Advertisers Eye Your Cell Phone

Bluetooth-enabled billboards to offer downloads if you get too close
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2007 7:07 PM CDT
Advertisers Eye Your Cell Phone
A model of Japan's mobile operator Softbank introduces new cell...   (Getty Images)

If you’ve dreamed of having ads beamed right to your cell phone, a slew of new Bluetooth-enabled products might make you drowsy. Get close enough to one of these billboards or displays, and it’ll ask you to accept a download—a video, song, or coupon. Given cell phones' prevalence, "it's too good an opportunity to miss," says one analyst.

Marketers say it isn’t spam, but Reuters reports mobile carriers prefer Code 2D ads—swipeable barcodes that take consumers to websites, and give phone companies a cut. But most observers agree the public needs to get something from the deal—"It has to be more than 'your next McDonalds is 200 meters on the left.’” (More advertising stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X