One down, 11 to go. Months, that is, and already, 2010 looks like being another frantic year for everyone in the mobile space. The year got off to a flying start as Apple responded to Googles decision to buy AdMob by snapping up rival mobile ad network Quattro Wireless, closely followed by Amobee Media Systems, which announced that it was buying mobile media firm RingRing Media. And that wasnt the end of the buying spree as, later in the month, Opera Software bought another mobile advertising firm, AdMarvel, and Mobixell Networks acquired mobile Internet firm, 724 Solutions.
Google unveiled its first Google-branded phone, the Nexus One, developed in conjunction with HTC. Not quite the same levels of excitement as that generated by Apples iPad later in the month, perhaps, but still a sign of Googles commitment to the mobile space. The iPhone was, inevitably, in the news too, as Vodafone in the UK revealed that it had needed just eight days to sell 100,000 iPhones since the device launched on its network on 14 January.
Orange and Barclaycard launched a contactless credit card which offers customers the option to set their own spending levels and a choice in how they are kept up-to-date with their account. No one was saying when the mobile version might appear though. Orange also became the latest mobile operator to let advertisers target its customers on their phones with the launch of Orange Shots. The service is launching with 100,000 subscribers who have opted in to receive ads on their phone.
Still on the mobile advertising front, mobile media agency Fetch Media, which launched in November 2009 in partnership with cross media agency AdConnection, revealed that it had picked up five accounts in the two months since it launched, and said that it expects to be billing 100,000 per month by February. Any company that can take the pain out of buying mobile media deserves to do well, and probably will, while there are so few of them around.
A report from Juniper Research painted a bright future for Augmented Reality (AR), predicting that the annual number of mobile downloads featuring AR content would surge from less than 1 million in 2009 to more than 400 million by 2014. According to Juniper, location-based search apps will account for the majority of all AR downloads over the next five years, but by 2014, games will have achieved nearly 30% of all downloads per annum.
Another study, forming part of the Mobile section of the UK National Gamers Survey Report conducted by TNS and Gamesindustry.com revealed that UK mobile users spent 170 million on games for their phones in 2009. And on the mobile apps front, a report from Gartner forecast that consumers would spend no less than $6.2 billion (3.8 billion) in mobile application stores in 2010.
Finally, digital promotions company Vouchercloud revealed that it had begun final beta testing for its mobile discount voucher iPhone application of the same name, which delivers money-off vouchers direct to the device. Retail chains signed up to the scheme include Fitness First, Slug and Lettuce, Karen Millen, and Chessington World of Adventures. So could this be the year that mobile vouchers take off? Who knows, but if you want to find out what is hot and whats not in the world of mobile marketing, check back in regularly. If its happening, youll read about it here first.

David Murphy
Editor