"Nokia has already announced its intention to be a leading company in consumer Internet services and we believe that mobile advertising will be an important element in monetizing those services for our customers and partners. Enpocket’s mature leading edge platform and people expertise are a strong fit with Nokia existing capabilities in the mobile advertising market," said Tero Ojanpera, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia.

"This acquisition is a game changing move to bring the reach and depth of Nokia to organize the market across the world, and make it easier for an ecosystem to develop."

Enpocket is a privately owned company that launched in 2001 and is headquarted in Boston, Massachusetts.  The technology that drives Enpocket platform is a mobile advertising campaign management and delivery system. The platform can provide mobile advertising across multiple formats including SMS, MMS, mobile Internet advertising and video.

"Effective interactive advertising on the mobile device can create tremendous value for the mobile industry while bringing new Internet services to people around the world," said Enpocket President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Baker.

"Enpocket and Nokia are combining to provide the leadership needed to define, build and standardize globally the business of mobile advertising so that brands can easily and efficiently engage consumers on their personal devices."

They found that one large automaker had CTR’s of around 8 percent. These mobile CTR’s are higher than most online campaigns.

Mike Baker of Enpocket said the automaker did well because the material was engaging and rewarded the consumer with content.

"Consumers are called to action through mobile banner ads promoting content sponsored by the brand – ringtones from a trendy music festival – and then brought to a slick-looking WAP site that features downloads, screen savers featuring sexy shots of the new model, viral ‘send to a friend’ mechanics and a location-aware dealer finder that allows consumers to click-to-call a local dealer to test-drive the car," said Mr. Baker.

Mobile functions that can attract users attention and lead to action include click to call, click for a coupon, click to subscribe, click to locate, click to win and click to download.

The quarterly analysis from Enpocket Insight helps marketers and wireless carriers understand the changing patterns of mobile usage.

The latest mobile media monitor from Enpocket reveals that penetration of mobile phones in the US is increasing rapidly – the penetration rose 8% from 53% in Q2 to 61% in Q3 of 2004. This means there are now 128 million adults using a mobile phone in the US.

While mobile is often thought of as a youth medium, Enpocket found that the peak of adoption actually occurs in the 35-49 year age group, where 7 out of 10 people use a mobile phone. There is also a very strong correlation between phone use and income – for those earning less than $20,000 per year the penetration is only 38% – rising to 83% for those earning $75,000 or higher.

The Mobile Media Monitor also indicates increased sophistication of usage in the US market. The fastest growing media downloads are Java and BREW games, which show a 75% increase quarter over quarter. In Q2 there were 4.4 million adults downloading games to their phones – this has risen to 7.7 million in Q3. This growth is particularly dramatic in the 18-25 year age group. In Q2 11% (or 2 million) of 18-25 year-old phone owners were downloading games – rising to 22% (4 million) by Q3 2004.

The following results show significant increases in the number of adults downloading all media types:

– Graphics (wallpaper, icons, logos, etc) has increased at an incredible rate – 57% increase to 11 million active adults

– People downloading monophonic ringtones (the most popular downloadable media type) has increased 32% to 18.6 million adults

– Similarly polyphonic ringtones have increased 28% to 11 million adults

The other area of significant change in the US market is the use of text to interact with media. While still in its infancy, an increasing number of media vehicles offering text as an interactive path to their consumers are producing real changes in usage patterns. Three percent of adult phone users claim to have sent a text message to a TV show – more than double the previous quarter, and two percent have sent a text to a radio station – again more than double Q2 figure.

“As the demand for content on mobile phones increases, it presents a huge opportunity for brands to connect with their customers anywhere they are on this truly personal device,” commented Jonathon Linner, CEO of Enpocket. “The Mobile Media Monitor offers invaluable insight into the evolving mobile marketing and behavioral space, allowing marketers and carriers to deliver more valuable content to consumers.”

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