There have been some small mobile pay per call deals, but this is probably among the most major so far in US: Microsoft’s MSN unit has signed a deal with Ingenio to place pay-per-call ads on MSN’s mobile search servics. Under the deal, Ingenio will place one ad above the standard search results obtained using MSN’s free Windows Live Search service in the U.S.
Users would be able to click on a link in the ad displaying the telephone number and immediately call the business. Ingenio, based in San Francisco, charges advertisers for each of these calls at a price that is set in an online auction. It chooses which ad will appear on the devices based on who will pay the most among advertisers with relevant ads for that geographic area.
Ingenio has a deal with AOL for online, and some of it translates into the mobile side as well….it also provides pay-per-call ads on Go2 Directory Systems’ mobile yellow-page service

Informa Telecoms & Media predicts global handset sales to top 1.25 billion by 2011 but 2006 will be the last year of massive overall worldwide growth

The rate of overall worldwide mobile handset growth will slow dramatically from 2007, according to Informa Telecoms & Media. The latest edition of Informa's flagship report, entitled "Future Mobile Handsets", reveals that saturation in developed markets will start to balance out the booming growth in emerging regions. Informa predicts the number of handsets shipped will still rise from 814.4 million at the end of 2005 to 1.255 billion by 2011.

"Handset manufacturers have enjoyed a fantastic time of it in recent years, but they're really going to struggle to sell as many handsets and sustain the same levels of profitability," commented Dave McQueen, Principal Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. "The growth in developing markets such as India, China and Latin America is impressive but we are not seeing the same levels of phone take-up per capita. With handset sales in saturated developed markets being much slower and reliant on replacement of old models, the net effect is a major slowdown in overall rate of growth from next year."

Since the slump in the worldwide handset market at the turn of the century, it has experienced double-digit growth year on year. Informa's predictions, however, reveal this buoyant growth will slow from 2007 onwards, with annual growth rates eventually declining from 15.7% in 2006 to 3% in 2011. The emerging economies are experiencing large increases in subscriber numbers, driven by healthier economies and the availability of low-cost, entry-level handsets. Yet in more developed regions with high penetration rates, growth is largely restricted to active replacement of technologically advanced handsets - with capabilities including digital cameras, MP3 playback, video and broadcast TV - and will not sustain such major increases.

1. MARKET CONSOLIDATION CONTINUES

Consolidation among handset manufacturers has been prevalent in recent times, and Informa predicts a sustained period of mergers and acquisitions. Intense competition and a shortening handset model lifespan are forcing many vendors and operators to drastically change their business models or risk dropping out of the market. Many - especially in the over-serviced Chinese market - will be swallowed up by dominant leading brands such as Nokia and Motorola who are pulling away from the rest. Pressure will also come as a result of the very low profit margins gained by low-cost handsets sold in some developing territories.

2. FUNCTIONALITY

In developed markets, functionality will become ever more important for handset manufacturers as they attempt to maintain sales in spite of high levels of penetration. The onset of multimedia messaging, in tandem with colour screens, has now pushed the mass-market arrival of cameraphones in most markets worldwide, followed closely by gaming, video download and video streaming. The next key battlegrounds for vendors are music and mobile TV.

According to Informa's findings, 9.6% (120.12 million) of all handsets sold will be equipped with broadcast mobile TV capability in 2011. The strongholds of China and South Korea will dominate this sector over the coming years, but by 2011 the US, China and Europe will have also grown to be key.

Informa believes the number of handsets sold with music capabilities will rise from 69.8 million in 2005 to 126.1 million in 2006 - an 80% increase. 2011 is predicted to see 55% of all handsets sold enabled with music playback functionality.

Cameraphones, one of the most successful features of next generation handsets, will represent 81% of total handset market sales by 2011. Informa believes this is still a major growth area, especially as operators have thus far failed to capitalise on increasing revenues from cameraphones by focusing the technology on person-to-person messaging rather than activities normally associated with digital cameras, such as uploading pictures onto PCs and either printing them out or sharing them via the Internet. Improved software enabling users to upload images straight onto a personal mobile web blog (moblog) site will help drive the market.

Dave McQueen comments, "Whilst the technology has improved significantly to handle many of these added features, future mobile handsets will need to incorporate more powerful processors, greater memory components, enhanced displays and increased battery longevity to cope effectively. The industry must face up to challenges ranging from consumer cynicism and pricing, to network interoperability, compatibility and roaming issues if many of the newer services are to reach critical mass."

3. REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Asia-Pacific has been the world's largest handset market over the past four years, with sales estimated at 287.8 million in 2005 - 38% in China alone. Growth in the region is expected to continue dramatically over the next five years as penetration is still relatively low.

North American handset sales reached 120.1 million in 2005, and a period of extensive network transition plus a flood of new handset models should see this continue in the short term. The market in Latin America is also picking up speed mainly through the large increases in subscriber numbers in what is a highly populated region with low penetration rates. Africa and the Middle East will lag behind the rest of the world over the forecast period, although some countries will experience solid growth, such as the relatively technically-advanced countries of Morocco, Egypt, the UAE, Nigeria, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

3jam est une start-up en Californie qui permet d'envoyer un SMS en un instant à un groupe d'amis, jusqu'à 15 personnes peuvent recevoir le même message,Ceux qui reçoivent un message peuvent envoyer une réponse à tous."À l'origine, nous n'avons pas eu une limite sur la quantité de destinataires qui pourraient recevoir le message, mais les gens ont commencé à l'employer pour envoyer le Spam, » a declaré Andy Jagoe, CEO et co-fondateur de 3jam. Leur cible ceux qui utilisent bcp bcp le sms, le service est gratuit et vous ne payez que la transmission des SMS que vous envoyez. ( ils ont eu une personne qui a envoyé 656 messages)La suite pour cette Start-Up le MMS.......

Près de cinq ans après la disparition d'un pionnier comme CanalWeb, le jeune société Gaspanik.tv fait le pari de la diffusion en live de ses propres programmes.

http://www.gaspanik.tv/

WebTV 2.0 ? Près de cinq ans après la disparition d'un pionnier comme CanalWeb (qui aura tout de même englouti près de 20 millions d'euros), le jeune société parisienne Gaspanik.tv fait à nouveau le pari de la diffusion en live de ses propres programmes.

Tous les soirs, la chaîne diffuse plus de deux heures de programmes, réunissant près d'un milliers de fidèles dont une petite dizaine qui occupe le canal IRC de la chaîne pour réagir en direct aux propos -parfois scabreux- des joyeux drilles qui occupent l'antenne. "Diffusée pour l'instant sur le web, nous espérons ainsi répondre aux attentes des téléspectateurs qui trouvent les chaînes du PAF de moins en moins innovantes, proches d'eux et de leurs centres d'intérêt" explique un représentant de la société.

Mais derrière cette façade volontiers potache, Gaspanik s'appuie sur des outils logiciels de dernière génération, permettant aux internautes de créer leur propre chaîne ou d'interagir à l'antenne à l'aide d'un simple mobile 3G. "Tous les outils que nous avons mis au point pour réaliser, monter et diffuser nos émissions seront mis à la disposition des internautes." promettent les dirigeants de la société.

A mi chemin entre JumpCut, YouTube et une Web TV en live, Gaspanik s'inscrit en tout cas dans le nouveau paysage audiovisuel du web, où gravitent également des pures players comme DailyMotion et Kewego, sans oublier les initiatives de TF1 ou M6 avec respectivement Wat.tv et Wideo.