A new wave of the cell phone market has begun: the release of the iPhone SDK. While there has been a small market for mobile based applications, entirely new companies, some supported by KPCB’s $100 million iFund, will be spawned to produce iPhone supported applications. While the actual extent of this marketplace is still unclear, it still hits with the same sincerity that something is happening in the mobile world. I’d bet it’s unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Mobile marketing and mobile content distribution functions at a more powerful level than electronic newsletter subscriptions. Undoubtedly, electronic newsletter subscriptions are key to maintaining close access to former customers, current customers, and future customers. At the touch of a button, businesses can easily deliver news to the e-mail boxes of subscribers. Therefore, users are receiving their content when you need them to, and not when they stumble upon it, many weeks later - if ever.

The truth is, those were valuable, back when users were subscribed to a select few lists and were more open to mass e-mails. Now users are opting out of these newsletters or driving them to their junk box; this brings new value to the RSS feed, allowing users to have yet another method to cleanly manage information they wanted to read while sparing their inboxes. While, the RSS reader is still increasing in value, it does not hit the key point of business marketing: reliably pinging your audience at the crucial moment - the tipping point.

Don’t forget: the iPhone has SMS!

The beauty of the SMS subscription list, is the dedication of carrier networks to maintain a user’s control over the content they receive on their device. These policies will protect SMS messaging from reaching the spam fate of e-mail, so users can feel confident in checking their mobile device each time it receives a new message. Utilizing the right platform allows companies to broadcast their information with the same ease-of-use as e-mail list-serves, but with higher click-thru rates, and more successful calls-to-action. Therefore, harnessing the ubiquity of text messaging, requires a not only a useable and customizable mobile marketing platform, but also a team experienced in promptly meeting carrier compliance requirements.

With the amount of applications that will hit the AppStore, developers need to be thinking outside the inbox.

- Ainsworth