Mobile Digest #02#

In our first guest article of 2010, David Murphy, editor of Mobile Marketing Magazine, summons the genie of the mobile (isn't there an app for that?) and kindly requests three wishes.

The start of any new year is a time for making resolutions, just as about a week later is the time for breaking them. That said, it seems only fitting to draw up a list, not so much of resolutions, but of my hopes for mobile as a marketing channel in 2010.

Here then, in no particular order, are three wishes to consider...

iBeyond

That brands lose their obsession with the iPhone and decide which phones and which platforms to design their mobile applications for, based on the profile of their target audience and the type of phone they are likely to have. That said, with the iPhone now available for £20 a month from Tesco, it probably won’t be too long before the iPhone is genuinely unignorable as a platform; I just hope consumers using other devices are not forgotten.

Bigger push from the networks

That the mobile networks begin to genuinely embrace mobile marketing. There are signs this is starting to happen, with O2, for example, offering its customers the chance to opt in to receive marketing messages on their mobile phones. Most UK operators now also offer flat-rate data tariffs where, for a few pounds a month, the consumer can browse mobile websites on their phone and feel confident they're not racking up a huge bill. It would be good to see the operators doing more to really push these tariffs.

Virtual vouchers

That the progress made over the last 12 months in a couple of key sectors, notably transport and retailing, continues apace. Around the world, as of today, you can buy bus, train, parking and flight tickets via your mobile, and have the ticket sent to your phone as a mobile voucher. Money-off vouchers are also being sent to consumers on their mobile phones by a few forward-thinking brands and retailers, and once consumers get used to using these services, they wonder how they managed without them. Here’s hoping that these pockets of activity become commonplace in 2010. Then when someone comes along with the next neat thing to do on your mobile, people won’t think it’s such a big deal, won’t get hung up on the technology involved, and will just get on and do it.

M is for mobile, marketing and mainstream

There, that doesn’t seem like much to ask for does it? I won’t say that 2010 looks like being the year of mobile, not least because if I did, half the people in the mobile marketing business would lynch me, so tired are they of hearing that phrase. But if these three wishes come true, we’ll be a lot closer to seeing mobile adopted as a mainstream marketing and CRM channel.