The Skweezer Blog

The Kupongo mobile coupon platform its launches beta site.

IRVINE, Calif., February 8, 2010—Skweezer, Inc., today announced that beta testing has commenced for Kupongo, its new mobile coupon platform.

Kupongo’s beta program will test user interface elements across a wide range of mobile platforms, focusing primarily on iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Symbian devices. Members of the Beta Group will assist the company in developing an application environment that is intuitive and easy to use, addressing one of the key barriers to mobile coupon adoption identified in recent studies by Juniper Research, Harris Interactive, and others.

“Developing a product for mobile devices can be challenging due to constraints in both screen size and input  modality,” said Kevin Perkins, CEO of Skweezer. “Our goal is to create an application environment that’s intuitive and easy to use for ‘Generation Y’ consumers who are familiar with downloading and using mobile apps, as well as their older counterparts who are currently clipping coupons out of their newspapers.”

The term “mobile coupons” refers to coupons that can be downloaded and later redeemed at a brick and mortar retail location directly from a consumer’s mobile phone. Mobile technologies such as GPS, MMS/SMS messaging, and microbrowsers significantly extend the medium of coupon marketing campaigns by directly  interacting with on-the-move consumers closer to a purchase decision. Mobile coupons benefit the consumer by being searchable, location-aware, and easily available at any time or place.

About Kupongo:
Kupongo is an advertising network that allows businesses to upload, monitor, and evaluate coupon-based marketing campaigns. Kupongo’s mobile coupons are distributed to consumers’ mobile devices through direct search, e-mail, SMS messaging, online “local searches”, RSS feeds, and real-time geo-location services.

On the Net: Kupongo site: http://kupongo.mobi
Skweezer blog: http://kupongo.wordpress.com

About Skweezer, Inc.:
Skweezer, Inc. has been a key innovator of mobile content optimization technologies since 2001, creating award-winning solutions that have accelerated mobile Web adoption and consistently raised the bar in terms of users’ expectations and feature development. Skweezer’s scalable, time-tested “carrier grade” content optimization and converged advertising products are relied upon by some of the largest wireless operators, search engines, ad networks, and enterprises in the world.

On the Net: Skweezer company site: http://company.skweezer.com
Skweezer portal: http://www.skweezer.com
Skweezer blog: http://blog.skweezer.com
Skweezer RSS feed: http://rss.skweezer.com

Posted by Monica Sato

Beta testing has begun for Kupongo’s Web interface. Members of our awesome and much-appreciated Beta Group can log in to the Kupongo Beta site at http://kupongo.mobi. The site went live yesterday and each of you should’ve received an e-mail notification. If you didn’t get your notification, let us know and we’ll check to make sure we have your correct e-mail address.

We’re really excited to be getting under way–thanks again in advance to all of you who are helping us develop Kupongo.

Posted by Monica Sato

According to two different analyst houses this week, NFC mobile phones and contactless-enabled points of sale (POS) are both expected to take off in the next few years, creating a perfect storm for mobile payments and couponing. Juniper Research is forecasting that one in six mobile subscribers will have a NFC phone by 2014, and IMS Research said today that the number of locations that accept contactless payments will increase to more than 12.5 million by the end of 2013.

Juniper Research predicts that says the redemption value of mobile coupons will be almost $6 billion worldwide by 2014. It also states that over 10% of mobile customers in some regions will be using mobile coupons within five years, with NFC coupons and smart posters generating more revenue per user than standard NFC transactions. Most value is expected from the Far East & China, Western Europe and North America.

These NFC handsets will be primarily used for payments and retail transactions, including coupons, according to Howard Wilcox, senior analyst and lead author of Juniper’s report. He also noted that the rollout of NFC-embedded handsets is the bigger limiting factor than POS equipment, but that it is beginning to change with Nokia’s 6126 Classic NFC phone coming to market before the end of the year and others expected to follow suit. NFC is “poised to enter an operational build-up phase culminating in mass service rollouts across many countries,” according to Wilcox.

This will be especially true for metro areas driven by transport ticketing, and retailing ARPU from NFC mobile coupons and smart posters will also be lucrative, exceeding ARPU from NFC payment transactions. Juniper believes that by 2014, more than one mobile subscriber in 10 in developed regions will use mobile coupons, and that usage will generate close to $6 billion globally in retail redemption value.

According to IMS Research, growth in contactless POS will accelerate six times faster than the overall electronic funds transfer at point-of-sale market. IMS research director John Devlin notes in the report that although the market took a downward dive in late 2008 and the first half of 2009 (primarily in the retail and hospitality sectors), the market now returning to growth. Those companies that managed the economic downturn well are now investing in new contactless technologies rather than replacing their existing, essential POS equipment, Devlin said.

Also helping the demand of contactless POS is that card vendors and banks are beginning to issue more contactless cards and consumer awareness is growing in many countries. Devlin noted that as the retail and hospitality sectors continue their recovery, differentiation will be increasingly important to compete. Accepting new forms of payment, including contactless cards, fobs and NFC and mobile payments will be key.

