Free is also France’s youngest Internet Service Provider and since a few weeks also its hottest new mobile telco. Launched in 1999, Free started by offering free Internet access, adding telephony and TV services in the years thereafter while continuing to upgrade its network.

Free mobile

This month, Free launched its own mobile network and a subscription model that appeals to the company name.

Using a strategy of very low pricing and an unlimited voice and data bundle, the new operator managed to win almost 2 million subscribers overnight. The number is growing fast – it currently stands at around 3 million.

This already represents 4.5% of the French market, which counts some 66 million subscribers currently according to The Netsize Guide.

Netsize and Free

Netsize messaging solutions are directly integrated with Free. Netsize customers can thus reach Free subscribers and efficiently send Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS messages, reliably and quickly. In addition to using our SMS gateway API, they can also reach the Free network with Netsize mMarketing, our easy-to-use web-based mobile campaign solution.

At present, Free is taking its place at the French mobile operators’ dining table. While the saying goes, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” Free seems to prove the opposite. Meanwhile, Netsize focuses on delivering the best solutions for reaching all French subscribers – via messaging as well as operator billing.

Click here to discuss your needs to launch or extend mobile services in France.

Few major brands are as sophisticated in their use of the mobile channel as Coca-Cola. To date the company has embraced a wide variety of activities and mechanisms, including apps, games, high-performing SMS campaigns, and even a music download store. At the other end of the spectrum, Coca-Cola has also reported successful mobile commerce trials involving mobile phones and specially equipped vending machines.

Coca-Cola is also one of the first to actively embrace branded apps. In December 2010 it joined with the GSMA to sponsor the Brand App Challenge, a competition in which mobile app developers created “brand apps” for a select group of global consumer brands, including Coca-Cola, with its Coca-Cola, Coke Zero and Diet Coke brands.

While Coke has been quick to jump into branded apps, some recent reports question whether applications can deliver positive results across the board.

A survey of 781 adults in the U.S. conducted by EffectiveUI on behalf of Harris Interactive found the vast majority (76 percent) of mobile app users felt that all brand name companies and organizations should have mobile apps to make shopping or interacting with them easier. However, 38 percent of mobile application users revealed they were not satisfied with most of the apps currently available from their favorite brands. What’s more, 69 percent reported that a brand name mobile app that is not useful, helpful or easy to use, results in a negative perception about the brand.

“Mobile applications are the sure fire way to extend a brand,” Rebecca Flavin, CEO of EffectiveUI, said in a statement. “It’s time for organizations to understand how to fully leverage the mobile channel and optimize a user-centered approach to drive adoption, as well as reinforce and drive brand loyalty.”

What is the business value of branded apps? Which marketing approaches deliver the best results? How has Coke harnessed mobile to encourage brand engagement and deliver effective (even location-linked) mobile advertising? We ask Tom Daly, Coca-Cola Group Manager, Global Connections.

Q: Coca-Cola is a mover in the mobile space. Your company is a premium member of Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and active in promoting the benefits of the mobile channel. Why is mobile so central to your strategy?

A: You need to first understand how we see mobile. For us it’s all about idea of making mobile an “enabler of desire”. Essentially, our mobile strategy was written some 70+ years ago, way before the first cellular connection was ever made. Back then it was about putting our brands “within arms’ reach of desire”. That sentiment was expressed by Robert Woodruff, who was our chairman. That was the way we defined the company’s role as a brand marketer, and as a partner to the bottling companies that manufacture and distribute our brands and our retail partners who carry our brands.

Our task is to create desire for the brands that we create. We have a choice: we can make the mobile phone and enabler of desire, or we can make it a barrier to desire. We chose to make mobile an enabler.

Q: Desire is the end-game – making consumers want to and be able to connect with your brands. What are the recent mobile activities you have pursued to achieve this goal?

