SnapTell, which we’ve covered before, is a leading provider of image-recognition based mobile marketing services, that today announced they’ve reached a milestone with their revolutionary service.

With their recently released “Mobile Entertainment Explorer” user’s can simply snap a photo of things like CD covers, DVD and BluRay covers, and various games with their camera phones, send it via MMS to SnapTell, and instantly be returned a series of content related to the specific title.  Content like reviews, prices, run times, descriptions of the content and links to buy the DVD, CD or video game, plus more can be sent back to the user via MMS.

Even though it’s still a relatively new service, SnapTell has already grown it’s database to over one million titles, which is quite an accomplishment.  Since it’s ever-growing, it won’t be long until users can access just about any information regarding any media title available using it’s image recognition technology.

The system uses their popular Snap.Send.Get platform that’s available on any mobile device with a camera.  Since it uses MMS transmissions, it needs no special software running on the device, and since the image recognition server can decipher an image of low or poor quality, almost any camera phone can be used to snap the photo.

“…We’re dedicated to providing consumers the simplest means to access desired information on their phones, and now reaching one million in entertainment titles empowers the consumer to make smart decisions when they are out and about and away from their PCs,” said Gautam Bhargava, CEO and Co-Founder of SnapTell. “As we push the image-recognition technology frontier, we will provide solutions similar to the Mobile Entertainment Explorer that help consumers with their day-to-day decisions…”

If you’d like to try out their Mobile Entertainment Explorer, head over to their website to view a demo.  You can simply snap a photo of a DVD cover they’ve displayed, send it as an MMS to fun@snaptell.com, and see the technology in action.  Pretty cool stuff.

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Mobile coupons are gaining acceptance more than ever, and it’s due in large part to companies like CellFire that manage large-scale deployment of digital coupons to the masses.  CellFire in particular is setting the standard with it’s mobile application that gives the user an endless variety of savings that can be redeemed instantly, and are always available.

A user can simply access the cellfire app and search an ever-changing inventory of available coupons.  No need to clip coupons, or remember to check a website or an email before you go.  Since the coupons are updated and accessed in real-time, there’s no need for text messages as well.

CellFire is close to introducing a brand new service called Mobile Grocery Coupons, which will be a service that’s integrated with major grocery store chains to offer special discounts and content to customers in real-time.  According to their website…

“…Cellfire’s mobile grocery coupon service will provide shoppers at major grocery chains with exciting exclusive discounts directly using their mobile phones and grocery savings cards. Many consumer brands are already on board, including General Mills, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark. We will be announcing the program launch very soon…”

The app runs on almost every phone made, and with several carriers.  It looks like they’re trying to incorporate their technology into other uses like the grocery store example which should prove to be interesting.  As customers become used to the savings and ease of use of the loyalty programs and other features the cellfire system provides, they’ll be more apt to continue shopping at that particular chain.  The marketing potential is huge on several levels.

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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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ActiveMedia has a mobile solution for just about every situation; from mobile ticketing to mobile “loyalty” and a few days ago announced the launch of their new mobile marketing platform dubbed ActiveFRONT.  It aims to “comprehensively bring the power of WAP and SMS together to deliver fully integrated mobile marketing campaigns.”

ActiveFRONT aims to offer fully managed, “campaign-aligned” mobile Internet sites that work with SMS and WAP marketing campaigns to deliver a unique marketing impact and significantly richer brand experience to the end-users.  ActiveFRONT seeks to be particularly relevant for marketers wanting to run mobile campaigns that feature community-portals for things like special interest groups, lead generation, product catalog, and content sales and delivery. Raj Singh, Managing Director, at ActiveMedia said this about the new platform;

“We are proud to leverage our deep experience and unmatched understanding of mobile marketing to bring this cutting edge services suite. ActiveFRONT services include campaign conceptualization, design, building, hosting, content management, and auxiliary services such as SMS/WAP push, plus campaign management and promotion. We are sure that this suite would be of great benefit to brands and agencies looking to tap the mobile medium. ActiveFRONT is part of our ongoing commitment in 2008 to offer marketers a complete portfolio of mobile marketing and advertising services.”

