We’ve covered bluetooth proximity marketing before, that usually consist of a small module or something based on a PC or laptop, but I found a new app today that turns your cell phone into your very own mobile proximity marketing system.

ProxiBlaster offers several proximity marketing solutions in both software-only versions, and software and hardware combinations. The most notable solution is their Mobile ProxiBlaster software, that’s available for download directly to your cell phone. it then allows you to run your own mobile marketing campaign just like a normal push-bluetooth marketing campaign. According their website;

“…This is the first proximity marketing software specifically written to operate on a cell phone or PDA ! Mobile BlueCast turns your cell phone into a mobile proximity marketing machine ! When running this software on your cell phone you are literally a walking digital billboard broadcasting your message or advertisment to every cell phone you walk near!…”

It looks like it’s only available on a select number of phones, and has only been tested on the Nokia N95 and M93 successfully so far. It’s intended mostly for Java-based devices, but you can download a demo here, or download the app directly by going to “http://proxiblaster.com/mobile/mobilebcast.jar” on your device.

I think it’s a great idea, despite the privacy concerns surrounding the push-marketing aspects. It’s a free way of advertising your message and people can simply reject the invitation if they choose.

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We’ve touched on the topic of mobile image recognition in regards to mobile marketing before, and it seems a new company is entering the market every day.  Unlike barcodes, almost any image can be recognized and linked to digital content, which makes much more sense when it comes to using the technology for mobile campaigns.

A company called MoBot has what they call “Mobile Visual Search Technology,” which is a fancy way of saying image recognition via a mobile device.  Like similar companies, MoBot aims to connect consumers with any camera phone, on any wireless carrier to brands, mobile content, and commerce without the use of complex codes, navigation, and changes to any cross-media campaigns.

The platform takes into account that most camera phones don’t take the best quality photos, which can hinder the recognition process.  Because of this, they built a system that relies on image recovery, pattern recognition, and image matching capability to enhance the accuracy.  In their own words…

“…cognitive science research has shown that the human brain uses blobs to recognize objects, that is, your brain does not use sharp edges to determine that a table is a table or a face is face. Mobot applies algorithms patterned after these methods to solve the problem of mobile visual search…”

MoBot’s technology seems to be one of the most accurate systems available at the moment, and large brands are taking notice.  AT&T recently partnered with MoBot to offer interactivity on it’s more traditional media advertising.  User’s could then snap a photo of an advertisement, book cover, etc. and text it to AT&T to receive relevant content.

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Russell announced on his blog that he’s going to be shutting down Mowser. He doesn’t really say when and I don’t think it’s imminent. It looks like he could really use a buyer or investor that will hire him.

Mowser is pretty cool, it makes mobile sites on the fly. Heck, I might be interested in it…

I don’t know how much Russell has invested into this, though it sounds like he bet a lot on this project. In fact Russell sounds like he’s hurting so if you’re interesting in owning Mowser get in touch with Russell.

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With the IPhone growing almost as ubiquitous as cell phones themselves, businesses large and small are rapidly developing versions of their established web sites specifically for the Apple device, apparently whether there’s a good reason for it or not. 

As Apple has redundantly advertised, one of the iPhone’s greatest strengths is it’s full Web browser that enables users to access and view complete, original Web sites and not “watered-down ones” designed for small cell phone screens. Despite this established fact, a number of companies, including Ion Interactive, are preparing to release software that “helps marketing departments customize their business’s web site for the iPhone.”

As the Wall Street Journal sarcastically reported, “this is one of those company-you’ve-never-heard-of-does-something-you-don’t-care-about stories. Except that it illustrates how easy it is to get caught up in the moment.”

A study conducted by Internet Researchers StatCounter showed that people who own iPhones account for only about 0.18% of Internet browsing in the US. Naturally, one would only speculate that the majority of those unique users visit more established, iconic websites like MySpace, Google, or Yahoo when they find time to browse the web from their mobile handset. Companies like Ion Interactive, however, are striving to change the browsing habits of iphone users by helping businesses of all sizes attract and retain consumer attention through products and services that will customize websites specifically for the iPhone.

