Since I’m a heavy DVR user, I don’t see commercials all that often. So can someone fill me in on how long this on-demand “choose your own adventure” ad tech has been around? Let me explain what happened:

1. The commercial for Sony’s Bravia TVs was on Comedy Central. In the top right corner was superimposed text “choose your ending at channel 651″ (or some channel - I don’t remember the exact one).

2. I go to the specified channel and get a selection screen to let me choose my ending, and some other links to info about the product.

3. I pick my ending, and get this:

4. I click on the URL on that page and get my commercial choice:

First of all - I’m not in the set top game, so it surprised me to see channels being reserved as on-demand for ads. Second of all - whoops. I guess it’s not all there yet.

Anyone in the know about they’re implementing this? I assume it’s a closed IP network with some html markup tuned to the box. In my case, it’s a Scientific Atlanta. Is this all proprietary? Do the providers using Motorola boxes have something completely different? What are the standards here? I’m really curious.

I’ve been using a Windows Mobile device (a Verizon XV6700) for 10 months now and have gradually warmed up to the OS after developing for it, and finally having a phone that delivers an experience that doesn’t annoy me to the point of getting rid of it.

So it’s exciting to see that the next major revision of the OS (codenamed Crossbow) will be released in devices in Q2 next year. Check out the review at Mobile-Review.

A biggie for me is the ability to search saved mailboxes on the exchange server without downloading them to the device. Till this point, one of the only reasons I forward copies of all my mail to Gmail is so that I can search through it from my phone if it’s not in my inbox. I can’t wait to try this feature out - it would speed up that whole “Oh man I know they sent me an email with the address, where was it?” frantic search moment while mobile. Oh and html message support doesn’t hurt at all either.

What’s with SIP calling built in? Yay standards! I can’t wait to compare it to Skype mobile.

Live Messenger is cool in that it lets you send over attachments and voice memos. I’ve been using Agile Messenger to do that now and it works most of the time. One problem with Agile though is that the enter key on the keyboard (as well as the select button on the navigation stick) activates the recording and sending of a voice memo. So I keep messing up while typing IMs. Just a key binding problem that they can fix.

Microsoft includes a Windows Live search feature on the Today Screen. Though handy, I’m a Google man myself, so I’ll reject their plugin and stick with SearchToday. Great app!

Of all phones, I believe that Windows Mobile is the easiest to get applications installed to. All you need to do is get a CAB file to the device and you’re all set. Download over USB, an email attachment, bluetooth push, http download, ftp download. They all work. Symbian SIS and JAD/JAR apps work pretty much that way too, but Crossbow seems to take another step ahead with third-party distribution with their Marketplace feature. According to Mobile-Review, Marketplace is:

It is a framework that allows users to browse, purchase, download, and install third-party software applications directly from their device. At that the manufacturer picks a partner that will be supporting Marketplace for his devices – the Marketplace shell itself provides only interface layout and API for third-party developers. Also, using the Marketplace you can upload add-ons for already installed applications.

So apparently this is an API (probably http-based) that lets third party developers get a first-class spot on the device where people can browse features and download their app. Yay to off-portal distribution!!

I hope I can score a firmware upgrade for my 6700 before Q2. Though you may consider the new version slim on new features, it’s still high on my drool-factor scale. We’ll see what I’m saying when his steveness releases the iPhone.

I haven’t checked up on the WURFL project for a while, but I see they just released a new version today!

They’ve also added C++ Tools since I last looked - very nice!

WURFL would be much less useful without a nice warm and fuzzy feeling that people are taking an active role in extending it and keeping it up to date. I get that feeling, and the authors are really taking an active role in trying to shape wireless web standards. They also make it easy for you to contribute your new phone model data to the project, which is key to keeping the database relevant. Nice work!

Just a quick note about our experience at Ad:Tech this week. We were in the “Now & Next Technology Showcase” room, with AdMob and Third Screen also representing mobile advertising.

Interestingly, the people from Second Life were there as well, promoting the use of their non-game as an advertising medium. As a side side note, I did a little walkthrough in my head about what it would take to use the AdHoc platform to advertise in Second Life, and I think it will work right out of the box with a little Linden scripting. Pretty cool. But that’s not our primary focus - we’re a mobile ad company after all - so if you have the desire to use the platform to take on that market, we’d be happy to talk.

Back on track now… The people coming up to our booth/table/thing were from all sectors - content publishers from the web and mobile, advertisers of all sorts, investors, and people just looking to learn. One guy walked in without a badge right off the street. He was a graphic designer and wanted to learn more about mobile. This relates to my main point.

I think I spent more time teaching people about mobile development and capability than I did about advertising. Though AdHoc offers advertisers a very easy way to go mobile, the question of “how do I take my website and put it on the phone” is not addressable by our product. “How do we make money once our site is mobile” is a question we’re built to address, so it is important for us to get people to that stage.

I decided to recommend products that help content go mobile. We’re working with Verve Wireless and starting to work with iLoop Mobile, so directing people to those guys is really advantageous to us. So, that became my quick answer - there’s experts out there that can help you with that. Now let’s talk about how to make money from your mobile content and advertise your content in other places.

The common feeling shared by everyone walking up to us was that mobile advertising is the next frontier - and after explaining the user experience to them they agreed it was a good thing for consumers too. When and how to get mobile are questions that fragment people after that, but at least we can all agree we’re heading down the right path.