Marketing Pilgrim

How does an iPhone application developer make money when giving away a free app? Well, before today, they mostly relied on users upgrading to a version of the app with more features–and a price tag. Now they have a new beta program from Google to test.

Google AdSense for Mobile Applications just launched and application developers–for either iPhone or Android–can apply to join. Already onboard are Backgrounds, Sega, Shazam, and Urbanspoon. The latter shares its story on using AdSense in its iPhone app in the video below.

I know more of our readers are going to be on the marketing side of his equation, so what are you thoughts? Are you excited about seeing your ads on popular iPhone apps?

Just the other day, I was browsing through Google Maps and I saw what is properly classed as a “big ol’ building.” Aerial shots and even Street View couldn’t tell me what said building was, and I wished that Google could just check the repository of the Internet tell me what that building was.

Well, it looks like my wish really is Google’s command! Google Maps has added a new feature called “What’s here?” Right-click on the USO (unidentified stationary object ) and you have the option of asking “What’s here?”:

In most of the fairly random places I asked about, the answer seemed to be “We dunno . . . um, an address?”:

However, shopping centers and office parks were more helpful:

What, no shop listing?

That’s better. Note that Google’s already integrated the “at this address” feature.

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Google has taken a serious step in Deutschland regarding how much data they keep for their Street View service. This offering has been the target of privacy groups and angry villagers for quite some time now but Google looks like it is giving back some power to the people. Of course, having the German government involved likely ‘influenced’ their decision.

Mashable brings Google’s new policy into focus;

You might be wondering what’s new here; after all, Google (Google) has been blurring Street View imagery containing potentially sensitive data like faces and license plates, on request, for quite a while now.

However, in Germany, there will be a crucial difference, because over there Google has agreed to completely erase such data internally. AP writes:

“Google had agreed to erase the raw footage of faces, house numbers, license plates and individuals in Germany who have told authorities they do not want their information used in the service.”

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CNET announced today that AOL has purchased two local-oriented sites: Patch and Going.com. As CNET pointed out, the acquisition of Patch isn’t a big surprise, as newly appointed AOL CEO Tim Armstrong founded and invested in Patch while working as Google’s sales chief. Armstrong believes that “Local remains one of the most disaggregated experiences on the Web today—there’s a lot of information out there but simply no way for consumers to find it quickly and easily.”

He’s hoping that Going.com will give AOL another way to capitalize on that market. Going.com offers event and invitation services, along with ticketing and ways for locals to connect with one another. The goal of the acquisition is to build out AOL’s local services, but is it also insight into AOL’s new market strategy?

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Now this is a neat idea. Public relations firm MWW Group has launched a mobile app that lets you quickly read the top blogs in the areas of PR, marketing, and social media.

Called M.Insight, it’s basically an "install and forget" RSS reader that includes 54 blogs across 6 different categories–although you can add more blogs and categories, if you wish.

Watch this video for more details:

I’m impressed by this for two reasons. One, it’s a great little application that I’ll certainly use on my iPhone. Second, MWW has added their own news feed to the default, so they’re using the application to help promote their services. Smart!

PS. You’ll find Marketing Pilgrim’s feed, strangely enough, not in the "Marketing & Branding" category, but the "Advertising" one.

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Maybe we are truly approaching the year of mobile. Maybe we’re not. Maybe we should just stop trying to label these things and stick to the facts. According to comScore you can add a piece of data to the mix that shows growth in the access of local information using mobile devices which will warm the hearts of app developers everywhere.

The 51% spike in users seeking to gather local information is broken out across the following platforms

comScore’s senior VP Serge Matta comments

“Given the explosion in application stores and associated marketing efforts, along with the growth in mobile phones using faster data networks, it would not be surprising within the next six months to see the number of people using downloadable applications surpass SMS for the accessing of local information via mobile devices.”

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Local search, much like mobile marketing, always seemed poised to ‘break out’ and experience the growth that so many predict. Whether it’s a real trend or just a result of our un-stimulated economic climate, local businesses that have tried paid search to attract new customers through the search engines like Google and Yahoo are not sticking with it. A report from Borrell Associates as covered in the Wall Street Journal suggests that churn and burn is as much a part of local search as is anything else.

A new study on local search advertising from research firm Borrell Associates finds that roughly 50% of businesses that buy search ads directly from Google and other Internet search companies don’t come back the following year. And the churn rate for businesses like Yodle, ReachLocal and LookSmart that purchase search ads on behalf of local advertisers is around 60%, according to the study, scheduled to be released Monday.

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Google Street View has generated plenty of controversy with its actual photographs of street-level navigation. But tracing a trip to the coffee shop down the block in Street View took longer than actually walking there. The lag made actually navigating on Street View cumbersome at best—until now. Google announces a new, much faster way of navigating through Street View.

The faster navigation features a “pancake” mouseover position marker. Double click the frosted pane and you can move as far as the eye can see. The improvements also feature faster zoom on street-side buildings.

I could keep explaining this, but it’ll only take you 90 seconds to watch this video, and it’s way easier to understand:

What do you think? Will you use Street View more with its new faster navigation, or is it still just a novelty?

Ok class. What’s the most important word in the title of this post? What’s that? I can’t hear you? The word is predicted. We then turn to our training in the world of market research and look at the source, which in this case is the Mobile Marketing Association, and then draw our conclusions. Please note that I am by no means saying that this study that MediaPost brings us isn’t correct. I hope it is. We need good news and if there is a segment of new media marketing that is poised to take off it’s mobile (well, at least we have been hearing that for the past few years so it has to happen at some point right?)

So the MMA is taking heart that despite overall marketing spend being off 7% for the same period (which is another prediction so it could be higher or lower in the end when all the rubble is cleared away) there is a 26% bump in mobile marketing spend anticipated. It goes on to say

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If your business has a local footprint, you might want to head over to the Google Local Business Center. Google has quietly updated the interface used to add your business to Google Maps and its local search results.

The new interface incorporates more analytical data than before, and overall makes for a more simple and clean experience. Clearly Google is hoping the new UI will encourage more local businesses to add themselves to the matrix.

I set up a profile for the consulting side of Marketing Pilgrim, many moons ago, which means I can show you a snapshot of the new interface:

It’s not just eye candy, either. You’ll get info on how often your listing was viewed, how often someone engaged it, your top search queries, and more.

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Traditional marketing avenues continue to take punishment in ways never seen before. Of course, we all know about newspapers and the trouble they are having. Now, it’s time for another stalwart of traditional small and medium business advertising, the Yellow Pages, to take more of a beating.

Amidst news stories about Microsoft actually making search inroads and the “Tastes Great / Less Filling!” wars between Facebook and Twitter is the reality that the old guard is struggling to hold on. Late last week, R.H. Donnelly Corp., a major yellow pages publisher, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection so it can get out from under a $10 billion (that’s right, with a B) debt load. The Wall Street Journal reports

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Google claims we can expect to see at least 18 phones with the Android operating system by year’s end, possibly 20. Which phone carriers they will be on has yet to be determined, according to the New York Times. Currently T-Mobile’s G1 and a phone available in Europe called “Magic” by HTC are the only phones that give Google credit for using their Android OS.

If the Android phones can be released sooner rather than later, it should provide some interesting competition for the summer phone war against the iPhone and Blackberry, among others. The applications available for the Android will play a major factor in consumer’s buying decisions.

This is where there is still some confusion regarding the Android OS. According to the Times, there are three types of Android platforms. Each places different requirements on the handset manufacturers and wireless carriers. The Times broke each of these types out, here is a short summary of them:

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