Verve is a wireless technology developer that provides applications -- mobile publishing systems for one -- to publishers and media companies. The company works with 1,500 publishers and broadcasters to help them put their content on
E&P spoke with Howe and Verve Chief Marketing Officer Greg Hallinan this morning about what the new iPhone OS means for newspapers since Verve coordinated with Apple in order to advise its clients.
The first big shift: The new technology has the ability to deliver user-location information at the browser level. For example, when a user accesses a newspaper Web site, the browser knows the user's location. The newspaper can send relevant content and, more important, relevant targeted advertising within 2 blocks on a person's location. "This makes local advertising on mobile highly potent with high CPMS," Howe said.
Second: There is a new capability for publishers to charge for subscriptions or micropayments through one application. For example, a user could be reading about the new quarterback in town and with one click can purchase premium content like an exclusive video interview the quarterback. Prior to this, a developer would have to create a whole new app for the premium content and then communicate that to the consumer. This prevents publishers from having to get into the business of creating say, half a dozen apps, explained Hallinan.
Thirdly, the new iPhone is going to have streaming video capabilities where a user can watch something in real-time as opposed to downloading the video to the device. Think premium content again say involving streaming a high-school football game.
Lastly, the iPhone is going to enable rich media through text messaging. This allows publishers, for example, to send out colorful coupons.
AP Mobile News Network Named Time Magazine's Top iPhone News App of 2008
Mobile News Network honored in Time's Annual List of Top 10 iPhone Apps at 3rd overall
Time.com, Josh Quittner, January 16, 2009
The Associated Press's news-on-demand app is the gold standard. It gives you top news stories, as well as business, sports, show biz and other categories, which you can sort by most recent or most read. It even uses the phone's GPS chip to deliver up local news. Stories and photos load fast, look great and can be read offline. You can email or text the story to a contact, or save it in your own news archive. Bonus feature for would-be muckrakers: a form to email tips and pics to the AP.
MediaSpan Partners With Verve Wireless to Bring Mobile Solutions to Local Online Publishers
MediaSpan to integrate Verve’s platform into their Online Services products; Demos mobile apps at NEXPO
IRVINE, CA – (March 31, 2008) – MediaSpan, the leading digital content management, online loyalty and network ad sales solutions provider for local media, and Verve Wireless, the leading provider of mobile technologies to local media, announced a partnership today to integrate the Verve Publishing Platform into MediaSpan’s content management solution. The partnership will better enable MediaSpan to provide their customers with integrated content management and mobile marketing solutions.
"Our local media customers are constantly seeking new ways to engage their audience and drive new local revenue online, We are committed to meet their demands by continuing to provide them with innovative online solutions like those from Verve Wireless," MediaSpan Executive Vice President / GM Online Services Steven Barth said of the partnership. "The mobile medium introduces a new revenue stream for our publishing clients and is poised to garner higher-than-average advertising rates."
Integrated with the MediaSpan Content Management System, the MediaSpan Mobile Platform allows current customers to quickly and effortlessly extend their content and advertising onto any carrier device with access to the mobile web; including breaking news, rich media photos, restaurant guides, movie guides, and more. Also built into the MediaSpan Mobile Platform is the Mobile Messaging module, an SMS (Short Message Service) text alert system that enables publishers to create, manage, and distribute consumer "opt-in" mobile messaging programs. Mobile Messaging sponsorships, coupons, and advertising provide publishers with a new revenue stream, while giving publishers complete control over their text messaging campaigns and programs. The module also includes ad trafficking and reporting, short code management for two-way messaging, and SMS alert management.
"We are exclusively focused on delivering the tools that help any local media provider participate in mobile," states Greg Hallinan, Verve’s Vice President of Marketing & Operations. "We’re excited to be working with MediaSpan because they share the same vision, and together we can help make their customers more successful by complementing MediaSpan’s full range of media management products."
Attendees at the NEXPO Capital Conference ’08 in Washington, DC will be able to see a demonstration of how to extend their brand into the mobile channel utilizing MediaSpan’s carrier-grade publishing solution. At Booth 700, MediaSpan will be demonstrating its full line of innovative solutions for publishers.
