Know The Signs Breathalyzer iPhone app from Heineken

Golden Gekko develops iPhone app for Heineken to increase drinking awareness.

We all know someone who sometimes has one too many to drink on a night out. Whether they transform into a Fighter, an Exhibitionist, a Groper, a Flirt, a Sleeper, a Crier or a Stumbler, you can be sure they’re going to cause you problems.

Now if your friend starts to show the signs of turning into one of these characters, you can use the Heineken Breathalyzer before things get out of hand.

All you need to do is pre-set it to one of the seven characters before handing the breathalyzer over to your friend. Ask them to blow into the phone’s microphone and watch their face as they fail dramatically.

Not only will your friend get the message that they’ve had one too many, but they’ll also know what you really think they’re like on a night out!

Click here to download

Gartner's top 10 technologies include the cloud, mobile apps

"10) Mobile Applications. By year-end 2010, 1.2 billion people will carry handsets capable of rich, mobile commerce providing a rich environment for the convergence of mobility and the Web. There are already many thousands of applications for platforms such as the Apple iPhone, in spite of the limited market and need for unique coding. It may take a newer version that is designed to flexibly operate on both full PC and miniature systems, but if the operating system interface and processor architecture were identical, that enabling factor would create a huge turn upwards in mobile application availability."

Comments have ranged from "Mobile apps on the bottom of Gartner's top 10 list" and "Mobile apps going out of fashion" to "Mobile apps the next big thing". To our knowledge this is the first time Mobile applications have made it onto the list and the amount of attention mobile apps are getting this year despite only being used by about 5% of the population in Europe and US is amazing. Imagine what will happen when it hits 25%!

Read the full top 10 list on http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=530109

And read more comments

Tech Media Invest 2009

We presented at the Tech Media Invest 2009 today but also thought we should share some of the insights from the conference. A lot of the discussions were around mobile applications even though Golden Gekko was the only pure mobile development company present. See http://www.e-unlimited.com/events/view.aspx?events_pages_id=1 for more information about the conference.

1. Mobile platform choice is difficult
3-6 months ago everyone was going for the iPhone as the primary platform and then expended to other platforms. More recently developers have started to question the impact of iPhone apps versus other platforms due to increasing competition.

2. iTunes appstore storefront has become a barrier
The difficulty for customers to find the apps they want / relevant apps on iTunes appstore is becoming a barrier. Despite this Apple has reached over 2 Bn downloads so question is whether this is a consumer or publisher issue? We think that it is currently mainly an issue for publishers but that it will become a limited factor for increased consumer activity in the coming months.

3. Openness is key
Media, developers and investors all believe that openness will win. This is somewhat strange considering that
a) The success of the iPhone is much thanks to the fact that it is not an open platform and continues to get the most media attention
b) Android is still far behind other platforms such as iPhone and Blackberry
c) Feedback about Symbian open initiative has not been as positive as Android

4. Business models are uncertain
Rupert Murdoch has made it clear that the time of “free” is over. Therefore it would seem that focus should have shifted to premium revenues. Generally this seems to be the case but consensus points to freemium as the golden answer.

5. Mobile Marketing is going from one hit wonders to a strategic marketing channel
Brands such as BMW, Coca Cola, Barclay’s are now moving from one-off campaigns to developing mobile platforms for future growth.

6. Apps and browsers will become seamless but when?
One interesting point that was made is that the browser is getting more and more functionality and integration with the phone but development is slow. Google has repeatedly stated that they believe browsing and not apps is the future of mobile but at the same time they refer to several of their online services as Google Apps despite the fact that they are being delivered through the browser? The difference will become more and more grey.

7. Branded apps are performing amazingly well
Speakers and panel members referred several times to branded apps as the killer mobile advertising service at the moment. iPint, BMW Z4 app, Barclays app, etc.

All in all an interesting day with lots of great new contacts!

Yankee Group Predicts $4.2 Billion Mobile App Gold Rush by 2013

The appstore market keeps booming. iTunes appstore is now showing the top apps by earnings in a separate category which gives you an indication of which apps generate top dollars and to no ones surprise 80% of the top apps are games and only a few major players (EA, Gameloft, etc) as well as a few independent development houses are making money. We believe that the forecast by Yankee Group is too optimistic in terms of direct premium revenue. One of the reasons is that customers overestimate their spend on apps but also the number of great apps available for free. According to our estimates only a few hundred or less than 1% of the apps on the iTunes appstore generates a positive return to the developer. So is mobile apps a big bubble?

