Tag: Mobile

Developing a Mobile Marketing Strategy: Delineate A Territory Where You Can Be Unique

by David Egger

David Egger is Lead Marketing Manager for AT&T’s IRU (Individual Responsibility User) Mobility Programs. You can find more blog content from David and other experts on emerging technologies and mobile application on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.

 

Develop your mobile marketing strategy
Samsung Galaxy SIII on AT&T

With so many options to promote your business today and an American economy that seems to be driven by advertising and its revenue, how does a small business develop a mobile marketing strategy and rise above the white noise? Michael Porter offers marketers some great advice for situations like these: “A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.”

A first-year marketing professor will teach that Marketing is about 4 P’s – product, place, price, promotion.  While I can’t help you decide how to price your products in this blog, I can tell you that knowing your mobile marketing strategy as it relates to product, place, and promotion will help center your mobile marketing strategy.

Look Inward 

The first step in developing any communications about your company is to know exactly what you want to say about your products and services.  You do this by intimately knowing these parts of your business.  What is your product, who buys it, when do they buy it, how often do they buy it, what triggers those purchases?  Examining and answering these questions will get you quite far down the road from your competitors, as these are the questions that high-cost consultants will ask … and they are the questions most business owners won’t be able to answer adequately.

For example, is your product something not even sold to consumers?  Your mobile strategy will be vastly different than a mobile strategy for a consumer product.  Is your product something purchased on a whim, or a planned, expensive purchase?  This will determine how you design your strategy and optimize it for the type of customer that your business will serve best.  Is the buyer of your product someone younger or older?  While the elderly are joining social media in greater numbers, you’ll need to tailor your approach depending upon how your customers approach the mobile space.

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Share Mobile Data Across Devices With AT&T’s New Plan

by Katherine Elsasser

Share mobile data with AT&TWe all know about the mobile family plan: everybody shares minutes so that you can take turn being the big spenders and having long chats. Mobile minutes are all well and good, but these days what we really want is data!

AT&T has risen to the challenge with a new plan to let you share mobile data across multiple devices. It’s the old-style family, but now for data. And the more data you choose, the less you pay per gigabyte. You pick your plan (from 1GB to 20GB) and get unlimited voice and text on your primary device.

Then you can add other devices, including tablets, smartphones and mobile hotspots, for an additional cost per device, but with access to that big chunk of data. You can put up to ten devices on that same amount of data, and the bigger your data plan the less it costs to add another device.

Ready for some data? AT&T’s plan to help you share mobile data is available now. AT&T is a sponsor of SmallBizGoMobile.

Adobe Flash: It’s Time to Move On

by Katherine Elsasser

HTML5 Badge: HTML5 is replacing FlashFor years, web developers (and clients) loved Flash. It allowed creativity (and marketing!) unbounded by the crude design capabilities of html and css, and it seems like there was a time where every site had invested in a flash intro, full of sweeping graphics and logo fades.

Well, the time of the Flash intro is over. It sounds harsh, but for most small businesses, if you’re still using Flash it’s time to update your site ASAP. Why? Well, it’s a mobile world, and Adobe’s battle with Apple means that iDevices will never, ever support Flash. It’s just not going to happen, and it seems like we’ve gotten used to it at this point. And as of now, Android devices have stopped supporting Flash too. On August 15th the Google Play store pulled Flash, so that Android users will no longer be able to install Flash, and the upcoming Android release (4.1 Jellybean) will not include Flash at all. Users that already have Flash will continue to receive security updates, but that’s it.

That’s not to say Flash is going anywhere for awhile. Flash content is still incorporated in many sites across the web, mostly through video. And it takes a long time for technology to be completely “phased out;” Windows 8 will still support Flash, and it’s still the way that video providers deal with the rights. Eventually we’ll be moving to HTML5, the latest set of web standards that supports more sophisticated and interactive content, as well as incorporating video standards. But right now, HTML5 isn’t completely supported by all browsers, so we’re still in a kind of standards limbo.

