MOBCOUPONS: Merchants Go Green to Help Customers Save Green

Text message coupons delivered right to consumers' phones are both economically wise and environmentally correct.



PLANTATION, FL - AdKing.com is providing an excellent opportunity for local businesses to cash in on two of the hottest consumer trends - coupons and the need to be green. Mobile Coupons give retail shops, restaurants, and other businesses the ability to send text message coupons to their customers. MobCoupons are sent digitally via cell phones and therefore are earth-friendly.

Promotional coupons have surged tremendously in popularity in light of the recent economic challenges. The current climate has contributed greatly to the increased demand and frequent use of promotional coupons for all types of purchases. Business owners have long respected and utilized the ROI inherent with coupons.

Merchants and consumers alike can agree that unlike traditional coupons, MobCoupons is a green marketing tool, a desirable and sustainable alternative to ordinary coupons. The low 1%-2% redemption rate of paper coupons is a wasteful use of natural resources. Mobile coupon redemption rates always top that of traditional coupons, since mobile coupons are never lost or forgotten at home.

MobCoupons boasts a unique delivery system; one that enables a consumer to request an instant mobile coupon via SMS, as well as the ability to subscribe to automatic updates. Instant MobCoupons can be requested for a one-time redemption, either alone or in conjunction with other advertising support such as print, radio or TV. The subscription process enables the advertiser to build a vibrant database of VIP customers, at the same time rewarding them for their continued patronage.

MobCoupons sets itself apart from other mobile services by offering flat rate unlimited text messaging, with absolutely no per-message fees. There are currently more than 270 million mobile phone users in America, and MobCoupons gives businesses the ability to offer instant coupons on-the-go as well as giving subscribers the discounts they desire.

"This juncture of mobile phones, unlimited text message plans and a challenged economy all add up to business looking for an affordable, innovative, and personal way to embrace their customers," states Ben Deleon, president of Plantation, Fla.-based Brandel, Inc., the parent company of AdKing.com and MobCoupons. "Mobile is the smart solution - both green & cost effective." Deleon continues, "And we are proud of the 100% Permission-based marketing policy of MobCoupons, ensuring consumers will only receive the text messages they request."

Adking.com caters to entrepreneurs, publishers, marketers, resellers, and Web designers seeking to start their own mobile advertising business and offer Text Message-based as well as other mobile advertising services to business owners, professionals, individuals, and institutions anywhere in the world.

Mobile strategies for a post-recession world

original post from July 15, 2009 | By Eric Holmen


As a firm believer in the potential of the mobile channel, particularly in terms of mobile commerce and marketing and advertising applications, I am an optimist by nature. As the head of a mobile marketing firm, I am an optimist by trade.

But even at that, I am not going to write in this column that the economy has turned the corner and it is time to start doing the business of recovery. My glass is not that half-full.

I do think, however, that it is time to start planning for a post-recession world.

In terms of marketing and communications, this means taking an honest assessment of the current situation from multiple perspectives, analyzing what has worked historically and how those historical trends may play out over the next six to 18 months and beyond. Then start positioning your company or organization for optimal success once the economy really does start to right itself.

Forward-thinking companies are consistently looking past the current quagmire and making these kinds of plans – it is a hallmark of success. For most of these plans, at least from our perspective, mobile will be a major component.

This is not to say that a good mobile strategy is a panacea.

Indeed, the great potential of the mobile channel is tempered by some very real challenges, many of which have been exacerbated by the recession.

Mobile, for instance, is notoriously difficult to measure accurately. Conflicting metrics abound in the industry.

While one survey suggests that most mobile users respond in some way to mobile advertisements – 51 percent, according to Nielsen – a sizably smaller percentage report even being interested in offers and deals – 43 percent, as reported by MediaPost.

Companies engaged in mobile marketing, including retailers, often find it difficult to generate accurate customer behavior data as it pertains to mobile advertising efforts. Consumer education, in general, is often a sticking point for these organizations.