About MediaSpan
MediaSpan powers digital content management and online marketing solutions for the world's leading media companies including Reuters, ABC Radio Networks, Citadel Radio, Sun Media, Gannett, Radio One, Scripps and Media General. Over 4,000 local newspaper, radio, and television properties leverage MediaSpan solutions.
MediaSpan Media Software provides mission-critical, pre-press infrastructure tools enabling efficient content delivery to consumers across print, web and wireless platforms. MediaSpan Online Services provides a comprehensive suite of website management and marketing solutions. The MediaSpan Network delivers an unparalleled national online advertising opportunity across over 1,400 local radio, newspaper and television websites in 300 U.S. DMAs.
MediaSpan has development, support and sales offices worldwide including locations in Ann Arbor, MI, Melbourne, FL, New York, NY, London, England UK and Irvine, CA.
About Verve Wireless
Based in Encinitas, CA; Verve Wireless, Inc. and their proprietary Verve Local Content Gateway™ allow local media companies and advertisers to seamlessly extend their reach into mobile devices across all the major carriers. Verve Wireless currently works with leading media companies from across the country including dailies, alternative newsweeklies, and city magazines. For more information visit http://www.vervewireless.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Verve Wireless Signs New Partners, Building Out the Largest Local Mobile Ad Network Covering the Top 200 DMAs; Launches Mobile Couponing Applications for Publishers
Chicago Sun-Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Time Out Chicago, Time Out New York and Metro International join Verve’s list of over 140 local media partners
SAN DIEGO, CA – December 11, 2008 – Verve Wireless, the leading provider of mobile publishing technologies to local media companies, today announced that the Chicago Sun-Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Time Out Chicago, Time Out New York and Metro International have partnered with Verve, joining the family of over 140 local media properties including eight of the largest media properties in the U.S. Verve’s local mobile network now covers the top 200 designated market areas across America. Additionally, Verve launched a new mobile couponing application for publishers that utilizes location based technologies, LBS.
"Verve is a wireless technology developer that provides applications and services to local media companies and publishers. Using Verve’s proprietary publishing and mobile advertising system, these local content partners can extend their communities and readership onto mobile phones as well as utilize their local ad sales teams’ knowledge and existing relationships with local businesses to offer mobile ad solutions. National brand advertisers can leverage Verve’s ad platform to target mobile consumers based on a variety of targeting parameters ranging from regional down to a hyper-local neighborhood level.
The new mobile couponing application enables local publishers to offer their advertisers another way to reach customers. The application is based off the success of Verve’s SMS push alerts, but incorporates new functionality as well as advance targeting features that use location based technologies. Advertisers can send out coupons based on a variety of options, including time of day, neighborhood radius, user’s present location, and context, among others. And just like a print coupon, users will be able to redeem the coupon at the place of business.
"We have community businesses that have been advertising with us for years, and they are always looking for ways to drive customers into their place of business. They are embracing mobile advertising because it compliments their other advertising efforts, it can be measured and it is comparable to other marketing methods that they are familiar with," said Tim Repsher, managing director of mobile product & business development for Media General. "They see how a mobile coupon campaign delivered at a precise time, to a specific area and audience generates real store traffic."
Unlike other mediums, such as print and desktop online access, mobile can leverage a person’s location and the "always-with-you" nature of a mobile phone to provide frequent, consistent and immediate access to news and information. New data from Verve shows users are accessing news from the network consistently throughout the day beginning at 7 a.m. and growing steadily until 10 p.m. Users are accessing news just as much, if not slightly more, during the weekend than any given day of the week.
"Each day people look to any one of the tens of thousands of local media organizations for news, updates and guidance in local affairs," said Art Howe, chief executive officer of Verve Wireless. "For these local publishers the mobile medium offers an insurmountable opportunity for brand expansion coupled with a new lucrative advertising revenue stream."
Other Verve Wireless milestones:
To date, traffic on over 1,000 local mobile sites managed by Verve Wireless is growing at a rate of more than 375% per month.
