Why aren't there any mobile killer apps?

Mobile Technology Weblog has an interview with mobile marketing guru Tomi Ahonen.

In reading their coversation and superimposing it on a chat I had with our tech team yesterday, it occurs to me that the reason we haven't seen a lot of success in mobile marketing is that the folks in that space aren't really doing anything else. For mobile marketing to really take off, doesn't it have to be brought to the fore by traditional media. Like on the local level, newspapers?

To clarify, if I go into a local retailer, and try to sell them location based marketing service, most will tell me to go back to my sci-fi reading. BUT, if I went in as a representative of the local paper and offered the service as part of an overall media mix, they might be more receptive. If I sell everything on a pay-for-performance model, they'll get the service without even asking, and learn firsthand its effectiveness.

Comments

[A visitor]

Hi

Thanks for linking to this story.

As far as your comment is concerned, yes I agree with you 100%. I'm one of the few people in the world who has actual experience of running an independent mobile marketing channel, in two shopping malls in the UK.

We ran over 1500 campaigns for retailers, including the likes of Burger King and Reebok.

The company didn't survive its subsequent funding round (actually signed on 9/11!) but we did learn many lessons.

I wrote a white paper on the experience (write me an email for a free copy russell at unstatic dot com). One of my conclusions was that to succeed, the business model needs to be combined with another media, such as local newspapers. Or, more creatively perhaps, a credit card company.

This isn't necessarily for the same reasons as you cite, but the result is the same :-)

Russell

Russell Buckley