But mobile offers a degree of engagement with customers that is impossible through other media. The immediacy of mobile initiatives and the adoption and penetration rates that dwarf those of other marketing efforts make the channel the very future of marketing.

The post-recession marketplace will feature consumers placing a high premium on value, loyalty and choice, with marketers placing a high premium on reach, cost effectiveness and engagement.

Mobile, in my opinion, is the only channel that can effectively meet all of these demands.

Here are five key strategies for mobile post-recession success.

Create and offer value
This recession is longer, deeper and tougher than the last four downturns that the world has experienced.

If the majority of economists are right, the recovery will be longer and slower than the last four recoveries as well. This means that value will remain at the top of consumers’ decision making process, and will be the marketing tactic most likely to garner a high level of response.

For retailers as well as operators in other industries, finding a way to create and offer value through the mobile channel will be key to developing and maintaining a solid mobile strategy.

This might take the form of a value-add smartphone application, mobile coupon or time-and-money-saving real-time tip. Anything designed with end-user value in mind will score major utility points.

Encourage engagement
Post-recession consumers will have their own goals and expectations for brands and marketing messaging, and will expect to be interacted with on their own terms.

These consumers are fluent in social networking, use their mobile devices with an unprecedented degree of utility, and are card-carrying members of the choice generation.

Also, they want to adopt messaging rather than being exposed to it. They want conversations they can opt into, not commercials they try to avoid.

Offer mobile content that engages this demographic and mobile marketing success is certain to follow.

Build relationships
A mobile strategy, more than a strategy hinging on traditional media, is based on an intricate, dynamic relationship between the marketer and the consumer.

A good mobile strategy will create trust through disclosure and accessibility, one-to-one interactivity and transparent information security.

To achieve these aims, provide the information that customers need and clearly list privacy policies and offer choices of how – by channel or medium – and how often – weekly or monthly – they want communications.

Instead of pushing information out, pull information in to learn how customers prefer to interact.

Make a mobile mashup
Mobile is no monolith, and neither is the post-recession consumer.

While the public is more comfortable with their mobile devices, it is far from the only media touch point at their disposal.

Use mobile as a complement to other media initiatives, and vice versa. Print, direct mail, online, email, in-store, outdoor and other media can prompt consumers to take action through their mobile phones, and text messages can serve as reinforcing aspects to an existing campaign.

Mobile elements included in traditional media channels extend reach and allow instant interaction.

For retailers, mobile couponing can be reinforced or prompted by point-of-sale signage or print advertisement.

Innovative combinations, such as guerrilla marketing with mobile sign-in, are also gaining traction.

Keep it in the family
Any good mobile strategy, particularly one designed for a post-recession marketplace, must begin with a strong customer database. This just makes good sense.

Any database that a business already has is likely to be populated with the best, most loyal customers. Start with this list and expand it.

The execution of a mobile strategy is only as good as the customer intelligence that powers it. And befitting a company’s best customers, use only the strictest opt-in methodology to ensure welcome communications and secure transactions.

THE RECESSION has, and continues to, present a myriad of challenges to retailers, marketers and other businesses across the world. But as with most things, this too shall pass, and it is time to start planning for what happens when those green shoots start to blossom.

For most businesses, this will have to include a workable mobile strategy. For this to happen, the savvy will seek expert partnership and help establish – and not follow – the prevailing trends.

A strong mobile position going forward is best developed by those companies that have helped move the industry along from its inception. Those businesses that recognize this will be ready for the post-recession world. Will yours be one of them?

Obama’s Ghana speech highlights delivered live via SMS

By Dan Butcher | original post from July 15, 2009

Taking advantage of the ubiquity of mobile phones, the U.S. Department of State used SMS to reach citizens worldwide during a speech given by President Obama on Monday from Accra, Ghana.

The U.S. Department of State tapped mobile messaging to offer African and international/non-U.S. citizens around the world live speech highlights in English or French via SMS. In addition, enrolled participants were able to send their speech comments via text message back to the U.S. Department of State, where selected responses were posted online at http://www.america.gov/ghana_comments.html.

