Bluetooth Marketing News

Canada and eCommerce haven’t exactly had the best relationship.

But that may change in the months and years ahead.

Just this week, Acquity Group Limited, a global Brand eCommerce and digital marketing company, confirmed plans to expand into Canada.

“With online consumption in Canada expected to reach $51 billion by 2016,” said Acquity Group in its announcement, “major North American retailers and B2B brands serving the Canadian market have engaged Acquity Group to design elegant yet functional experiences integrated across all digital channels, including web, mobile and social.”

As of this writing, however, a scant 1% of all retail expenditures in Canada come from online transactions.

“With a booming technology sector and broad network of strategic partners located in Canada, establishing a physical presence in this market was a natural progression in our expansion,” says Chris Dalton, President and CEO of Acquity Group’s US operations.

“With the announcement of an Adobe-hybris partnership this past March, it became critical to build a Canadian presence and leverage our triangular partnership,” Dalton adds. “We are excited to offer marketers and retailers a truly engaging buying process for every step – from brand engagement to browsing to check out.”

So is Acquity Group exactly what Canada needs to help kick-start eCommerce momentum? Only time will tell.

With only hours to go before Facebook becomes a publicly traded company, the social networking giant has what could be it’s final acquisition before debuting on NASDAQ.

According to Tech Crunch, Facebook has “just closed a deal to hire the full team of seven employees from Android photosharing app developer Lightbox.”

The latest acquisition comes just one month after Facebook gobbled up Instagram for $1 billion.

Along with the Instagram buy, the last-minute-before-IPO Lightbox hires will help assure investors that Facebook will do what it takes to win the very mobile-centric future of social networking.

Today on the Lightbox blog, company founders Thai Tran and Nilesh Patel expressed their appreciation and excitement.

We started Lightbox because we were excited about creating new services built primarily for mobile, especially for the Android and HTML5 platforms, and we’re honored that millions of you have downloaded the Lightbox Photos app and shared your experiences with the Lightbox community.

Not surprisingly, this means Lightbox is no longer accepting new signups. If you’re an existing user, you can continue to use Lightbox.com until June 15 and you can download your photos from

As the most recent major U.S. carrier to get the iPhone on its network, one would expect the globe’s most popular smartphone to instantly make a splash – and some big bucks – for the third largest mobile operator in the United States.

But given the huge subsidy Apple charges its carrier partners for access to the device, it can take some time for the iPhone to bring in the green.

A long time.

In fact, just this week, All Things D published comments from Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, who says it could take another three years for the iPhone to become profitable for his company.

Sprint, which reportedly committed $15.5 billion over time for the ability to sell the iPhone, won’t see a return on that investment until somewhere in the neighborhood of 2015.

“We’re very happy with it,” Hesse said of Sprint’s deal with Apple, during the company’s annual shareholders meeting Tuesday. “Carrying the iPhone will be quite profitable.”

“Over time we will make more money on iPhone customers than we will on other customers,” Hesse asserts.

Sprint’s shareholders hope he’s right.

With coffee in one hand and a mobile device in the other, this is how millions of Americans start their day every day.

And that’s exactly why Zumobi has partnered with java giant Starbucks for a more sophisticated mobile endeavor.

Zumobi today announced an extension to its partnership with Ology Inc., a social discovery and networking company, launching the site’s first app for Android devices.

And Starbucks is coming along for the ride.

Through a partnership with Starbucks, Ology has released their new app on the Zumobi Brand Integration (ZBi) platform. Now users can skim through headlines via their mobile device, while sipping their morning coffee.

The Ology Android app offers users a “steady stream of what’s trending and relevant on the Web across key interest categories that include music, film, fashion, politics, sports, TV and more.”

“We are thrilled that Android users can now access Ology directly from their smart phones,” said Ology CEO & Co-Founder Beth Haggerty. “The new Android mobile app provides the Ology experience in a quick and easy-to-view format.”

The Ology Android app is free and available to download to Android devices now. To check it out, click here.

With Latin America becoming an even more important part of the mobile landscape with each passing year, today the Mobile Marketing Association announced the launch of MMA Mexico.

