Well if you haven’t heard by now, Microsoft launched the Windows Phone this week.
The team have been busy at work on the next version of our mobile operating platform and unveiled 6.5 on Tuesday, launching on 30 new handsets in 20 different countries by then end of the year.
With a plethora of new features including Internet Explorer Mobile 6 which provides a full, rich web viewing experience similar to the experience on your PC, the added functionality positions it as a handset for work and play, and should have your heart racing as an advertiser?
Why?
Because if there more phones out there that consumers are happy to use for more and more varied tasks, the more opportunities there are for the rich targeting of your products and services via digital marketing.
Just last month in the US, the Microsoft Mobile Advertising Team announced on this blog the launch of Mobile Behavioural Targeting, and with instant messenger advertising opportunities available in most countries, engaging with your customers on the move is becoming more and more easy.
The Windows Phone launch also goes a bit further. If you’ve ever lost your handset, you can probably live with the inconvenience but not the loss of all those photos and documents. The My Phone solution not only backs up your data online, but also lets you share photos on your favourite social networks and also…….locate your lost phone!
That coupled with Windows Marketplace for Mobile Apps, which should prove to be a thriving hub of useful applications, makes working in the mobile advertising space very exciting indeed.
Over the last few years, I’ve often been asked whether “this” is the year for mobile. I’ve never promised anything, but I can tell you 2010 is going to be important.
On my way over to Barcelona for the Travel Convention I read the UK IAB’s guide to mobile advertising. Bringing together vendors and advertisers from the industry, it’s a great read, full of useful tips and shows that the mobile marketing arena is growing.
During the session Caroline Mastoras and I moderated and presented at on Innovative Thinking, there was a presentation on mobile. I asked if any of the 150 or so marketers in the room had a mobile strategy.
Nobody did!
Which shows that there are obviously those that get it, and those who may well be left behind.
A recession is the perfect time to start researching and dabbling in new and innovative marketing techniques. If you’re not putting mobile somewhere on your future plans, you competitors are. So this is an ideal time to start trying to get one up on them!
Have a great weekend!
Mel