“This program is a ‘mobile town hall without borders’ open to all citizens outside the U.S. worldwide, in this case, especially African citizens,” said Chuck Drake. “Text messaging is mobile communication—delivered anytime, anywhere—with distribution available to more than 4 billion handsets worldwide.

“The Obama Ghana speech SMS service makes use of this broad reach and instant communications of speech highlights going out ‘in real time’ to reach local citizens and provides a way for these people to respond immediately via SMS,” he said.

“If it were only TV, radio or other forms of traditional media, then some media sources would be in the middle, filtering and interpreting and delaying the message, and there would also be no way to support a 'send in your comments' town-hall style interaction aspect to this using traditional media sources alone.”


International/non-U.S. citizens were able to enroll in the Obama SMS speech highlights initiative online at http://www.america.gov/sms.html. Participants could comment during Obama’s speech via standard two-way SMS.

Using the mobile channel to remain transparent and accessible, the U.S. Administration is facilitating two-way mobile communications to the African public as well as international/non-U.S. citizens interested in President Obama’s Ghana speech.

Unlike existing “push” news mediums like TV and radio, SMS provides for two-way communications, giving the people of the world a voice during momentous events such as these.

According to a recent study by Ernst and Young, Africa is the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market, having expanded by 49 percent since 2002.

JCPenney back-to-school campaign targets teens on mobile

By Giselle Tsirulnik | originally posted July 16, 2009

J. C. Penney Company Inc. launched its “Schooled in Style: Smart Looks for Less,” multichannel campaign for the 2009 back-to-school season. Guess which marketing channels are being used.

The campaign combines mobile, digital, social and traditional media such as events. The mobile aspect lets teens sign-up to receive text messages on their mobile phones about back-to-school sales and special offers at JCPenney.

“We want to create a campaign with a 360 approach targeting teens where they are,” said Quinton Crenshaw, Plano, TX-based spokesman for JCPenney.

“So that’s why we are on Facebook and on television,” he said. “Mobile is important because they are all texting.”

JCPenney is one of America's largest retailers, operating 1,101 department stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

Teenagers can sign up for the mobile alerts at http://www.jcp.com/teen. The site is full of back-to-school content and lets teens connect with each other, create their own looks and explore JCPenney’s style offerings through a digital runway experience.

JCPenney will build a database of names to continue to engage with beyond the back-to-school season.

The study also found that mobile phones are fast becoming a social necessity among teens. In fact, a majority (57 percent) view their handsets as the key to their social life.

From texting to talking and logging on to social networking sites, teens carry cell phones to have access to friends, family and current events.

JCPenney has used mobile in the past. For example the company added mobile to its holiday marketing mix as well.

“Mobile isn’t anything new for us,” Mr. Crenshaw said. “We use it in different ways.”

Traditional advertisers ramping up their mobile strategies

By Giselle Tsirulnik | posted on July 17, 2009

It is evident brands are realizing the benefit of mobile since campaigns sending traffic to site as a landing page increased 10.46 percent in June.

This is one of the key findings in Millennial Media’s Smart report for June. The study also found that the average monthly page views per user was 99 page views in June.

“There were some key maturational indicators in the second quarter,” said Mack McKelvey, vice president of marketing at Millennial Media, Baltimore, MD. “The early movers in mobile, namely entertainment and auto, continue to invest in their mobile strategies.

“Entertainment advertisers, particularly movie studios, stand out as a best practice in numerous ways—studios masterfully target—audience, demo, takeovers,” she said. “They know the power of the mobile ad network model and they strategically leverage it to target and engage their consumers with unique interactions at various points in their campaigns.

“We’ve seen an insurgence of other categories this year and in second quarter carriers and device manufacturers aggressively leveraged mobile, as did major portals. Traditional advertisers are utilizing mobile as a strategic channel to engage their consumers.”

The United States’ mobile Internet reach has increased to 59.8 million users and Millennial Media reaches 74 percent of the mobile Web, or 44.2 million users, according to Nielsen.

