Credit cards are abundant. I mean financial companies provide such a wide variety of credit card services that I sometimes admire their marketers (or whoever) who offers new and new ideas for attracting credit card customers (you can compare the speed of new credit cards invented with a speed of new cell phones launched on the market):

• Balance Transfer Cards
• Business Credit Cards
• Cash Back Credit Cards
• Fixed APR Credit Cards
• Instant Decision Cards
• Low APR on Purchases
• Rewards Credit Cards
• Student Credit Cards
• Travel Reward Cards

Need more types? Here you are:

• Auto Rebate Cards
• Cards for Parents
• Gas Rebate Cards
• Hotel Reward Cards
• Sports Reward Card

And I am sure that the list is not complete.

Have you ever used a credit card that earns money for your chosen organization as you spend (affinity credit card)? I have not. If you would like to see more innovation credit card ideas browse (or, probably, bookmark) this bank website.

UO TXT Service

Among the ways of paying for the services and merchandise without having to lose touch with every day chores, SMS payments are growing in their popularity.

Purchases via text messages are already widely spread in Korea and Japan, and these countries are joined by the US. Using the service one can buy anything – from a can to a vehicle.

The editor-in-chief of the magazine “CosmoGIRL!” Suzan Schultz, stated that buying product via calls or the Internet are far less convenient than via text messages. During the summer her magazine was selling lots of goods with the help of the new service: from Sean John’s sun glasses to Samsung mobile phones.

Suzan Schultz commented:

“When you are reading a magazine, you’re not necessarily by your computer. But if you’re in the mall and there’s a long line at the Gap, you can text the code, and the item is delivered to your house. It’s scarily easy.”

This was exactly the reason for the launch of the service UO TXT in the US. And although the service has been working since June, only now it is gaining popularity and growing fast. A few of the hugest magazines like “Glamour,” “Lucky” and “Stuff” are already using the service for selling products. “Stuff” publisher commented on the new service: “You can shop without getting off your couch. It’s the least hassle.”

It is peculiar that the sellers don’t consider their audience to be limited to the youth only, as more and more grown-ups are interested in using text messages for making purchases. Children teach their parents, and the new phone models make the latter get new skills in text typing when sending e-mails and messages.

The tendency for the usage of mobile devices among the adults the following: Text messaging has grown seven times faster for adults ages 45 to 64 than for teens.

Mark Kaplan, founder and chief marketing officer at ShopText, says:

“Kids are teaching their parents. Plus, Blackberrys and Treos are training people with the habit of typing messages into their phone.”

The new service is supported by ShopText and PayPal.

Mobile Advertisement Development Prognosis by Kelsey Group

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Technorati Tags: mobile web, mobile Internet, mobile adds, mobile advertisement, mobile software, mobile web 2.0, mobile web page, mobile wireless internet, advertising mobile, UO TXT, SMS, PayPal, ShopText

The company Kelsey Group has published the forecast of the development of the mobile advertising market according to the results of its research.

At the moment Mobile advertising has a great potential, but nowadays even in the US the segment doesn’t get much public attention. Recently a great number of studies and research campaigns show significant increase in the number of mobile devices compared to the number of PCs, which resembles the development of the Internet. Although the features of Mobile advertising are being spoken about for a long time, there isn’t any practical realization of the ideas. In the years to come, the picture will incredibly change, according to the company’s prognosis.

The forecast mentions that the profit from Mobile advertising will rise from the current $33.2 million to $1.4 billion by 2012 with the average growth of 112%.

The research divided the market into 3 segments: sponsor-add services, mobile Internet (advertising while searching, surfing), multi-profile applications. The maximum growth will be reached for the first two segments: the profits of sponsor-add services will increase from $270 million in 2007 to $2.1 billion in 2012, and the number of mobile Internet users will grow from 37.9 million in 2007 to 91.7 million in 2012.

The company stated a number of basic reasons for the development of mobile advertising:

• Top-line search growth is slowing
• Google, the largest search engine in terms of share and revenues, has considerable ad overhang, meaning advertisers want to spend more money than current traffic levels can support
• The mobile and search markets are linked, and Kelsey Group believes market share in one could affect the other
• U.S. carrier dominance and the proliferation of voice query products (like ad-sponsored DA) mean an increase in dial-around services that attempt to circumvent the carrier deck using voice in and data out
• GPS handset devices are growing in popularity, and 50 percent replacement is expected within five years, allowing improved mobile applications
• Yellow Pages companies such as AT&T are executing on a multi-channel ad business

MySpace Goes Mobile. Fox Interactive Launces More Mobile Services

mobile web, mobile Internet, mobile adds, mobile advertisement, mobile software, mobile web 2.0, mobile web page, mobile wireless internet, advertising mobile

Technorati Tags: mobile web, mobile Internet, mobile adds, mobile advertisement, mobile software, mobile web 2.0, mobile web page, mobile wireless internet, advertising mobile