The answer is definitely no. There is a much bigger story. In addition to entertainment (games), apps are used for marketing, information, productivity, communication, networking and much more so the overall value to mobile operators, advertisers, consumers and businesses is much bigger. According to Strategy Analytics approximately 20% of all apps downloaded to date in 2009 have been to an iPhone or iPod which makes the total number of downloads over 5Bn. This is almost 1 download per inhabitant globally. Amazing figures and yet they will continue to grow.

Read the full pressrelease by Yankee Group here

Golden Gekko selected Tech Media Invest Top 100 in Europe

Golden Gekko is proud to have been selected among the top 100 Tech Media Invest companies in Europe by Europe-Unlimited, Europe’s leading event organisers for investors and technology companies in association with The Guardian, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Kemp Little.

Tech Media Invest Top 100 is a list of the hottest emerging and most innovative companies in the ever converging tech and media industries right now. The 100 companies have been picked for their innovation and creativity over the past year in areas as diverse as mobile applications, racing games and music recognition. The list aims to showcase young entrepreneurial companies that are developing innovative new ways to serve business and consumers, and have the potential to radically change the shape of the technology and media industry,

The official press release is available here and for more information about the Tech Media Invest Top 100 visit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tech-media-invest-100/top-100

Mobile app developer headaches continue

One of the main topics with our clients, partners and internally is mobile application fragmentation. Despite all efforts by handset manufacturers and mobile operators to make it go away it is actually getting worse and worse. Java, Symbian, Blackberry Java, Android, iPhone, Brew, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, Vodafone Widgets (JIL/Opera widgets to be fair), script languages and more.

Or maybe it is for the better as all the new platforms also encourage innovation in new technology and features? Golden Gekko is probably one of the few companies that doesn't mind fragmentation at all as we think the platforms help deliver diversity.

Who knows? Continue reading on
http://mobione.com.au/wordpress/2009/07/mobile-game-developer-headaches-continue/

Promoting mobile apps using alternative channels

We've been experimenting with alternative channels to build more awareness for apps developed for our clients. Normally we post our the apps on 15+ appstores such as Getjar, Mobango, Betavine, Nokia OVI, etc and in addition to millions of downloads directly from these sites this has also generated viral spread to P2P services such as Torrents which is making it more and more challenging to monitor and measure the success of a campaign. During the next couple of weeks we will also try more traditional PC application downloads sites such as download.com, freewareark, sharewareplaza.

For more information:

• Freeware Park
• Shareware Plaza
• Download.com
• www.fileshome.com - FilesHome.com: free directory of free and shareware software, scripts, desktop applications

More info when we've evaluated the results...

Apetina in Norway launches mobile cookbook

The mobile cookbook for Arla in Sweden was the first real project that Golden Gekko delivered 3 years ago and is still one of our most popular and frequently used mobile applications. You can find it on Arla's website or on Getjar. Since then we've delivered mobile cookbooks in 4 other countries and the most recent one to Apetina in Norway.

The Apetina mobile cookbook contains about 1000 recipes and is available to download here.

And many more mobile cookbooks will follow...

Vodafone McLaren launches free mobile application

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes launches mobile app. The application brings you exclusive news and behind the scene interviews with Lewis, Heikki, the pit crew and lots more. Daily team news, Formula 1 news, real time race information, results, championship standings and new videos added throughout the season.

Download application for free or visit mobile site on http://vodafoneracing.mobi/. The application connects to the Internet to download the latest news and results.

For more Vodafone McLaren Mercedes content visit http://www.vodafone-racing.com/ on your computer.

You can also find the application on

• Getjar
• Mobile9
• Mobango
• Mobilerated
• and various other app stores...