According to Millennial’s research the top 10 mobile ad verticals in the second quarter were entertainment, telecommunications and portals, respectively.

Entertainment knows mobile. Movie studios, in particular, have leveraged the mobile ad network model to reach, target and engage consumers.

Movie studios also deliver rich brand experiences on their persistent mobile sites, yet creatively leverage custom landing pages and rich media at different stages of the campaign lifecycle, according to the study.

“There was validation in this study,” Ms. McKelvey said. “Validation through consistent data that that the mobile internet is growing a sustainable rate, mobile is measurable and real.

“Traditional advertisers are ramping up their mobile strategies,” she said. “The network model is providing real value at real scale.”

Of one thing there is no doubt: The iPhone is making history.

Sixty-eight percent of impressions on Millennial Media’s network in June were from iPhone and iPod touch devices.

“More smartphones and feature phones in the market will lead to more addressable audiences, broader reach and increased opportunities for brands to reach their consumers,” Ms. McKelvey said. “It goes back to the point of maturation.

“In this area, mobile resembles the early days of online. Brands are starting to invest in their persistent mobile sites to ensure consumers are able to interact with their brands in a mobile environment,” she said. “Persistent mobile sites pave the way for mobile CRM and mobile commerce.

“These are extremely positive indicators for the overall mobile ecosystem.”

Molson Coors taps mobile for brand promotion

By Jordan Crook | from a post of July 17, 2009

Molson Coors' Different World Drinks has chosen the mobile channel to promote its big-name beer brands such as Blue Moon and Dos Equis.

Different World Drinks sells a range of beer brands such as Kasteel Cru, Grolsch Weizen, Dos Equis, Blue Moon, White Shield and Zatec. The company tapped Adeye to use a variety of mobile marketing and live promotional techniques to showcase the beers from Different World Drinks at a boat launch in Bristol Docks, an event held yesterday for its top 30 regional customers.

“Different World Drink is the innovative brand team within the Molson Coors Brewing Company,” said Gavin Hogg, sales manager at Molson Coors, Bristol, England.

“This mobile initiative suits the lifestyle of its customers who are owners and decision-makers of bars, pubs, restaurant to see how powerful mobile marketing can be,” he said.

Adeye, a mobile media house that uses Bluetooth technology to target consumers with mobile ads, games and other content, sent out invitation and tickets to the event via SMS, which linked recipients to a new mobile site developed by Adeye.

The site’s content was all informational, featuring Molson Coors-owned Different World Drinks beer brands, along with the opportunity to win a meal for two at Smith’s of Smithfield.

SMS wasn’t the only mobile marketing channel employed by Adeye.

The company used Bluetooth technology set on the boat to promote brands directly to the event guests’ mobile phones.

“Using Bluetooth, we will be sending out a Java application, which guests can download to get information about the event and information about the different beer brands,” Mr. Hogg said.

The interactive downloadable application will deliver a special to guests, designed as a mobile multimedia brochure that will be available for viewing during or after the event.

Coca-Cola Beta Tests Mobile Strategy in UK

Soft drink manufacturers were among the first to lend credence to mobile marketing when others remained suspect of its potential.

Since then, the makers of our favorite refreshments have continued to pioneer new and more innovative means for promoting their products and capturing our attention in the mobile realm.

Coca-Cola, for example, is very particular about its mobile marketing projects. For the latest endeavor, a pool of beta-testers have been selected: British youth.

Coca-Cola Great Britain will give away 50p free mobile credit with every purchase of Coke product: Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite, etc.

Geared almost entirely to British teenagers, the campaign will run for one month.

According to the official announcement, cans and bottles of Coca-Cola soft drinks will feature a code to enter into www.gimmecredit.co.uk.

Addressing the importance of mobile technology to the youth of Great Britain, Cathryn Sleight, marketing director at Coca-Cola Great Britain, said We wanted to bring them both value and a point of difference that will fully engage them with the promotion.

