LIKE death and taxes, advertisements are an inescapable fact of life. Now, the relentless attack by advertisers is to advances on a new front - the mobile phone.
Spotcast Communications, a communications and media technology company from the United States, has launched a system that inserts personalised advertising messages into a mobile phone while providing significant discounts to the user.
In the case of Hong Kong, if a user is prepared to listen voluntarily to a 10-second advertisement before the call is put through, the revenue from the ad would subsidise about one to three minutes of call time - depending on the prices of the service provider.
A user not wanting to listen to the message simply presses a button to discontinue and the connection goes through as normal.
Those still curious about a product or service, have the option to listen to a 30-second ad. They also can be connected to a telemarketer.
The system appears to be a win-win situation, as the advertiser pays Spotcast which, in turn, pays the service provider. The provider then passes on the discount to the consumer.
