The following is a guest post by Derek Johnson, Founder & CEO of SMS provider Tatango.  You can reach him by phone at (206) 334-4012 or via email.

Have you noticed recently the abundance of QR code marketing hate out there? Don’t get me wrong, there has always been QR code haters, but recently it seems like these numbers are starting to multiply at an alarming rate. I can understand the hate towards the design aspects (design is always subjective), but you’ve gotta be stupid to think that marketing through QR codes isn’t here to stay, in a big way.

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The mobile industry is buzzing today over the DOJ’s decision to block the proposed AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile.  There’s been split reaction since the merger was proposed, and opinions are flying around hot and heavy since the latest news broke early this morning.

AT&T was quick to issue a statement regarding the decision, saying they were “surprised and disappointed by today’s action,” especially since they’d met with the DOJ repeatedly and had no indication that such an action was being contemplated.  ”We plan to ask for an expedited hearing so the enormous benefits of this merger can be fully reviewed,” explained Wayne Watts, AT&T senior executive VP and general counsel in a prepared statement.  ”The DOJ has the burden of proving alleged anti-competitive affects and we intend to vigorously contest this matter in court.”

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Group Texting, a company that does exactly what its name implies, published an interesting blog post recently entitled “The Death of the Short Code” in which it details the many disadvantages of short codes and how “long codes” — or so-called “virtual phone numbers” — overcome many of the barriers short codes present.

“The major wireless carriers came together in 2003 to create short codes to allow marketers to easily communicate with consumers. Since then text messaging has exploded in popularity. Short codes haven’t seen growth to match. Why? A long, opaque and expensive setup process prevents all but the largest brands from marketing to their customers with text messages,” the company explained in its post.  ”Enter the long code: instant setup, affordable transparent pricing, and no one standing between your company and your customers. Short codes were supposed to bring mobile marketing to the masses. Long codes, virtual mobile phone numbers that can send and receive text messages stand ready to finally fulfill that promise.”

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As the saga of T-Mobile’s SMS price hike continues, ChaCha CEO Scott Jones has been one of the most vocal personalities against the concept, saying ChaCha will completely stop its service over the T-Mobile network if and when the rate increase commences.  Add to it a lawsuit filed on Friday against T-Mobile by EZ Texting for blocking it’s short code, and the issue of net neutrality becomes all to relevant.

In an open letter guest post published on TechCrunch this weekend, Jones describes the need for net neutrality to apply to mobile platforms as well, offering several examples of carriers be selective in the mobile services they allow consumers, with the aforementioned situations surrounding T-Mobile being the most recent.

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ChaCha CEO Scott Jones is throwing his hat into the ring of mobile service providers who feel T-Mobile’s proposed SMS price hike is bad for nearly every link in the mobile services value-chain.  Below is his position statement in its entirety;

“If T-Mobile moves forward with its “twitter tax” that is rumored to begin on Oct 1^st, ChaCha absolutely will drop T-Mobile from our service.  T-Mobile is a carrier that doesn’t understand the realities of content businesses including Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, and ChaCha.  ChaCha has more than 15 million monthly unique users for whom we answer over 2 million questions every day. The vast majority of these answers are delivered by SMS text. T-Mobile is already getting paid by subscribers for these texts and they are paid something already by aggregators/publishers.  Now, they plan to impose an egregious and unacceptable tax.

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Over the weekend I was pleased as punch when my EVO informed me that the upgrade to the latest Android OS–Android 2.2, also known by the wannabe-hip nickname Froyo–was available for the handset. I’ve been eager for the upgrade, mostly because of reports that Android 2.2 would allow smartphones to play Flash videos, the format of videos on Hulu. One more thing the EVO will do that the iPhone can’t, I cackled to myself.

Wah-wuh. I’d momentarily forgotten that Hulu’s inability to be played on phones is due mostly to content owners’ decision to make them unavailable on the mobile platform. My EVO still has full Flash capability, an improvement from the so-called “Flash Lite” support of earlier Android incarnations (not to mention Apple’s non-support of the format). But it was still a bummer not to be able to rewatch the Glee finale in bed during a bout of insomnia. And so for me, an enthusiastic mobile video and mobile Internet consumer, the new Android is about as much an improvement as the Malibu Stacy doll on The Simpsons getting a new hat.

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On the heels of Steve Jobs publishing his harsh criticism of Adobe and its Flash technology in general this morning, Greystripe CEO Michael Chang issued a response firing back at Jobs saying “open or not, Apple’s Flash ban creates huge issues for advertisers.”

The underlying message in Chang’s response is clear; nearly all ad creative is built using Flash, and Apple needs to face it.  ”Apple’s choice not to support Flash on its mobile devices creates huge roadblocks for advertisers,” Chang said in his response.  ”Today, it cannot be understated that almost 100% of agencies and their brand advertisers develop ad creatives in Flash using Adobe tools.”

He also criticizes Apple’s emphasis on HTML5, based on the fact that few development tools exist for creative purposes.  ”Currently, there are no comparable tools to create ads in HTML5, open or not, he continued.  ”This is partially an explanation as to why Apple/Quattro has opted to create the initial iAds, because no one else can, at least not in HTML5.”

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