I was checking out the BlackjackSmartZone Forums and came across this post.

It looks like spam at first glance, but it’s actually M:Metrics extending their data collection to the Cingular Blackjack (Samsung i607) via a memory resident program for Windows Mobile that sits around and watches what you do.

You get $15 for signing up and installing the software, then $5/month thereafter as long as you run the software. Given the amount of people they want to sample, this kind of thing must add up to some serious cost for them. I guess that’s why M:Metrics reports are so expensive!

Apparently they have it running on the T-Mobile Dash as well. Anyone know what other phones they have going?

They really are looking like the Nielsen Ratings for mobile now. It reminds me of when Nielsen came to my house when I was young and attached a box to our TVs. They knew when I was watching TV but also when I was playing Atari or using my Commodore 64 by monitoring the TV/Video switch in the back. All the data was sent to a box downstairs and uploaded each night to their servers over the phone. Porting software versus creating an entire hardware and skilled labor infrastructure throughout the US – looking at it that way, M:Metrics has it easy!