Geoworks Corp. last week introduced its Discopro.com free mobile information service, which delivers discount and promotional messages to subscribers’ pagers or text-enabled phones.
Interested users select which participating retailers they wish to receive advertising from, and then are sent electronic discount coupons and news of promotional events via their wireless device.
Participating companies include Virgin Megastores, T.G.I. Fridays, Noah’s Bagels, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Egghead.com, Roundtable Pizza, CD World, Hollywood Video, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Bedandbath.com, J. Crew, Pro Flowers, Webtickets, Shopwireless, Opals International, Omaha Steaks, Hunter Bay Coffee, Sportstore.com Magmall, Magellan GPS and Hotel Discount.
Geoworks eventually intends to offer other types of content services through the program, and brand them with advertising to keep the service free. However, company executives believe the advertising promotions themselves constitute a form of value-added content.
“There’s a fine line between what they feel is content and what is advertising,” said Dave Grannan, Geoworks chief executive officer. The idea, he said, is to position the ads more as a service than as advertising, because users will be able to choose the type of promotions they receive based on what they want and use.
Interested users will be directed to a Web site, powered by Geoworks’ Premion Server+, where they can detail what promotions they wish to receive. They then enter their carrier’s name and type and number of device used. Geoworks’ server can retrieve the content from the company’s content providers, format it to best suit the type of network and device used and send it to each device through the e-mail gateway of each carrier.
“This is the first direct-to-consumer-based service,” Grannan said. “It challenges all to see the phone screen as a similar medium as television and computer screens for advertising.”
Grannan said the company is targeting the Generation X age group of 25-35 years. He said Geoworks will roll out other services in coming quarters, as well as launch the service in the United Kingdom.
First expected is a calendaring function that will brand reminder alerts with an appropriate promo. Later, the company will poll existing users to determine what information content services to add.
