Free mobil cell phone service on the horizon, courtesy of Google and WiMax

Google has agreed to develop applications, and importantly, advertising services, for mobile devices running on the WiMax network. Clearwire says it will support phones using Google 'Android' OS. And Google will be Clearwire’s principal Web-search provider and preferred provider of other applications (think maps, e-mail, calendars).

Translation: Buy a cell phone running Android and receive cell phone access (wi-fi) with advertising courtesy of Google.




I wrote a few pieces (December 27th, 2007 and November 16th, 2007) about this last year and it seems that this MAY become a reality very shortly. I can't see what would stop Google from offering this 'free meat if you buy the freezer' approach. It would create a drastic upheaval in the cell phone market and disrupt dominant mobile providers business models the same way Google is providing free alternatives to other paid software and services now (Google docs/office, etc). I believe this will happen. Its simply a matter of time.

Invisible advertising is coming to a web page near you.

So very connected we are becoming on the web by joining social networks, communities, groups, boards, IM clients (like the infectious 'twitter') and other software services that our personal data is being spread to more databases and sites than ever before. This information that we give up each time when we register for one of these services was thought to be JUST info, is really about some VERY personal data mining of each individual, which in the end is not a bad thing.

This data mining will make advertising become invisible over time, which is what we really want anyway. Advertising that is directly targeted to each of us becomes just information. The ad becomes 'invisible'.

We complain about ads and commercials, but won't when they don't appear like ads and commercials. The only way TV could do this for us is with humor. See a really clever and funny ad on TV and you don't mind. The web can do this with data. The more data it collects on what we read, view, places we travel to, products we purchase and media we watch, the easier it becomes to tailor advertisements personally.


I must have signed up for somewhere between 20-40 or maybe even more, different web services over the last few years. Some have faded away, some still exist, some I don't use anymore and some I use all the time. For each of these, I have had to place the same information into their registrations fields many, many times. When I don't use the service anymore, sometimes I just don't visit the site and sometimes I go back and try to delete my account. More often than not, I can close the account, but all of my personal data still lives in that sites database.

We are moving towards being allowed to 'own' our data. To be in control of where is gets sent to and when it doesn't get sent. Change something about my personal details, habits, likes, etc. and it changes across all 'services' I use (or ones I can choose to change). This issue of data 'control' will allow advertisers to reach me in a more personal direct way. Ultimately making it simply sending me or exposing me to their information - or something I really might find useful.

Top brand and zero advertising spent again!

I posted this notion last year, but I find it so amazing that Google remains at the top of the brand heap without a single dollar spent on advertising.

From CNET today:


It seems Google has solidified its dethroning of Microsoft in at least one regard: the global power of its brand.

For the third year in a row, the search giant whose very name has been transformed into a verb, grabbed the top spot in a list of the top 100 most powerful global brands (PDF). Its brand value grew 30 percent since last year's report to surpass $86 billion.

Brand powerhouses
Rank	Brand	Value ($B)
1	Google	86.1
2	GE	71.4
3	Microsoft	70.9
4	Coca-Cola	58.2
5	China Mobile	57.2
6	IBM	55.3
7	Apple	55.2
8	McDonald's	49.5
9	Nokia	44.0
10	Marlboro	37.3
Source: Millward Brown Optimor

Market research firm Millward Brown Optimor produced the rankings based on interviews with more than a million consumers worldwide, as well as on financial data. The results show that "strong brands continue to outperform weak ones in terms of market share and share price during recessions," Millward Brown Optimor CEO Joanna Seddon said in a statement.

Microsoft, for the record, once again came in third, with a $70.9 billion brand value. (General Electric once again took second place, at $71.4 billion.)

Apple and Nokia crept up in the rankings this year, breaking into the top 10 companies from 16th and 12th place, respectively, last year. (As a result, they bumped Wal-Mart and Toyota out of the top 10.) IBM and China Mobile also were among the top 10 again.