Coca-Cola has high hopes for the campaign, and its success could very well determine the size and scope of other mobile campaigns on their upcoming slate of promotions, both domestically and abroad.

Both Mobile Web and SMS Text Messaging Drive Money-Making Transactions for Sears

By Dan Butcher

NEW YORK - Retail giant Sears understands that its customer base is increasingly mobile and the company is making major strides in mobile commerce with its Sears2Go service.

Sears’ mobile commerce site at http://sears2go.com, which Sears promotes via SMS and mobile advertising, lets consumers buy on their mobile phone and pick up the item in-store. Items sold on mobile include appliances, automotive parts, apparel, computers, electronics, jewelry, toys and games, lawn and garden equipment, footwear and tools.

“Mobile messaging and information services [provides] the bulk of mobile transactions, and...where we really need to go is using the mobile channel to drive transactions...,” Thomas Emmons, team leader of mobile/innovation for Sears.

“...We’ve moved our way through these stages from letting consumers buy online and pick up the item in-store to and offering text alerts to customers, which was wildly successful,” he said.

The full appliance product line available at Sears2go joins a variety of other product categories, including apparel, electronics and computers, fitness and sports, jewelry, tools, toys and games.

Last Sunday, Sears even sold a $3,000 lawn tractor to a consumer shopping on his mobile phone.

“Mobile consumers are...utilitarian,” Mr. Emmons said. “They come to our mobile site and they either leave or they buy something."

“We get...store location requests on the phone,” he said.


Sears got a short code set up [in 2007] and execs listened to pitches for 2D bar codes.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Some great applications here...

“We tested various mobile initiatives and learned about SMS alerts letting consumers know an item was ready for pickup, in-store SMS for pushing out deals and a WAP site with product reviews,” Mr. Emmons said.

SMS is great as a promotional channel for branding, Sears’ mobile commerce strategy is focused on driving transactions via its mobile Web site.

“As far as our mobile commerce strategy, we’ve always had a spot for checkout on our mobile site,” Mr. Emmons said.

Sears has seen a disproportionate amount of mobile Web traffic come from Apple’s iPhone.

“Mobile allows us to think of retail in vastly different ways than we’ve done before,” Mr. Emmons said. “The idea that I can buy something on my phone in two minutes then receive a text message that it’s ready to be picked up—that’s a game changer."

“As computers get smaller and phones get bigger, the line between them is blurred—mobile is about new forms of convenience.”

Overcoming fear of mobile marketing

July 8, 2009
By Jeannette Kocsis

Everyone knows that mobile is hot, and many marketers are trying to understand how to leverage the technology. We hear about high response rates and higher levels of engagement and we want in. And yet, it’s still difficult to take the step.

Many brands are trying mobile in limited doses. Agencies may create one-off campaigns that have mobile elements, and in the context of those campaigns, the mobile portion performs its intended purpose.

If it was executed well, mobile may have lent to the success of the overall campaign. Or perhaps the brand is using mobile as a standalone channel and is seeing some success, but is not sure about making it mainstream as a communication channel for their company.

In some cases, the roadblock to greater adoption is fear. The economy is tough. Online media costs are rising. Spending is down in some categories, making decisions about marketing budgets more difficult. It is hard to justify new mediums and it is hard to change thinking.

As with all types of marketing, factors such as customer demographics, timing, product and brand reputation, potential market and costs over revenue also apply to mobile marketing.

But with mobile we need to add in factors such as channel adoption, technology requirements and opt-in requirements unlike anything marketers have had to manage to in the past. It’s no wonder that mobile is challenging to say “yes” to as an investment.

Now let’s consider the upside:

• The adoption rate is incredibly high
• Unlike the Web, this medium is starting out with a very high usage rate. The Web started at zero; 80 percent of U.S. adults have a mobile phone
• The mobile Web continues to increase in usage
• People who choose this channel will respond to relevant offers given the stringent opt-in requirements

When thinking about mobile today, we need to realize that it is part of the future of marketing. It is better to gain experience now while the channel is new and competitors may be lagging.

