SEATTLE—M:Metrics unveiled its on-device media measurement technology just days after competitor Telephia Inc. filed a patent-infringement lawsuit targeting the software.
The Seattle-based market research firm said it has deployed the technology, dubbed the M:Meter, on 1,000 smart phones in the United States and United Kingdom. The software tracks consumption of mobile video and audio as well as wireless application usage and wireless Web browsing.
“As consumers become mobile, they are spending less time engaging in traditional media, such as television and radio,” said Will Hodgman, M:Metrics’ chief executive officer. “While our survey-based measurement accurately quantifies this audience, which is larger than the audience for most television shows in syndication in the U.S., the M:Meter provides even more detailed insights into the behaviors of mobile media users, which are invaluable to media companies, technology providers and network operators.”
Telephia’s lawsuit, which was filed last Friday, claims the software infringes on its patents for on-device usage tracking technology. Hodgman in a prepared statement said Telephia’s claim is “totally without merit,” and M:Metrics said its technology is patent-pending.
The lawsuit underscores the increasingly heated competition and differing methodologies between the two leaders in the mobile usage measurement space. M:Metrics conducts consumer surveys to track usage and data consumption on mass-market phones in addition to its smartphone-based M:Meter.
Telephia, by contrast, uses “bill scraping”—monitoring wireless consumers’ monthly statements—to measure mobile usage. The firm is developing on-device monitoring technology based on its patents, however.