Verve Wireless’ network has 1 million average daily page views
Verve has served over 1.5 million local mobile ads
About Verve Wireless
Based in Encinitas, CA; Verve Wireless, Inc., and their proprietary Verve Local Content Gateway(TM) allow local media companies and advertisers to seamlessly extend their reach into mobile devices across all the major carriers. Verve Wireless currently works with leading media companies from across the country including dailies, radio, and local broadcast stations. For more information visit http://www.vervewireless.com.
MEDIA CONTACT
Rick Loughery, Dig Communications
Verve [at] digcommunications.com
415-377-1586
AP teams up with Verve Wireless to build the Mobile News Network
NEW YORK – (April 24, 2008) The Associated Press today announced the selection of Verve Wireless Inc., a leading wireless publishing platform, to provide the technology for the AP Mobile News Network, an advertising-supported, multimedia news service tailored to smart phones.
The Mobile News Network, set to debut later this quarter, provides mobile users with a single point of access to local, national and international news. It's the first product released by AP's Digital Cooperative, an initiative designed to find new digital outlets for the news and information produced by its members. AP announced the creation of the Mobile News Network at its annual meeting.
"Verve Wireless is the leading provider of mobile publishing and advertising solutions to daily newspapers, alternative newsweeklies, city magazines, radio and television stations", said Verve Wireless CEO Art Howe, who has owned or managed more than 50 newspapers during his career. "This new venture gives AP members a compelling tool to grow readership and offer new marketing opportunities to local advertisers."
"Verve has enabled AP to move quickly to help AP’s members capture the young and tech savvy smart phone user market," said AP Director of Global Product Development Jeffrey Litvack. With well- established industry customer credentials, Verve Wireless's mobile publishing platform provides the tools for the AP to provide news from trusted brands to everyone's mobile phone.
Verve's patent-pending publishing and ad trafficking platform allows content partners to extend their communities and readership onto mobile phones and other network enabled devices. "Using Verve’s mobile publishing technology, the AP will transition 162 years of know-how and progress onto the newest medium of the mobile Web," said Howe.
The Mobile News Network will include local news specifically contributed by AP members as well as national, international and vertical content from the AP, such as sports, entertainment, and business news. The network offers participating AP members the ability to generate revenue through local and national advertising.
About The Associated Press
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees news from AP.
About Verve Wireless
Based in Encinitas, CA; Verve Wireless, Inc. and their proprietary Verve Local Content Gateway™ allow local media companies and advertisers to seamlessly extend their reach into mobile devices across all the major carriers. Verve Wireless currently works with leading media companies from across the country including dailies, alternative newsweeklies, and city magazines. For more information visit http://www.vervewireless.com.
Apple Design Award WWDC08.
(June 11, 2008) AP Mobile News Network named runner up in Apple Design Awards’ Best iPhone Web Application category at WWDC08. The Apple Design Awards, held at Moscone West during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, recognize technical excellence, innovation, and outstanding achievement in software development.
Shop Talk: Mobile, The Future?
Editor & Publisher, June print issue and online
Mobile: The Future for Newspapers?
Newspapers hoping to evolve into local information and connection utilities are in the catbird seat: They have an opportunity to steal momentum from major national and international brands that are now rushing into mobile -- the format that just might save them.
By Art Howe
NEW YORK (June 11, 2008) -- When William Dean Singleton was recently asked how newspapers can escape their current malaise, he offered one word: wireless. Over the next five years, said Singleton, CEO of MediaNews and chairman of the Associated Press, "I think that the single biggest category that offers the biggest growth opportunity is wireless." Wireless and the newspaper are "tailor-made" for each other, he added.
A newspaper's core strength is its institutional knowledge of the community. Moving that information onto a mobile platform gives users a device with the intelligence of a PC, the power of pinpoint location, and the ability to transmit data at near-broadband speed. It gives newspapers the ability to transmit information, tailored to users' interest, to anyone, anywhere, at any time.
There are now 3.3 billion active cell phones on the planet. That's three times the number of people hooked into the regular Internet. And, for a vast majority of young people -- the ones whom newspapers desperately need to reach -- mobile is the primary communication device.
The world's cell phone carriers see their future primarily as a provider of data services — exactly the kind of news, reviews, photos, social guidance, and advertising that newspapers happen to have available. Preparing for the day when they would transmit the world's knowledge, U.S. carriers in recent years invested more than $40 billion in retooling networks to handle data, including images and video, at broadband speeds. They've named this high-speed data transmission "3G" for Third Generation.
