Beijing-based mobile network operator, China mobile is reportedly interested in investing in Africa to boost services in rural areas. Though the company has not specified neither the region, nor its potential acquisition targets on the continent, it has an ambitious goal to “push business for mobile payments” as stated by Jianzhou Wang Chairman of company.

It would be recalled that recently, the operator concluded a deal that enabled it to acquire a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, a move expected to help boost its wireless payment and finance operations.

According to Dataxis Intelligence, China mobile is the world’s largest mobile operator with its 539 Million subscriber base of which 7.6 million using 3 G services at the end of March 2010.

The market for NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile payments in the U.S. is in the nascent stage with an adoption rate of only 1.7%; this represents a huge opportunity for early movers offering the same. Adopting NFC mobile payment will open new revenue channels for banks as well as mobile operators as more than 94% of the U.S. population owns a mobile phone, and 60% of these have a card slot in their mobile phone. With the help of NFC technology, banks will be able to tap micro transactions made by cash, representing around 20% of the total transactions in the U.S. This will also help banks to capture the growing GEN Y population as well as the huge underbanked and unbanked population.

T – Mobile has assured the Sony Ericsson users that it has stocked the Black variant Sony Ericsson Vivaz. The other colours in which this handset is available are red, blue and silver. These 4 different shades cater to choice of every kind of person. Contract Sony Ericsson Vivaz Deals on T – Mobile starts from £14.06 per month. You can get a free laptop if you opt for monthly contract of £27.92. Read the rest of this entry »

With Mobile phones becoming essential commodity in todays time. But the ever increasing mobile bills have added to agony of users. However, we now have a solution in terms of PAY as you mobile phones.

The pay as you go mobile phones come with plenty of benefits and options that give the users an opportunity to select appropriate mobile deals as per their specific needs. These handsets are a perfect idea for those who want to keep their eyes on the monthly expenses of their ever exceeding mobile bills.

Apparel Group Loyalty Program “Club Apparel” was launched few days ago in Dubai in cooperation with Imovation. Club Apparel is the first Mobile Loyalty Program in UAE and it’s based on globally patented Margento technology.
It enables local as well as international shoppers benefit from using their personal mobile phones to identify themselves at affiliated points of sale. Collecting and redeeming of points is done through a simple phone call. All transactions are quick and take very little effort, while still guaranteeing a high degree of security.

275 Apparel stores are part of the Club Apparel scheme and equipped with the Margento POS terminals. After successful launch, Apparel Club will role out to the group’s other stores across the Middle East.

MOBIQPONS Launches Free Environment-friendly Mobile Coupons Application for Blackberry Storm – MobiQpons announced the release and availability of its “Coupons for Shopping -MobiQpons” application for Blackberry Storm via Blackberry App World. This is in addition to its applications for iPhone and Android smart phones

MobiQpons Inc. today announced that its Mobile Coupons application “Coupons for Shopping -MobiQpons ” is now available for consumers to download from its website http://mobiqpons.com/

Mobile Marketing Coupons Gain Popularity – Tucked inside newspapers across the country this Sunday, SmartSource, the coupon insert, will tell readers in 68 million households how they can send a text message to get coupons sent to their mobile phones

Brooklyn Center-based Caribou Coffee used a mobile marketing couponing company called Cellfire to send coupons this year for its new Acacia Organic Blend and Northern Lite Latte.

“We looked at mobile marketing as a way for us to drive store traffic and gain trial for a new product launch,” marketing manager Jake Miller said. “If we can get trial, we know there is a good chance that guest will come back again.” He declined to give details on the results but said Caribou would use mobile marketing coupons again.

MixMobi, a Plymouth mobile marketing startup, is launching a technology platform that lets retailers build coupons that can be “tweeted” on the social media site Twitter, which appears on cell phones as well as computers.

MixMobi co-founder Lisa Foote is letting small marketing agencies experiment with the technology to work out the bugs before the launch. Sprout.mn in Minneapolis designed a coupon for the Seward Co-op advertising 50 cents off at the deli this weekend.

“I think the consumer definitely wants mobile couponing,” she said. “I think people are really hungry for deals, and more than 90 percent of Americans carry cell phones.”

To be sure, technologists have heralded mobile marketing coupons for several years with little effect.

But a sudden surge of interest by big- name retailers and packaged-goods companies, coupled with better technology, is creating buzz for the mobile marketing coupon this year.

Only 3 percent of consumers used a mobile marketing coupon in 2008, but more than half of them knew about them, Forrester Research, a technology consultancy, reported this year.

The recession has advanced coupon usage in all its forms, including online. Digital coupons were the fastest growing Web site category last November, with visitors to coupon sites up 32 percent over October 2008, said comScore Inc., another technology research company.