This is the newest of the 20 local MMA Councils that have been rolled out worldwide.

The organization says that MMA Mexico was created in direct response to the palpable need for industry support and guidance to create mobile success in Mexico.

“With the opening of operations in Mexico, we are following through on our 2012 plan to build councils throughout the region, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, where the mobile market is presenting extraordinarily strong growth,” says Marcio Chaer, Managing Director of MMA Latin America. “The fast development that the mobile market is showing in Latin America is going to be intensified with the impact of MMA operations in those countries.”

“The launch of MMA Mexico allows members to benefit from the combination of the MMA’s global leadership and local knowledge to create an even more productive, successful and powerful mobile marketing industry for Mexico,” says Greg Stuart, CEO of the MMA. “The creation of new MMA Local Councils worldwide also shows that globally, marketers are recognizing and embracing the power of mobile, and they want to work with us to make mobile an indispensable part of the marketing mix.”

On Wednesday, venerable market research firm Nielsen reported on the state of smartphone app ownership in the United States.

And the findings are particularly telling when it comes to how much smartphone owners love their myriad, must-have apps.

“Roughly a year ago when we summarized the state of smartphones at the Appnation conference,” reads the Nielsen Blog, “less than 40 percent of mobile subscribers in the U.S. had smartphones. Today, one in two mobile subscribers has a smartphone and that figure is moving steadily upwards.”

Without question, the mobile app has become such a staple of smartphone usage that the number of apps that now populate the typical smartphone has spiked tremendously.

“By most measures,” the firm goes on to say, “it has been the year of the App once again, driven mostly by the rise of Android and iOS users who have more than doubled in a year and account for 88 percent of those who have downloaded an app in the past 30 days.”

According to Nielsen, in just one year’s time, the “average number” of apps per smartphone has climbed 28% from 32 apps to 41.

Along with greater app ownership, Nielsen finds, users are also spending more time using their apps and more money to acquire them.

The following is a guest post from Jason Wells, CEO at ContactPoint.

Mobile marketing produces more results more quickly than any other marketing channel in the history of the world.

I think mobile marketing is the most effective marketing channel ever (and it is not even close). Here’s why:

1. Speedy Conversions - A stunning 70% of all mobile searches result in action within one hour (Source: Borrell Association, 2011) By way of comparison, 70% of online searches lead to action within one month. This statistic alone surprised me. Think, for a moment, about the implications of this statistic. This shows marketers, clearly, that people searching on a mobile phone are prepared to learn more about your company/product immediately. This compresses the sales pipeline tremendously.

There is no other marketing method that can approach these numbers.

2. Superior Quality Conversions - Our research indicates that conversion rates are 10 times higher on a phone than on the average landing page. Basically, this means that if a prospect calls you, they are 10 times more likely to buy your product than if they simply visit a landing page.

What does this have to do with mobile marketing? Well, guess what mobile marketing is really, really good at:

Delivering a cutting-edge convenience that today is groundbreaking but one day may be as commonplace as smartphones themselves, McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union is giving mobile technology a big push.

With the introduction of Mobile My Deposit, McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union has taken another “progressive step” in providing innovative banking technology to better serve the ever-changing financial needs of its members.

Mobile My Deposit is an enhancement to the credit union’s mobile apps and it allows members to quickly and securely deposit checks via their iPhone or Android anytime, anywhere.

How does it work? The company says that members only need to snap a picture of a check using their smartphone and upload it to their savings or checking account.

According to a recent study of consumer banking behavior and preferences conducted by global business advisory firm AlixPartners LLP, only 2% of adult Americans used mobile check deposit in 2011. However, with factors including aggressive smartphone adoption, consumer demand for remote deposit is expected to increase usage significantly in the coming years.

“We always ask members what they want from their credit union, and we consistently hear that it’s the latest technology, safety, ease and accessibility, better rates and minimal fees,” said Shawn Gilfedder,

ESPN Radio is coming to an iDevice near you.

And that will certainly be good for business at the venerable sports institution.

On Tuesday morning, ESPN Radio today unveiled its “single, most definitive ESPN Radio App optimized for iPhone, iPod touch and – for the first time – iPad.”