While all this investing was going on, newspapers were watching circulation decline in market after market, as people turned in huge numbers to the Internet for news and information. They want immediacy and convenience, and now they want to reach into their pockets and access the world around them easily and quickly. They want to search news, sports scores, music listings, classifieds, compare restaurants. Some people even want to access a newspaper's vast archives.
Sharing their information in this fashion, newspapers can evolve into "local information and connection utilities." That's a phrase created by the folks at the American Press Institute (API), who recently completed a compelling vision of what newspapers must transform into.
A decade ago, many publishers missed the opportunity of the Web. Papers have tried to catch up by launching Web sites that are basically extensions of their core print products. Publishers now need vastly different thinking to maintain their place in their communities. They need to view themselves as lifestyle enablers — utilizing their unmatched local knowledge, large databases, extensive newsgathering ability, and social networking capacity to help people "know or do whatever it takes to live here," as the API puts it.
Ironically, not much publishers' content has been repurposed for mobile, especially local mobile content. And despite the iPhone's Web-surfing promotions, content on the fixed Internet needs to be reformatted for mobile browsing. But that also puts newspapers in the catbird seat: They have an opportunity to steal momentum from major national and international brands that are now rushing into mobile. The paradox of mobile content is that the more local information is (and that's what newspapers can do best), the more valuable it is.
Mobile search isn't useful if it involves vast databases or even queries. The best search on mobile involves little typing with the result easily sorted into relevant content. Easily searchable restaurant reviews — delivered with descriptive targeted ads, useful coupons, and the like — would prove invaluable, for example, to people who are out and about, looking for a place to dine.
That kind of usefulness will drive dramatic growth in mobile advertising. The head of Omnicom's BBDO, the world's biggest ad agency, predicts mobile will surpass television as the most important medium. The reason: Done well, micro-targeting thousands of advertising messages to mobile users ultimately returns far better results than television campaigns, newspaper ads, or even paid search advertising.
As the volume of local content grows, so will consumer usage of the mobile Internet. Studies show that slightly more than 30% of phone users have recently searched for content on the mobile Web. That number will grow quickly, since half of new phone buyers look for phones with Web-browsing functionality. The studies also point out that 84% of the mobile Web users want their mobile sites to be optimized for cell phones -- meaning local publishers need to commit quickly to mobile quickly to grab this growing market opportunity.
The answer to escaping "malaise" is not so far in the future as Singleton imagines. In fact, the answer is mobile -- and it's right in your pocket.
Art Howe (letters@editorandpublisher.com) is CEO of Verve Wireless.
June 2008, Verve Wireless Makes CareerBuilder Hire
Editor & Publisher
By E&P Staff
Published: June 03, 2008 10:30 AM ET
NEW YORK Kendall Marolda, CareerBuilder's newspaper relationship manager, has joined Verve Wireless as vice president of local market development. In her new role, Marolda will work closely with publishers who want to expand their content to mobile devices.
Verve Wireless allows local media companies and advertisers to reach consumers through smart phone and other mobile devices. The Associated Press' new mobile initiative is using Verve's platform.
While at CareerBuilder, Marolda's responsibility was to integrate CareerBuilder products into 27 West Coast market newspapers.
"I'm looking forward to connecting local media with Verve's mobile publishing tools and in turn the mobile Web revenue stream," Marolda said in a statement. "We'll pave the way for local media outlets to capitalize on the next shift towards local, actionable content purposed for an increasingly mobile society."
The local revolution in mobile is coming. Verve Wireless is ready to spread the news
VentureBeat, June 16, 2008
By MG Siegler
With the inclusion of GPS in the new iPhone 3G, Apple is kicking off a wave of excitement about location-based services (LBS) — and the device isn’t even out yet. One aspect that may not be as sexy as tracking your movements in real-time, but could be more useful, is local news. Verve Wireless seems poised to take full advantage of this.