A single, one-off campaign may not show the results you need to prove the value of the channel to management. Marketers who approach mobile marketing from a multichannel perspective and integrate it with other mediums will likely have more success with their mobile campaigns.

These marketers will also be quicker to benefit from the value that mobile marketing has to offer.

The best advice is to take the leap and pilot a program. The cost of entry may be fairly low and your return may be high, but you won’t know until you try.

Michael Jackson and text messaging

Author by Bob Bentz

ADOTAS — The King of Pop died two weeks ago. Now, that’s not news to anybody, but the way that we all found out about it may be.

You definitely remember exactly where you were and how you found out about 9-11, don’t you? What were you doing when the O.J. verdict was announced? You remember the details when Lady Diana’s car crashed and when Elvis died. And, if you are old enough, you remember where you were and how you found out when John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King were assassinated.

On Friday, I learned that Michael Jackson died via text message. The text message wasn’t sent by a friend. It was sent by a radio station that I listen to. I was in my car. I immediately turned off my Green Day CD and tuned in to the radio station to find out more details. Other than the cell phone, the only other medium that I had with me was my radio.

That’s why these two mediums are such a great match. According to Knowledge Network, 60 % of us have our cell phones with us 24 hours per day. I couldn’t find a similar statistic concerning radio, but the only time I’m not near a radio is when I’m working out at the gym. I have a radio at home, I have a radio at work, and I have a radio in my car.

Just like most Americans. And, the trend is continuing, especially if your target market is young adults. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 18% of all American households are now cell phone only. That means that these households have cut the cord of having a home phone. Why bother?

Like many American businesses, radio is struggling with tighter advertising budgets. But, the marriage of radio and cell phone can help pull radio out of those doldrums and above the din caused by the proliferation of the American advertising market.

Forward-thinking radio stations have been using text messaging, now known as “mobile marketing,” for several years. It started out as a bastion of the promotions department, but has since moved to the sales department.

“Text messaging started out as a promotions tool, but it’s now a sales tool,” said Bret Dunlap, chief executive officer at Spark Network Services which operates 84444.com—a do-it-yourself mobile marketing service that sells to radio stations.

“We’ve had CHR stations that couldn’t get in on the 12-24 demo for soft drink buys, but when they added a mobile marketing sponsorship, they got in on the buys,” said Dunlap. “We’ve had other radio stations sell sponsorships of their text messages and get double what we charge them for the online text message solution.”

The key to a successful radio mobile marketing campaign is the creation of an opt-in database of listeners. This is normally done through a sweepstakes program. Radio stations often use ticket giveaways to create its opt-in list of P-1 listeners. Then, when a newsworthy even like the Jackson death happens, a station can send a broadcast text message and be the first to notify its listeners.

All text messages sent by the radio station have an advertiser sponsor element. This is where the additional revenue comes in to the radio station. Since a text message is limited to 160 characters, the advertiser normally gets 40 of those characters for its sponsorship message. The largest category of use by advertisers is sweepstakes followed by mobile coupons.

While rap and hip-hop stations get the most response, country stations are also doing very well with mobile marketing as more middle-age listeners begin texting. In fact, the biggest growth area for text message use is the 35 – 54 year-old age group, according to statistics released by the Mobile Marketing Association.

“The hardest thing is to get advertisers to try it for the first time,” said Dunlap. “But, once they try it and somebody walks into the store with a mobile coupon, they will continue to use it.”

Mobile is priority for new FCC chairman

Mobile got key attention in Chairman Julius Genachowski’s first remarks June 30, 2009, to staff of the Federal Communications Commission, the top regulating agency for wired, wireless, broadcast and broadband communications nationwide. Excerpts from his speech:


As the country’s expert agency on communications, it is our job to pursue this vision of a more connected America, focusing on the following goals:

• Promoting universal broadband that’s robust, affordable and open.
• Pursuing policies that promote job creation, competition, innovation and investment.
• Protecting and empowering consumers and families.
• Helping deliver public safety communications networks with the best technology to serve our firefighters, police officers, and other first responders.
• Advancing a vibrant media landscape, in these challenging times, that serves the public interest in the 21st century.
• Seizing the opportunity for the United States to lead the world in mobile communications.

