Carriers Plan to be Kind With Cell Phone Advertising

TechNewsWorld writes about the drive towards marketing and advertising on cellphonesand how far the industry will go before annoying consumers.

Roger Entner at Ovum said, "They will minimize the annoyance because they don't want to jeopardize a long-term relationship with a valued customer over a few bucks. The carriers are on the side of the consumer because the cell phone is a US$110 billion industry."

Entner added, "Advertising that is relevant to you is absolutely valuable, and advertising that is not relevant to you is absolutely annoying."

Michael King at Gartner noted "mobile phone customers will accept advertising, but only if it offers them something, and does not seem like advertising." He said, "It all points to the fact that consumers are OK receiving advertising on cell phones if they opt in and if they view it not as advertising, but as information."

King commented that "cell phone marketing could take the form of games, discounts or other added bonuses." He said, "No one has figured out the magic combination yet.There's going to be a lot of experimentation."

Entner said the wireless industry doesn't want a repeat of the problems associated with the Internet. He stated, "Everyone has been a victim of Internet spam, and nobody wants to see that happen with wireless."

One has to wonder how much advertising, if any, consumers will put up with. It will have to be very subtle and unobtrusive...