"Mobile is really about local," Verve Wireless chief executive Art Howe told me. Mind you, this was before all the hoopla started about LBS leading up to Apple’s WWDC event, where the iPhone 3G was unveiled last week. Howe and company president Tom Kenney have been thinking about location as it relates to mobile devices long before that.
For proof, look no further than the beautifully designed and executed iPhone-optimized site Verve Wireless built for the AP Mobile News Network. (The site was the runner-up for the Best iPhone Web Application at WWDC.) While top stories are obviously emphasized, there is a clear emphasis on local news as well. Of course, the "local" news on the current site is pulled in through what soon may be the Dewey Decimal System of mobile location tracking, zip codes.
When the iPhone 3G adds the GPS element, you can be sure Verve Wireless will be utilizing location awareness on not only the AP Mobile News Network, but with other local media companies that use Verve’s platform as well.
It’s also important to note that while the iPhone 3G is garnering a lot of attention at the moment, it is hardly the only location-sensing phone. Verve’s platform and vision of the future applies regardless of the phone. (Though it was clear in talking with both Howe and Kenney that they are particularly excited about the iPhone and the possibilities it has opened up for the mobile web.)
The platform was built over the past two years. The idea was that publishers, mobile carriers and consumers had a hard time communicating with one another. There were simply too many intermediaries in the process. Verve’s goal is to be the one-stop shop for all the tools needed for publishers to reach the consumers -- with an emphasis on local publishers reaching local readers.
Verve is not interested in promoting its own brand like you may see on the local versions of Google News and Yahoo News. For Verve it’s simply about getting others content out there. Again, cut out the middle man. The several thousand unique properties that Verve has agreements with seem to back up this idea. 2008 will be all about executing on those agreements to realize Verve’s potential.
Location is also important in the business of advertising. If local merchants are able to serve up ads based on your location, these ads could naturally be more relevant to you. Verve Wireless is betting on this as a key component of its platform.
Verve has deals with media partners including The New York Times Company, Freedom Communications and Media General. It also has agreements with major mobile carriers AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.
The Encinitas, Calif-based startup raised a $2.5 million angel round last July. It is currently closing in a new round of funding.
New IPhone Also Brings New Way of Mobile Marketing
Open Platform, Access to Software-Development Kit Let Brands Sponsor or Add Their Own Applications
By Abbey Klasseen
Published June 16, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The blogosphere was abuzz last week about the new iPhone. It runs on a fast 3G network, comes with global-positioning technology and is priced at a more-accessible $199. But what has some marketers most excited is that with it comes the possibility of creating marketer-driven mobile applications.
That's because on the iPhone, software is content, said Chad Currie, VP-group creative director at T-3, who wrote about the possibilities on Ad Age's DigitalNext blog. And increasingly, marketers are interested in creating useful and valuable utilities for consumers.
"The iPhone is a lifestyle device," he said. "People will solve real problems with apps. ... The more you can add value to that experience, the better."
Right now there are two kinds of applications for the iPhone and other mobile devices: web applications and native applications. Native applications allow for richer experiences and take advantage of the traits and features that are built into a phone, such as a camera or a motion sensor. It's the native apps that are new for iPhone 2.0.
Web app scale
Web applications for the iPhone already exist en masse and, despite the name and the fact that they're accessed through the Safari browser, don't look all that much like web pages. Bank of America has a nice mobile banking application, and FedEx lets customers process shipments. For many marketers, web apps will continue to be the best route. It's nearly impossible for marketers to create one native mobile application to run across multiple handsets and carriers because they all run on different platforms. A marketer would have to build five (or more!) separate applications. So while web apps are restricted to what a web browser will support, they offer greater scale.
This movement toward mobile apps is a confluence of two trends: marketers' interest in creating useful experiences for customers and the opening up of platforms for them to do so.
Marketers are taking dollars that might previously have gone toward traditional paid ad formats and using them to developing content or utilities that can offer deeper engagement and ongoing utility.
"What's going to work in mobile is applications over advertising," said Chad Stoller, director-emerging platforms at Organic. "You have to provide utility and use. But it's one thing to build it, another to get distribution."