These are just some of the goals we will pursue in the days ahead.

How we will work will be central to what we can achieve.

We will be fair.

We will be open and transparent.

Our policy decisions will be fact-based and data-driven.

We will strive to be smart about technology; smart about economics and businesses; smart about law and history; and smart every day about how our actions affect the lives of consumers.

We will use technology and new media to enhance the everyday worklives of FCC staff, green the agency, and improve overall operations of the FCC – running efficiently, communicating effectively, and opening the agency to participation from everyone affected by the FCC’s actions. And, stay tuned, we will have a new FCC Web site.

None of this will happen overnight. I’ve been around this enough to know – and you’ve been around this enough to know – that you can’t just snap your fingers and make it happen. It will take hard, often unglamorous, work by all of us. But with all of the talent in this agency, I know that, when we pull in the same direction and when we focus on our mission and what the American people expect of us, we can achieve great things. In the end, I want people to look at the FCC – our FCC – and say “this is an agency that works.”

So far, I’ve talked about what we are going to do, and how we are going to do it. I’d like to close by talking about why. Why do we serve in government and why do we serve at the FCC?

We serve because we believe our nation can always do better and that it must do better. We serve because, in our America, we are defined not by what we earn, but by what we give.

We all have our own stories, our own personal reasons for choosing public service. For me, it starts with my parents, immigrants, from whom I learned the meaning of the American Dream. And from whom I learned another powerful lesson.

Some of you may have heard me tell the story about the time I was in high school and my dad took me into the dusty stacks of the MIT library, and showed me engineering plans he had drafted as a graduate student. They were for a device designed to someday help blind people “read” words on paper by translating text into physical signals.

The formulas and drawings didn’t make much sense to me, but the core lesson has remained with me: communications technology has the power to transform lives for the better.

That’s never been more true than today. Communications must play a role in solving many of our nation’s most pressing challenges. It’s the FCC’s job – our job – to turn this aspiration into reality. We will be judged by whether we find concrete, practical ways to improve the lives of all of our nation’s people.

Why do we serve at the FCC?

We do it for this moment. We do it for this opportunity. Will we capture it? Looking at the faces in this audience, I already know the answer.

Let’s get to work.

Best Buy joins mobile shopping bandwagon

By Giselle Tsirulnik

Between the recession and the fact that consumers aren’t glued as much to their PCs, retailers are increasingly turning to the mobile channel to extend their brand and increase customer loyalty.

That is the case with electronics retail powerhouse Best Buy, which has quietly launched a new iPhone application available now for iPhone and iPod touch. Created by Slifter, the application, “Best Buy Gamers Club,” was released June 25 without much formal to-do.

“I think in general retailers look at mobile devices as a great way to provide value and communicate with people who are on the go,” said Alex Muller, CEO of Slifter, New York.

“Everyone has a mobile phone these days and so for a brand it is a powerful tool to help consumers with their shopping needs,” Mr. Muller said.

Consumers will certainly feel as if they have Best Buy in the Palm of their hands when using this application.

Other features of the application include weekly deals, a personalized shopping list and Blue Shirt Picks, which are Best Buy staff favorites.

This new mobile application is not Best Buy’s first foray into mobile.

Best Buy is currently running mobile advertising within the brand new msnbc.com application for the iPhone and iPod touch.

“I think at a high level, every bricks-and-mortar retailer is aiming to ultimately drive in-store sales,” Mr. Muller said. “Retailers are able to communicate special in-store events, offers and what is and is not in stock right to the consumers’ hands.

“The mobile channel is a great way to get local consumers aware about what you are doing,” he said. “We view the mobile phone as the centric device that has power of location and to connect retailers with the shopper.

“Mobile makes it very easy to facilitate loyalty, commerce and to give consumers access to a brand and its products and services right into the palm of their hands, whenever and wherever they may be.”