It’s a forward-thinking plan that currently clashes with the conventional wisdom that the iPhone is mobile marketing territory for the “big boys only.” Nonethless, learning, planning and building for the “unavoidable future of mobile smartphone growth and its resulting demand” is potentially one of the smartest courses of action for any mobile marketing business to undertake in 2008.

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In part one, we discussed how beneficial bluetooth proximity marketing can be, especially for small local businesses.  The fact that one can incorporate a simple system into their storefront that can consistently broadcast a marketing message, or branded content for a small, one-time fee can prove to be very efficient to a small marketing budget.

We also discussed the fact that once a bluetooth hotspot is installed and active, it’s simple to offer use of your hotspot to other nearby businesses and organizations so long as it doesn’t interfere with the message you’re trying to get out.  For offering use of your network, you can charge a small monthly access fee, and actually turn a profit after recovering your initial costs for installing the system.

So where do you start?  A bluetooth proximity marketing system consists of a central bluetooth server that holds some special software that allows it to constantly search for bluetooth enabled devices in it’s range, as well as a bluetooth “dongle” or some sort of bluetooth transmitter.  The server holds the information you wish to transmit to your patrons, or the advertising message you wish to broadcast to the masses.  The bluetooth transmitter is constantly seeking out available devices to connect to.  When the transmitter recognizes a device, the server automatically sends a “connection request” to the mobile user asking if they’d like to connect with the server to download or access your content.  If the user accepts, the server makes it’s connection with the device, and the content is transfered to the user.

There’s a slew of companies, mostly overseas, that offer one or more parts of a proximity marketing system.  To purchase a complete system from most companies could cost several hundred dollars, and even more depending on the range and the amount of features.  Some companies offer small servers that can be placed at kiosks and posters, and some offer elaborate wifi-based systems for easy content addition.  But, what if you’re not looking for advanced features, and extended connection capabilities.  What if you just want a simple solution for your small business or personal marketing efforts?  What if you don’t have the time, money, and know-how to purchase the different parts of a system and put it together yourself?

The key component of the system itself is the software that power’s it’s operation.  It tells the bluetooth transmitter to constantly seek connections, and when it finds an opt-in connection request, it tells the server what type of content to transmit, and whether that particular user has already received that content or not.  Without this software, your solution is useless.  Sure, you can purchase and download some bluetooth software to run on any computer with a USB bluetooth adapter connected to it, but it limits your broadcast area, and limits the server location to where ever your computer is located.

There’s a 100% open source (and 100% free) version of the bluetooth server software available called BlueZ.  BlueZ is a linux-based bluetooth protocol stack, specifically made for use in proximity marketing systems.  As with most open source software, it’s in it’s simplest form, and requires the configuration on a linux server to operate.  So how in the world do you configure this?

There’s a relatively new company in California called AirCable.  They produce a variety of linux-based server hardware, and bluetooth connection solutions, at very reasonable prices.  They offer a product called AIRcable Server XR™, which is perfect for proximity marketing, because it comes pre-installed with the BlueZ software.  The server itself comprises all the aspects and necessary components for a wide-range bluetooth proximity marketing system.  Another valued feature is the fact that the server can broadcast your signal up to 30km.  This is unmatched by any other solution I’ve come across.

Upon purchasing the server, all that needs to be done is the loading of the content you wish to transmit via bluetooth.  Once setup, just place the server anywhere there’s a power outlet, and leave it alone.  You now have a marketing tool that never needs updating, and more importantly, never needs another dime from you.

In part three, I’ll discuss opening up your bluetooth server to other businesses to allow you to recover your initial investment, and to even turn a profit, as well as incorporating affiliate offers to monetize your hotspot further.

