Wireless Watch for April 29, 2004

MMA, CTIA Launch Seminar Series

The Mobile Marketing Association and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association have kicked off a joint nine-city seminar series on mobile marketing. Called Mobile Marketing BootCamp, the events are intended to spread awareness of wireless as a marketing medium and to present best practices.

At the first event, which took place today in New York, m-Qube and Mobliss, among other mobile marketing players, presented case studies. In May and June seminars will take place in Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston.

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Mynamics Merged with Sister Firms

eFund, a division of venture capital firm Kirlin Partners, has merged fledgling mobile marketing firm Mynamics with two other companies in its portfolio: Txt Talk and Knowledge Point Solutions. The new company, called Mobilopia, will provide mobile phone marketing services.

“We have assembled the broadest range of capabilities in the mobile marketing space, providing comprehensive mobile marketing solutions,” said Daniel Kranzler, founder and president of Kirlin.

The new firm will be led by former Mynamics execs Jim Hood and Wes Bray.

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Location Services Comeback?

Location-based services, once the golden goose of mobile marketing, are making mild gains in Europe and the U.S., according to technology market research firm ABI Research. The largest driver of uptake will be enterprise services that track employees and assets in the field. Navigation, weather and the tracking of friends or children are among other likely applications. Total location-based services revenue could exceed $3.6 billion by 2010, ABI said.

“While carrier deployments are escalating globally, the real money is in the services,” said Edward Rerisi of ABI Research. “LBS enables a carrier to raise their average revenue per user by offering value-added location services that will also fuel demand for higher-priced data services.”

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Cell Phone as Yoga Guru

Mobile2win launched a “mobile yoga” product featuring instructions and illustrations for performing various “asanas,” the combinations of breathing and movement that originated in India and define the practice of yoga. After mastering the initial basic course, a mobile user can download the intermediate and advanced levels.