SnackableContent

Crank Calls from Cosmo

Serial daters, this service is for you. Cosmopolitan magazine has created a call-back service that allows women to pre-set a time that their phone will ring during a date. Ladies can select their choice of caller, such as a boyfriend, girlfriend or fake French lover. So if Sam proves to be an unsavory sort of fellow, Sally can slip right out the back door. “Every woman has been on a date from hell at some point. Now it’s as easy as picking up your cell to bail,” said editor-in-chief Kate White. The calls can come in immediately or in five, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. “Cosmo fake calls” were created for the Hearst magazine by Moderati, a Bellrock Media company. They can be found at Cosmo’s mobile site and cost a buck. The site which launched in February offers other critical dating services like daily horoscopes. Cosmo dubs itself “the relationship bible.” Men who are left in the lurch might have other choice words for the magazine.

Study: Consumers Won't Hang Up on Mobile Ads

Earlier this month, AirG surveyed its mobile community users (spanning more than 85 mobile carriers and 10+ million unique users worldwide; respondents are primarily males and females ages 18-25). It received more than 15,000 responses in 20 minutes. The survey found:

48 percent would accept mobile ads in exchange for free service or the chance to win a prize.
55 percent said something as simple as a free ringtone would get them to accept ads.
56 percent of mobile users would watch five or more ads every day to get a free cell phone.
71 percent of respondents said ads would not cause them to stop using their phone.
30 percent have bought a product after seeing an ad on their phone.
29 percent of mobile users have clicked on a cell phone ad.
21 percent have participated in a mobile contest or promotion.

AdMob Mobilizes, Monitizes Blogs

Bloggers will soon be broadcast their words of wisdom to mobile devices and make money doing so. AdMob and Web2Txt have created a free mobile plug-in for bloggers who use WordPress. This will allow their content to be sent to cell phones with the option of including ads in their posts. Try it out here.

Top Secret Sidekick News

I have to give a shout out to the Boy Genius Report. It is one of the top blogs for getting technology secrets that really make companies mad (my favorite!) Today, he's got the packaging for the new Sidekick, information on the new 80GB PlayStation 3 and even a job posting that asks for help creating the iPhone. Good stuff.

Cell Phone Technology for the Shopaholic

"Have you ever stood on the corner of a busy street or packed mall and wondered where exactly you’ll find the perfect pair of pants or any item for that matter?" asks a recent press release from GPShopper. It continues: "What if you’re out of town and looking to kill some time with a quick shopping spree but have no idea where you’re going or where to start looking?" They recommend their new Slifter cell phone-based technology that allows you to enter the name of the product you want and a zip code. Their mobile phone displays a photo of the item along with a product description, list of prices, store locations, phone numbers and directions. Now if only it provided a way to pay off all of your maxed out credit cards.

AT&T, BK and Others are Having Some Cellfun

Cellufun has had more than three million people download its ad-supported, multi-player cell phone games.  Cellufun’s most popular mobile games include MobilePets followed by Sudoku. Advertisers include AT&T, Burger and Verizon (through Third Screen Media), FlyCell and Cellfire (through AdMob) and PetMeds, Jamster and the movie Disturbia (through Millenial). Cellufun finds that the majority of its gaming community downloads to the handsets of three top manufacturers: Nokia (34.84%), Motorola (21.62%) and Samsung (13.44%). Its recorded an average monthly increase of 250,000 downloads since December 2006, and is witnessing 50% growth per quarter, the company announced earlier this month.

Johnny Damon Raps for Pepsi

"Ouch my ears!" might be heard in these parts of Manhattan. Why? Because Pepsi has tapped the New York Yankee to rap about its new Mic Pass competition. Those with Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices can download the skills-challenged centerfielder from a local billboard. Similar billboards also appear in four other markets sans Damon's rap. Lucky them. Download NYCBluetooth.mov

Amp'd Turns Up the Volume

Seems like people really are interested in mobile content. Amp’d Mobile announced last week that its subscriber base shot up 70% in the first quarter thanks to its mobile entertainment offerings. Amp’d users consumed more than four million videos, songs and games between January and March, per the company. This was double the activity of the previous quarter. Amp’d original content accounts for 30% of its Amp’d Live downloads. The popular MVNO continues to add exclusive content, most recently it signed SpongeBob Squarepants for an exclusive channel on its mobile TV service. SpongeBob and Patrick couldn’t be happier.

Loyalty Programs Unplugged

An Enpocket sales rep had something interesting to say at The Advertising Research Foundation Annual Covention + Expo in New York this morning. He said Enpocket will be working with its new partner Carlson Marketing Group to bring loyalty programs to the mobile phone. The idea being, that you can check point balances and redeem prizes on the fly. He also said they were talking to Coke about Mycokerewards.com. The cola giant’s continuity program has received a ton of media support of late however it has been criticized by some for having too few prizes, hard to read codes and labor intensive entry. Maybe adding a mobile component to the mix could help…

Mobio Makes the Mobile World Less Cruel

Mobio Networks, last week, released GetMobio. The idea is to get consumer download GetMobio software onto their phones. Once they do, users can search for restaurants and make reservations. They can also find out what bands are playing where, buy movie tickets and view maps so they can find out how to get there. Their sales pitch goes like this: “At Mobio, we know that it’s a cruel world out there and often the only thing standing between you and total chaos or complete boredom is your mobile phone.  Thankfully, you’ve got Mobio.” Mobio also offers more than 50 free cell phone applications and widgets including Fantasy Cricket. Hey wait, it sounded cool until I got to the Cricket part.