A lot of free viral marketing does happen over the Internet – yes they do not get paid to post about products and services and campaigns – but that’s because the incentives are not quantified in terms of cold cash. Instead, these “grassroots viral marketers” are in it for the prestige, the “being part of something” feeling, and because they believe that spreading the word forms part of their web site’s advocacy.

But what happens when viral marketing creeps upon the realm of spam?

Easy Marketing Blog refers to these three ways to make viral campaigns more attractive to say YES to:

Offer exclusive content. Anyone can offer ring tones. It’s the unique content, such as exclusive mobile images of new brand concepts, that drives interest and calls them out in other media like e-mail campaigns, newsletters, websites, etc. So a wireless campaign is most effective when it offers exclusive content for wireless devices.

Make it useful and timely. Think about what would be handy and helpful to have on a mobile device. Last year, for example, Food Network enabled Sprint customers to download shopping lists for their Thanksgiving dinners. There was a lot of “Sprint-envy” going around among non-sprint customers.

Clearly define objectives. Usually, one of two business objectives drives successful mobile experiences: incremental revenue of brand intimacy. On the intimacy factor, a text message usually takes priority over almost any other form of communication. Why? Because we haven’t yet been saturated with mobile spam, and this is what causes us to prioritize wireless messaging over voice.

Do I agree to these? Well, yes and no. In an ideal world offering exclusive content would be a good thing for the mere fact that these are branded as exclusive. But in the real world, a person’s mobile phone is sacrosanct.

My personal experience is that I’d want to have full control of the stuff that gets sent into my phone via my carrier. Which is why I don’t subscribe to ringtones, jokes or even news. That stuff I can get through the Internet, when I want them.

Post from: Cellphone9

I think it’s too early for Apple to pull a fast one and come up with a new product like a smartphone. As to what ancestry it should come from, whether it should be more iPod than phone, or more phone than iPod or more MacBook than phone, only time will tell.

Really nice Mac Pro though.

Post from: Cellphone9

Perhaps the biggest question on the minds of readers would be whether the twisting mechanism provides a good UI compliment for phone and multimedia. The answer is that it wins 2/3 times failing in the realm of the camera. Tilting the bottom half perpendicular to the screen makes it a bit uncomfy for taking shots since the “shoot me!” button is naturally programmed as the 5-way joystick. If you use your right hand, you’d feel awkward. If you use your left hand, you’d cover the screen. Of course you can always shoot using the standard candybar mode but you’d have to press buttons instead of flipping the phone – which is like, the coolest thing.

The music player is semi-decent. It must be noted that the 3250 comes with a set of In-ears which is a huge plus. The big minus is that the expansion card slot is located NOT on the side of the phone but between the flipping mechanisms. It was sooo hard to locate and open.

[Full specs here]

Post from: Cellphone9

I grabbed my camera to take a shot but when the evil demo guy saw me whip out my Olympus, he grabbed the unit and with some sleight of hand, stuffed it somewhere never to be seen again. Oh noes, my bad.

What I just saw was the rumored XDA II Mini Pro, a Wi-Fi enabled Windows Mobile 5.0 device that also comes with a thumb board, which reveals itself from the left side of the unit. Ingenious! The side-popping (surprise!) keypad takes advantage of Windows Mobile 5.0’s landscape view, so you can use the XDA II Mini Pro as a mobile office (landscape mode) or as a phone / PDA (portrait mode) with a lot of ease.

Paparazzi details from CNET Asia

Post from: Cellphone9