As 2009 winds down and we all take a well-earned break, it is interesting to look back at the past year and reflect on the changes that have occurred.

Some were expected and some came as a complete surprise. But overall, despite the worst global economic crisis in over 50 years, mobile advertising and marketing continued to advance at a rapid pace.

So here is our take on five of the most interesting developments of 2009, and five that we think will be important for 2010. more»

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A recent poll released by Deloitte shows that the recession has had a strong impact on the media consumption habits of American consumers.

Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy Survey Fourth Edition revealed that television is again gaining in popularity, gaming is growing, and the mobile is being used for an increasing diverse set of activities. more»

In a move to link online content to real world locations, Google has launched a new QR-code based Favorite Places on Google program.

Google has identified the top 100,000 most searched stores in the US, and has sent them a window decal that includes a unique QR code. When consumers scan the code with their phone, they go directly to a Google mobile web Place Page about the business. more»

Sometimes a new technology will suddenly hit a magic “tipping point”, and all of a sudden you read about it everywhere – news sites, blogs, conferences, your friends, etc.

These days, it looks as though Mobile Augmented Reality has reached that tipping point and has now become one of the hottest topics in the mobile arena.

It’s already clear that mobile AR will have many applications in the area of mobile advertising and marketing, so we thought it would be a good time to take a more detailed look at the current state of this exciting new technology and the ways it can be used to create consumer engagement.
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With today’s instantaneous and pervasive communications, it is easy to become obsessed about the near term: getting the latest news, the most recent industry developments, and projections for what the next few months will bring.

But sometimes it is good to sit back, take a broader view, and think long term about where our industry is heading.

OgilvyOne and Acision teamed up to do just that, and they put together a very interesting whitepaper: Mobile Advertising: 2020 Vision. It’s well worth the time to download and read. more»

Juniper Research has released a new market forecast that looks at the area of augmented reality apps on mobile.

Their conclusion is everything is now in place so that mobile AR should enter a period of rapid growth over the next several years. more»

A new service called Google Goggles has been launched by Google labs. It is intended to let consumers use the camera on their phone as an input for search: simply point the phone’s camera at an object, and then receive back information about that object.
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This week the critical UN Climate Change Conference is being held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Leaders from around the world will work to set a plan to handle the climate change challenge.

Mobile advertising is being used to help spread this message and engage people around the world with this movement. more»

Orange, the worldwide mobile operator, has jumped into the mobile apps game by announcing their own on-device “Orange Application Shop”, where millions of Orange customers will be able to download applications, games, ringtones and wallpapers.
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The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today announced that global CEO and President Mike Wehrs will resign effective December 31, 2009.

Mike has led the association for the past year and will continue on as Special Advisor to the MMA board until June 30, 2010. more»

Japanese start up Tonchidot, the company behind the very popular Augmented Reality browser Sekai Camera, has announced a new round of financing totaling $4 million.

The funds were raised from DCM and existing investor ITOCHU Technology Ventures, and will be used to continue development of Tonchidot’s AR products. more»