So what is a small business person to do? First and foremost, don’t use Flash, unless you have technical needs that absolutely demand it. If a cutting-edge web presence is crucial to your brand image, then HTML5 is a good idea, as long as you make sure it degrades gracefully and your important content can still be seen by people in IE7. But for most small businesses, reliability and browser cross-compatibility is preferable to cutting-edge technology. Aim for a quality website presence that doesn’t rely on Flash and instead can be viewed easily by anyone anytime on just about any device.

Questions? Leave them for us in the comments – we’ll do our best to help!

Microsoft Office on the iPad & Android Tablet

by Katherine Elsasser

Tablets have revolutionized our leisure computing. We can browse the web on our laps while we watch TV. Food magazines become full-color digital spreads right in our kitchens. And the email, of course. There’s always more email. But tablets haven’t been great work devices, not least because there’s no Microsoft Office on the iPad.

Now tablets have taken another step toward being all-around machines that can handle work too, thanks to CloudOn. Available on both the iPad and Android devices, CloudOn brings you the full Microsoft Office Suite using you guessed it, the power of the cloud. That means Powerpoint on the plane or tracking Word changes wherever.

Since it’s in the cloud, CloudOn links to both DropBox and Google Drive to make it easy to access, write and save files. Plus CloudOn automatically saves as you work, just in case.

We don’t advocate working on vacation, but if you’re planning to get away and worried something may come up, this could be the perfect strategy for coping without having to bring your fully decked-out work computer.

Microsoft Surface (Running Windows 8) Coming October 26th

by Katherine Elsasser
Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Surface, image courtesy Microsoft

It’s finally confirmed: Microsoft Surface, Microsoft’s groundbreaking entry to the personal computer/tablet market, will be available to users starting October 26, 2012, along with Windows 8, the latest incarnation of the Windows OS .

A long time in the making, Microsoft first debuted the Surface to the world just last month, but without a firm release date or a price tag attached. And while we still don’t know much a Surface will set you back, we do know a little of what you’ll get.

The most prominent (and innovative) feature of Microsoft Surface is its built-in keyboard that doubles as a cover to protect the machine’s screen, a clever innovation. Even with the cover, Surface is only 9.3mm thick (for comparison, that’s .2mm thinner than the latest iPad) but still manages to incorporate a full-size USB port and a Micro SD card. And while journalists haven’t been given Surfaces to review yet, we do know that they will be running Windows 8, which gives us a sense of the device’s interaction experience.

Why is Surface so noteworthy?

Well, if you’ve bought a PC lately, it was likely from Sony, HP, Dell, Acer or another manufacturer. It certainly wasn’t from Microsoft, and that’s because until now Microsoft has limited its forays into the hardware business to peripherals like keyboards and mice. The Surface tablet changes that, putting Microsoft into direct competition with its pals: the PC manufacturers.

Given its incredible portability, keyboard, and the fact that Windows is still the preferred OS for many business applications, Surface has the potential to be the first device to truly bridge the tablet/laptop divide. But only if the device — and Windows 8 — live up to their potential.

Samsung Galaxy S III Now Available in Red—Check it Out!

by Shy Mukerjee

Want a great smartphone to take advantage of blazing LTE speeds (now in 51 markets!) but can’t wait to find out if Apple’s next iPhone will be able to connect to the network? The Samsung Galaxy S III on AT&T is a great choice. And with AT&T, you can exclusively order the phone in Garnet Red (seen to the right). And just like the white and blue models, the red Galaxy S III is available for just $199 with a 2-year contract.

If you’re still on the fence about the S III, then you might enjoy our preview video where we look at some of its top features. And we don’t even cover everything in that video! There’s a bunch more photo modes (take pictures while video records, for one) as well as NFC technology built into the phone, so you’re getting a lot with a phone that’s available today. Well, Sunday, technically.

What do you think? Is a red Galaxy S III enough to get you to embrace Android? If not, what killer feature does Android lack that’s holding you back? Let us know in the comments!

