Mobile Pearls Vol III

I have fallen behind in my mobile pearls series as very few innovative mobile services/products have come across my way. After weeks of collecting, here is the latest on mobile pearls:

iPhone apps for connecting musicians and fans
The free apps include video content from the artists’ Kyte channels, as well as branding and advertising, click-through links to buy music and merchandise, a built-in RSS reader to pull in news updates, and community features like chat, comments and sharing.
(Very similar to the previous mobile pearl on adva mobile)

Pet Shop Boys introduce fans to QR code in their new music video
The new video for their recent single, Integral, has QR codes interspersed within urban settings and pixelated images. The website also encourages fans to remix their own versions of the video, and embed their own QR codes into them.

(There are 2 cool things going on in this mobile pearl. First it is a great use of QR codes in music, and is something that the mobile uniquely has. Second, it encourages fans to use QR codes in their remix of the video as well, a great example of community branding.)

QR code as accessories
Kanno has created a line-up of accessories branded with a unique QR code that can link to an original, user-created photograph or video.
(Not only is this a cool innovation of using QR code, it is also a fantastic to bring physical and virtual.)

Street lighting by phone
The town of Germany’s Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz has recently reduced its streetlighting energy costs by a quarter, simply by switching all lighting off by default and allowing citizens of the town to light individual units with a phone call.
(Leveraging on mobile's attribute of machine-to-machine communication, this is a wonderful service that caters to mobile's benefit of being a personal device. Doesn't hurt that this also contributes to energy efficiency for the city.)

Mobile apps as next generation billboards
And the best way to get that promotion on people’s phones? Make them want to install it themselves.
(A wonderful example of how advertisements can be content. Who is going to make it easy for independent film makers to DIY such applications themselves?)

Engagement campaign with frozen food brand Birds Eye
They printed a unique code to each package of the foods and gave a chance to win cash prizes every day via SMS participation.
(Mobile advertising will be more effective than what we have seen on the Web. Because it is personalised, there is potential for advertisers to provide targeted useful advertisements on the individual level.)

Note: see rest of the series here.

Posted in: mobile,mobile pearls,music,startup business ideas