Verizon to Allow Ads on Its Mobile Phones

srizah tipped us to a New York Times article, which has the news that Verizon is going to introduce ads to their phones. The offerings will show up when users browse the internet via their cell service, and will exclude streaming ads that might not work in the mobile format. Sprint began offering ads right on their cell 'deck' in October, and the article indicates that access to cellphone screens is a going concern with online advertisers. From the article: "Even without cooperation from carriers, advertisers have been able to reach consumers visiting off-deck sites, and such marketing has grown in size and in scope. The first advertisers drawn to mobile phones tended to be quick-serve restaurants and hotels -- businesses that people might want access to on the go. But increasingly, there is traditional brand marketing, said Jeff Janer, chief marketing officer for Third Screen Media, a mobile ad management company that pairs advertisers and agencies with providers of mobile content, like USA Today and the Weather Channel."

Argh

[chanrobi]

Username: memyself4
Password: memyself

That's a good way to loose me as a cell customer

[techmuse]

I already pay a lot of money for cell phone access. You charge me minutes and money for data access time. If I have to waste some of my money and minutes on advertisements, I will switch cell phone providers. I do not need to be told where to find hotels or shown ads. If I want one, I'll look it up.

At least for VX8300

[Rinisari]

Just about every LG phone can be easily changed to use non-Verizon WAP.
http://vx8300.blogspot.com/2006/08/free-wap-intern et-on-vx8300.html [blogspot.com]

Ummm... They better check with legal..

[bjk002]

IANAL, but it would seem that some of this could fall under many states newly enacted statutes with regard to Unsolicited Advertising [naw.org] [naw.org].

Verizon had better be careful, lest they end up with a barage of class-action lawsuits...

Re:That's a good way to loose me as a cell custome

[MrNougat]

I am reminded of a time in the distant past, when I used AOL for DOS when they charged per minute and dialup POPs were 14400bps. It took me forever to figure out why I couldn't connect faster than 2400 baud. Turns out that AOL's POPs were only 14400 in major metro areas; I was not in one, so my POP was 2400 baud.

And then, on each connection, I was "downloading new art" for five minutes. When I finally put all the pieces together (no thanks to the existing AOL support), I canceled immediately.

People are much smarter these days. When someone sees an advertisement, they know that the merchant selling the product is paying the media service to deliver the ad, whether it's TV, newspaper, billboard, radio, internet, whatever. There will be a lot of "Hey, WTF?" being shouted by Verizon mobile internet users.