AT&T LTE now available in 51 markets, adding Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Worcester, MA and expanding in Baltimore!

by Shy Mukerjee

While many consumers have found the term “4G” a confusing marketing buzzword and not the indicator of mobile data speed they might expect, “4G LTE” or, simply, LTE, is an entirely different game. Offering speeds that compare favorably with your home broadband connection, LTE makes a huge difference in terms of how much you can get down, download, browse, and share while on the go.

Today AT&T is announcing that they’re adding 4G LTE to four new markets: Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Worcester, MA. This brings the total count up to 51, and they’re still going—many more markets will find themselves downloading at insane speeds by the end of the year.

As well, coverage is expanding in the greater Baltimore area! Rob Forsyth, vice president and general manager for AT&T in the greater Washington/Baltimore area, noted in a press release yesterday that, “[AT&T has] seen positive response from customers on our 4G LTE launch in the Baltimore region, and as today’s expansion shows, we’re continuing our rollout of fast LTE speeds to more areas of Maryland, including Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties, as well as Ellicott City. Today’s launch means being able to beat your friends to the punch when accessing webpages, updating social networks and streaming video.”

Keep reading to see the complete list of markets where AT&T currently offers 4G LTE service. Read More

Tablet Updates: Amazon Updates & Google Predictions

by Katherine Elsasser

If there’s one thing we can conclude from all the tablet news from around the web this week, it’s that pretty soon we’ll have the widest range of screen sizes yet.

According to Demos Parneros, president of U.S. retail for Staples, Inc., Amazon will be introducing five or six tablet items, one of which will be a 10 inch model. There is no word on whether Amazon will retire any of their current e-reader iterations, but the 10″ tablet will almost certainly expand the more comprehensive Amazon Fire model that includes full color and multi-touch.google nexus 7

As Reuters notes, rumors have been swirling about whether Amazon will be entering the Smartphone market. Given that the Galaxy SIII has a 4.8inch screen (only two inches smaller than the Fire!) it seems like a foregone conclusion that Amazon has both the technical know-how and market incentive to launch smartphone as soon as possible. What size will the screen be? No one knows yet, but it’s worth noting that current iPhone 5 rumors peg that screen at a larger 4 inches.

Also competing at the 7inch size is the Google Nexus, the multi-touch tablet available for direct purchase from Google. The smaller 8GB version costs $199, the same price point as the Kindle Fire. But the larger 16GB has sold out at $249.00, with no word from Google as to when the tablet will be back in stock. With that kind of success, it would be a surprise if Google didn’t also expand into other size devices to meet the growing demand for tablet devices.

#neverbepowerless with the Duracell Powermat 24-hour Power System

by Shy Mukerjee

We’ve talked with Duracell Powermat CEO Ron Rabinowitz, showed you how the system could be a lifesaver during a hurricane, and today we get to show you yet another huge commercial (this is really a week for big commercials, huh), this one featuring none other than Jay-Z himself.

Oh and by the way, like the looks of the club in the video? Jay-Z’s 40/40 isn’t just a backdrop to this commercial, it could be the backdrop to your next big party! Mario Armstrong Media and Duracell Powermat are teaming up with several Socialcam users to throw a huge party in New York City on September 12th. Be sure to save the date—we’ll be able to talk about the full details soon!

How-To: Organize Online Shopping Receipts

by Katherine Elsasser

Keeping track of business-related expenses is a must. And if you’re doing most of your office supply and equipment ordering online, it makes sense to use Slice to keep track of all your receipts digitally.  No more sifting through paper receipts and invoices come tax time!
slice app for tracking receipts

Slice is simple: give the application permission to see your email, and Slice will archive all your purchase records from major online retailers like Apple, Amazon, and eBay. You can add up to five email accounts to your single Slice account, so it’s perfect for small business and remote collaborators.

The app (available for both iPhone and Android) makes your purchase history easily accessible anytime, but can also deliver push notifications about deliveries en route regardless of the shipping carrier. And the UI is far superior to the mobile offerings of certain other shippers who shall remain nameless, since we’d really like to keep getting our Amazon purchases in a timely manner.

Slice is currently in beta. More info and signup at www.slice.com.