7 Mobile Insights May 2009 including iPhone App and Java download statistics

The past 9 months have been interesting in more ways than Apple achieving 1 billion app downloads from the iPhone appstore:

1. Mobile ad spend in 2008 in the UK exceeded expectations and doubled vs. 2007 (http://tinyurl.com/qengsl)
2. Over 400% growth in apps downloaded 2008 vs 2007 driven by the iPhone Appstore as well as free appstores (Getjar, Mobile9, Mobango, etc), device manufacturer appstores (Blackberry App World, Nokia Ovi, Samsung Mobile Applications, etc) and mobile operators (Vodafone Appstore, O2 Limus, Orange World Appstore, etc)
3. Although iPhone apps get all the attention Golden Gekko has found that when launching apps/games across both iPhone and other platforms the number of downloads on other platforms (Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Blackberry, etc) outnumber iPhone 10 to 1 (contact us for more info).
4. With approx 2% iPhone device penetration Apple Appstore has an impressive 12% (21% including iTouch) market share in volume of mobile apps downloaded in Europe and North America (Strategy Analytics: How Apple Change the Market for Mobile Applications, http://tinyurl.com/o52cm7).
5. Although iPhone app development can cost as little as $12.000 a well-designed app can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, take six to eight weeks to develop, and a couple more weeks more to be approved by Apple (http://tinyurl.com/qke9xb)
6. 52% of mobile users play games on their phone and about one-in-ten mobile phone users in Europe (8%) claim to have participated in mobile marketing efforts (MMA European Mobile Attitude and Usage Study, December 2008)
7. 51 percent of mobile phone users in the USA access content using their mobile phone on a weekly basis (http://tinyurl.com/p95opg)

Lynx Mobile 2.0: Lynx launches additional weapons of mass seduction following the success of Lynx FX

Considering that the Lynx mobile campaign was the most talked about and awarded mobile marketing campaign in 2008 this one went by quite unnoticed. A couple of weeks ago Unilever launched 3 new weapons of mass seduction (flirting tools) for the mobile.

Our latets favorite is Say Cheese with the following description:
Action speak louder than words. The latest clever mobile tool help you chat up girls. Simply give the girl your mobile and ask her to take a photo of you. Then when she presses the button, your cheeky message to her will appear on the screen instead. A fool proof way to break the ice.

The apps are available for over 500 devices including Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Blackberry, etc. To download the latest apps visit m.lynxeffect.com on your mobile or www.lynxeffect.com on your computer.

Good luck with the flirting!

What is the cost of developing a mobile app (iPhone, Blackberry, Java, Android, etc)?

At Golden Gekko we often get into the debate with clients and partners about what the cost of a mobile app or game should be and even more so with the iPhone SDK. We know that it is possible for a freelance developer to develop a descent looking iPhone app in a couple of weeks for a minimal budget. At the same time developing a market leading app with great design, usability, content and interaction that doesn't crash is not an easy thing. Therefore it was interesting to read what other people have to say about the cost of implementing a mobile app.
"Although iPhone app development can cost as little as $12.000 a well-designed app can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, take six to eight weeks to develop, and a couple more weeks more to be approved by Apple"

Read more at:
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/05/12/madison-avenue-and-the-app-store/

Now this is still the easy part. Developing an app that works across hundreds or even thousands of devices with different operating systems, screen sizes, navigation input mechanisms and capabilities is a whole different sport. When I worked Vodafone Group a couple of years ago the estimated average cost of developing a mobile game was about 200.000 euro whereof 50% for development and the other 50% porting and testing. Since then life for developer has gotten harder and not easier with more operating systems, screen sizes, touch screens, etc. At the same time budgets for app development have not increased so the only viable solution to deliver great quality apps and games is to make the development process more efficient and this is where Golden Gekko is currently developing all our R&D resources. More to follow...

Malibu Bowling game gets over 100.000 downloads first week

Get Your Island On™ with the free bowling game from Malibu® Rum. Put a Caribbean spin on an old favorite - bowling. Bowl in a rum shack. Bowl on the beach. Bowl in an underground cave or inside an aquarium. We've taken the Malibu Bottles off the bar, and made them part of the game. Now that's recycling!

The game developed for iPhone and all other phones (Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Blackberry, LG, Samsung, Motrola, Windows Mobile, etc) had over 100.000 downloads in the first week alone growing with 25.000 new downloads every day. You can find it on http://Malibu-rum.com and the mobile site on http://malibu-rum.mobi or the Java version on e.g. Mobile9 on http://gallery.mobile9.com/f/748520/ and iPhone version on http://tinyurl.com/djwq7q

When you bowl with Malibu® Rum the lanes are always smooth, and the tails are always tasty! Enjoy!

Golden Gekko Launches Mobile App for BBC Ashes to Ashes

Golden Gekko Develops Mobile app for BBC Ashes to Ashes. Check it out on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ashestoashes/mobile/

More to follow...

