So here we are in December already, and parents around the world are trying to figure how to tell the kids that Santa has had to lay off half his elves so things might look a bit light on the present front this year. In the world of mobile marketing, however, things are as busy as ever. Time, then, for our regular start-of-the-month recap of the highlights of the past few weeks…
By far the biggest story of last month (or any other, for that matter), was the news that Google was to buy mobile ad network AdMob for $750 million (448 million). Theres been much speculation about the real reasons behind Googles move, and much talk about what it will mean for the mobile advertising business, but the consensus seems to be that it can only increase the industrys credibility. Its also another weapon in Androids armoury, of course, and with the new breed of Android devices receiving rave reviews, an interesting battle is shaping up between Google and Apple.
Back in iPhone land, Orange began selling the device on 10 November, while Tesco Mobile, a 50:50 joint venture between Tesco and O2, said it hoped to release the iPhone for its customers before Christmas. Apple also revealed during November that there are now over 100,000 applications available in its App Store, while on a less positive note, IT security and data protection company Sophos warned iPhone users that the world's first iPhone virus was spreading in the wild in Australia. The virus, dubbed the ikee worm, breaks into iPhones, changing their lock screen wallpaper to an image of 1980s pop star Rick Astley with the message: ikee is never going to give you up. Pretty unpleasant.
A report from research firm mobileSQUARED revealed that the number of mobile broadband connections will exceed that of fixed-line broadband connections during 2011.The company forecasts that by 2011, the number of active 3G devices in the UK will be 36.3 million, as well as 6.4 million dongles/embedded devices, taking the total number of mobile broadband connections to 42.7 million, versus an expected 42.5 million broadband Internet users.
Meanwhile, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) released a study that found that  95% of digital budgets now include spend on mobile, and that 73% of marketers believe mobile will be the medium to see most growth over the next five years.
Mobile payments firm paythru published a Whitepaper which concluded that charities are missing a trick if they are not using mobile phones to raise funds. The document advises charities of all sizes to consider how one-on-one communications via mobile phones can reach new donor groups that span generations and socio-economic groups.
One charity that is already using mobile with a vengeance is BBC Children in Need. Mobile Interactive Technology (MIT) revealed that Children in Need had raised 1.75 million via mobile through 5 donations in just under a month since launching SMS donations. All money raised via the donations went directly to BBC Children in Need, thanks to mobile network operators waiving their usual fees and the Treasury levying no VAT charges. MIT powered the SMS donations via its MIDAS platform.
Samsung announced the launch of its own open mobile platform, Samsung bada, which it will release this month. Samsung says it is launching the platform in order to make a rich Smartphone experience accessible to a wider range of consumers across the world.
And UK bus operator Arriva rolled out an m-ticketing service for all of its regional services in England, Scotland and Wales. Customers can buy daily, weekly and four-weekly tickets via their mobile phones. The service has been created using mBlox Sender-Pays Data, which enables consumers to buy data-rich content via their mobile, and pay only the price of the content itself, without incurring any data download charges to their mobile.
Today, bus tickets, tomorrow, the world. As ever, check back in regularly to keep up with all thats happening in the mobile marketing universe.

David Murphy
Editor