Starting next week, both Sprint and Verizon will be rolling out plans that will offer mobile Web and mobile TV at cheaper rates.  For example, Sprint will offer 3,000 voice minutes, unlimited messaging and e-mail, unlimited access to the mobile Web, 50 streaming music channels, 25-plus live TV channels, on-demand TV, and unlimited GPS navigation for $169.99 for two lines. 

This offering is very exciting and very important if your company has a mobile marketing campaingn.  Think about it, Sprint is offering unlimited access to the mobile Web and on-demand TV.  This means that consumers who sign up for these plans will be using their cell phones tremendously more because the Internet and TV will be literally at the tip of their fingers at all times.  This means that there will be more opportunities for marketers to reach mobile consumers.

Offering unlimited GPS navigation is also important since this will encourage the development of mobile applications that are tailored toward local search such as YellowPages.com’s release of their iPhone application.  This will yet be another opportunity for marketers to reach targeted audiences.

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Although a new Harris Interactive study reveals that over one-third of consumers say the dire economy will not affect their spending habits,  the 60 percent of consumers who will limit their discretionary spending will curtail going out to restaurants (74 percent) and limit their purchase of electronics (71 percent). 41 percent of consumers, however, have no plans to stop or cut-back on the purchase of cell phones, making it an increasingly viable advertising channel.

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AT&T is in the final stages of releasing YellowPages.com mobile for the iPhone, an innovative GPS-enabled application that combines local search with social networking capabilities, giving users the ability to search for information, share reviews and plan activities with friends, neighbors and co-workers. 

According to research by Nielsen Mobile, over 4 million mobile phone users are accessing social networking sites via mobile internet.  MySpace, the leading social networking site among PC users, is also the most popular mobile internet social networking site in the U.S. with 2.8 million unique mobile users in December 2007.  In that same month, Facebook had about 1.8 million unique mobile users.  “Consumer demand for mobile social networking may be a significant driver of mobile service pricing models, as evidenced by Vodafone UK’s recent move to offer unlimited internet access as a standard feature of its new monthly mobile price plans,” says Jeff Herrmann, vice-president of Mobile Media at Nielsen Mobile.

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Mobile marketing today is at a similar point in its evolution as online advertising was at in the ’90s. While the promise of Web-based marketing was large in 1996, adoption was slow until Internet access became readily accessible and affordable. Remember the days of pay-per-minute plans for Internet access? I still have a few $400 ISP bills I’d like to forget.

Thanks to developments such as the iPhone — combined with better mobile content and services — mobile search seemed to take some major strides during the second half of 2007. The advertising potential now resembles that of the early days of the Internet in both variety of search options available and the fragmented nature of the keyword search volume. Consumers are searching for a wide range of topics and products via their mobile devices, and they’re willing to accept advertising in exchange for content and services.
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Three major players in Directory Assistance and Voice Search launched new applications for mobile DA and search use.  Among the newly released applications is a human supported FreeMobile411 for Sprint phone users.

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A new technology called virtualization is coming soon to a cell phone near you. Virtualization allows cell phones to utilize various mobile applications like web browsing, social networking, or gaming on one operating system as opposed to separate operating systems on separate phones.
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