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As I was surfing around this morning via iPhone, I noticed a few sites that sported brand new iPhone-specific mobile themes.  After doing some quick research, I found that MoFuse has added new iPhone integration into their platform, which enables site owners and bloggers alike to instantly create mobile-versions of their content.

By simply providing MoFuse with your sites RSS feed, the service automatically creates a very user-friendly mobile-version of your website or blog, and now one that’s perfect for iPhone consumption.  You can customize your mobile site by adding links, or RSS pages, and even customize your logo, header, or domain name by upgrading to a Pro account.

MoFuse gives you access to a set of promotional tools for your newly created mobile site as well.  You can do things like create an “SMS widget” to place on your site, place “redirect” PHP code on your site for automatic redirection for your mobile readers, and even generate a QR code that’s readable from camera phones that you can promote offline.  For a free service, it’s an impressive set of tools.

If you’re a free subscriber, you can even monetize your mobile site with a 50/50 revenue share program through AdSense or AdMob.  Upgrade to a Pro account for $6 a month, and you can keep all the profits.  MoFuse will automatically insert small contextual ad-units at either the top or bottom of your site, or both.  Of course, MoFuse also gives you some mobile analytics data as well. 

There’s similar services around that will quickly convert your site to a mobile version, but none that take such a comprehensive approach as MoFuse.  With their iPhone integration, they’re standing out again by offering one of the first automatic iPhone web application creators available.  With Google reporting that they receive almost 50 times more searches from iPhone’s than with any other mobile device, it’s no secret the ease of use and intuitiveness have lead to more mobile browsing.  With MoFuse, you can now take advantage of this.

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Although not as widely used in the US, mobile-barcode scanning is still gaining traction with mobile advertisers.  They’re slowly realizing the potential in allowing customers the ability to scan the barcode that already exists on virtually every consumer product on the market.  This, in addition to specialized barcodes placed in print advertising presents a huge opportunity. 

Large, well known brands that produce everyday products that we all use are still spending millions of dollars on advertising, while they neglect the small UPC barcode they already place on all their products.  If consumers had the ability to snap a photo of the barcode while standing in the grocery store aisle, it would turn every product that brand sold into a virtual mobile website link.  What type of content that consumer receives after scanning the barcode is up to the advertiser, but could include links to WAP sites that engage the user further, product comparisons, health information about a product and so on.  The possibilities are endless. 

Imagine walking into your local grocery store and while walking the aisles and choosing products, you could snap a quick photo of the barcode on that box of cereal your considering and instantly receive a quick coupon and detailed health information.  You could even quickly find out if that box of cereal is acceptable to your current diet.  Another example of a useful application would be for traditional print advertisers to incorporate a small barcode into their advertisements, that user’s could quickly snap to save information about a certain event, product, or service, they might otherwise forget quickly.  Google has already shown interest in this technology for expanding it’s online advertising business.  

Most methods currently in use in Japan and in Europe consist of a mobile application that translates the barcode into the appropriate content.  Some phones produced even include a separate barcode scanning feature built in.  There are plenty of open-source mobile applications that will turn any camera-enabled mobile device into a mobile barcode scanner as well.  The application simply takes the photo of the barcode taken with the device’s camera and sends it to a central server to be decoded and then quickly returns the requested content to the device. 

The problem, with most devices not having the capabilities built in, is how to get consumers to download the simple application needed to read the barcodes.  Similar to proximity marketing, advertisers will have to find a way to incorporate their messages into useful, non-obtrusive content the consumer would actually want delivered to their device, instead of finding it as another obtrusive form of mobile marketing.  If there could be a good incentive to downloading the application, consumers would be much more apt to adopt the technology.  Also, with the use of Android and other open source OS’s and third party mobile applications, barcode scanning could easily come pre-packaged on mobile devices very soon, especially if the company behind the mobile OS (Google) wants users to have the ability pre-packaged for their own marketing efforts.

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