Stephen Nold

Free Cell Phones? Only from Google
October 12, 2007

One of my favorite consumer advocates radio personalities is Clark Howard who thrives on providing common sense answers to all types of financial matters. Recently he mentioned that Google is trying to develop a cell phone for free in return for watching ads on it.

Supposedly it is has been one of the worst kept secrets in the electronics industry.  It is public knowledge that Google is getting ready to bid on a section of the wireless radio frequency at an upcoming federal auction.  There is no confirmation from Google for any of this.

The ramifications of applying TV-type commercials for consumers on cell phones would set the cellular industry on end. Further impact of this free cellular pricing model would extend dramatically into the meetings industry. What if the value of the content delivered over the phone provided enough justification to major advertisers to sponsor cellular devices for the tradeshow floor?

If exhibitors and sponsors could count on a device that would always be carried and used by attendees across events, without a major investment by show management or exhibitors, how would lead retrieval and social networking solutions adjust? Quite well, I suspect. 

I recall enjoyable arguments with Greg Brasher of Gartner more than five years ago on the validity of proprietary lead capture devices after cell phones had become widespread. No supplier seemed to be able to get past their own control of the device and build an open source solution.  Now that cellular prices may become free, where are those suppliers that have invested so heavily into their own platform?

According to Mr. Howard, there is already a free cell phone service available in Britain. A company called Blyk offers an ad-based service targeted at 16- to 24-year-olds. It seems that Google’s attempt at free cell phones isn’t as innovative as previously thought. It will be interesting to follow the success of Blyk and to follow Google’s attempt at winning the rights to offer this free service in the U.S. 

Posted by Stephen Nold on October 12, 2007 | Comments (0)