Insight Community

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

Google has announced its Android Market for its up-and-coming mobile technology platform, and Microsoft has similarly publicized its SkyMarket for selling applications on its Windows Mobile systems. While these developments still need to gestate for several more months before consumers can get their hands on them, what are the prospects for these projects? Do you think that more developers will result in better mobile applications for these platforms? How do you think Google and Microsoft will handle issues such as security (ie. making sure apps don't contain viruses) as well as usefulness? Will other players like Nokia follow suit? What will so many mobile app platforms mean to consumers? Will phone apps need to be compatible with other phone apps?  Are you looking forward to more open mobile platforms with third-party applications?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

The US Presidential election is getting closer and closer with major political conventions on the way. For those who can't seem to get enough news updates on the candidates, what are the best mobile-friendly communities that track the political campaigns? How can a politically-active individual keep up with their favorite politicians or issues on his/her mobile phone (beside using Google/Yahoo news)? Do you know of any innovative uses of mobile phone technologies to promote political efforts? Also, we're looking for how to follow local politics as well, not just national elections -- as long as your submission isn't too focused on a specific small town. Additionally, feel free to suggest your own topics within this subject.

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

Schools and colleges are about to resume session, so what kind of mobile phone services could make starting classes a bit easier to handle? What kinds of mobile phone tips are there for students about to meet a bunch of new classmates and roommates? What phone services would you recommend for students who may be adapting to a new and unfamiliar location? Are there services for parents to help kids adjust to new schedules -- such as the Wal-Mart/Disney wakeup call service featuring Hannah Montana? What other mobile services might help students get the most out of school or make classes more enjoyable?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

More and more mobile applications are aimed at monitoring people's health and recommending healthy foods/activities. What are some interesting mobile services or applications that can help mobile phone users stay healthy? (Note: please try to avoid iPhone-specific apps!) Do you think more mobile phones will integrate biophysical sensors -- such as heartrate monitors? Are there good mobile exercise applications or mobile dieting programs? Do you have an anecdotal story of how a mobile phone app has helped you (or someone you know) maintain a healthy regimen?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

With the Olympics poised to start in early August, how can sports fans follow their favorite events? Will NBC cover everything? What other sources of Olympic games news can be accessed on mobile phones? What do you think of Yahoo's mobile services for following the Olympics? How good do you think Fring's coverage will be? Which Olympic Twitters will be the ones to follow? How can mobile phone users keep track of the events and discuss the games?  Do you think the less mainstream sources will be more engaging to sports fans?  

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

Following the July 4th weekend, there's still plenty of Summer vacationing time left.  But if you've taken a vacation recently, have you discovered particularly useful mobile services for touring unfamiliar cities?  Have any mobile services helped you with traveling to (or around) a vacation spot? What do you think of airline tickets via mobile phones?  If you're planning a "working vacation" or just a vacation, do you know of mobile solutions that help manage "work" and "non-work" functions on the same phone?  What sort of phone accessories do you think make traveling more convenient?  Do you have any tips or recommended apps for mobile phones that could make a vacation more enjoyable?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

Nokia's announcement that it will make Symbian open source adds to a growing movement of developing more open wireless platforms.  So what are the consequences?  Will Google's Android platform, the Symbian Foundation, Openmoko and other mobile platform projects actually work together?  Or will they focus on different aspects and create differentiated devices?  Should consumers (not just developers) care about these projects?  How long will it take before these projects develop mainstream products?  What do these efforts mean for closed platforms (eg. Microsoft, Apple, etc.)?  What are the key components of a successful open source community -- and how do these open mobile platforms compare to each other?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

Redeeming online coupons usually involves printing out a barcode, but coupons sent to mobile phones could potentially be much more convenient. So where are the mobile coupon offers? Have you found good sources for mobile coupons? Have you used services like Cellfire, ZiXXo, Moblee, QponDirect, MoVoxx, etc? What are the barriers for mobile coupon adoption (for either consumers or merchants)? How will GPS on phones affect mobile coupons?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

There is an increasing number of ways to manage voicemails, especially with providers like Sprint licensing Visual Voicemail for its subscribers. But what are your favorite ways of dealing with your voicemail? Do you use services like YouMail.com or GotVoice.com? What do you think of voicemail transcription from PhoneTag and SpinVox? Or services like CallWave, Pinger, Jott, etc? Besides all these current offerings, where do you think voicemail features are headed in the future? Will Twitter ever revive Odeo?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

For some time now, local-mobile search services have promised to provide users with quick and easy ways to find nearby pizza restaurants and dry cleaners. So what are your favorite uses for local-mobile search? Have you used services like Dial Directions? Can you recommend any "cheap gas" services that are optimized for mobile phone users? What do you think the "top 10" uses of mobile-local search are?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

