Hook Mobile: Making Facebook Apps Mobile
May 21, 2008
For website publishers and content creators, that means there are more ways in which users can consume your media, giving them a mobile option that frees them from having to be in front of an Internet-connected computer. For advertisers, that means there are more ways in which ads can be spread. As mobile advertising sometimes allows for different targeting tactics based on specific media consumption, geo-tagging, localized efforts and other demographics that can be attributed to a mobile user, there’s a growing amount of interest in mobile advertising across various methods of activity and multimedia distribution.
The Social Times podcast with Hook Mobile
May 9, 2008
Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak with Craig Dalton of Hook Mobile. Hook Mobile has developed a platform which helps integrate MMS technology with social applications. They've already launched one application on Facebook called PicToPhone. The application enables users to view their friends photos on a daily basis through MMS technology.
The application has been used as a demo so that developers can see how to integrate MMS technology into their own applications. Throughout the podcast, Craig and I discussed the various challenges facing the convergence of social and mobile technology. We also discussed the various ways that businesses are trying to monetize applications in the space.
After the huge hopes for MMS around its launch back in 2001, interest quietly waned as the market failed to deliver. This is pretty much what often happens with a new technology and it's well described by the Gartner Hype Cycle. Essentially, this says that when a new technology is introduced it gets overhyped by vendors, but users don't really take much notice. After a period of time though, it finally takes off, while vendors have move on to the new, new thing to hype, with predictably disappointing short-term results.
MobileHook API Available for Web 2.0 Developers
April 23, 2008
Hook Mobile's MobileHook API is now available for Web 2.0 application developers. Developers will be able to build multimedia from social networking sites, and include photos, video, audio and slideshows. This API provides open access into Hook Mobile's MAX 2.0 platform that provides Multimedia Messaging (MMS) delivery into wireless carrier networks.
Hook Mobile's API Delivers Photos, Videos from Social Networks to Phones
April 22, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(April 22, 2008) - Hook Mobile today announced the availability of its MobileHook API for Web 2.0 application developers to push multimedia, including photos, video, audio, and slideshows, from social networking applications to mobile phones. This API provides open access into Hook Mobile's MAX 2.0 platform that provides Multimedia Messaging (MMS) delivery into wireless carrier networks, with the potential to reach nearly 200 million phones in the US and Canada.
Paramount Launches VooZoo Mobile on Hook's MAX 2.0 Platform
April 1, 2008
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Since the formation of
Paramount Mobile Entertainment in February, the division has been actively
seeking and implementing new ways to package the studio's wide range of
content for mobile and wireless devices. The scope of projects includes the
development of new original content, in addition to one-of-a-kind advanced
applications. Some of PME's new projects and ventures include:
VooZoo Mobile -- Paramount Mobile Entertainment is breaking new ground
by launching a beta-version of VooZoo Mobile; the first Multimedia
Messaging Service application on Facebook.
Hook Mobile launches MAX 2.0 MMS Platform
April 1, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - April 1, 2008) - Hook Mobile, a mobile pioneer focused on unleashing the potential of Multimedia Messaging (MMS), has its sights on unlocking the rich media stored in social networks with the launch of its MAX 2.0 platform. The company is targeting the billions of multimedia files added to social networks each year as a great opportunity to fuel the growth of MMS. The Hook Mobile platform provides application developers an open API to easily extract and send multimedia files directly to mobile devices, thus extending the interaction of social media applications to mobile without the need to browse and download additional software.
Hook Mobile Identified as Top 10 Emerging Mobile Player To Watch in 2008 by IDC Study
February 06, 2008
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., February 6, 2008 – The mobile market continues to be one of the most rapidly evolving areas of communications, devices, content, entertainment, and enterprise connectivity. In an industry that appears to be dominated by behemoths, a number of small companies are poised to potentially play larger roles in the mobile industry. These small companies are hotbeds of creativity, new thinking, and innovation, but are essentially unknown to the broader mobile industry. Each year, IDC highlights ten small mobile companies that have the potential for a market impact disproportionate to their current size.
Ruppert’s 2008 Mobile Industry Predictions
by Paul Ruppert
March 16, 2007
Top 10 Mobile Predictions for 2008, New Year, new challenges, hopefully…re-newal.
To truly do justice as a prognosticator you need to commit for the long term, being able to put up when now becomes then. In only 365 short days, someone is likely to call you on your projections. I recall when I was writing business cases back in 1997 for then PacBell Wireless, I had to plan out 10 years–a ludicrous exercise in such an early stage industry. My SMS case was eventually tabled since the parent owned a paging company! Within 18 months the paging company was sold. Within two more years, the US finally had SMS interoperability, and within another two years, SMS was a billion $ industry in the US. That’s the difficulty of projecting, your thinking is too framed by current conditions. Now, being a middle aged renegade, I’ve discovered that I’ve gained a modicum of analytical skills and can at least see breaking trends as opposed to long term certainties. Hence, here are my Mobile Predictions for 2008.
Context! Context! Context!
by Imran Ali
December 27, 2007
In the last couple of weeks, the various contributors to Mobile Messaging 2.0 have been holding an open debate on what the definition of a mobile message should be; with some insightful and thought provoking contributions from Debi, Darla, Ewan, Paul and Russell…almost the entire team!