A: We use all the mobile mechanisms available. Take simple SMS. We use SMS in a campaign that allows consumers to earn free airtime. They just purchase a Coke and text the code on the packaging to receive free airtime or free text messages. Teenagers, in particular, love our brands and love their phones, so it’s a natural marriage, if you will. It’s a great opportunity to leverage consumer desire for Coca-Cola and mobile.

For the World Cup we did a great program where we let consumers express their feelings about the brands using mobile. Consumers could upload videos of how they celebrated the goals. So this is a great expression of people’s passion and energy for football, which is their same energy and passion they have about Coca-Cola. We connected the two using mobile videos.

Q: One of your most successful campaigns has been Gimme Credit, which received an award from the MMA for its effectiveness and exemplary use of mobile. What can you tell me about the campaign and the key learnings?

A: Yes, that’s the campaign I mentioned that gives consumers free airtime. We have rolled it out in multiple markets and it’s been successful everywhere we’ve tried it. As a company we are testing and learning what works not in one market; but in many markets. We’ve learned that there are certain things that consumers everywhere want and Gimme Credit is success because people want free airtime and rewards for their purchases.

We’ve done something like Gimme Credit in India, the U.K. and Germany, and we’ve done it in tests in the U.S. as well. The challenge – and the opportunity – is how to get scale. The next step is to get the scale of The Coca-Cola Company and the scale of mobile technology aligned so we can really start building bigger, more broadly accessible programs. That way, by the time we get to events like the London Olympics or the next World Cup, we will have the ability to deploy these mobile campaigns on a much larger scale and on a much more global level.

Q: Gimme Credit is universally accepted, universally appreciated. But brands still have to have a local focus. What are the tensions or challenges of being a global brand and maintaining a local focus?

A: The challenge is to develop powerful core ideas for a campaign and then to localize the “art” of execution, while scaling the “science”.  One way we accomplish that is to empower a country to take the lead for certain global initiatives. For example this year’s [2010] Festive campaign is a global campaign with the digital –including mobile – led by teams in Germany. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, or Kwanza, or Christmas, or have just celebrated Ramadan – it’s all about family and bringing people together. Coca-Cola is a part of that experience, but there’s enough that is similar to create common experiences around the world and across digital and mobile campaigns.  Broadly speaking, that’s the territory of the “big idea”. From there, we find ways to scale while at the same time enabling maximum flexibility for localization.

Q: Staying with the global push for a moment, how do you manage these, to drive global mobile services and marketing innovation at Coca-Cola?

A: It’s a disciplined process, as you might imagine. The key is to keep a clear understanding of the roll out and who is doing what. So, we may have a single lead agency for mobile, a company that is doing work at the center. The work they do and the deliverables they are responsible for are clearly defined. There may be a transition to a local agency that has the latitude to take a hand- off related to certain core ideas and assets.

We have elements that can be reused across geographies. It’s back to the idea of scaling the science and localizing is the art. Underlying it all, from a technical point of view, are well documented standards and processes.

Q: You are sharply focused on mobile and it is listed as a line item in your budget, which is quite a statement. Could you quantify for me the opportunity in mobile for Coca-Cola?

A: I can certainly share are a couple of data points with you. We serve our products 1.6 billion times a day, which means that 1.6 billion servings of Coca Cola are poured every day.  There are five billion mobile subscribers worldwide. Do the math and there is a lot of opportunity to use mobile to reach these consumers. And again, when you think that our core strategy is about enabling desire for our brands, then there is also opportunity to use mobile to reach and retain many of the five billion consumers who have mobile and may not currently drink Coke, for example.

Mobile is a line item in the budget. Mobile is included because we know we need to manage and understand mobile. Most importantly, we can not treat mobile as a standalone activity. We know that mobile works best when incorporated in a larger marketing context. So, to help us understand the optimal mix, we’re keeping track of it along with other line items. I can’t share the precise trajectory, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone to know that mobile is growing.

Download the updated Netsize Guide 2010 to read the rest of this interview.

