Lobbying the White House for mobile
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By Mickey Alam Khan , 20 October 2008

While the government and Congress are busy administering CPR to Wall Street, the next occupant of the White House should pay more attention to a technology that could give this nation’s its next edge over the world: mobile.

It is obvious that more consumers are steadily migrating to mobile devices functions that they performed over Internet-enabled laptop computers. Included in this migration are activities such as email, news consumption, social networking, entertainment, instant messaging, Internet access, television, video, music, sports commentary and weather updates.

That sort of activity on an Internet-enabled mobile device with audio, video and texting capabilities is fertile ground for marketing and commerce to develop. But like any new and developing medium, it is care in the early years that will help it withstand the challenges of consumer and business demands as it matures.

No one’s asking for a government handout. But certainly more attention from the next president of the United States would help. Mobile has played a huge role in rallying the troops for Senators Obama and McCain.

Should he secure the presidency, Sen. Obama will have to thank mobile marketing for generating a large part of the excitement around his candidacy. Indeed, his campaign and its Obama Mobile site and text alerts have set the standard for future political outreach efforts via mobile.

Sen. McCain still has skin in the game, but his campaign has been slow to enlist mobile in its grassroots efforts. This is puzzling, given that the Republican Party’s core strength has always been its grassroots fundraising and get-out-the-vote outreach through smart database marketing.

What the Obama campaign has proven through its acquisition of more than 3 million opted-in mobile numbers is the effective use of database marketing through its newest channel.

Well, let’s hope that the new president pays baby some attention.

Support the technology
Start with investment in mobile technology.

The next administration can easily energize and excite potential investors by offering incentives to develop mobile technology that can be used domestically as well as exported. A plan styled on the Manhattan Project would be transformative.

A good place to start is to offer support – as South Korea and Japan have done – to ensure better network speeds for quicker Internet and data access over mobile phones. Wireless carriers would certainly appreciate a leg-up in that department.

Another goal to set is universal access of the Internet on every mobile phone sold nationwide by 2012. Think of the intellectual returns such ubiquitous and immediate access to information and commerce will have on this nation’s consumers and businesses. After all, information is what gives this nation an edge over others.

But technology expertise in markets such as China, India, Japan, South Korea and Western Europe threaten to close the gap with this country. Of course, most of them are spared the worst of the laisser-faire capitalism that is practiced here. There, they have the added advantage of governments committed to mobile superiority and ubiquity.

Now that egovernment is a reality, it is the turn of mgovernment. The White House, Congress, courts, statehouses and municipalities must have mobile-friendly Web sites, short codes and the ability to accept payments over the mobile phone – all secure, of course.

More competition
The new White House should also look at enabling more competition in the carrier space.

An auction earlier this year to attract more non-wireless players into offering wireless service disappointed. Even an Internet giant such as Google did not make the cut for wireless spectrum. It is shame, because this market could definitely use more wireless carriers, as our breaking coverage of the ongoing Verizon Wireless SMS fee fiasco has shown.

As things stand, the mobile marketing industry nationwide is hostage to the decisions and whims of the nation’s five largest carriers – AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and Alltel.

Imagine an Internet with just five gateways – Yahoo, Google, Amazon, eBay and MSN. What would the government and consumers do if one of them decided to change the rules of the game midway? That is the fear of every mobile marketer with the carriers.

More carriers offering more choices to consumers and marketers: that’s the recipe for a strong capitalistic market. Marketing and commerce will help subsidize the cost of services to both the carriers and consumers.

Involve the FTC
Regulation is a bitter pill to follow for a free-market publication such as this. But it is a preemptive necessity, especially as mobile banking, commerce and marketing grow.

Along with legitimate growth comes the threat of unsolicited text and email messages, abuse of permission, pornography, theft of data, unfair advertising claims, misleading children, viruses, invasive behavioral and location-based targeting, invasion of privacy and the failure to follow best practice. Internet-enabled mobile devices are vulnerable to all these potential issues.

The industry’s various trade associations and lobbies have drawn up elaborate best-practice guidelines. The Federal Trade Commission should work with the industry to develop a viable Mobile Bill of Rights that is fair to consumers and marketers.

A major reason for the FTC’s involvement at this early stage is to stave off a do-not-text registry or strictures against legitimate behavioral and location-based advertising that underpins effective marketing and commerce.

At some point, an opportunistic lawmaker or zealous attorney general will grab at low-hanging fruit and demand a no-text registry. The current state of the economy has left few legislator fans of the free market. Marketers can bet their BlackBerry that any mobile legislation that reacts to consumer complaints will be Draconian and ruinous to the industry.

Hope for change
Mobile today is to the United States what the Internet was a few years ago: full of promise and a catalyst for every business sector.

Eventually, every business nationwide will have to have a mobile-friendly Web site for information and, where applicable, commerce. Every business will have to build an opted-in mobile database of consumers who may rely on their handset as the sole means to reach them. Most businesses will have to have a short code for text messaging. Almost every business will have to undertake mobile marketing.

To not have one or two, or all of these mobile features, will mean the difference between success and failure in the next five years. Marketers increasingly realize that reality.

Mobile marketers need to bend the ears of the next president, which is easier if he is already mobile-friendly. First order of business: someone please sell a short code to the White House.

Editor in Chief Mickey Alam Khan covers advertising agencies, associations, research, and column submissions. Reach him at mickey @mobilemarketer.com