Mobile app to promote Jack Daniels Backstage events

With the collaboration of Jack Daniels and Universal McCann you can enjoy the privileges of a true Rock Star and find your way to the exclusive Jack Daniel’s “Backstage” parties.

Find out how much of a Rock Star you are, by taking the simple JD’s quiz. You can also jam with your friends using the “Haz tu música” section that allows you to compose your own tunes using the guitar, drums and piano.

Gather your friends and each of you can choose a different instrument and form your own mobile music band! In the “Backstage” section, after selecting a town closest to you, you will know the dates and places of the exclusive Jack Daniel’s “Backstage” parties.

The application was developed by Golden Gekko and is currently only available in Spanish. It can be found on http://jd.golgek.mobi as well as various appstores including Mobile9: http://p.mobile9.com/goldengekko/gallery/

The application is available for the top 250 Java devices in Spain as well as the iPhone in the next week or so.

Let’s Rock!

Golden Gekko Finalist of Red Herring 100 Europe

Red Herring last week announced that Golden Gekko was named a Finalist of Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year.

Red Herring’s lists of top private companies are an important part of the publication’s tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. Companies like Google, eBay, and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors, and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work.

Red Herring’s editorial staff rigorously evaluated several hundred private companies through a careful analysis of financial data and subjective criteria, including quality of management, execution of strategy, and dedication to research and development.

Red Herring will honor the Red Herring 100 Europe Finalist companies at its Red Herring Europe 2009 Conference. Scheduled for March 31- April 2, at the Berlin Radisson Hotel. This intimate, 2 1/2 day event will explore how European firms are leading the charge in many technology sectors, gaining a competitive advantage, and driving entrepreneurial success in ways that create business opportunities for challengers and incumbents alike.

We are very happy and honored over this recognition!

Universal Pictures launches another iPhone app to promote The Boat that Rocked

Today Universal Pictures launched yet another iPhone application developed by Golden Gekko on behalf of Hyper to promote the movie 'The Boat that Rocked'.

Play the official 'The Boat that Rocked" Top Trumps(tm) game with your iPhone or iPod Touch. Based on the original Top Trumps card game, players must choose a character statistic from their dealt card to then be compared against their opponent's card. The player with the highest statistics wins. Two player mode available without the need for a second iPhone or iPod Touch. One player game available against the computer.

Also included is the official movie trailer and photo images from the film.

You can find the application here or http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307166412&mt=8

Enjoy!

The Unborn iPhone app nr 8 on iTunes

The Unborn iphone application is now number 8 on iTunes and climbing!

Here are some of the reviews:

5 stars
"Ok you're not likely to keep this on your phone forever but this is a really cool example of how to promote a film. Interesting clips and the call is creepy! Well done!" - Spook73

5 stars
"Great free app! Took a bit of time to find the hidden gems but once I did it was lots of fun and one feature was very spooky. Beats most of the paid for apps. The movie seems fantastic as well. Definitely want to watch the movie straight away!" - Andrew Saggers


4 stars
"I think more films should do this they could have a catorgory 4 it" - Pompey Boo

4 stars
"But cool. I like the call at the end. Only problem, I had an iPod." - The1wholuvsVicky

More to follow...

Universal Pictures promotes the movie "The Unborn" on the iPhone

There is a huge opportunity to entertain the audience where there is no other media format available, and fill the downtime with rich interactive experiences.

With this in mind, Hyperhappen have just launched the first ‘mobile interactive movie trailer’ for Universal Pictures developed by Golden Gekko. Over ground, Underground, in the middle of the Atlantic... the content is in the handset to play with. The navigation toolbar is truly virtual and a first step towards mobile’s ability to build on intuitive engagement.

OK. It does require an iPhone or iPod Touch...

The movie industry has a great heritage of using outdoor to promote new movies. The design methodology that goes into creating a billboard poster is built on how the consumer should read the imagery to ‘buy in’ to the film bring promoted. The Unborn app has built on this heritage, therefore tying into the consumer’s familiarity with this ATL imagery to act as the launch pad for their user journey.

You can find the app on http://tinyurl.com/ape524 or click here

Enjoy!

Golden Gekko at Mobile World Congress - Lynx FX and Cippi again!