It is with great pleasure that we present to you a brand new edition of the Netsize Guide 2010, Mobile Renaissance. For the first time in its 9-year history the book is now updated in its publication year with five new interviews and hot new 2010 telecommunications market data. We´ve kept the original 2009 data, providing you with a unique quarterly view on the mobile telecommunications market trend in 40 countries globally.

Download the Netsize Guide 2010 Updated Edition

Share with us your opinion of the Netsize Guide. Please take a moment to take part in our Netsize Guide reader survey. The questionnaire will take a few minutes to complete. Your feedback will help us to stay focused on what matters to you.

Take the Netsize Guide reader survey

We´d also like to stay in touch with you via social media. Follow @NetsizeCorp and @NetsizeGuide on Twitter. You can also visit our Netsize Guide microsites – Mobile Renaissance and the Netsize briefing room on MSearchGroove – where you are welcome to post your suggestions regarding new topics and trends you feel we should explore in the Netsize Guide.

We are confident you will benefit from the content and case studies we are covering in our upcoming projects, and we look forward to learning what content and companies you would appreciate most.

1. Relevancy Rules

   The ability to deliver the right message to the right person is one of mobile’s biggest selling points. Add the right context (content, location and timeliness of the message), and the relevancy of the message is boosted in a major way. Precise targeting is the top reason for marketers to include mobile marketing in their plans.

   

   Mobile Marketing Drivers (Source: Netsize Mobile Marketing Survey 2009). Copyright 2009-2010 Netsize. All rights reserved. www.netsize.com

2. Inhibitors Vary

   Starting with mobile marketing will find you overcome a few hurdles. The quality of your database, in particular acquisition of opt-in mobile numbers and maintenance of data quality might be a concern, and adherence to rules and regulations. What should be a realistic expectation on conversion ratios, and how to objectively measure campaign results? What tools to use and how to integrate with your existing CRM or campaign systems? Discuss these questions with your mobile marketing provider to set the strategy that is right for you.

   

   Mobile Marketing Inhibitors (Source: Netsize Mobile Marketing Survey 2009). Copyright 2009-2010 Netsize. All rights reserved. www.netsize.com

3. Messaging Leads the Pack

   The survey uncovers a decidedly positive attitude toward mobile marketing approaches and formats that build on the popularity and usability of text messaging and made-for-mobile destinations. For reaching a mass market, SMS is best positioned by far. Quick and easy to use, well understood, and flexible to be used for two-way text communications and in combination with more advanced media and formats, such as the mobile web, barcodes and also mobile applications.

4. Keep the Customer

   Mobile marketing is used to acquire new customers as well as to retain existing customers. In the given economic circumstances it does not come as a surprise that retention marketing is showing strong growth. Mobile marketing adds value to loyalty programs, where relevant and timed messages increase the closeness of the brand to the consumer, and provide stimuli for him to act, or as some say, spend.

5. Teams Work

   Mobile marketing is team work. While companies are convinced of the benefits of mobile marketing, the vast majority of companies still lack the resources and know-how to achieve their goals alone. Activities that are typically outsourced to an external service provider are campaign execution, and analytics and reporting.

   

   Mobile Marketing Resources (Source: Netsize Mobile Marketing Survey 2009). Copyright 2009-2010 Netsize. All rights reserved. www.netsize.com

To learn more about how companies make the most from mobile marketing, visit www.netsize.com. Here you can also download the full Netsize Mobile Marketing Survey Summary Report (free pdf download).

A good database of contacts is key for many mobile messaging applications. Whether used for sending individual messages or large mobile campaigns, the database is the basis for your recipients lists and targeted, personalized messages.

The contact import wizard of Netsize mMarketing allows you to setup your database in a breeze.

To import large numbers of contacts, use Import contacts in the left navigation menu (1). Select a text file that contains the contacts’ names and mobile phone numbers (2). The values should be separated by a comma or another delimiter that you specify. Click Next (3).

Netsize mMarketing - Import mobile contacts database, step 1. (c) Copyright 2010 Netsize www.netsize.com

Select the columns that you would like to import, and map the column header name to the proper contact attribute (4): does the column contain the first name, last name, mobile number, etc. Click Next (5).