Posted by Mark Sieve

I recently wrote a post about the increasing pressure Microsoft is experiencing with their Windows Mobile OS from heavy-hitting players like Google and Apple. Looks like Microsoft is taking the threat seriously and has just launched the new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. Microsoft expects partners to deliver more than 30 phones worldwide that use the new OS by the end of 2009.

Here are some feature highlights from the Microsoft Press site:

• A new enhanced Windows Live experience with What’s New feeds and improved Windows Live photo sharing across major social networking sites (such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Flickr)
• A best-in-class e-mail experience and the ability to manage multiple accounts right from their phone with Outlook Mobile and Exchange Server synchronization
• The ability to use PowerPoint and open and edit Word and Excel documents from their phone with Microsoft Office Mobile
• The power to sync files on the phone through Windows Live Media Manager and play media files seamlessly with Windows Media Player
• A redesigned Windows Internet Explorer mobile browser with Adobe Flash Lite2 that brings the mobile Web browsing experience closer to what people have come to expect from their PC

Android has also been in the news, as Google and Verizon have announced a partnership that will see Android increase its growing market share. As for Apple, iPhone OS 3.1 was just released in September, but Apple’s commitment to dominating the smartphone market is readily apparent. And Nokia’s Symbian and Research In Motion’s Blackberry seem firmly entrenched in the number one and two spots respectively.

Looks like Microsoft isn’t going to go down quietly though…

To read the Microsoft’s full press release, click here.

Posted by Mark Sieve

Today CNN announced an iPhone app that has already gained widespread praise in the few hours since its release [1] [2]. According to Reuters, some features of the new app include:

• Users can flick through news stories across categories. Additionally, when the device is rotated horizontally, stories can be flipped through quickly.
• Each story features bulleted highlights above the full article, designed to satisfy mobile “snackers,” allowing them to scan through the latest stories, as well as meet the needs of users who want the whole story.
• Local news, weather and traffic based on user’s actual location or the ability to select a specific location.
• Ability to “follow” a story or topic: As CNN publishes breaking news alerts or new stories related to a chosen topic, the app will push the updates to the device.
• “Saved” content, which enables users to access text stories even when they’re offline.

I find it interesting that CNN Interactive Group chose to launch this as a paid app, as free apps are between four and six times more likely to be downloaded than their paid counterparts. The new app is actually ad-supported as well, displaying ads while video loads (though not utilizing the “pre-roll” ads often found in online news clips).

Although many apps generate more revenue for their developers as paid apps than through an ad-supported model (see this informative article on Jonathan Wegener’s blog), apps that are used repeatedly earn more with advertising in the long run. Playing around with the app this morning, I have to say that I think this is something users will be interested in using frequently indeed.

Still, don’t be too surprised if CNN offers their iPhone app for free within the next few months. The people that had to have the product will have paid up, while the 6x users who were unwilling to pay can still generate revenue for CNN through their mobile ads.

Posted by Mark Sieve

Mike Dano published an interesting story on Fierce Wireless today. The main gist of the story revolves around a recent report by research group CCS, which indicates that Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system is losing ground to Google’s Android. Some reasons to support this claim, according to Dano’s article, include:

• Motorola is betting the farm on Android, a decision notable in light of the company’s heavy reliance on Windows Mobile for its previous smartphone efforts (think the Moto Q). The message from Motorola’s leadership is clear: Windows Mobile can’t turn us around. (I realize that Motorola is still technically a Windows Mobile user, but based on the company’s massive Android push I think it’s safe to remove the company from the Windows Mobile column for the time being.)
• HTC–Microsoft’s first and largest Windows Mobile licensee–continues to pour energy into Android at the expense of Windows Mobile. “CCS Insight predicts that sales of HTC Android devices could outnumber those of its Windows Mobile products in 2010,” the firm said. “This is undoubtedly a worrying prospect for Microsoft given its current reliance on HTC as its biggest licensee.”
• Sony Ericsson’s latest smartphone, the Xperia X2, sports Windows Mobile, though the company also supports Symbian products and has stated its intent to build Android devices. CCS Insight predicts Sony Ericsson’s new management will abandon Windows Mobile in favor of platforms it has more control over, like Android. A Sony Ericsson spokesman however reiterated the company’s support for Windows Mobile, and declined to speculate about Sony Ericsson’s future platform plans.
• LG, the world’s third largest cell phone maker and a latecomer to the smartphone game, recently promised to produce 50 Windows Mobile phones. However, the company also recently announced its first Android device. “Microsoft may have offered LG preferential licensing terms in order to offset weakening commitment from HTC,” posited CCS Insight.
• As for Samsung, the world’s second largest handset maker, it remains a Windows Mobile licensee, though it too has worked with Android lately and has dabbled in Symbian as well.