Symbian Ltd. turns 10 years old this June, so we're looking for some opinions on how far the Symbian OS has come -- and where it is headed in the future. If you're a developer, how effective do you think the Symbian Signed program has been? Does Google's Android platform offer a real threat to Symbian? How do you think Symbian will compete to maintain its market share as the dominant smartphone OS? Are there unique features of Symbian that will be hard to imitate? What capabilities should consumers look forward to with Symbian phones?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

While most phones come with pre-installed casual games, some folks would like games that are a bit more entertaining than a monochrome version of Tetris. There are large publishers like EA Mobile coming out with titles for mobile phones, but where are some other sources of decent games? Which phone platforms have the best (most popular) games? Which Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) have the best mobile interfaces? Given the rise of accelerometer sensors, what input methods do you prefer for mobile games? (For example, a certain Sony Ericsson cell phones uses a motion sensor to play EA Games' Need for Speed ProStreet driving game.) If you're not a mobile gamer, you could submit a short overview of mobile game genres. But if you do play mobile phone games, we're looking for how you found your favorite games and if you picked your phone based on a particular game.

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

We're looking for interesting phone apps or services that make your phone more useful to you. For example, do you use Google's GrandCentral to block undesirable calls? Have you installed any third party software on your phone that you use regularly? Have you tried any user-friendly services that can text message driving directions to your phone? Do you use any voicemail-to-text services?

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Cadbury Schweppes sells a wide variety of beverages in the US including brands like Seven-Up, Dr. Pepper, Snapple, Motts, Hawaiian Punch, Canada Dry and A&W. The company is looking for ways to go beyond the normal web offerings of online coupons, and they want to create real value for their retail partners -- using the internet to drive customers to those retailers.

They want to focus their efforts on their top retail channels in the US, like Kroger, Safeway, Food Lion, Albertson, Stop & Shop, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, YUM, 7-Eleven, CVS. The key goal is to find ways to use Cadbury Schweppes brands as an asset to bring shoppers into the stores (not just to buy Cadbury Schweppes drinks). Don't limit yourself to just focusing on drinks. The ideal project drives more interest in getting shoppers into retail partners, increasing the overall amount of consumer spending.

What innovative and new ideas are there for engaging shoppers with retailers & Cadbury Schweppes brands online that can translate to added profitable sales for retailers? Please describe specific examples of strategies that could be employed, and estimate budgetary and return on investment factors for any proposed solutions.

 

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

Just about every wireless service provider has its own mobile music service, and added to that, there are also third-party wireless music services as well. So we're looking for reviews of the most popular services. What are your opinions on the usability and value of: Verizon's VCast Music, the Sprint Music Store, AT&T's mobile music services, T-Mobile's Music, Alltel's mobile music, etc? If you don't like those services, which ones would you recommend? Do you think 'unlimited' service plans will boost adoption of any of these mobile music products?

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LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

It's only a matter of time before everyone's cell phone has a social networking app on it. In fact, phone addressbooks and service plans like T-Mobile's MyFaves already contain most of the features of a social networking app. So which mobile social networking apps are (or will be) the most popular? Will 'Bluedating' ever make it big? If you had to pick a top 5 list of social networking functions for your phone, what would they be?

LetsTalk's PhoneTalk blog wants to add new voices to its website, and they're posting regular Cases here for the Techdirt Insight Community to add interesting new content to their site. The winning submissions for each Challenge Case will be posted (perhaps with some editing) on the PhoneTalk blog -- with credits to the author. The following is LetsTalk's next assignment:

Recently, several "unlimited" wireless service plans have been introduced from Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint. Obviously trying to distinguish its service, though, Sprint has created an unlimited plan that includes not only voice, but data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, etc. But does this offer really present a significant difference? Will existing Sprint customers readily adopt features beyond SMS? Will Sprint subscribers upgrade their phones? Is there anything that may hinder Sprint's 'Simply Everything' offer? Does Sprint need to throw in its Airave service into the 'Everything' plan as well? How do the 'unlimited' plans from Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T compare? What do you think the long-term effects of introducing 'unlimited' wireless service plans will be?

A financial services firm is looking to obtain fresh Insights from alternative research. Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about Microsoft's unsolicited offer to acquire Yahoo. Now that Yahoo has formally rejected the offer, what are the ramifications on Yahoo and Microsoft? Insights that cover strengths/weaknesses/oppportunities/threats (SWOT) for both companies are a useful starting point for addressing this (ultimately approved or denied) merger. However, the Sponsor is also open to alternative forms of analysis that would enhance its existing quantitative assessment of the impact of this deal. If possible, provide anecdotal evidence from previous Yahoo (and/or Microsoft) acquisitions that might indicate where a Yahoo+Microsoft deal may be headed.