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Forget flowers. What Brits really want for Valentine’s Day is a sweet-sounding text message. The Mobile Data Association (MDA) predicts that British mobile phone users will set a new Valentine’s record for one-day text messaging use. Text messaging has already outstripped Valentine’s Day cards in terms of popularity. The MDA says that 12.5 million cards were sent last year, compared to 57 million text messages on Feb. 14 alone. Although Valentine’s Day sees a definite spike in traffic, it’s not the most popular text messaging day of the year. That’s New Year’s, when Brits sent about 100 million. An average 45 million text messages are sent per day in the U.K., adding up to more than 16 billion per year.
Listen.com slashes CD burning prices
Hoping to attract more subscribers, Listen.com has slashed its price for CD burning in half. The site will now charge only 49 cents per song for a limited time to attract users to subscribe. Listen.com faces a tough marketplace in which swap-for-free site Kazaa has more than 10 million subscribers. It’s estimated that label-approved sites have only about 600,000 total subscribers. Competing against free sites, the legitimate online companies have to do something to draw attention and attract users. The company insists that it will return to the 99 cents price after the promotion, but in the meantime it admits that it will lose money on the burns. It hopes to make up for it with an increased subscriber base.
Satellite companies complain about UWB
Short-range wireless standards interfere with broadcasts on satellite and cable television, providers are complaining. Ultrawideband, or UWB, is a new innovation that operates across several bands of spectrum, as opposed to the one area usually assigned each wireless broadcast. UWB is 100 times faster than other short-range wireless standards. Although the signal is short, it’s also quite powerful. That’s upsetting satellite companies such as AOL Time Warner and Viacom, who say the February launch of UWB being monitored by the Federal Communications Commission has been too disruptive. Two recent studies have shown that UWB can lead to interference, especially when it’s used outdoors. But UWB companies say the issue has been exaggerated.
Study: Europe's online success tied to ads
A European company predicts that advertising will trump paid content in terms of online success over the next two years. The Interactive Publishing GmbH consultancy analyzed comments made by 20 industry “thought” leaders during a January convention in Zurich. The report on European interactive publishing trends from 2003 to 2005 predicts better integration of print and online, among other changes. Most pure paid-content models will fail, but online news operations will find models that make money. Also, the group predicts departure of traditional top managers who fail to grasp how the internet can bolster offline efforts. Finally, the Interactive Publishing GmbH consultancy forecasts that sites will finally begin tapping into their revenue potential, only 20-30 percent of which is now realized.
French politics paralyze stinky cheese web trade
Who knew the cheese trade could be so political? A French businessman who sells cheese over the internet has found that his country’s anti-war policies don’t sit too well with his American customers. And that’s tough on business, because 80 percent of fromages.com’s sales and traffic come from the United States. Co-founder Marc Refabert says he’s not too concerned about the boycott. He thinks customers will come back because French cheese is so superior to American. But in the meantime, his company’s e-mailbox has been filled with complaints. Most of them express no displeasure with Refabert’s product, but say that because France is not supporting the U.S. in the possible war with Iraq, the customers will not support French businesses. Refabert says he will not reply to the e-mails.
February 14, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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