Of course there are other major players vying for the mobile OS spotlight along with Microsoft and Google–most notably the open-source Symbian OS from Nokia and Research In Motion’s Blackberry platform. And of course there’s Apple’s ridiculously successful iPhone.

When we started Skweezer back in the day, potential investors and partners always asked us, “How does your business relate to Microsoft?” Now the question is usually, “How does your business relate to Google?” Looks like there may be a changing of the guard as Google steps in to replace a faltering Microsoft as the alpha-male at the head of the mobile operating system pack.

Still, as Dano notes in his article:

…as with anything Microsoft, it’s not over until the company says it’s over.

Posted by Mark Sieve

The Environmental Working Group has just come out with an interesting study about the amount of radiation emitted by cell phones that’s worth a read. There’s a list that ranks devices by radiation intensity that’s also worth looking at. I was dismayed to learn that my iPhone is one of the heavy emitters, though EWG is quick to point out that:

We at Environmental Working Group are still using our cell phones, but we also believe that until scientists know much more about cell phone radiation, it’s smart for consumers to buy phones with the lowest emissions.

Still, I might just get that Bluetooth headset at Costco I’ve had my eye on…

Posted by Mark Sieve

Over the past few days there have been several columns published regarding the public’s perception of mobile advertising. What’s striking to me, as somebody who follows the news closely on this subject, are two things:

1. The frequency with which studies are coming out pertaining to the social impact of mobile advertising
2. The diametrically opposed findings of these studies

Take for example several headlines from the past few days:

9/14 - Users Of Smartphones More Sympathetic [to] Social and Mobile Advertising
9/12 - Mobile (And Particularly iPhone) Users Not Keen On Clicking Ads
9/11 - Mobile Ads See High Traction Among Youth
9/11 - Consumers Want Nothing to Do with Mobile Ads?

One of the difficulties with measuring public acceptance of mobile ads is the diverse nature of the mobile advertising platform. For instance, advertising on mobile devices can take the form of CPM banners, text-based CPC ads, and opt-in SMS/MMS alerts or coupons. And these ads can be delivered to the user via downloaded apps, mobile browser, or SMS/MMS. Not to mention behavioral differences by age group, economic status, and geography.

One thing seems probable however: we can eventually expect free, ad-supported content to be the norm in the mobile environment just as it currently is in the more mature desktop environment. Given the choice between free apps, ringtones, Web services, etc. with advertising and paid content without advertising, consumers will in all likelihood choose the former.

Posted by Mark Sieve

I just read that Twikini, a popular mobile Twitter client for Windows mobile devices, now features an option to launch links through Skweezer. Twikini is the latest of a number of mashups, apps, and services that take advantage of Skweezer’s free API to provide users with mobile-friendy Web browsing.

It’s always interesting to see how different people and programmers use our technology–from Chinese dissidents using Skweezer for anonymous Web access to the folks at Twikini enhancing their Twitter app… it’s gratifying to see that so many people are finding a use for our technology.

If you’re a programmer, you can check out our API information sheet at http://company.skweezer.com/developers.

A little info on Twikini from their site:

“Twikini offers a powerful and efficient way to use Twitter on your phone. It conveniently updates your favorite feeds in the background, and leverages the camera, GPS, media, touch screen, keyboard, graphics and storage capabilities of your device.

Our goal is to make Twikini the best designed Twitter app for Windows devices in the world.”

Posted by Mark Sieve

Update: Posted this 5 minutes ago and was just sent an e-mail about another mobile Twitter client called TinyTwitter that’s also using Skweezer. Guess there are a lot of people building Twitter apps these days…

Recently, a Danish consultancy—Strand Consult Publications—put out a surprising "reality check" on the hype surrounding the iPhone.

I, for one, was surprised to see a list of ten myths purported to be false by this consultancy:

1. The iPhone drives data traffic into mobile operators networks
2. The iPhone helps operators attract new customers
3. The iPhone is good business for mobile operators
4. The iPhone is dominating the mobile services market
5. App store is a huge success that has revolutionised the services market
6. There is money to be made by developing applications for the iPhone
7. It is iPhone customers that are generating the majority of online mobile surfing traffic
8. The iPhone has a large market share
9. The iPhone was the first mobile phone with a touchscreen
10. The iPhone is a technologically advanced mobile phone

Unscientifically, I see more and more of my colleagues, friends, and family acquiring iPhones, Blackberries, Vue’s, Pre’s, et al smartphones. So, it’s surprising to see that iPhone—the perceived champion of all mobile devices—is causing a negligible effect… and in some cases a loss… with operators worldwide. For example, AT&T said they would’ve had a 40% margin had they not launched iPhone 3GS. Apparently, further network backhaul was needed to support the vast amounts of data consumption these smartphones create:

Nonetheless, I’m heartened by the increased amounts of smartphone usage and the "investment" the carriers are willing to do now to begin realizing the profits from such devices long-term.

The question is, how long?

By Kevin Perkins