Letter of the week by Lars Becker - Oftel decision will have serious impacts for growing mobile market. Oftel's decision to cut call charges to and from mobiles is both good news and bad news for the mobile marketing industry. The mobile telephony industry is a rapidly developing one, requiring enormous investment. However, it is propably unfair to have today's consumer partly pay for this investement in a future that they haven't asked for. Besides, if they were interested in investing, they could have done so by buying shares in a mobile operator.

Management Today, February 2003 - When you start signing regular six-figure cheques to suppliers or service providers - the sort of sums you used to have to work more than a year to earn - it's a sure sign that your business has grown up. The nifty little ideas you kept going from your spare bedroom, doing your own paperwork and accounts, has grown - to your delight and (perhaps) surprise. It is time to get serious, hire more staff, put down roots that will help support long-term survival.

Incentive Today: February 2003 - The hurdles MMS must overcome before making an impact on the world of promotions should not be underestimated. The penetration rates of MMS enabled handset manufacturers and the extra cost of sending these messages, are a few of these. While another couple of years will pass before we're in the full grip of the multi-media messaging tide, there is no doubt that this is the future of mobile messaging development.

Case Study: New Media Age - 30 January 2003 - Aims: Odeon launched an aggressive campaign in July 2002 to protect and increase its market share, in response to competition in the Leeds and Bradford area. The 'TX4 Free Cinema Tkt' was a core part of this campaign. It was aimed specifically at the male teen audience, as Odeon felt that SMS was the ideal medium to get through to them. The campaign saw an initial four week trial, aiming to drive footfall to the cinema and so to increase revenues during the summer season. It was also aimed at building an SMS database for future activity.