I personally don’t have an iPhone…yet. I’ve been waiting for Verizon to carry the phone, however I may be swayed to get the new Nexus One by Google if it’s offered first. I do however have the iPod Touch, which is basically the same thing as the iPhone, but without the phone feature. For all of you who do have the iPhone and would like to reduce your “minute” usage or need better call quality while indoors, there might be a nice solution for you…as they say “there’s and app for that.”
Line2 is a VOIP app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that enables you to use your phone via wi-fi verses your cell service provider. The best part…it’s absolutely free for unlimited use (provided that you have a solid wi-fi connection). I should note, the app itself is not free, it costs $14.95 per month. Not cheap, but depending on your usage, it’s possible to use a less expensive plan with your wireless provider. You can also use Line2 with a 3G network if you don’t have wi-fi access, but the provider says that wi-fi works best—I would predict that once 4G is rolled out, this will not be the case.
Learn more about this new app by watching the video below. Or, by reading this article published by the NY Times yesterday. (Interestingly, the Line2 website was down most of the day yesterday, I assume it was from the resent surge in interest for their product due to the article)
Pepsi has had some memorable Super Bowl ads over the past 23 years, with such notable celebrities as Britney Spears and Cindy Crawford. This year however, Pepsi opted to forgo the Super Bowl in lieu of Social Media…is this a sign-of-the-times?
No question online marketing has been gaining traction over the years, and for good reason—online marketing is targetable, trackable and provides amazing ROI. The Holy Grail of online marketing is creating/getting something to go “viral,” meaning something that will resonate with people so much that they share it with their friends and those friends share it with their friends…and so on.
In Pepsi’s latest social media program, they are giving away $20 million in grant money, some critics say that if you’re going to spend that kind of money for a charitable cause, why not spend another $3m for a Super Bowl spot? To start with $3m is just for one 30 second spot, so they’d more likely spend $9-12m, plus production. I actually believe it was a brilliant P/R move on Pepsi’s part…think about all the media attention they’ve gained by NOT being in the Super Bowl this year (including this small blog post)…that alone is worth forgoing the big event. In addition, marketing is about about testing and taking chances…since Pepsi is such a big brand, they can easily take a year off from the Super Bowl and use that money to test the social media waters in a big way.
Taking a page from Google, Twitter is moving toward “relevancy” by adding a new feature that will allow you to see what’s hot geographically. This service is new and thus there are only 15 cities on the list so far, but I’m sure it will expand soon. If you’re in one of the 15 cities with this new feature, let me know what you think as Phoenix, being the 5th largest city in the U.S. is not on the list yet.
I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago about Google’s mobile Android OS and that there was rumor that Google would unveil their own
Google Nexus One Smart Phone
phone soon—well, looks like that day has come sooner than most expected. Later today Google is expected to announce the launch of Nexus One (or Nexus 1). Nexus One could be the first smart phone to truly compete with the iPhone. Everyone I’ve talked with who has an Android phone absolutely loves the OS. The unlocked version of Nexus 1 is expected to be around $550.
No one understands the web better than Google! As the mobile landscape begins to change as it converges with the web, Google could begin to dominate the industry with its Android Mobile OS.
Motorola Droid by Verizon Wireless running the Google Android OS
In addition, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google actually has plans to develop their own phone and will begin selling it directly to consumers instead of through a mobile carrier. Apparently, some Google employees are already testing the new mobile device that runs on the company’s Android operating system. Currently there are only a handful of phones running the Google OS, and only two carriers…T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.
2009 was huge for social media…Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Flicker,LinkedIN, YouTube and a hundred other sites have moved up the popularity ladder 10-fold over the past year. So, what’s going to be BIG in the coming year with the web and social media? No question video and mobile will play huge roles.
I found a great article from Junta42 that asks all the top social media and online marketing experts there predictions for 2010, click here to read.
If you’re a small business owner today and you can’t easily accept credit or debit cards, you’re significantly hindering your sales efforts. Credit card processing has become easier and more affordable over the years with solutions such as PayPal—however in-the-field/mobile credit card acceptance has been a bit allusive. There are and have been mobile credit card solutions out there for a while now…but, never this simple! Check out “Square,” and new and extremely simple way to accept credit cards in the field.
SQUARE credit card processing made simple
Square was founded by a St. Louis glass artist named Jim McKelvey who saw a problem that needed a solution. Jim teamed up with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey to bring Square to fruition. SquareUp.com allows small business owners to begin accepting payment cards without contracts, expensive hardware or monthly fees that are typical with other mobile solutions. All you need to get started is the Square Up app and a small plastic device that plugs into the phone audio input jack (which allows you to swipe and process a variety of payment cards). Customers have have receipts sent to them via e-mail or text message.
2/10/10 update to this post: CNN Money ran a great article on the iPhone credit card swipe war.
For all of you Mac lovers/users who feel you’ve been shunned by Google with no Chrome browser version, fret no longer. You can now download the new (beta) Chrome for Mac by clicking here.
Want your phone to ring off the hook? Get creative and leverage the viral power of social media. Nestle Crunch has recently come up with a social media marketing tactic that seems to be paying huge dividends—if their non-stop busy signal is any indication. Feel like a kid again is the latest Nestle Crunch social media campaign…it’s fun, creative, and, if just a little…”makes you feel like a kid again.”
If you wish to learn first hand what I’m talking about…here is what you need to do. Call Nestle at 1-800-295-0051. When you are asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish, just wait for about 10 seconds and you get a chuckle. Keep going and then press #4…it gets better! If you get a busy signal, keep trying, it took me a while to get through. You can also check out the Nestle CrunchPlayground, all meant to, “make you feel like a kid again.”
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