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Advertisers will be able to reach a wider group of mobile users across multiple platforms on high-traffic mobile websites and applications with new additions to Adforce, the mobile ad network.

Kevin Foley of Adforce, which is part of the Irish digital communications company Digital Reach Group, said this offers a highly effective means to reach thousands of mobile users across different platforms including the increasingly popular Android.
Alongside mobile websites for Vodafone, RTE and Meteor as well as the RTE News Now applications, websites and apps now part of the Adforce network include:
RTE Radio Websites and Apps for 2FM, RTE Radio 1, RTE’s Pocket Player app; Communicorp websites and apps for 98FM, Today FM, Newstalk and Spin 103.8; Northern Irish mobile applications for Independent News and Media including propertynews, jobfinderni and carfinderni; Popular dining mobile website menupages.ie and Georgina Campbell’s Ireland Guide App.
Foley said that he had observed more and more big brand names embrace the mobile medium. “This month alone over 20 campaigns are running on our network from brands such as Heineken, 3 Mobile, Guinness, Bord Gáis, Paddy Power and UCD.”

Smart thinking owners of smart phones and other hand held devices who opt for protective covers to save their precious devices from accidental damage have contributed to the creation of opportunities for jobseekers in Ireland.
Up to 50 jobs are to be created over two years in Cork with the arrival of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) HQ of OtterBox, an innovator of protective solutions for leading global handheld manufacturers, wireless carriers and distributors.

The new headquarters will employ people in positions as varied as in-house sales, customer service, accounting, engineering, public relations, marketing, web design, graphics, supply chain, human resources and warehousing.
The Colorado-headquartered company is being supported by Government through IDA Ireland. Making the announcement, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe TD said that the Cork operation will be at the heart of the firm’s global growth.
“The firm’s decision to establish its EMEA headquarters in Cork reaffirms the county’s global reputation as a hub for innovation and advanced product design and production, with access to an educated and skilled workforce and modern transport infrastructure.”
OtterBox designs and produces device specific protective covers for high value smartphones and handheld devices.
Built upon fundamentals of hard work, innovation and perseverance, the company incorporates creativity and cutting-edge design into every product.

The battle of the pricing plans is well underway with mobile phone company Meteor the latest to announce its iPad microsim deals.
After months of speculation as to when the iPad would be sold in Ireland it went on sale here last Friday. Consumers who faced uncertainty on which model to go for, now have a choice of data plans to choose from, if they plumped for the Wifi + 3G model.

Last Tuesday Vodafone and O2 revealed their pricing plans, followed by 3 on Wednesday and Meteor on Monday. First off the blocks with Micro Sim data plans was Cubic Telecom. The Irish headquartered mobile network operator, Cubic Telecom launched what it says is Europe’s first SIM card for the new iPad 3G, in May. The SIM card costs €75 and comes pre loaded with 50MB of data.
Meteor currently seems to come out best on its daily tariff for Micro Sim data at €2.99 per day on prepay and free on billpay for customers who sign up to Broadband to Go plans. This deal also includes access to Eircom’s wifi hotspots, which is good news for anybody with a Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad
02’s iPad data tariffs will be available without a minimum term contract and include free access to Bitbuzz Wi-Fi hotspots in Ireland. The tariffs are 500MB for €3.97 a day (for 24hrs) and 5GB for €19.90 monthly (for 30 days).
Similarly, all of Vodafone Ireland’s data plans will be available without a contract. It has launched two commitment-free plans specifically tailored for iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models, a 1 day and 30 day plan - available to customers using Vodafone Micro SIMs. The 1 Day Plan is ideal for customers who want to use mobile broadband on their iPad occasionally and the 30 Day Plan caters for customers who want to browse the web, download music and update apps on their iPad while on the move throughout the month. The 1 day plan costs €3.99 for 500MB of data per day and the 30 day plan, €20 for 5GB of data per month
3 is also offering data plans without a contract -  €9.99 a month for 1GB and €19.99 for 15 GB of data a month.

Not sure how to get an app to market? The answer could be warehousing. According to a recently released in-depth report from GoMo News, which has offices in Ireland and has been reporting on mobile strategy for the last four years, there is a growing trend of selling applications through distributed shopfronts. This model is called the ‘warehouse’, because all of the shopfronts are supplied from a central source.

Cian O’Sullivan, GoMo News Chief Reporter, explains that the Apple Store and the Google Market are “Direct-to-Consumer” (D2C) application shops. “This means that they allow Google and Apple to sell apps to smartphone owners with no middle-men. However, it’s also an incredibly resource-heavy way to sell applications. It requires a lot of employees and man hours dedicated to creating the tools and environment that developers need to profit from your platform.”
Both companies created their own platforms to sell applications on, he adds. “In contrast, warehouses aren’t tied to their own platform. They store and sell applications for any mobile platform or device. Warehouses invite developers to pool their apps in a central location – the ‘warehouse’ – and from here the apps can be sold through any number of shopfronts.”
The report examines the business models, strategies and successes of three different warehouse sellers: GetJar, Djuzz and Apprupt.
In response to requests from its readers and mobile companies to offer more detailed insights, GoMo News decided to carry out research and create a series of reports. The warehouse report is the first in a series of in-depth looks into segments of the mobile industry
For more details, graphs and an in-depth look into the warehouse model, see the full report on http://www.gomonews.com/category/mobile-industry-reports.
Over four years of reporting on mobile strategy, GoMo News has built up a strong industry following and insight into the mobile arena. It is open to suggestions and requests for report topics, both in partnership or as paid research.

As any non-iPhone smartphone owner will know, just because an app is available on one device doesn’t mean it’s immediately available on every device.
However, a Waterford-based company, FeedHenry is to take away the pain felt by developers and companies having to start over every time they want to develop an app for a different platform.
FeedHenry is a spin out company from Waterford-based research institute, TSSG (Telecommunications Software and Systems Group) and is a pay-as-you-go cloud solutions provider of business applications for smartphones and social networks.

Claire Phelan, Online Services Manager at the company, which also has offices in Boston and Silicon Valley, explains FeedHenry has taken the research and expertise within TSSG and applied this to its offering which addresses challenges in the mobile apps environment.
Phelan says that the mobile apps scene in particular has exploded over the last few years but other device manufacturers and operator are catching up with leader Apple. “What is now happening is there are a lot of different platforms being used for the development of apps.” Phelan explains if somebody wants to develop an app for another platform they need to recreate or start from scratch every time because they are all written in different languages.
“The solution we provide is based on web-based technologies. It means you can write an app once and deploy anywhere across all different types of mobile from Nokia to Apple through to social media sites through to your desktop,” she explains.
“Instead of targeting your iPhone users you can now target a market. You’re not restricted any more by costs or resources, you don’t have to buy in software and hardware. You literally can just log in to the FeedHenry platform, develop your app, see how it works. We’ll help you if you need the support.”
FeedHenry, she says, has addressed very thoroughly the issue of fragmentation in the industry and the issue of convergence.
FeedHenry provides the environment for developers to write and test apps and also provides professional services for those that don’t have experience in this area. Examples of how the solution can be used include: integrating an app with backend systems for enterprises or deploying them into Facebook or Twitter or the Apple store or Vodafone 360 store. It also is able to switch on advertising within apps.
FeedHenry recently won an award at CTIA WIRELESS 2010 in Las Vegas. Founded by Barry Downes, the company’s CEO is Cathal McGloin who is mostly based in the US.

See http://feedhenry.eventbrite.com to sign up for a free interactive session on the FeedHenry cloud platform to be held from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday may 19th in the Science Gallery in Dublin.