From my own perspective as a user, cognitively, I don’t think I’ve ever made distinctions between mobile messaging or ‘fixed’ messaging. In fact the means of transmission is pretty much meaningless to me, with a focus on where I am, what I’m doing, what I’m talking about and with whom I’m communicating.
Multicultural Groups Turn More To Mobile Marketing
by Dianne See Morrison
January 8, 2008
Marketers appealing to minority groups are turning more frequently to mobile marketing and are more interested in using social networks than non-minorities, reports AdAge. In a recent survey of its members, the Association of National Advertisers found that 38 percent of multicultural marketers are using mobile as opposed to 28 percent of general market advertisers. Currently, slightly more general market respondents (20 percent) already use social networks compared to 16 percent of their minority counterparts, but nearly twice as many multicultural marketers (36 percent) said they plan to use social networking for the first time in the next year, compared with 19 percent of general market advertisers.
More Than A Third Of US Consumers Using Their Phones As Entertainment Devices
by Carlo Longino
January 2, 2008
Thirty-six percent of American consumers use their mobile phones as entertainment devices, says a new survey from Deloitte & Touche, up from 24 percent eight months ago. Unsurprisingly, usage skews young: 62 percent of those between ages 13 and 24 use their phones for entertainment, and just under half of those aged 25 to 41. Twenty percent of respondents also say they watch video on their handsets daily or almost daily.
Wireless Winners: Dialing Up a Top 10 List of Mobile-Minded Musicians
March 31, 2007
Number 3: T.I. (Warner Music Group) The Jack of All Trades
In terms of the breadth of mobile content, few hold a candle to ATLien T.I. In all, he has more than 200 different mobile titles, including mastertones (54), ringbacks (34) and voicetones (86); his own mobile videogame ("T.I. Racing," which has received a makeover for a pending relaunch); various types of made-for-mobile video footage; and audio fan club messages.
In the coming weeks, the rapper will issue a series of mobile trading cards from partner Hook Mobile. For $2 per week, users will get three random cards weekly for 10 weeks, which in certain combinations will be redeemable for T-shirts, concert tickets and more. Players of McDonald's version of Monopoly will grasp the concept quickly.
Music biz going mobile with innovative ideas
March 16, 2007
For the next few weeks, wireless will be the subject of much discussion as the music and mobile industries gear up for a pair of back-to-back conferences focused on mobile entertainment.
And while there will be many announcements unveiling new music phones or services from the major handset manufacturers and wireless operators, Billboard has learned of several more unique mobile music initiatives under way that show how record labels are beginning to think considerably farther outside the box when it comes to such opportunities.
Deal them in: Entrepreneurs stake future on virtual card-collecting via cellphone
December 7, 2006
Casey Jones has seen the future, and it's something from the past. And the present. It's the palm-sized communication device commonly known as a cellphone that is attached, as if by umbilical cord, to nearly everybody under the age of 30. These devices, Jones predicts, will soon be used to do a lot more than talk, text, take pictures, and download ring tones. They will become the mode by which a younger generation -- and many older folks too -- collects and trades a vast array of what Jones calls "digital assets."
Trading On MMS: Hook Mobile's 'Survivor' Tie-In
November 2, 2006
For all of its potential power as a media vehicle, content-swapping platform and marketing tool, MMS remains a channel principally for photo sharing. It is under-used by marketers and media distributors and pretty much un-promoted by the carriers themselves. And yet, most of the Tier 1 carriers have some interoperability either in place or coming by the end of the year, sources tell Wireless Business Forecast.
I have been seeing so many ambitious plans for using the mobile platform lately, from mobile TV to full article downloads by newspapers and magazines, it is refreshing to see see a handful of new mobile launches that respect the art of brevity on handhelds and understand that less is more.
Back in the day, I had quite an extensive collection of Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. Flash forward to 2006, and today's young and cool will soon be swapping Survivor cards (based on characters and scenes from the CBS reality show)—on their mobile phones. At least that's what Hook Mobile, the Virgina-based startup that launched the new mobile trading cards earlier today, is betting on.
CBS deals Survivor mobile trading cards
October 6, 2006
In a rather unique mix of multimedia messaging, social networking and mobile marketing, CBS has unveiled a line of mobile trading cards based on its hit series "Survivor." Fans can receive, trade and collect the mobile cards by texting the word "Tribe" to a short code. A total of 61 cards are randomly distributed in sets of three, which fans can then trade with others. Certain combinations of cards can then be redeemed for cash and prizes. CBS teamed with Hook Mobile on the service.
'Survivor' fans get wireless trading card game
October 6, 2006
ALEXANDRA, Va. - Hook Mobile emerged from stealth mode with a cross-carrier multimedia messaging service (MMS) application that allows players to collect and trade "cards" of contestants from the CBS reality hit "Survivor."
That's the idea behind new "mobile trading cards" featuring the cast of CBS's "Survivor 13: Cook Islands." And there's more than collectibles at stake: Like $20,000 in cash and prizes.
Alexandria startup launches network with TV Hook
September 22, 2006
A local mobile-content startup wants to hook people on the latest in social networking.
Hook Mobile will introduce a wireless media service in October with a promotional campaign it was hired to run for a reality TV show on a major network. The company wouldn't say which network. Alexandria-based Hook Mobile plans to announce more details in the coming weeks.
