Of all the issues Apple has to worry about as it gears up to cement its spot in the mobile ad universe - Android and Google, possible regulatory interference, marketers that don't want to leave Flash behind - Windows Phone 7 is probably not high on its list. Yet Microsoft is staking a claim to this marketplace as well, in anticipation of Windows Phone 7, which is expected out in October.
Windows Mobile, as the platform used to be called, has not been widely adopted by consumers leaving the battleground to Android, Apple and Nokia among other vendors. Still, though, anything backed by Microsoft is worth examining - or in the case of the competition - tracking, as it makes its way to market.
Three Tools
Microsoft branded its Windows Phone 7 smartphone platform an "ad-serving machine" during a recent briefing of its forthcoming features. "For marketers this is actually turning out to be an ad-serving machine," said Kostas Mallios, general manager at Microsoft's Live Labs, at an advertising industry conference. (via PC Pro). "It lets advertisers connect with consumers over time." There are three tools in its portfolio: Apps, Tiles and Toast. These give brand owners access to the front pages of handsets if consumers download apps from third parties. With the Tiles and Apps feature, according to PC Pro, icons on the homepage would be dynamic so a brand could send out information about offers or new releases.
The third tool, Toast, would reach out to consumers should the messages fail to get through by pushing content out to the device. Consumers will be able to opt out of the service. Not Head to Head Microsoft is not gunning directly for Apple with this offering, Forbes says.
It "has apparently learned that its mobile platform is not strong enough to directly compete with the iPhone." Also it will not be as invasive as it sounds, it adds. Besides being able to opt out, these ads are only shown if a consumer downloads a company's app. You can “either uninstall it - or accept that it's a small price to pay for free apps." With both Toast and iAd still relative unknowns as this point, a case could be made that either or both could be accepted by mobile phone owners.
Microsoft Needs More Credibility in Mobile
But not by Azita Arvani of the Arvani Group, who tells MarketingVox that Microsoft has not built up the necessary credentials with phone users to make such an offering work. "A mobile platform provider must first win the hearts of the customers,” she says. "This means creating a good amount of mobile value equity with the customers. This is what entices people to go out and purchase the devices. Once a company has gained that equity, they can leverage that to become an "ad serving machine". Microsoft, with Windows Phone 7, is starting from scratch. Users have not seen it, they have not been sold." Apple, by contrast, has a lot of mobile equity built up over the last three years.
Even if it did have the necessary creds with users, she added, the majority of mobile users that have not gone to the trouble of loading an application generally does not want to hear from that application - period. "You can let users opt in or opt out till your tiles turn blue, but most will opt out."
One final point, Arvani added: "With Toast, there will be "hidden" data transfer that will happen in the background. Since the user didn’t ask for Toast ads it is fair to wonder who will be paying for the extra data charges and, if the user happens to travel internationally, who will pay the outrageous international data roaming charges?"
