Mobile Content and Application World

Many people in the world using Google map and feel pleased. Google map already becoming one of the default service people use everyday. Now, Google map isn’t just giving you a map but is also giving your location when using mobile.

The newest update in Google maps allowing user to track where they are right now by using mobile. This new feature called ‘My Location’. While still in beta version, this feature tried to help they who don’t have GPS around.

Google can find your location to within about 1,000 meters. Google locate your position by using the relevant information gleaned from nearby cell towers. It still not perfect location but is good enough, especially if you lost in somewhere you really don’t know where.

It also has advantages over usual GPS. You can use it indoor, where GPS can’t. It also works faster by using shortcut button on your mobile (the “0” button). Moreover, you don’t need to buy another gadget apart from your mobile.

This feature is still in early stage, you may found more location error if you are in more rural areas. But in big city, this error reduced significantly.

Not every phone can be used also. It's available on color BlackBerry handsets, new Nokia Symbian phones, new Sony Ericsson phones and a number of Windows Mobile handsets.

Movie rental chain Blockbuster Inc is in talks with all the major mobile phone makers about partnerships aimed at making it easier for consumers to watch movies on the go, Chief Executive James Keyes said on Tuesday. (Reuters)
"We're talking with virtually all of the major manufacturers about the opportunity to provide greater mobility and convenience," Keyes said.

Blockbuster already talks with some other companies like Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung. They are trying to arrange some partnership about how mobile phone or gadget can download and playing blockbuster’s movies.

Blockbuster also talks with some software companies but didn’t name them.

The process of downloading and playing movies in mobile is not mentioned in detail. Blockbuster targets they who are rare in home for watching movies.

This may be a great advancement in mobile content, but we still don’t know if this kind of service will be convenient or not. People may feel that watching movies on mobile isn’t something worth of.

Beside anything, we shall wait and see how this will going on. Will Blockbuster take lead or will it just stumble?

Right now, one third of the global populations are connected via mobile phones and approximately half are expected to be using a mobile Internet phone by 2008 (according to dotmobi.net). Also annual mobile phone sales are predicted to hit 1 billion by 2009.
That’s a very significant statistic we have here. Not just stopping here, about 29 % of mobile phone users in UK using their gadget to do searching (according to an IPSOS survey on 2005).

But until now, there are not much marketers or advertisers gaining advantage from this marketing channel. Many of these marketers are still waiting and see. They are not confidence about the potential and market of mobile as one of marketing channel. Only 13 % of marketer use mobile text ad and 11 % advertising on WAP sites (according to report by Forrester Research).

With the growth, mobile search will become one of the greatest e-commerce and marketing potential. The barrier that people think about mobile technology such as adoption of web format into the mobile gadget screen will eventually overcame by the improvement in technology.

Mobile is a perfect platform for advertising. People bring it every time, it always on, it is interactive, it also provide location data and many other things. By now, people search about things like news, entertainment, ring tones, map and directions, local services, train schedule, movie schedule, restaurant and many more.

Going forward, more complex searches and bigger transactions will become viable as technology advances.

Many internet and telecommunications enterprise already invest in mobile search section. Company like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Motorola, and LG already arrange their mobile search unit and adding features in their products.

It is clear that mobile search will be the next big thing and be the major part of online marketing. Will we just sit down and watch or anticipating this booming already?