More news stories about the most downloaded fart sound application in the world: Cippi the Farting Chipmunk and the fantastic mobile flirting tools: Weapons of mass seduction by Lynx.

Check out articles on:

http://www.gomonews.com/the-lynx-effect-on-mobile-at-mwc/

http://www.gomonews.com/vigorsol-showcases-how-mobile-apps-integrate-with-tv-ads/

Thanks to Peter Sells at BBH for a great presentation!

Monday: Nordic Wireless Networking in Barcelona 16/2 at Hotel OMM 21-24

As there is no big opening party this year here’s a chance to make something useful and fun out of the evening. Come for network, free drinks and a bite to eat at Hotel Omm from 21.00.

We can talk about how to create the next Nokia, Ericsson, Microsoft and Google in the Nordic, the latest and greatest trends or simply how Nordic companies can help each other be more successful Nordic Wireless invites to mingling @ MWC Monday 16/2 between 21.00-24.00 @ HOTEL OMM

MEET US IN THE BAR DOWNSTAIRS!

P.S. Be there on time for free drinks!

The event is sponsored by Golden Gekko, Wireless Solution, Nordic Wireless, Sweden Mobile Association, TelecomCity, Kista Science City, Wireless Future, Technopolis, Öresund IT & Mobile Heights.

Friday: Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 2009 - Next big thing?

Next week the biggest telecom event of the year takes over Barcelona. We will be at the fair as usual networking and checking out what others are doing. If you haven't already then please contact us for a meeting.

This year we will look out for

• anything app-store related from Nokia, Microsoft, Samsung, etc (big question is how they will succeed where e.g. Handango has previously failed)
• to what extent mobile content and services companies can continue to push advertisement based business model in the current climate
• what Sun has to say about the future of mobile Java (they have some kind of an announcement)
• mobile e-mail - can someone really offer a consumer e-mail service that is close to the experience of the Blackberry but without needing a special handset and mobile operator subscription. Momail is one very interesting company in this space!
  
• location based communities - Google just launched Altitude and there are about 50 other companies out there with similar services but is there anything truly disruptive? We are obviously biased as close partners to GeoMe but we think that GeoMe could be the answer!
  

See you at the fair!

Thursday: Golden Gekko launches DIY mobile applications service

Golden Gekko has just launched the alpha version of the Mobile Applications Wizard that allows anyone to create their own mobile brochure applications to respond to the growing appetite for useful and entertaining mobile applications on application stores across the globe. These iPhone-like apps, which can run on any kind of phone, are ideal for extending the reach of businesses of all sizes. The service enables the rapid, easy and cost efficient implementation of mobile applications across more than 2,000 different mobile devices including Symbian, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Linux Mobile, Android and essentially all Java enabled handsets.

Golden Gekko is now able to offer our clients the Mobile Applications Wizard, giving you the opportunity to create your own mobile applications, at minimal cost. The Wizard is used primarily to create impactful mobile brochures, which are similar in functionality to a PDF optimised for the mobile phone. Golden Gekko believes the service will be of particular interest to the SME market, owing to the relatively low costs involved. The service is easy to use and enables companies of all sizes to benefit from mobile marketing.

“We know that mobile brochures are a superior way of engaging with consumers, bringing brands to life and providing value-added services to customers that will meet their needs whilst providing entertainment,” says CEO Magnus Jern. “For time-pressured SMEs the ability to provide their customers with mobile content is a powerful differentiator in a crowded and competitive market.”

Our clients testing out the service have already generated over 1 million downloads of the brochures proving that it will become an instant success!

For more information contact our sales team for a demonstration.

Thursday: Mobile revolutionises cooking

One of the most popular mobile products developed by Golden Gekko is the mobile cookbook first launched with Arla Foods in Sweden September 2007 and several other brands and markets since. A cookbook is absolutely perfect for the mobile phone as it is always when there when you need it in the foodstore, market, kitchen or when discussing food with friends.

The New York Times has a great article demonstrating just how the mobile is penetrating the kitchen with case studies from Kraft Foods (the iFood assistant), Grocery iQ, Jott, Eggy, etc.

