Many large retailers are beginning to notice what mobile coupons and text-related ordering and marketing can do these days.  It started with online retailers like Amazon and its “TextBuyIt” service, along with QVC’s recent Text Ordering introduction last fall.

What they’re noticing is that unlike traditional e-commerce, mobile coupons and/or text ordering and marketing doesn’t necessarily have to rely on a mobile website or even mobile internet access to operate since text messages flow through wireless voice connections.

Retailers are quickly figuring out that SMS-based services are some of the easiest mobile marketing tactics to use these days.  Some retailers, such as Moosejaw Mountaineering, were sending marketing text messages as far back as 2004.  Most retailers using texts today, though, do so to market products or offer promotions, as well as establish perhaps the closest connection possible with customers, since most consumers are almost never without their mobile phones these days.

The biggest advancement, and what I think will be the future, is the fact that you can now buy things with your mobile device with no Internet access what-so-ever.  Amazon’s TextBuyIt proved it could be successful, now other retailers need to jump on the bandwagon.

Of course, you need a traditional e-commerce account, like Amazon, that holds your billing and shipping preferences, but then it’s only a matter of inputting the UPC or barcode number of the item you wish to purchase, your email and your zip code into a text message and that’s it.

To me, this only represents the beginning of what’s to come in terms of services available via text-message communication.  For those with limited mobile internet-access, the possibilities are endless.

Even though the iPhone is no longer an early-adapter toy, it’s still most often found in the pockets of trend setters and influencers. That’s one of the reasons why the iPhone userbase is such an exciting target for mobile marketers.

Still, the iPhone is pricey. What if your target cool kids don’t have enough dough to buy a brand new 8G or 16G iPhone? Rumors that Wal-Mart would release a $99 iPhone this holiday season were debunked last week. But those gadget savvy, budget-concious spenders are still in reach, thanks to AT&T. The mobile carrier is now selling $99 8G – refurbished – iPhones to anyone who is willing to sign up for a two-year contract.

Now, the difference of $100 might not seem like a lot when the $70 monthly fee will remain the same for all iPhone customers regardless of model or refurb status. But it may be a low enough price to spread iPhone sales among people unwilling to spend $200 plus on a mobile phone.

And, of course, anyone heading to Wal-Mart to buy a new iPhone will save themselves a whopping $2. Starting yesterday, the chain put $197 iPhones on their shelves for the buying.

As I was watching Mariah Carey’s latest video on my iPhone today, I was puzzled for a bit about all the new vehicles that appeared to be in the video.

Turns out, I was mistaken. Those were car ads. And Quattro Wireless is the reason for my surprisingly prolonged confusion.

Quattro Wireless, a mobile ad network with about 300 sites, is hard at work for 2009, planning to go all out for the exclusive deal they recently signed with Island Def Jam Music Group to serve ads for the record label’s mobile web site, IDJMobile.com.

The deal is big news for Quattro because of IDJ’s wide-ranging talent roster including Rihanna, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Bon Jovi, and Melissa Etheridge.

Brand advertisers could find the crossover appeal of IDJ’s old- and new-school artists attractive for certain classes of products. The marriage of mobile and music has been a long and mostly successful one dating back to ringtones.

Despite the inability of many to indulge in high-end purchases during this economic downturn, many high-end automobiles will be flaunted relentlessly (or so it seems) via Quattro. Advertisers indeed remain interested because of the promise of 3 billion mobile phones worldwide with location awareness accessing the mobile web.

I welcome the fusion of music and mobile marketing. Just don’t get confused like I did and spend an hour contemplating why Rihanna really seems to like the new Mercedes.

Just an ad.

Mobile barcodes (aka QR, or Quick Response codes) are old news in Japan and Korea, but they haven’t made it big in Europe or the US just yet. The Telegraph reported today that the tech is getting a big PR push in Britain, thanks to Pepsi. How long will it be until the scanning tech hits America?

QR codes are basically simple graphics that can be scanned with mobile phones to hyperlink to a variety of digital content. In Japan, they’re used to scan just about anything — from a print ad promotion to a product at a store to Grandmother’s gravestone (yes, really.)

