We’re all used to ringtones and other “fun”—but entirely disposable—products that make up a bulk of today’s mobile marketing efforts. However, mobile consumers want products and services distributed over cellular networks to be practical, according to a new survey. dotMobi and AKQA questioned consumers in both the United States and the United Kingdom. They found that there was a “strong” desire for practical mobile content.

How strong? How practical? Consider:

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When I was talking to a friend’s husband months ago, he asked me what mobileStorm did. I told him, “We provide technology that helps companies send out marketing messages.” He said, “Oh, like spam and telemarketing calls?” and proceeded to go off on one such annoying call he’d recently received. It took a while before he registered my cries of, “Permission-based! Permission-based!”

It’s because of such worriers like him that pressure to regulate consumer privacy is high, especially considering the growth of behaviorally-targeted Internet ads, social network use by minors, and the now-common use of SMS. But the Interactive Advertising Bureau is keen to prove to U.S. lawmakers that self-regulation among legitimate marketers is a much better way to combat abuse than would be the passage of increasingly more laws. The IAB is currently wondering how—and if—it should enforce best practices among all marketers.

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I went to Chicago last week for the long-weekend family reunion that my mom’s side holds every other year. The coolest thing this time ‘round was the yellow school bus my cousins and I rented to go from the ‘burbs to barhopping in downtown Chi-town! The second-coolest aspect of the weekend was the dominance of text-message marketing. Sure, it’s nice to really get away from work and anything related therein. But I gotta be happy when my industry is doing well, especially with the impending recession.

What I encountered, I think any marketer, in any industry, can adapt for his or her own purposes. Read on!

Text-message mileage
On my way up I flew US Airways. During the free beverage distribution, I noticed the paper napkins were emblazoned with the phrase, “Everyone is texting—including US.” The copy then explained that passengers could send a message to the airline’s own short code (which spells out “textUS”—get it?) in order log their latest mileage points. The short code is apparently used to help customers with other things, too, like flight information. And even though “everyone” is using SMS these days, the airline has a cute step-by-step animated explanation on its website for people who aren’t sure how to text.

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When Google’s Android platform—the technology behind so-called Google Phones—was announced late last fall, I immediately thought about the open-source implications affecting the mobile space overall. As I said in this post, because the technology is open to all developers, Android-powered phones could eventually boast superior software and become the top handsets in the market.

Recent events, however, might be even better for consumers and marketers trying to reach them. Nokia, the world’s top cell phone maker, on Tuesday announced it is buying software-maker Symbian, whose operating system of the same name is on the majority of mobile phones all over the globe (not counting the innumerable flavors of Linux in Asia), and is on two-thirds of smartphones alone.

The kicker? Nokia plans to offer Symbian royalty-free to all handset makers, and will create an organization of phone manufacturers, carriers, and semiconductor companies to create an open-source platform “with wide industry appeal.”

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