The platform looks like it takes good advantage of WAP campaigns opposed to other mobile channels only because of the increased interactivity of a WAP environment.  Because of this, ActiveFRONT includes a ton of call-to-actions that can be used to boost the campaign; things like Click2SMS, Click2Call and Click2Email.

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Motorola, who has just been getting blasted all year saw their stock rise 2.4% yesterday and it wasn’t based on sales performance or some new handset that’s gonna drive consumers wild like Razor did. Nope, it was market players according to the WSJ.

The article, written by Tennille Tracy went on to state that the traders ignored the downgrade on Motorola by Thomas Weisel Partners Group (I dug it up here) and pushed the daily volume well above the April average.

Weird huh? Here are my three guesses as to what’s going on.

1. Somebody knows something and everyone wants in.
2. The traders are drinking some kool aid we haven’t tasted.
3. Splitting the handset division out on its own is going to be successful.

So, if #3 is the deal here why did it take so many weeks for the traders to figure this out. This news is weeks old now right?

What do you think is going on?

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TellMyCell, a provider of mobile content distribution services, announced recently that it has consistently been serving more than 20 million monthly text messages since January of 2007 for it’s client’s mobile marketing efforts.  Hey, they might just be on to something here don’t you think?

The company offers a “complete turnkey mobile marketing solution” that features the normal direct-to-consumer campaign approach with things like MMS, SMS, Voice, and WAP, but takes it a step further by offering a suite of tools to manage, track and evaluate all delivery methods, and outcomes.  Through the use of an API, the company can integrate with it’s partners ad systems to “lower the barriers for both publishers and marketers to distribute content to cell phone users.”

TellMyCell sits on the same SS7 network as all the major phone carriers, and operates an independent SMS, MMS and VOIP gateway.  By not being just an aggregator, TellMyCell can offer the best pricing for all their client’s mobile content delivery and are able to reach all cell phones in the USA and Canada.  According to TellMyCell’s founder and CEO, Moe Green,

“…No other company lives and works in the space between technology and creativity. Agencies don’t have the required mobile technology credentials and technology enablers are out of their depth on consumer marketing.If companies want to produce brilliant, relevant and rewarding mobile marketing, we believe that’s where the company has to be…”

The company has also made strides in the areas of mobile coupons and gift cards with their CouponTxT and GiftCardTxT services.  The coupons can be delivered directly to the consumer’s phone with either a text message or as a full color coupon with a barcode ready to use.  CouponTxT has the fulfillment built-in on the backend, so it redeems right at the POP (point of purchase), which means an easier time for the retailer, and bypasses the problem many mobile coupon technologies have faced, which is how to redeem barcodes directly from user’s cell phone screens.

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We’ve seen some pretty creative ways to fit advertising into the mobile landscape.  From making your friends listen to advertisements before being connected to you, to agreeing to receive several SMS messages per day for a small commission.  What about listening to a short advertisement every time you make a call on your cell phone, why hasn’t this been done before?  Is it worth it?

A company called AirVoice Infocom has applied for patents for a technology they’ve developed that inserts ads before a call is connected via cell phone networks.  The 15-20 second ads are played after dialing the number, and play until your call is answered.  It seems like this would have been the first obvious location to place ads in the “calling process” but seems to have never been done before.

The service is subscription based and will offer several options to subscribers in terms of the type of advertisements they wish to hear, when they would want to hear the ads, and also the option to skip an advertisement if they choose.  AirVoice says that since the subscription is at the user’s will, the model is “non-intrusive.”

The system works by “…integrating the mobile switching centers of Telecom service providers with the high-end technology created by Airvoice, thereby allowing a smooth transition between the advertisement and the call…”  Since the technology is pending a patent, the company hopes to corner the market and secure deals with the major networks.  The company is currently focusing on the estimated 250 million mobile users in India at the moment, but has plans to grow quickly worldwide.  They cite several reasons for choosing to go with advertisements played over the phone itself, instead of the more traditional SMS marketing models.  Things like low interactivity, and high bandwidth usage were the main reasons.

The service is set to launch in Q2 2008, and there’s been no mention of the revenue-share figures, but what do you think?  Would you put up with listening to ads before your calls are connected?  For me, it would depend on just how much you earn for listening to them, and whether or not it lowers you monthly bill.

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