Among other things, Soph's agency are one of the biggest mobile communications agencies in the UK and they have a guy who's job is bascially just to be a "pre-eminent expert" on what's going on in the world of "mobile".
This is an email he sent round the agency a couple of days ago.
Does anyone else find all this slightly creepy & ominous? Especially the bits I've highlighted.....
From: James Tagg
Sent: 12/14/2009 10:46 AM GMT
To: ALL STAFF MEDIAVEST_SMG_TEAM_GBR; ALL STAFF STARCOM_SMG_TEAM_GBR
Subject: Google's march into Mobile
Google are on record as stating that they believe most of their revenues
will come from Mobile in the future but up until recently it's been hard to
see how they intend to achieve that. However, the last month has seen some
significant developments in their push into this emerging area. A few of
the key highlights.
1. Their acquisition of Admob last month - One of the largest mobile
display networks in a $750 million deal.
2. Last weeks announcement that they are testing an app called Google
"Goggles" - a visual search tool
3. They are developing their own branded phone and are likely to sell this
direct to the consumer in early 2010 & bypass the Mobile Networks.
Google Goggles is arguably the most interesting development of the year in
mobile. It is a very simple idea. Point your camera phone at anything
(building, car, product) and it will tell you about it (what it is, prices,
reviews etc). While this technology isn't that new, Google have all the
assets needed to make this a one stop shop which hasn't been achievable so
far by the likes of Wikitude, Nearest Tube or Snaptell. It's all about
having control over a vast database of information which they already
possess in the following Google properties.
Identifying buildings - Streetview image database
Prices - Google shopping comparison
Locations/Maps - Google Maps
Reviews - Google Reviews
They have actually had to come out and state that they won't allow the app
to work on identifying people until they have investigated the impact on
privacy. In theory you could snap a picture of anyone and as long as there
was an image of them in the public domain you could get info sent back on
who they were.
The App will launch on the Android platform (itself a brainchild of
Google). No news yet about what it means to advertisers but I'd guess they
will charge for enhanced search listings, delivering coupons etc. Android
will get a lot of noise next year as we see the conversation about
Smartphones broadening & moving away from the IPhone mania we have seen in
2009.
So Google will have a firm grip on Mobile Display, Mobile Search and may
even start to sell "new" space on their Google phone in return for
subsidised calls/texts. There is no mistake that they are manoeuvring
themselves into a position where they can control all areas of a persons
interaction with mobile without interference from outside parties. Don't be
surprised if they start making noises around SMS marketing - something that
is universal to all handsets.
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