Indeed, much of the buzz about mobile marketing in the past couple of years has centered on the idea of mobile advertising -- importing the paid-display-advertising model into the mobile phone. But in the past six months, marketers have begun talking about a new kind of mobile marketing, one that's experiential, takes advantage of the medium and enhances something users would want to do anyway. In fact, making sure there's a specific need or reason for an application is almost as important as determining whether a marketer's audience can be found on a device.
Software as content
"Once you interpret the role of the brand in the medium, developing applications or sponsoring applications is a different kind of connection or emotional attachment than just running advertising," said Eric Bader, partner of Brand In Hand.
Marketers can seriously pursue these applications now that Apple has decided with the launch of its second-generation phone to open up its platform, give access to its software-development kit and allow developers to create all sorts of application for the iPhone. Facebook arguably launched the software-as-content trend a little more than a year ago when it allowed outside developers to create applications that would run on the Facebook platform.
The iPhone will launch in the U.S. on July 11 with an Apple Apps Store that will be the interface through which iPhone users can download applications made specifically for the device. As iTunes is to music and the iPod, the Apps Store will be to the mobile phone. The approval process required to get into the store is seen as a way to combat the application fatigue many have assigned to Facebook.
There are few details available on the Apps Store, but developers will be able to set the price, and, in a traditional revenue-sharing model, Apple will take 30%. Apple hasn't specified whether or how it will take a cut from free, ad-supported apps -- but some in the industry suggest this may be the way for Apple to milk a long-speculated advertising revenue stream.
Which device?
While the iPhone has captured much of the buzz around mobile apps, developers can build native applications for BlackBerry or Windows Mobile as well. (Barnes & Noble has a well-regarded e-commerce app built for BlackBerries.) The first step for any marketer that wants to create a mobile app would be to determine how much of its audience is using mobile devices for things other than voice. Then it should determine which device most of its customers use. If, for example, it's targeting a professional, at-work crowd, building for the BlackBerry would make more sense than the iPhone.
At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last week, the Associated Press launched a native iPhone app that uses the device's global-positioning technology to automatically cull local news stories, which are stored and cached so they can be read even if a user doesn't have service, such as on a plane or subway. (And a citizen-journalism-focused aspect of the app allows users to instantly send photos to the AP.)
Sega launched an iPhone version of "Super Monkey Ball" that called on users to tilt the device to guide their monkey balls; another game developer took advantage of the touch screen as well. Major League Baseball launched live video highlights, and Six Apart launched a mobile-blogging app.
A Means for Publishers to Put a Newspaper in Your Pocket
The New York Times, Published July 28, 2008
By Claire Cain Miller
SAN FRANCISCO -- The thud of the morning newspaper landing on front porches may one day be replaced with the beep of downloads onto a cellphone.
Verve Wireless believes it can save the dying local newspaper by making it mobile. It offers publishers the technology to create Web sites for cellphones. The company, based in Encinitas, Calif., already provides mobile versions of 4,000 newspapers from 140 publishers, including Freedom Communications, the McClatchy Company and The New York Times Company’s Regional Media Group. The Associated Press, its biggest customer, is betting that Verve has the solution to the nagging problem of dwindling print readership. It led a $3 million round of financing in Verve, a rare investment for the news organization.
People are increasingly using their phones to surf the Web. Of the 95 million mobile Internet subscribers in the United States, 40 million actively use their phones to go online, twice the number of two years ago, according to Nielsen Mobile. After portal sites and e-mail services, newspaper content -- weather, news, politics, city guides, sports and entertainment -- is most popular among mobile users.
Verve’s chief executive, Art Howe, says he is convinced that people will always want local news and information -- just not in the format of a print newspaper. But to be useful to readers, mobile versions of Web sites "cannot just be Internet lite," Mr. Howe warned. The A.P. recently released a popular iPhone application developed by Verve that lets users scan the day’s headlines, send articles to friends and save articles to read later.
"Mobile is actually a better way to reach people than print or even Web. It’s versatile, immediate, travels and is just as compelling," said Mr. Howe, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former reporter and former owner of 50 local papers.
The problem, said Verve’s president, Tom Kenney, is that local papers do not have the resources, expertise or relationships with cellphone carriers to build mobile sites themselves. Verve does it for them, in exchange for a cut of ad revenue.
