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Yahoo Inc. says that it will debut its long awaited advertiser publisher exchange dubbed APEX in the second quarter this year.
At least that’s what the Internet giant’s CEO Jerry Yang told executives at the Interactive Advertising Bureau conference in Phoenix, AZ. APEX has been in testing since last summer and is designed to coordinate advertising with content, creating a more relevant experience. Yahoo says Apex will help it create cross-channel  ad campaigns in search, display and mobile. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

~Giselle Abramovich

Popularity: 45% [?]

What will be the biggest stories in the mobile marketing world this year? SnapTell discussed the next 365 days with industry experts, its customers and partners, and came up with these 10 predictions:
1. Support for MMS shortcodes by major carriers will launch in the first half of 2008. Consumers can then quickly and easily “text” a picture to a shortcode.
2. Launch of Google’s Android handsets by carriers will foster real openness and innovation by independent software vendors and service providers alike.
3. Apple’s February release of a developer’s kit for the iPhone will bang the last nail into the coffin of closed systems.4. Carrier agnostic applications and solutions will be the big winners in this brave new open mobile world.
5. OpenID will be broadly adopted on mobile platforms first, but not until late 2008.
6. Privacy concerns regarding mobile marketing will be front and center in the news this year; campaigns that are not strictly opt-in will risk being seen as phone spam.
7. Mobile web usage will soar in North America in 2008. (The rest of the world is already wondering what took us so long).
8. Consumers’ interest in ringtones, screen images, games and other options will wane; carriers will turn to mobile advertising to replace this revenue.
9. Web 3.0 will appear on smart phones first.
10. Location capabilities will be a key area to watch in the mobile market as more phones come equipped with GPS. Providing information that consumers want, when they want it, is the key to mobile marketing success in 2008 and into the future.

 – posted by Giselle Abramovich

Popularity: 30% [?]

How can b2b companies use the mobile channel to generate revenue? Please help! This question seriously haunts me at night and I need some input!!

email me with your answers: giselle@mobilemarketer.com

Popularity: 14% [?]

If 2007 was the year of Web 2.0, then 2008 will be the year of Mobile 2.0, according to predictions made by mobile software provider Antenna Software.

In the year to come, interactive mobile applications will be taking advantage of Location-Based Services (LBS), mobile Internet, video, Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) and presence.Along with innovation, Antenna Software also sees problems with security and management and therefore, IT departments will be seeking the hep of companies that that offer best-in-class security. Already there are suspicions that hackers are beginning to target the growing mobile market.Everyone is trying to improve the consumer experience and the better it becomes, the more it will drive acceptance. The launch of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android platform are examples of richer user interfaces and more personalized, easily accessible content.Antenna Software forecasts a breakdown of the network carrier walled gardens. Recent announcements by Google and Verizon along with the rise in usage of open source IDEs is evidence of this.Mobility will be a key strategic component for software applications and infrastructure in both consumer and enterprise markets. As more players enter the enterprise mobility industry, IT will look to consolidate vendors and seek out a mobile platform that can be used across the enterprise. Vendors that can offer flexibility and scalability for mobile applications – without a custom-build and intensive IT resources – will dominate.– Posted by Giselle Abramovich

Popularity: 33% [?]

Microsoft Corp. will make an offer to acquire Fast Search & Transfer ASA, a  provider of enterprise search solutions, through a cash tender offer for 19.00 Norwegian kroner (NOK) per share, in an effort to bolster its search efforts. 

FAST’s board of directors has unanimously recommended that its shareholders accept the offer.

In addition, shareholders representing in aggregate 37 percent of the outstanding shares, including FAST’s two largest institutional shareholders, Orkla ASA and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe, have irrevocably undertaken to accept the offer.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of calendar year 2008.

In addition to bolstering Microsoft’s enterprise search efforts, this acquisition increases Microsoft’s research and development presence in Europe, complementing existing research teams in Cambridge, England and Copenhagen, Denmark, with new and significant capabilities in Norway, according to Microsoft’s press release.

– Posted by Giselle Abramovich

Popularity: 19% [?]