MobileBridge

Two Montreal entrepreneurs are looking to change the way businesses conduct their mobile marketing with a new software program called MobileBridge. The product, to be launched in the coming weeks, will give owners the ability to run their own mobile marketing campaigns instead of paying others to do it for them.

Marketing on a mobile device, which for most of us means a cellphone, is becoming an increasingly popular form of advertising.

How it works, essentially, is that a person sees a company’s ad that says something along the lines of “text ‘COUPON’ to 55555.” When that person does so from their mobile device, they receive back a link to a webpage with coupon images, or a coupon image itself. This image has a barcode on it, and can be scanned in at the register. Hence, your cellphone can collect redeemable digital coupons.

While this concept itself is not altogether new, software developed by 34 year-old Zarrar Sikander simplifies the required technology to be more user friendly. This means that any business owner can use it without hiring an outside marketing firm.

“Tonnes of companies use mobile coupons but they have these mobile marketing companies to do all the work that’s involved in it,” says Matteo Soule, Sikander’s business partner in charge of business development. “MobileBridge takes the mobile marketing companies out of the equation…. it gives the [owners] the tools to do it themselves.”

The technology required to conduct mobile marketing faces many obstacles. With numerous cellphone companies carrying many different cellphone types – each with different web browsers and screen sizes – there are technical challenges in transferring the data. MobileBridge answers this problem by adapting the digital information to work on whatever mobile device is being used.

“We make sure that the image is rendered correctly on every phone,” says Sikander.

Having ownership of the software is beneficial to businesses that want to make rapid changes in their promotions. MobileBridge allows you to update your coupon offers in real-time. This means that if you wanted to change a promotional offer in the next five minutes, all you have to do is go to your computer and adjust the information. No outside assistance is needed.

“It’s as easy as logging on to facebook and uploading photos,” says Soule.

By reducing the cost of an advertising agency, MobileBridge makes mobile marketing a more accessible option.

“It’s where the small businesses can mobilize their brands,” says Sikander.

MobileBridge also has a built in analytics feature. This allows the user to generate real-time reports. Users can find out how many coupons have been downloaded, at what time, and from what mobile phone number.

While Sikander’s software doesn’t change what is already being done in mobile marketing, it does change who can do it. This provides an opportunity for massive growth of the medium.

“We haven’t re-invented the wheel, but made it roll better,” says Soule. “MobileBridge doesn’t replace already existing forms of advertising, it just makes them work more for you.”

Predictions for Mobile

Recently someone asked me what I thought the next big thing in cellular phones would be. There are already so many uses for mobiles that have nothing to do with placing a phone call, that it isn't very easy to make predictions.

As it stands right now, people can use their cellular phones to do pretty much anything they can do with their PCs. The internet has brought the world of mobile to a new level, and it is unlikely that it will change anytime soon. People are busy and always on the go, so it is only logical that the cellular phone will become a small portable computer more than anything else.

We aren't there yet, however. Most people make very little use of the features on their phones. Most mobiles are used for text messaging and talking with friends. Surfing the internet, or using text messaging to receive mobile coupons for example, are on the rise with users, but North Americans are years behind what is being done in Asia and the UK. There mobile users are savvy and eager to take advantage of any new features being offered.

The same can be said to be true about people's PCs. They buy super fast computers with gigs and gigs of hard drive and RAM, and all they use it for is checking e-mail, and facebook and maybe watching a few videos. People want the best, but do they need it? Do they take advantage of the best once they have it?

So, my prediction for the newest thing in mobile? I would have to say....ask someone else. Everything is already available; we just don't use it.

Matteo Soule

Santa Claus Said So

Remember when Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were real? They had power over us as children, and our parents used that power to make sure we were nice and not naughty. Gone are those days because of technology.

Today children are not afraid of Santa Claus not coming if they don't behave themselves. They no doubt have already gone on the internet and looked up Santa Claus, and discovered the truth about him. We live in an age where any information sought after can be found with the click of a mouse. The internet is taken a world of wonder and turned into a world of knowing.

Children today are way more knowlegeable than they were a generation ago. They have more access to information than any other time in human history. What does this equate to? They are more sexually active, at a much younger age. They can talk to friends around the world, in real time via many social networking websites, and they can dispel all the imagination that comes with being a child and not knowing.

What can be do about this shift in knowledge? Is there anyway to turn back the clock to a simpler time? I'm afraid not. Technology has taken us to a point where all the dragons and fairies have gone into hiding. The knights and princesses of old have taken on new garb, and now call themselves Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus.

We all need to start playing with new rules. We can't treat our children like we were treated by our parents. The internet has turned them into little adults, and it's our job to make the adjustments in parenting as needed.

The Changing World of Technology

We are not in Kansas anymore. Technology has changed the face of our social landscape, and it is giving no sign of letting up anytime soon. People are more concerned with their Face Book profile pics than they are with the face staring back at them from their mirrors. Who leaves his or her house every morning without their mobile phone?

A recent study showed that the average teenaged girl sends 80 text messages a day. Why are they sending so many messages? Do they have so much to say other than when they are talking to their friends? The truth be told, people rarely talk on their mobiles anymore. They would rather type in a few short words on their phone and go about their daily routines.

A time will come in the not too distant future, when a person's cellular phone will allow them to surf the web, send text messages, listen to music, watch videos, pay bills, and I almost forgot, talk to a friend. A phone is no longer a phone, it is a social device that keeps everyone connected to the world. We 30somethings will have to learn the new technology or get out of the way of the next generation that never knew a time before mobile.