Publishers can upload local ads to their cellphone sites using Verve’s software or have Verve place national ad campaigns on their sites. Verve can deliver a particular ad to, say, people age 21 to 30 who live downtown and have searched for articles about the bar scene. Philadelphia Magazine, for example, sent readers of its Verve-developed Web site a text message offering $4 grapefruit cocktails and half-price appetizers at a local bar.
Mobile companies hope that this kind of ad customization could persuade advertisers to pay more for ads on cellphones than they do for Web ads. So far, few do. Advertisers will spend only $1.6 billion on mobile ads this year, while spending $26 billion online, predicts eMarketer, a marketing research firm
Media General, which runs newspapers and television stations, mostly in the Southeast, uses Verve for 79 mobile Web sites. Tim Repsher, who oversees Media General’s mobile products, said he chose Verve because he would not have to hire new staff members to figure out how to publish newspapers on cellphones. Mobile readership quadrupled in a year, with readers using the site to read breaking news and hurricane reports and get updates during power failures.
Newspapers cannot afford to be late to cellphones, said Greg Sterling, who studies the mobile Internet for Opus Research, a consulting firm. "It’s important and smart for newspapers to get out in front on the mobile phenomenon and not make the mistake they made in waiting too long to embrace the Internet."
AP Mobile News Network Reaches 16 Million Page Views in First Full Month, over 1 Million Local Stories Read.
Nearly 950 Content Partners Bolster Local News and Advertising Offerings
Marketwatch.com, published September 18, 2008
By Associated Press
NEW YORK, Sep 18, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Associated Press today announced that the Mobile News Network received more than 16 million page views for the month of August, with 948 news organizations signed up to provide content. More than one million local stories featured on the Mobile News Network were read -- the widest coverage available of breaking news, sports, entertainment and business developments for consumers on the go. The Mobile News Network is the first product released by AP's Digital Cooperative, an initiative aimed at finding new digital outlets for news and information produced by AP members.
August marked the Mobile News Network's first full month following the July 10 release of its iPhone client application. The network was optimized first for the iPhone to take advantage of the device's multimedia capabilities, and currently 95 percent of traffic comes from the iPhone and iTouch.
Forthcoming this quarter are optimized client applications for other smart phones including BlackBerry, which was recently previewed during the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment(R) show held in San Francisco last week.
(The Mobile News Network can be accessed on any smart phone by visiting its mobile site www.apnews.com/mobile, which was launched on May 5. With the popularity of the iPhone application, only five percent of total traffic is coming from the mobile site.)
Based on early traffic figures, wireless users are obtaining news from the network consistently throughout the day beginning at 7 a.m., with the number of visits growing steadily until 10 p.m. Users are acquiring news just as much, if not slightly more, during the weekend than any given day of the week (14.9% on Sundays vs. 13.8% on Wednesdays, for example). The Mobile News Network audience member views an average of 37 pages per month.
"The mobile industry has long talked about the huge potential of the mobile phone as a marketing vehicle because users carry it with them at all times. Looking at early statistics -- the number of page views and the frequency with which users are accessing news, even during the weekends -- really bears this out," said Jeffrey Litvack, global director, new media markets for AP. "As we move to the next phase of development on the Mobile News Network, we will work closely with publishers, agencies and marketers to match consumers with relevant brands and products based on their location."
This spring, AP selected Verve Wireless to provide the technology for the Mobile News Network. Verve Wireless' patent-pending publishing and ad trafficking platform allows content partners to extend their communities and readership onto mobile phones and other network enabled devices.
"The rapid growth in Mobile News Network participation underscores the newspaper industry's willingness to embrace the changing digital landscape and gives people easy access to the largest source of news from a single mobile application," said Art Howe, CEO and co-founder of Verve Wireless."This also demonstrates people's interest and demand for quality, professional journalism from trusted sources, when and where they want it."
Other Mobile News Network milestones and key findings:
-- AP Members Embrace Mobile: In the first three months, 948 AP members comprised of news publishers and content producers have joined the Mobile News Network -- a 786 percent jump since its May 5 launch with 107 participating members. AP member participation covers all of the top 100 designated market areas.