Put it all together, and advertisers see cell phones as 277 million tiny electronic billboards in every pocket or purse.

“It’s a big area of interest these days. I’ve been getting tons of calls about this,” said Evan Neufeld, a senior analyst for mobile communications for comScore Inc.

Mobile marketing coupons have become a buzzword inside the big packaged-goods companies, Neufeld said. “They all say they want a mobile strategy,” he said. These companies will insure consumers see more ads, he said.

The popularity of smart phones, with their larger, made-for-the-Web screens, is driving the trend, too. Coupons look better on bigger screens, marketers say.
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Save Money with Mobile Coupons – The new mobile coupon program can transform the average joe into a savvy shopper by saving time and money.

Looking for ways to save money during tight times, but don’t want to spend the time searching through the newspaper looking for coupons? Well you’re in luck… The future of coupons has arrived in an easy, organized application that can be downloaded straight from your Smartphone.

Target has announced the first ever scannable coupon program for mobile phones. The program will send coupons to your mobile device that can be scanned at checkout. The opt-in program will provide Target shoppers with a customized webpage on their mobile phones, with all offers scannable at checkout via a single barcode.

Target is the first to venture into the coupon program, but there will be many to follow. Coupons will benefit businesses and customers alike–promoting spending while saving money for consumers. In addition, the convenience and “Green” factor of digital coupons, particularly mobile coupons, make them especially appealing to consumers today.

Toshl is an expense tracker with a twist. With Toshl, you can easily track spending on your Android or Nokia Maemo phone. We plan to launch an iPhone app soon. Entering expenses is easy and streamlined, but it’s also incredibly versatile because it uses tags instead of predefined categories. But while collecting data is best done on the go, visualising, understanding and exporting your expenses is much more handy and comfortable on your computer.
Sync with the Web, have fun with your data
That’s why you can sync with the Toshl.com web service that helps you analyse and visualise the data. You can compare different types of expenses, see how they change through time and even toss around balls representing your expenses to release the tension. Toshl makes you see your expenses in a brand new light, pointing out where you spend too much and helping you save money. Understanding your finances has never been this fun.

Export & Backup
Tosh.com enables you to export the data into a plethora of different formats (CSV, Excel, PDF and Google Docs) and can also send automated expense reports each month to your e-mail. It protects you from data loss as well, because it keeps a secure backup of your expenses. If you lose your phone, or want to track expenses on another device, your data is always safely stored on Toshl.com and can be synced to your new device.

Get more with Toshl Pro
Toshl phone apps for Android and Maemo – FREE
Toshl.com standard account & sync – FREE
Toshl Pro subscription – $19.95/year

Toshl Pro subscription enables more advanced graphs, expense search, export into formats other than CSV, mail reports, editing expenses online and more.

Gartner, Inc. has identified 10 mobile technologies that will evolve significantly through 2011 in ways that will impact short-term mobile strategies and policies. Investments in mobile applications and technologies will increase through 2011 as organizations emerge from the recession and ramp up both business-to-employee (B2E) and business-to-consumer (B2C) mobile spending.

“We are highlighting these 10 mobile technologies that should be on every organization’s radar screen,” said Nick Jones, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “These mobile technologies were selected because they will evolve in ways that affect corporate strategies, significant numbers of customers or employees will adopt or expect them, or they will address particular mobile challenges that organizations will face through 2011.”

The 10 mobile technologies to watch in 2010 and 2011 include:

Bluetooth (3 and 4)
Two new Bluetooth versions will emerge by 2011: Bluetooth 3 will introduce 802.11 as a bearer for faster data transmission, and Bluetooth 4 will introduce a new low-energy (LE) mode that will enable communication with external peripherals and sensors. Both versions will include other technical improvements to improve battery life and security. Gartner believes that Bluetooth 3 will facilitate corporate and consumer functions demanding large bandwidth (e.g., downloading images and videos from handsets). Bluetooth LE will enable a range of new sensor-based business models in industries such as fitness, healthcare and environmental control and will be used by handset and PC peripherals to enable new functions, such as PCs that autolock when users move away from them.

The Mobile Web
By 2011, over 85 percent of handsets shipped globally will include some form of browser. In mature markets, such as Western Europe and Japan, approximately 60 percent of handsets shipped will be smartphones with sophisticated browsing capability and the ability to render conventional HTML sites in some manner. The growth in smartphones with relatively large and high-resolution screens will encourage greater numbers of people to access conventional websites on mobile devices, and will make it possible to deliver some B2C applications using conventional Web tools without adaptation. In mature markets, the mobile Web, along with associated Web adaptation tools, will be a leading technology for B2C mobile applications through 2012, and should be part of every organization’s B2C technology portfolio.

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