The app, which ESPN says is sponsored by Lowe’s, creates a personalized sports listening experience (both live and on demand) and includes a new feature that allows fans to build their own sports stations.

Additionally, fans now have the option to rewind live audio streams, including ESPN Deportes Radio.

If you’re not an iDevice owner, don’t worry. ESPN confirms that versions for Android and Windows 7 smartphones are slated to launch later this summer.

“This latest version of the ESPN Radio App builds on our promise to deliver the best sports audio content across any device,” said Marc Horine, Vice President at ESPN Digital and Print Media. “With this update, fans now have complete control over their listening experience as the app provides the functionality to customize specifically by sports, teams and athletes they care most about.”

Last October, Apple’s 5th generation iPhone – the iPhone 4S – was released to enormous fanfare, quickly becoming one of the biggest forces in smartphones.

Now, as the summer rapidly approaches and Apple eyes another fall-time iPhone upgrade, rumors are surfacing about steps the company is taking to prepare for production,

On Tuesday, analyst Shaw Wu told investors that Apple has slashed iPhone 4S orders by 25% already, confirms a report of Wu’s remarks by Barron’s.

Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu this morning reiterates a Buy rating on shares of Apple (AAPL) and a $780 price target, while cutting his projection for the company’s iPhone unit sales this quarter and next, as he believes Apple is reducing production before refreshing the phone with what a “sixth generation” unit.

“From our understanding,” Wu writes, “the reason for the reduction is not demand related but rather due to the upcoming 6th generation iPhone refresh likely in the September-October timeframe. It appears AAPL is opting to be conservative with its suppliers to factor in a potential 2-quarter pause ahead of the refresh and also to manage inventory.”

Bigger is better for news. That’s the message from Facebook today as word comes that the social networking giant is revamping the News Feed for mobile devices.

The redesign now delivers larger photos and makes it easier to see and view posts.

News Feed photos are now up to three times larger, Facebook says, while posts now fill the full range of the mobile screen.

The new design will be available on iOS, Android and m.facebook.com.

So what’s behind the move? In addition to improving the quality of the Facebook mobile experience for users, mobile advertising concerns are also underscoring the Facebook facelift.

“Sponsored Stories enable businesses to increase the reach and distribution of stories about their brand,” says Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. “Today only a small fraction of our impressions are Sponsored Stories, which gives us lots of room to grow.”

“We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered,” Facebook executives said in their revised S-1 filing last week. “If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively

According to the latest data and corresponding forecasts from BIA/Kelsey, social media advertising revenues will grow from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $9.8 billion in 2016.

If so, that activity will represent a compound annual growth rate of 21 percent.

BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Local Media Forecast (2011-2016) suggests that the local segment of U.S. social media advertising revenues will similarly grow from $840 million in 2011 to $3.1 billion in 2016.

“Better performance, coupled with richer formats and creative elements, like video, will be the principal social ad market growth drivers,” says Jed Williams, analyst and program director for Social Local Media at BIA/Kelsey.

BIA/Kelsey defines social media advertising as money spent on advertising formats across social networks.

“Social advertising’s local business penetration will steadily increase as SMBs’ understanding of social media deepens, and as the networks continually improve the ease of onboarding and campaign management,” Williams adds. “Facebook opening its Ads API to more partners, including those that work with SMBs, and Twitter’s self-serve platform will help to ‘democratize’ social ads, which will ultimately lead to more local growth.”

American Express is trying something innovative with their mobile efforts.

On Tuesday, the company launched what’s being hailed as an “industry first mobile offer engine.”

The program, says American Express, recommends and ranks relevant merchant offers in real time for US Cardmembers based on their spending history and location. All of this information is combined and presented in a so-called Cardmember’s “spend graph.”

This mobile experience is being piloted via the new “My Offers” feature on the American Express iPhone App, which is the same convenient and secure environment where millions of Cardmembers currently manage their Card accounts.