-- California Drives 20% of Local Content Traffic: The most viewed stories came from San Francisco/San Jose, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami news providers.
-- Where the Mobile News Network Fans Go: The most highly visited content areas are: Top Stories (29 percent); Local News (18 percent); Sports (12 percent); Entertainment (9 percent); and Photos (7 percent).
Launched in May, the award-winning Mobile News Network Web application can be found at www.apnews.com/mobile. The Mobile News Network's iPhone application is available for free download at the Apple App Store on iPhone and iPod Touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore, with the Mobile News Network's BlackBerry application expected to be released this quarter.
About The AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP.
About the Mobile News Network
The Mobile News Network is a multimedia news portal providing anytime access to international, national and local news content from an unrivalled network of trusted sources. Powered by The Associated Press, wireless users now have breaking news, sports, entertainment, politics, business and wacky content in the palm of their hand. Additional information on the Mobile News Network can be found at www.ap.org/mobilenews, including our growing list of nearly 950 participating publishers.
About Verve Wireless
Based in Encinitas, CA; Verve Wireless, Inc. and their proprietary Verve Local Content Gateway(TM) allow local media companies and advertisers to seamlessly extend their reach into mobile devices across all the major carriers. Verve Wireless currently works with leading media companies from across the country including dailies, local broadcasters, alternative newsweeklies, and city magazines. For more information visit www.vervewireless.com.
Zvents and Verve Wireless Bring All There Is to Do to Your Mobile Device
Partnership Extends Publishers' Local Platform to Mobile
Marketwatch.com, published November 20, 2008
SAN MATEO, CA and ENCINITAS, CA, Nov 20, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Zvents, a local search engine and paid listings ad network, today announced a partnership with Verve Wireless, the leading provider of mobile publishing technologies to local media companies. The fusion of the two companies' technologies empowers publishers with mobile, local search to deliver opportunities and advertising that enhance users' choices and experiences, as they explore communities, towns, and cities looking for things to do.
"Mobile is a key aspect of local search, and our collaboration with Verve Wireless reflects Zvents' overarching commitment to helping local businesses find their customers and promote themselves," said Ethan Stock, Zvents CEO and founder. "With Verve's mobile publishing technology, our current and prospective media network partners can provide their audience with a comprehensive local search experience, anytime and anywhere."
Zvents powers a local search and paid listings ad network, using event listings to promote local business listings, for hundreds of partners including mtvU, MSN, NBC, AT&T/YELLOWPAGES.COM, LA.com and Boston.com. The Zvents network also includes many of the major media news groups that partner with Verve Wireless: McClatchy Interactive, Freedom Communications, and the New York Times Regional Media Group.
"Mobile devices are crossing the chasm from being solely a communication tool to becoming users' primary instrument for on-the-go information. Community information such as local events and neighborhood venues is highly sought out and in demand while we move about in our day to day life," said Art Howe, CEO of Verve Wireless. "This is why we're pleased to now offer our local media partners access to the Zvents national database of local entertainment, events and activities so these partners can include it as part of their local mobile content offering."
The collaboration converges Zvents' and Verve Wireless' technologies and enables local publishers to heighten their users' mobile experience when searching for local promotions, events, and community things to do.
About Zvents
Zvents is a local search and advertising network with hundreds of web and mobile partners, featuring event listings to promote local business. Zvents provides a complete and compelling local user experience, enabling users to find, contribute, share and promote local businesses, entertainment, sports activities, retail promotions, events, and performers. The company aggregates rich business and event information from the open-web, user-contributed content, 3rd party event sources, and links high-quality editorial partner content with its search index. For more information, visit www.Zvents.com.
About Verve Wireless
Based in Encinitas, CA, Verve Wireless, Inc., and their proprietary Verve Local Content Gateway(TM), allow local media companies and advertisers to seamlessly extend their reach into mobile devices across all the major carriers. Verve Wireless currently works with leading local media companies from across the country including dailies, alternative newsweeklies, city magazines, radio stations, and television stations.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Joy Wong Daniels
650.288.0884
Gutenberg Communications
Suzanne Matick
831-479-1888
Dig Communications for Verve Wireless
Stephna May
415-367-4102
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