Read more here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/dining/21tele.html?_r=2&ref=technology

Friday: Mobile visits Hamburg

This Friday Golden Gekko attended a conference in Hamburg with them theme "Opening New Markets For Innovative Services And Technologies" organised by Living Labs Global and the City of Barcelona. The purpose was to market Barcelona as great city for businesses in Media & ICT, Helthcare and Design. A quick summary of the conference is

• Sascha Haselmeyer, Managing Director of Living Labs Global made a great presentation about the underutilised opportunities in the mobile space across the world that can be summarised in the statement "the mobile services revolution has not even begun."
• Judith Romera, Manager of International Economic Relations, Economic Promotion Barcelona talked about all the amazing opportunities for businesses and people based in Barcelona. She reminded me of why we established Golden Gekko there in the first place.
• Jordi Sacristan, Marketing & Communication Director, 22@Barcelona gave a brief overview of the business area 22@Barcelona and the opportunities for startups as well as established companies to benefit from

In addition to this there was a great panel where angel investors, interim managers, entrepreneurs and city representatives came together to talk about starting up businesses.

As usual the best was saved for last, lunch... and networking networking. I had the chance to speak to a previously unknown competitor to our new mobile data collection tool, a film festival director, a food media company (a Taste of Media), a french-german social network builder, an angel investor, a mobile event ticket company (Matrix Solutions), a medical design company, a mobile car-pooling company (iCarYou), Öresund IT, a newly started mobile marketing agency (Weisher Mobile) and many many more.

Thanks a lot to the organisers! We look forward to the next event!

3333 Mobile Devices

Less than one year after setting up a new phone database for the mobile websites and applications delivered by Golden Gekko on behalf of clients and partners the database has reached the magical number of 3333 unique phone models (e.g. Nokia N95, Nokia N96, Blackberry 8310, Sony-Ericsson W810 and so on).


Is this a milestone? Not really but it does show the complexity of delivering mobile applications and sites compared to the web. These 3333 phones each have a unique specification including user agent, screen resolution, application size (jar size), Java JSR support, Java exceptions, browser type, image support and lots of other variables that have to be checked when a site or application is rendered on the device.

How many unique mobile internet enabled phones are there then? Across the globe people estimate at least 5000 (and growing) different phone models with mobile internet browser so we are still some way off to covering all of them. With the current growth in services using our platform we expect to be considerably closer by the end of 2009 but who knows how many it will be by then…

Wednesday & Happy New Year: Top 3 Challenges & Opportunities in 2009

It's the last day of 2008 and everybody is looking back at the year and making predictions for the year ahead. While others are are doing this we will look ahead and focus on the actions required to meet the challenges and opportunities in 2009. The current financial climate is the most talked about challenge with the most common advice being to buckle up and sit still until things improve. For mobile marketing and services we disagree. Even with a financial meltdown there are still great opportunities ahead and that by tackling the challenges highlighted here the mobile marketing industry and in particular Golden Gekko will continue with high two digit growth in 2009.

1. From awareness to transactions
One of the great advantages of the Internet is that there is a direct measurable path from driving awareness of a product (banners, videos, interactive websites, etc) to generating transactions whether it is for travel, physical goods on Amazon or a subscription for an online magazine. Although the mobile may not be able to compete with e-commerce it has another even greater advantage. With the mobile we can link advertising through any media (TV, Radio, Web, Print, etc) to transactions using mobile coupons and ticketing on the high-street. The technology is already available in e.g. 50.000+ retailers across the UK and over 80% of all food food retailers in Sweden but currently not being used due to lack of awareness among marketers and training. Let's quit talking about how difficult it is and just make it happen. I know we will!

Action in 2009: Join together to make mobile transactions happen on a mass market scale across Europe.

2. Stop talking about measurements and start measuring
One of the key barriers to the success of mobile advertising highlighted by the industry in 2008 has been lack of standards for measuring. To tackle this the industry has set up various committees in the IAB, MMA and GSMA with the intention of establishing common metrics and standards. We think however that the attention to this issue is vastly overstated. The MMA has done a fantastic job establishing standards for mobile display advertising although additional improvements will be required over time. The challenges with mobile advertising metrics are almost exactly the same as for the Internet including targeting, impressions, click-through-rates, fraudulent behaviour, etc. Nor is the technology something unique or complicated. So, let's stop using metrics as an excuse for major brands and agencies not investing more money in mobile advertising and focus our energy on delivering great results and proving that they will generate great value with or without perfect metrics.

Action in 2009: Get on with it and deliver the ads, metrics and reports that the clients and partners are asking for.