“In an increasingly crowded marketplace, where consumers are bombarded with daily deals, we saw an opportunity to help our Cardmembers save time as well as money by curating meaningful offers for them,” said Josh Silverman, president of the U.S. Consumer Services Group at American Express. “At the same time, we can help our merchant partners build their business by helping them reach the right Cardmembers with the right offers at the right time. We developed our mobile offer engine with three key points of differentiation in mind: relevance, convenience and value.”

American Express says that this new mobile offer engine is a one-stop-shop for cardmembers to easily find, add and track offers and savings from American Express and its merchant

On Tuesday, Isis – the fast-growing mobile commerce joint venture spearheaded by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless – announced the first of its local merchant partners across Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah.

The bigger news, however, is that a number of huge brands are also giving a vote of confidence to Isis. Aeropostale, The Coca-Cola Company, Champs, Dillard’s, Foot Locker, Jamba Juice and Macy’s are among the first and biggest national merchants to join with Isis in advancing mobile commerce.

Isis’ national and local merchant partners join a long list of major merchants who already accept contactless payments.

“These merchants, including grocery stores, retailers, gas stations, coffee shops and restaurants,” Isis says, “are already equipped with the payment terminals that are compatible with Isis.”

“Today’s announcement signals the mobile commerce experience has arrived. A strong merchant base in Austin and Salt Lake City will make the Isis Mobile Wallet real for consumers as they choose to use their mobile wallet at many of their favorite merchant locations to pay and redeem offers,” said Jim Stapleton, chief sales officer, Isis. “We look forward to working closely with both local and national merchants to enable a mobile commerce experience that transforms how consumers shop and interact with their favorite brands.”

Beyond payments, Isis promises to

One of the biggest names in mobile gaming has purchased one of the new names in mobile gaming.

On Monday, word surfaced that Zynga purchased mobile games startup Wild Needle – the company behind Shoptown Hero for Apple’s mobile devices.

“We hear this was a talent-sized deal, which is in line with most Zynga acquisitions,” reports Tech Crunch.

“Zynga usually does smaller deals in the $5 to 20 million range for teams of game developers. But it has bumped up spending over the last year and a half…”

On the surface, Shoptown Hero looks like many of the casual sim games that were popular in early 2011 on iOS. In the game, players have to save a small town from a tycoon named Fat Ralph. They have to fill their stores with virtual goods and sell them. The twist is that they have to negotiate prices with customers to earn profits.

The financial terms behind the deal were not disclosed publicly.

On the heels of Facebook’s recently revised regulatory filing, which indicates that the company remains uncertain of how to best monetize mobile, the social networking giant is making it clear that mobile remains a top priority.

“In March 2012,” Facebook stated in its amended prospectus last, “we began to include sponsored stories in users’ mobile News Feeds. However, we do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven.”

In other words, Facebook still doesn’t know how to make the most money possible from its nearly 500 million registered mobile users.

“We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered,” the S-1 filing reads. “If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.”

But as the Facebook investor roadshow rolls along, Mark Zuckerberg and company realize that they’ve hit a raw nerve in their mobile revenue dilemma. And now they’re doing everything possible to convince the masses that the

Yahoo had a search of its own today. And its produced a new temporary chief executive officer.

On Monday, Yahoo announced that the Board of Directors has named Fred Amoroso as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Ross Levinsohn as interim Chief Executive Officer.

The appointments are already in effect.

The Company also announced that its Board has reached an agreement with Third Point LLC to settle its pending proxy contest related to the Company’s 2012 annual meeting of shareholders.

As interim CEO, Mr. Levinsohn will manage the Company’s day-to-day operations with assistance from Yahoo!’s existing senior leadership team.

As MMW has reported in recent weeks, no shortage of prominent investors have called on Yahoo to dump its CEO Scott Thompson as a result of the company’s ongoing struggles.

“The Board is pleased to announce these changes and the settlement with Third Point, and is confident that they will serve the best interests of our shareholders and further accelerate the substantial advances the Company has made operationally and organizationally since last August. The Board believes in the strength of the Company’s business and assets, and in the opportunities before us, and I am honored to work closely with my fellow directors and Ross to continue to drive Yahoo! forward,” said Fred Amoroso, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board of Directors.