Taco Bell’s first foray into the mobile space results in our recently launched mobile website.

Customers have access to the latest promotions, menu, and nutritional information from Taco Bell anywhere, anytime.  Most important, customers can find their nearest Taco Bell from wherever they are at the moment.  Immediate, localized results are providing TB customers with the information they want, when they want it.

Connect with Taco Bell on Twitter @tacobellcanada or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Taco-Bell-Canada/102155344957?ref=ts

A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that consumer usage of mobile coupons will generate close to $6 billion globally in retail redemption value by 2014.

Juniper Research’s new report - ‘Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014’ cautions that user apathy amongst the wider public, as well as lack of willingness to change and learn a new method of making financial transactions are potential stumbling blocks. This is despite NFC trial results which show very high levels of user acceptance.

“Marketers can use the mobile device as the ultimate personal marketing channel. It is almost permanently switched on and physically with the consumer. This makes a great opportunity for brands and marketing agencies to access clients immediately, driving footfall and encouraging an instant decision,” explained Howard Wilcox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research and lead report author.

Smart posters with embedded NFC tags will bring to life static billboards, creating immediate interaction between potential customers and their prospective purchases. By simply passing their device close to the tag, users can take away a coupon or product information that can result in purchase decisions.

Further findings from the Mobile Coupons and Smart Posters report include:

· ARPU from NFC coupons and smart posters will exceed ARPU from NFC payment transactions

· The vast majority of mobile coupon redemption value will be generated by the Far East & China, Western Europe and North America in 2014

NFC holds so much potential in changing the way we transact and engage with brands. It’s funny though because as much as industry experts claim how fast we are moving, I still see a huge barrier in acceptance both from a client level and consumer level.  Even such things as POS systems being able to scan the mobile barcodes itself has held back the ability to roll out mobile couponing on a mass level - let alone implementing NFC.  In the meantime, we are working with clients to find solutions around some of these barriers and have seen some great success in mobile coupon redemption across many campaigns.

Are you kidding me?! The quarterly numbers came in for Apple a few days ago. While the numbers were good, what is noteworthy enough to write about is the number that jumps off the page in regards to iPhone sales. Last quarter, Apple is reporting that it sold 5.2 million iPhones!

That is a 626% growth from last year when Apple was reporting 717,000 iPhones being sold.

That said, these numbers don’t break the record of iPhones sold in a quarter. Q4 of last year reported almost 6.9 million iPhones sold which could mostly be due to the huge launch around the 3G. The latest numbers only include a few weeks of iPhone 3GS sales so I am eagerly waiting for the next quarter report as iPhone sales trend upwards and may soon catch up to sale numbers of the iPod!

Pretty sick demo of Layar which provides context-relevant data through the use of the compass, camera and GPS embedded within the phone. AR at it’s best and a look into how powerful mobile is.

Hot.

As of late, I am finding a very interesting reaction to mobile marketing. Across the board, there seems to be a great interest in mobile and what it can do. However, in North America, it seems that there is still a great percentage of clients that while interested, remain hesitant to dip their foot in the “mobile pool”. As I have said before, I draw similar lines to where we were when online starting taking off. Many clients were interested but were hesitant to allocate budget to it. I’ve been involved in both movements (digital & mobile) from all perspectives - media buying/publishing, client and agency side. It was an uphill battle to prove that digital was the place to be (and sometimes continues to be, believe it or not) as it is today with mobile. We will eventually move to the headspace where mobile is just an obvious extension to an integrated campaign. In the interim, we have to keep telling story, showing the data, and pushing the power behind mobile marketing.

Below is a video grabbed from imedia connection. Watch as eight industry experts briefly discuss what’s holding the platform back.

Excerpt from www.wired.com:

He’s not positive what got the ambulance to the scene, but Atlanta councilman Kwanza Hall’s use of his Twitter on his Blackberry played a roll in despatching emergency services to a woman in need.

“Need a paramedic on corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Jackson st. Woman on the ground unconscious. Pls ReTweet,” Hall tweeted, eschewing the use of his cell phone as, well, a phone, to call 911 since his battery was low and he didn’t want to lose contact if it died while he was trying to save a life.

Several of Hall’s followers called 911. Hall told CNN the ambulances arrived in 11 minutes, but he isn’t sure whether it was a call from another bystander, one of his followers or even possibly the EMS’s monitoring of social media which got the job done.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/twitter-trumps-911/

Fun find on uTube worth watching. Shows a great depiction of how the mobile phone has evolved from 1985 until today. I have identified my old favorite clunker from 1994 in there!

Mindblossom recently launched a Mobile and IVR program for adidas alongside muchmusic.com to promote the adidas house party campaign.

For more information on the campaign and how to enter, visit Much Music.

Match.com has released an iPhone application for its 15 million members to date on the go. Match.commembers will now have the opportunity to edit their profile, upload photos, and opt-in to a location based feature that allows them to see singles in their area - all from the iPhone.

The location based feature is pretty interesting to me. It begs the question, will Mobile Location awareness potentially lead to unwanted real world confrontations in the dating world? Why didn’t you wink back at me?! It’s not you, it’s the app? Regardless, it will be interesting to see if this LBS feature will help to draw new subscribers or be utilized as a value-add by current subscribers.