3. Beyond the iPhone
2008 has certainly been the year of the iPhone and Golden Gekko has received at least one request for an iPhone application every day during the last couple of months despite the fact that the iPhone has limited reach and some major drawbacks in terms of functionality and more specifically distribution. The iPhone has been great for highlighting the need and opportunity for downloadable applications and the creative freedom that applications give brands, agencies and developers. The iPhone is however not the only phone that can deliver a great customer experience. Most of the 10.000+ iPhone applications available on iTunes could just as well have been delivered on the Nokia N95, Blackberry Bold, Samsung F480, Sony-Ericsson C905 or X1, Motorola RAZR2, LG Viewty, HTC Touch and of course the G1. The user experience on the iPhone is great with flashy graphics but the enabling technology for great mobile applications is available on almost any phone which means that mass market reach is possible today.

Action in 2009: Continue to develop great iPhone applications but also show that great applications and services can be delivered to almost any mobile phone enabling mass market reach today!


More challenges will follow as soon as we have tackled the ones above so expect a new top 3 list...

We look forward to a fantastic year for mobile marketing in 2009 and until then Happy New Year!

Golden Gekko

Monday: Golden Gekko News Update

In the past couple of months we have launched lots of new exciting campaigns and partnerships. As a matter of fact Bena at Gomonews managed to announce some of them before we even did.

Here's just a few of them:

iPhone Chrimbell Application
Chrimbell turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a christmas bell. The project was delivered to Ogilvy as there Christmas greeting card. You cand find it by searching for "chrimbell" on iTunes or by visiting http://tinyurl.com/6re6wa

iPhone Application Mockup Viewer
Golden Gekko has developed the iPhone Application Mockup Viewer that that enables us to deliver application mockups to clients in less than 24 hours. The service can also be used to produce customised slide shows.

Golden Gekko also provides a similar platform for all Java enabled mobile phones that has been used to produce more than 30 mockups for client demonstrations and user testing in 2008.

Contact us on sales@goldengekko.com for more information.

Disney Camp Rock
To promote the release of the movie Camp Rock II on DVD, Disney through Carat Mobile in Sweden asked Golden Gekko to produce a fun mobile application that turns almost any java enabled phone into a guitarr and music box. The application also includes wallpapers, ringtones and information about the movie. The app is available for free on http://camprock.golgek.mobi

Partnership with Tribal DDB
In September 2008 Tribal DDB partnered with Golden Gekko for mobile strategy development and production of mobile applications and sites. The partnership has already resulted in a couple
of undisclosed projects for Tribal DDB clients with a lot more to come.

Partnership with Nokia Interactive
In August 2008 Nokia Interactive (the mobile advertising unit of Nokia) partnered with Golden Gekko to support them with mobile website, application and widget development. The partnership has already resulted in over six projects including internal Nokia campaigns and external clients. More to follow about this in the new year.

Friday: Lynx campaign in the news

Mobiadnews has a great article and interview with Peter Sells at BBH about the Lynx campaign here.

http://www.mobiadnews.com/?p=3061

Monday: Almost Famous

Our Director of Business Development Michael Eriksson and Head of Sales in the UK Christine Linder presented at Digital Jam for Engine a couple of weeks ago. The presentation was captured on video and is now available on the web. The presentation provides a great introduction to mobile marketing using downloadable applications developed in Java or for the iPhone.

If you search for Golden Gekko on Youtube you'll find the videos but here are the links.

Episode 1:


Episode 2:


Episode 3:



With 25+ views so far they are not celebrities yet but please help them become famous!

Friday: Golden Gekko picks up three mobile marketing awards in San Diego

Mobile applications that help guys seduce women wins global award for best use of mobile marketing in mobile branding campaign 2008

14 November 2008: Golden Gekko, the leading mobile applications developer for creative marketing campaigns picked up three awards at the Mobile Marketing Awards in San Diego Thursday. The awards include Absolut Vodka in partnership with Great Works for best use of mobile marketing in a branding campaign in North America, Lynx Effect for BBH for best use of mobile marketing in a branding campaign in EMEA and Lynx Effect for best use of mobile marketing in a branding campaign globally.

- This shows that mobile marketing campaigns that go beyond text messaging and WAP-sites can have an amazing impact in terms on brand perception, said Magnus Jern. In both of the award winning campaigns it was the end-user that chose to engage with the brand rather than being pushed into it.

