Since the starting gun fired on the London 2012 Olympic Games this time last week, theres been a deluge of Olympic-flavoured developments in the world of mobile marketing – and of course, we took a quick look at who was doing what. Its high time for an update – which brands took an early lead, who fell at the first hurdle, and whos just starting to pick up the pace.
While the much-feared traffic on Londons public transport so far hasnt proved too bad, the same cant quite be said for its mobile networks. The infrastructure hasnt completely crumbled, but the number of texts and tweets sent during events has overloaded data networks and had a disruptive effect on TV coverage – including the BBC, which had trouble tracking the GPS signals of cyclists last weekend due to network strain.
Official Olympic partner Samsung, meanwhile, has showed no signs of slowing down on its tie-ins, having given the Galaxy S3 a starring role in the opening ceremony, and launched Team GB-theme versions of the handset, decked out with the team logo, or a Union Jack. It also partnered up with postcard app Touchnote, to enable visitors to send printed postcards home for free.
Recently-launched social sharing app LoYakk got in on the act with its Olympic Concierge service. Embedded within the app, the service provides – as the name suggests – a personal assistant which can be texted to find out whats on, directions to venues, or availability of tickets. 
Clothing brand Ralph Lauren has bought a solo sponsorship of The New York Times iPad app throughout the Games, running Olympic-themed ads throughout the app. Developed in collaboration with New York advertising agency Medialets, the advertorial-style content includes articles, biographies, videos, and an transactional mCommerce catalogue.
With the wealth of Olympics-themed apps launching, Netherlands-based news organisation NOS has collaborated with Momac on an alternative – a mobile-optimised Olympics site which features integrated rich media about the Games, including live video and audio streaming, as well as the usual assortment of info, stats and medal counts.
And finally, its become clear that NBCs live stream of the Games isnt actually quite live – as two of its apps fell out of sync and updates from its Olympics app spoiled the result of a race still playing out on the Live Extra app. Hardly the biggest blunder on the part of NBCs Olympics coverage over the last week but, given the moment-to-moment nature of sports, it could prove a major issue.
