Here’s Part 1 of the Smartphone Obsession Series that I’m producing thanks to the support of mobile messaging giant, OpenMarket.

In this first episode, I talked with Alex Meisl, Chairman at mobile marketing specialists, Sponge Group. Alex is also joint-Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association so I thought it would be fascinating to get his viewpoints first.

Is there too much obsession with smartphones in the mobile marketing arena?

Why do companies jump straight for iPhone, even when they’re marketing products and services that really don’t appeal to iPhone users?

How much influence does the argument ‘but the Chairman’s got an iPhone’ have on the decision process?

What do you do when you want to reach everyone in the mobile channel, rather than just the smartphone users?

Have a watch and find out!

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Related posts:

1. New Video Series: Is the mobile marketing industry too obsessed with smartphones?
2. The iPhone Is Creating Smartphone Marketshare, Not Stealing It
3. Mobile Marketing Association’s new blood announced

Is the mobile marketing industry far too obsessed with smartphones? That’s the question I’ll be asking in a new video series coming soon to Mobile Industry Review in association with OpenMarket, the leading global mobile transaction hub.

In the wake of Clarityn’s apparent success at achieving 70,000 downloads of their iPhone pollen count application, I sat last week wondering on whether the resources that were deployed on that project could have been better spent reaching the whole marketplace.

The big problem with marketing types is that the iPhone (and to a lesser extent, many of the Android devices) are gorgeous. Imagery renders beautifully. The UI experience is elegant. It’s utterly simple to convince the CEO that it’s the right thing to do. I firmly believe that the new mantra in today’s mobile marketing industry is ‘nobody ever got shot for building an iPhone app.

It’s all well and good, but it’s ridiculously limiting. Clarityn’s team specifically deployed the app in the knowledge that it would only work for a very, very small segment of the United Kingdom. I suspect that the app was ‘just a test’. But what about ubiquity? What about accessing the whole market? It’s not as if the billboards I see around are only compatible with 32 year old males of Scottish descent. Everyone can ‘access’ them. Similarly with TV ads, the latest audi advert works on any television. Any. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a Samsung TV or a Sony.

So what’s going on with mobile marketing and mobile marketing budgets? Why does the market — at least from my vantage point — appear to be so obsessed with smartphones when their job should be reaching everyone? Is a ‘text campaign’ just too boring, nowadays? What about the huge segments of the population who are simply ignored by the latest iPhone gizmo that no doubt cost the brand a pretty penny to develop?

Well, I’m going to check this out.

Next week I’m taking the camera equipment to the IAB Engage for Mobile event in London. I’m going to produce a series of videos from there on the subject of The Smartphone Obsession asking this key question: “Has the mobile marketing industry become too focused on smartphones?”

If you’d like to participate, let me know (ewan@mobileindustryreview.com). I’m going to be filming all day at the event and I’m working out the schedule right now. I’m aiming to produce a 5-video series, with each episode featuring an thought leader.

Standby for more information soon!

This caught my eye just moments ago from the T-Mobile UK Official Twitter account:

Superb phone for #business: #HTC Desire, unlimited texts, unlimited Calls, unlimited internet for 20 per month: http://bit.ly/d9k021

“Wow!” I thought, “20 quid a month? For a desire? How are they doing that I wondered?”

I clicked through.

Here’s what I saw:

It’s not 20 quid a month. It’s 35/month but there’s a discount for the first 3 months.

This offer itself is perfectly fine.

It is, however, patently RIDICULOUS to advertise the phone at 20/month.

The website even says: 20 a month (24 months) in bright T-Mobile branded purple.

That tells me the offer is 20 per month for 24 months, right?

No.

Because there’s more clarifying text underneath saying “(for the first 3 months, 35 thereafter)”.

Absolutely ridiculous. Completely and utterly ridiculous.

Do they think our heads button up the back?

This demonstrates yet another further erosion of the English language when it comes to mobile operators.

“Unlimited?”

Oh it’s unlimited. Until you hit the limit.

Or it’s ‘fair use’. Until we decide that fair use means a 500mb limit. (I’m looking at you, Vodafone). So you can have unlimited data. On a 500mb limit.

How long before T-Mobile starts running TV adverts for the HTC Desire at ‘20 pounds per month’ with a disclaimer saying that 20 pounds actually equals 35 pounds.

They didn’t even say in big letters on the HTC Desire special offer that it’s “20/month 3-month special offer” or anything like that. No. Ridiculous.