During the last year we’ve seen an explosive growth in downloads of mobile applications and widgets much thanks to the enhanced user experience in comparison to browser based mobile services. The trend has been boosted by the iPhone application store but also by Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry and Sony-Ericsson who all encourage developers to produce applications for their handsets and users to download “cool” applications. Golden Gekko was one of the early advocates of leveraging the application trend in branding campaigns and we now see that it’s paying off as millions of users are consuming mobile marketing applications in a similar way to watching youtube videos by major brands.

- The Lynx campaign is definitely our greatest success so far with the Absolut Drinks application as a close contender. We get calls from media agencies every week who ask if they can use them as industry best practice examples of how mobile marketing should be done, said Jimmy Nordbeck, Marketing Director and Co-founder.

Campaign: Lynx ‘get in there’ mobile tools
Agency: BBH
Client: Unilever/Lynx
Video available here: http://www.goldengekko.com/Videos/LynxEffect.mpg
Mobile site: http://m.lynxeffect.com
Launched in January 2008 for Lynx in the UK the campaign consists of a mobile website and 5 downloadable applications that help the men ‘get in there’ with the women including instruction videos. The campaign has been a massive success with hundreds of thousands of downloads, great viral distribution effect and most importantly, a massive positive response from the men who are now obviously much more successful in the mating game.


Campaign: Absolut Vodka Mobile Drinks
Agency: Great Works
Client: V&S/Absolut Vodka
Mobile site: http://m.absolut.com

The Absolut Drinks mobile campaign launched in the US October 2007 is available to download for free and includes 1000+ drink recipes, top lists of most popular drinks, random drinks, a home bar search function and videos with famous bartenders mixing drinks. The service was launched exclusively to registered members on absolutdrinks.com and had about 50.000 active users in the first 12 months.


For more information, please contact:
Jimmy Nordbeck
Marketing Director
Tel: + 46 708 20 58 00
Email: jn@goldengekko.com


About Golden Gekko
Golden Gekko is a leading international provider of mobile marketing solutions. The company develops award-winning mobile applications and services that run on billions of phones worldwide, including the iPhone. Golden Gekko has already delivered successful projects to leading global brands including Absolut Vodka, Accenture, Cadbury’s, Coca Cola, Novartis, Paramount, Perfetti, Sara Lee, Unilever and Vodafone. Golden Gekko has offices in the England, Sweden, Spain, Cambodia and US. Information about Golden Gekko and its services can be found at www.goldengekko.com

Monday: Golden Gekko in Mobile Entertainment Magazine

Here's an excerpt from the interview with Russel Buckley at Admob:

"...Some brands are already creating imaginative ad-funded mobile apps that really exploit mobile’s uniqueness across all handsets. Golden Gekko’s Lynx deodorant mobile app (part of BBH’s award winning campaign), gave its young male users a bunch of sound effects they could use to amuse women. Later, the brand launched a mobile app replicating the farting chipmunk – and an amazing 500,000 people downloaded it. See, downloads can be measured too. Golden Gekko also found that many consumers were happy to sideload these apps to their phones. This isn’t just a result of the App Store, although I suspect this factor will popularise the method even more. Having said that, I still believe it’s preferable to run ads on the mobile web: apps only have a place when you really can’t achieve the same effect from browsing. It’s still too early to say if the iPhone will be a long-term winner, or just a very important influencer of the market. But it’s certainly a major milestone in the fields of mobile advertising and search. Apple’s iPhone picks up where midinnings wristwatch ads left off... "

Our latest campaigns have further proven that we can achieve massive viral effect through community seeding. More about this to follow shortly...

Friday: Cippi gets even more famous

The Farting Chipmunk developed by Golden Gekko for Air Vigorsol on behalf of BBH is getting more and more famous. Earlier this week our Director of Marketing got interviewed by Metro, which is one of the biggest newspapers in Sweden and here's what they said.

http://www.metro.se/se/article/2008/11/04/12/1202-45/index.xml

Some of you won’t be able to read the article since it’s in Swedish but in summary the article says:
• Steve Jobs didn’t want a farting application in his iphone app store
• Golden Gekko developed a farting app for an Italian chewing gum brand anyway
• The farting chipmunk is now world famous with over half a million downloads
• Jimmy Nordbeck is now world famous for his association with farting chipmunks

More celebrity news to follow...