Justin filled us in on the global impact of QR over the year, noting that the technology is gaining traction in the mobile marketing world, especially in Asia. In Europe, the tech hasn’t quite taken off. But that may change now that Pepsi is on the scene.

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2009 marketing for Broadway productions may take the mobile stage.

The “bright lights of Broadway” have struggled in ’08, due in no small part to the struggling economy. An even in times when a marquee celebrity can’t pack the house, the marketing wizards behind the plays that dominate the Manhattan entertainment scene are turning to a new weapon in their promotional arsenal: mobile marketing.

From vigorous text campaigns to myspace pages, a new round of advertising is in the works for some of the hottest (but not so hot anymore) stage productions in town. “Shrek the Musical,” for example, now has its own social network at www.shrekster.com, a Web site with profiles of the show’s characters and the latest news from the kingdom of Duloc. Giving theater fans access to a show through the Internet helps generate interest and sell tickets.

For “9 to 5: The Musical,” the PR staff is working on an online game in which players can upload pictures of their bosses for a shooting gallery. The show’s Web site will feature personalized e-cards, featuring the voice of Dolly Pardon greeting recipients.

There will be no shortage of mobile marketing endeavors in 2009 to help promote Broadway. If its true that “the show must go on,” I’m confident that mobile marketing will help achieve that endeavor.

Today many people are celebrating Christmas. But Christmas seemed to come early for Research In Motion.

Last week the BlackBerry-maker said it expects revenue of $3.5 billion for the quarter ending in February, well above the $3 billion forecast by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. At the same time, tech-watchers were buzzing about Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ no-show announcement for Macworld, where he’s given the keynote for years–leading to more speculation about Mr. Jobs’ health and what will happen if he can no longer run the i-juggernaut.

On Wednesday RIM and Apple shares both closed down just under 2 percent. On Monday RIM shares closed down 2.9 percent and Apple shares, down 4.73 percent, indicating that investors seemed to have more confidence in the former. Increased sales and the struggles of its biggest rival: All this can mean nothing but good news for RIM, right?

Maybe not. Arguments continue over whether Apple’s device is superior to the BlackBerry Bold and Storm. And the iPhone represents 10 percent of all mobile ad requests in the United States, more than any other phone, says AdMob, showing why the handset remains important to mobile marketers. Meanwhile Apple may have learned from the first time Mr. Jobs left the company, and no one had the power to make seemingly-impossible demands and have final say on all products. “Decision by committee” may work on inane Hollywood blockbusters, but it proved a poor way to create new Apple gadgets. Perhaps right now Mr. Jobs has his successor–bestowed with his omnipotent authority–in place.

What do you think? Was this a premature Christmas for RIM–or an early April Fool’s?

Old media could use an infusion of iPhone app ad dollars. USA Today and NPR Mobile are the latest news organizations to launch free iPhone apps. And since they’re free, you can bet that they’re hoping mobile marketers can help them revive nosediving ad revenues.

In order to stay afloat in the smartphone era, news companies know the importance of building a popular free iPhone app, and then loading it up with mobile advertising.

The two companies join tons of other news outlets in the App store, including The New York Times, BBC, Fox News, and a series of news sites built by Verve Wireless, including AP Mobile News Network, The New York Times Company’s Regional Media Group and McClatchy newspapers.

Newspapers are struggling as ad profits are down. Today, the New York Times said that both its print and online advertising revenue dropped 20.9 percent in November over a year ago. Internet ad revenue for its New Media Group decreased four percent in November.

Even so, New Media ad sales are a shining ray of hope. The Times said Internet businesses accounted for 12.1 percent of total revenue in November compared with 10.7 percent of total revenue in November 2007, reports The Washington Post.

USA Today’s app gives consumers access to the latest news, headlines, weather, photos and interactive polls. Consumers using an iPhone or iPod touch can access articles from News, Money, Sports, Life, Tech and Travel sections, and can share them through email, text message and Twitter, or save them to read at a later time.

The free NPR Mobile app allows users to browse and stream NPR programs, plus it includes an NPR station finder, reports Gizmodo.