The Mobile Marketing Association has released the latest version of its “U.S Consumer Best Practices Guidelines for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services.  More simply, its the latest iteration of guidelines in terms of cross-carrier mobile content services such as SMS, MMS, shortcode services, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and the mobile Web.

Dubbed version 4.0, the new guidelines represent the first time the individual mobile marketing guidelines and codes of conduct, known as “carrier playbooks,” of the four largest U.S. wireless service providers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile USA have been consolidated into one integrated “rule book” so to speak.

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A mobile services company dubbed Grapevine Interactive has developed what they’re calling MMS Lite, a hybrid SMS/MMS solution that aims to fill the niche between simple text-based SMS and more complex and expensive MMS.

Created for mobile marketers, Grapevine Interactive CTO Cliff Court states: “Mobile marketers, in particular, have been asking for a product offering more than text-only SMS but with less of the complexity and high cost of MMS.”  To answer that need, Grapvine’s “MMS Lite” solution combines a notification message with a larger rich message.  This rich message includes a heading of up to 500 characters of text plus two images with optional captions.  In addition, recipients can send a 250-character reply at almost zero cost.

An example of when MMS Lite could be used instead of SMS or MMS is when a company or brand would like to attach a simple logo or graphical brand name to a marketing message.  This obviously isn’t allowable with SMS, and would normally render poorly on most handsets with MMS.  Think of it as an SMS with very limited graphical capabilities.

Details are still somewhat limited on how exactly it works, but my first impression is that it’s simply not needed.  If the solution would bring limited MMS-like functionality to handsets that can only facilitate SMS, than it could be very useful, but I doubt that’s the case.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

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mobileStorm Inc., the company that provides email, SMS, and other messaging solutions, has put out a new white paper that explains all the ins and outs of short codes. You know, those numbers to which you text a keyword if you want information about a brand, or to vote for your favorite TV show contestant.

Called “The Ultimate Guide To Common Short Codes,” the mobileStorm white paper explains why this type of marketing is so important, countering skepticism against mobile marketing that still persists. Basically, if you want to stay relevant, you need to implement text message campaigns–and short codes are an indispensable part of text message marketing.

The paper gives an in-depth heads-up as to the process of obtaining a short code, and also offers the pros and cons of shared and dedicated codes. (The latter is akin to a vanity license plate, often spelling out a word and used only by one company.)

It looks to be especially useful for mobile marketing newcomers, but veterans might also learn something new.

Download “The Ultimate Guide To Common Short Codes” here.

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A new forecast by Juniper Research suggests that ad-funded MMS revenues will reach $87 million over the next five years, with annual growth rates reaching 94%.

In addition, the forecast also states that SMS and mobile email will continue to dominate the person-to-person (p2p) mobile messaging market during the same time period.  The basis for the forecast being that the number of brands using MMS as an advertising medium is still growing rapidly, with push MMS and SMS in particular being employed very effectively in both mature and emerging markets.  This alone has enabled network operators to support ad-funded voice and SMS tariffs and combat falling ARPU, while providing brands with new advertising channels along the way.

The findings indicate that the Far East and China will lead the global ad-funded MMS market by a considerable margin, followed by North America and Western Europe respectively.  It’s nice to see the North American market leading a segment of mobile technology, which doesn’t seem tot happen very often.

Other interesting tidbits from the forecast titled “Mobile Messaging & IP Evolution” is that the number of mobile email users will climb by 21% to reach 1.1 billion in 2014, and that SMS’ share of total global P2P mobile messaging revenues will decline by 18% over the same five-year forecast period.  With the evolution of MMS-capable devices and the services that utilize them, SMS is slowly being taken over by its multimedia counterpart- a shift that’s been coming for a while now.

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Earlier this week, Justin told us about the potential $90 million ruling against Simon & Schuster for sending unsolicited text messages promoting the Steven King novel Cell (which itself, ironically, is about the really, really dark side of SMS). The court decreed that the publisher violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) because messages were sent through an automatic telephone dialing system. Now, legitimate mobile marketing service providers are stepping up to protect their industry–and to protect the integrity of a communication platform with which consumers really do want to be reached.

The company Ez Texting is spearheading lobbying efforts to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, to protect mobile marketing technology companies from being sued due to the misuse of their services. It has begun an organization called the Mobile Advocacy Coalition, whose website, www.mobileac.org, includes information on how other mobile tech providers can become involved.

Ez Texting’s Shane Neman tells me: “Fax broadcasters and the [cellular] carriers have specific exemptions by the FCC as they are considered to be ‘mere conduits.’ However, SMS aggregators, providers, and software developers do not. We too are merely the technology providers, and yet still can be liable under the law because no specific exemption is exists for us.” Read the rest

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Rules, regulations and industry best practices are put in place for a reason, and nowhere are they more important then when it comes to anti-SPAM cases.  An emerging number of cases are being filed for violations of anti-SPAM laws regarding not only landline and cellphone call violations, but for SMS SPAM as well.

One such case is one involving a woman by the name of Laci Satterfield who, in 2007, sued Simon & Schuster in federal court in the Northern District of California for sending an unsolicited text message to her son’s cell phone that advertised the Stephen King horror book Cell.  Her attorneys claimed such text messages violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act because they were sent through an automatic telephone dialing system. The suit, brought on behalf of a potential class of 60,000 people, sought between $500 and $1,500 for each unsolicited text message Simon & Schuster sent, meaning the publisher faced damages of up to $90 million.

While specific rules and regulations regarding SMS messages are still a bit ambiguous, Simon & Schuster claimed that it didn’t use an auto-dial system, and that no “calls” took place as defined by the federal law.  The company also claimed that Satterfield and other users had given consent by agreeing to the terms of ringtone downloads, and thus had opted-in to receiving further marketing messages.  Originally, Oakland federal district court judge Claudia Wilken sided with Simon & Schuster, though she did not rule on the question of whether a text message constitutes a telephone call- the most important aspect of the case.

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Lane Bryant, the fashion retailer for plus-sized ladies, went from mobile newbie to mobile success within just a few months, the companies said today.

SmartReply, which powers Lane Bryant’s mobile campaigns, said that from July 2008 to October 2008, the clothing company grabbed 16,000 subscribers who signed up to receive mobile marketing texts, such as coupons. Because of the successful pilot test, Lane Bryant continues to use mobile campaigns to boost its reported $1 billion annual sales.

Customers were sent bi-monthly text message offers, after the initial double opt-in process, with a coupon code in the body of the text message ready for redemption at checkout, either in store or online depending on the message. These post opt-in incentives included a discount offer, either in the form of a dollar or percentage value.

Jay Dunn, Lane Bryant’s Vice President of Marketing, said its forays into mobile marketing “has helped us investigate a new way to effectively give our busy customers the power of choice in how she receives offers and communications from us.”

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