Netsize mMarketing - Import mobile contacts database, step 2. (c) Copyright 2010 Netsize www.netsize.com

In the final step, indicate how the contacts are to be stored, and if they should be added to a new or existing list of contacts so that you can start using them in a mobile campaign immediately (6). Click Import to accept all settings and start the import (7).

Netsize mMarketing - Import mobile contacts database, step 3. (c) Copyright 2010 Netsize www.netsize.com

In a later article we’ll go in more detail into how you can use the database for personalizing your campaigns.

Try mMarketing now
No access to mMarketing yet? Register here for a free 30-day trial of Netsize mMarketing, the easy solution to mobile marketing campaigns and business mobile messaging using SMS.

More tips & tricks:
mMarketing tip #1: Send a quick SMS message
mMarketing tip #2: Send an SMS campaign
mMarketing tip #3: Import your mobile contact database

Creating an SMS campaign with Netsize mMarketing is easy! With your database at hand, it takes only a few steps to launch a campaign. Click New campaign in the left menu, give the campaign a name, enter phone numbers or click Add contacts from list, enter the message text or select a predefined message, and click Send. The figure below shows the steps.

Netsize mMarketing - Send an SMS campaign. (c) Copyright 2010 Netsize www.netsize.com

Try mMarketing now
No access to mMarketing yet? Register here for a free 30-day trial of Netsize mMarketing, the easy solution to mobile marketing campaigns and business mobile messaging using SMS.

More tips & tricks:
mMarketing tip #1: Send a quick SMS message
mMarketing tip #2: Send an SMS campaign
mMarketing tip #3: Import your mobile contact database

What better way to reach someone urgently than via SMS. Netsize mMarketing makes it easy for you. Login to mMarketing, and use the Quick Message box on the home page to send the message. The figure below shows how it is done.

Netsize mMarketing - Send a quick SMS message. (c) Copyright 2010 Netsize www.netsize.com

Try mMarketing now
No access to mMarketing yet? Register here for a free 30-day trial of Netsize mMarketing, the easy solution to mobile marketing campaigns and business mobile messaging using SMS.

More tips & tricks:
mMarketing tip #1: Send a quick SMS message
mMarketing tip #2: Send an SMS campaign
mMarketing tip #3: Import your mobile contact database

With Netsize mMarketing you now have an easy to use solution for business messaging and mobile marketing campaigns using SMS. Try it out for yourself. Register here for a free 30-day trial of Netsize mMarketing.

mMarketing tips & tricks:
mMarketing tip #1: Send a quick SMS message
mMarketing tip #2: Send an SMS campaign
mMarketing tip #3: Import your mobile contact database

Netsize, a leading mobile commerce and communications enabler, today revealed the first results of the Mobile Trends Survey 2010. Drawing from an online survey of 1,000+ professionals and practitioners, the survey provides insights into key trends that top the industry agenda, including the advance of mobile applications stores, progress towards global mobile commerce and the pivotal importance of mobile as a means to bridge our virtual and physical worlds.

Using the occasion of M-Days – one of Europe’s biggest mobile industry events and exhibitions held in Munich, Germany – Netsize provided conference attendees, industry influencers and key bloggers a sneak peek into the controversial survey results, starting with respondents’ views on app store leaders and the enablers that give them and their offers the competitive edge.

According to the survey, the vast majority (87 percent) of respondents believe the Apple App Store will be the most successful app store in the mobile space. Google’s Android Market is a distant second (60 percent), followed by Nokia’s Ovi Store (30 percent) and RIM’s BlackBerry App World (27 percent). Surprisingly, applications stores run by mobile operators finished low in the list, indicating that platform providers and handset makers may well dominate the space for a time to come.

When asked to rate the unique selling proposition of application stores over other software distribution and sales channels, 65 percent of respondents put convenience (“everything in one place”) at the top of the list. This was followed by compatibility “software applications specific to the device”), choice (“a long tail of thousands of applications to choose from”), and ease of payment (“operator billing, for example”).

Netsize, provider of operator billing solutions to most of the large mobile device vendors for their application stores, released the application store survey findings to the stage for a lively discussion of the future of mobile and the role of software application stores during “Mobile Trends 2020, Mobile Research and App-Commerce: What Comes Next in Europe?” The M-Days session was led and moderated by Peggy Anne Salz, mobile thought leader and MSearchGroove Founder and Chief Analyst.

The complete mobile trends survey results – which cover topics related to mobile entertainment, mobile marketing, mobile commerce, mobile payments and mobile convergence – will be released as part of the Netsize Guide 2010, a comprehensive mobile industry analysis and almanac published by Netsize and written by MSearchGroove’s Salz. Netsize will launch the Netsize Guide 2010 on February 16, 2010 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Netsize offers mobile payment solutions based on operator billing (through premium SMS, MMS and WAP for example) for 100 mobile operators in 28 countries, reaching over 1 billion billable subscribers worldwide, and provides mobile messaging, with SMS and MMS delivery to over 200 countries.

Netsize was founded in 1999 by Stanislas Chesnais, who will remain as CEO. Prior to this capital increase, Gemalto already held 24% of Netsize. Headquartered in Levallois Peret, near Paris, France, Netsize employs approximately 180 people. Netsize will continue to operate as a stand-alone company within the Gemalto Group.

Olivier Piou, Chief Executive Officer of Gemalto, stated: “Gemalto invested in Netsize back in 2001 and was the first and largest outside investor in Netsize. It is natural extension of our long term relationship that Gemalto now becomes Netsize’s majority shareholder. Netsize’s mobile payment platform complements our rapidly expanding mobile software and services offering.”

“Netsize has been a pioneer in mobilizing business and commerce” commented Philippe Vallée, Executive Vice President for Telecom at Gemalto. “Netsize’s “one click” mobile payment solution is a key brick in enabling the monetization of mobile phone downloads and app-stores”.

Stanislas Chesnais, Founder and CEO of Netsize, added “Gemalto’s investment will facilitate our expansion into new markets such Latin America, Africa and South East Asia. We look forward to leveraging Gemalto’s digital security technology to make mobile payments even more pervasive and convenient”.

Investor Relations
Vincent Biraud
M.: +33(0) 6 08 48 33 23
vincent.biraud@gemalto.com

Corporate Communication
Rémi Calvet
M.: +33(0) 6 22 72 81 58
remi.calvet@gemalto.com

About Netsize
Netsize is a leading mobile communications and commerce enabler. Netsize solutions include Mobile Messaging, with SMS and MMS delivery in 200 countries; Mobile Payment through operator-based billing (Premium SMS, MMS and WAP) in 28 countries; and Mobile Content Management platforms with publishing & editing tools to manage messaging services and mobile Internet portals. Netsize manages more than 60 million mobile transactions per month for 800 customers worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies. With 180 employees in 10 offices worldwide, Netsize provides both robust technical infrastructure and marketing expertise to support this successful deployment on a global scale.

For more information about Netsize please visit www.netsize.com

About Gemalto
Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2008 annual revenues of €1.68 billion, and 10,000 employees operating out of 75 offices, research and service centers in 40 countries.

Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society. The freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work—anytime, anywhere—has become an integral part of what people want and expect, in ways that are convenient, enjoyable and secure.

Gemalto delivers on the growing demands of billions of people worldwide for mobile connectivity, identity and data protection, credit card safety, health and transportation services, e-government and national security. We do this by supplying to governments, wireless operators, banks and enterprises a wide range of secure personal devices, such as subscriber identification modules (SIM), Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) in mobile phones, smart banking cards, smart card access badges, electronic passports, and USB tokens for online identity protection. To complete the solution we also provide software, systems and services to help our customers achieve their goals.

As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years.
For more information please visit www.gemalto.com.