The companies announced this week that they are collaborating on 5G and 4G LTE wireless networks lab and field trials at various locations in the U.S.

The trials, which began this summer, will run through the end of the year, an emailed statement explains.

The 5G trial is evaluating fixed use cases using Samsung’s pre-commercial 28 GHz (mmWave) system and devices. The 4G trials are performed at 3.5 GHz (CBRS), utilizing Samsung’s combined 4G LTE small cell technology in an outdoor environment to evaluate mobile use cases.

“We are pleased to collaborate with Samsung on these trials, which provide Charter better insight into how our advanced, powered, high speed network—which currently passes 49 million homes and businesses—can be used to enable 5G services,” said Craig Cowden, Senior VP, Wireless Technology at Charter Communications. “In addition, as we move closer to the launch of a Spectrum wireless service in 2018, our work with Samsung on trials of 4G small cell technology will support our overall wireless strategy.”

The post Samsung, Charter Not Phoning It In On 5G appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Consumers, the nation’s leading carrier explains, will now gain greater flexibility when streaming or downloading content on their mobile devices with the introduction of FreeBee Data – a sponsored data service by Verizon.

“FreeBee Data will help businesses drive better engagement with mobile content on America’s largest and most reliable 4G LTE network,” the carrier explains.

The FreeBee Data service has two models. With FreeBee Data 360, content providers can sign up to provide consumers some or all of their mobile content – whether in an app or mobile website – without using consumers’ data plans. FreeBee Data 360 is billed using a per gigabyte pricing model. Through a separate FreeBee Data offering, content providers can sponsor specific consumer actions on a per-click basis, free of data charges for subscribers – including mobile video clips, audio streaming, and app downloads.  Anyone interested can learn more about the complete set of FreeBee Data offerings at www.vzw.com/business/freebee.

“With 1 in 3 Americans now watching videos on their smartphone, and another 100 million on tablets, the business case for mobile is clear,” said Colson Hillier, vice president of Consumer Products at Verizon. “In today’s digital economy, FreeBee Data is a departure from the one size fits all approach to marketing. The opportunity to add value and utility to consumers’ everyday experiences will fundamentally transform how brands and businesses connect with their customers.”

The post Verizon Hypes New Sponsored Data Service appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

On Tuesday, T-Mobile officially announced Binge On —  a move that comes in direct response Americans’ “surging demand for mobile entertainment.”

Beginning this Sunday, November 15, T-Mobile customers that are viewers and subscribers of HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Showtime, Sling TV, Starz and more—with more streaming services on the way— can stream mobile video without ever burning up their high-speed data plan.

This new offering is available to all current and new Simple Choice customers on qualifying plans.

T-Mobile says that there’s no additional cost to enjoy this so-called “binge on” capability.

So far, even with stated plans to add more to the mix over time, T-Mobile also announced 24 partners with Binge O. They include Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Sling TV, ESPN, Showtime, Starz, Vevo, Vessel, Univision Deportes, MLB TV, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Crackle, Vudu and T-Mobile TV.

The post T-Mobile Wants Mobile Video Junkies to ‘Binge On’ appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the data presented, over 25 percent of small businesses do not have a website and 10 percent claim that they are unlikely to have a website in the future.

Of the small businesses that have a website, only 56 percent have a responsive design website that is mobile friendly. However, the survey also showed signs of improvement, as 23 percent plan to increase website spending in 2015.

Researchers at Clutch also discovered that many small businesses are not utilizing existing digital marketing strategies.

Only 53 percent of small businesses reported that they actively work on social media, 45 percent on search engine optimization (SEO), and 25 percent on online advertising.

“Having a strong online presence is kind of as important as having a professional looking business card,” explains Andrew Ruditser, co-founder of web design firm MAXBURST, remarking on the survey results. “In my opinion, you cannot effectively compete or market yourself without a website; you must have one.”

Want to know more? Check out the complete survey results here.

The post Small Businesses Need to Improve Web Presence appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In short, the coverage at work is poor, coverage elsewhere will likely be sought.

The YouGov research commissioned by SpiderCloud Wireless indicates that consumers are sending a strong message to mobile operators that cellular coverage is as important at work as it is as home.

38% of all consumers surveyed said they would switch mobile operators to achieve better coverage and reception inside their office buildings, while an additional 36% were on the fence.

“Both consumers and IT decision makers share the common pain point when faced with poor cellular coverage at work. Today’s workforce is a mobile connected workforce,” says Ronny Haraldsvik, CMO of SpiderCloud Wireless. “The YouGov research findings from 2014 and 2013 show consistent feedback: reliable mobile coverage and capacity indoors is a critical need for today’s enterprise customers.”

More information about the survey’s findings will be available later today from SpiderCloud.

The post YouGov survey: Mobile Operators Better Get to Work appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The social media platform firm has added a second day to its annual developer conference. The conference, scheduled for March 25-26, 2015, at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center, will begin accepting registrations in early 2015.

“Facebook’s developer community is bigger today than it ever has been,” said Facebook spokespeople in a recent release, according to TechCrunch. “The scope of the company’s products has broadened, and there’s more content to share than can fit into a single day. The additional day means double the number of technical sessions, product demos, and onsite experiences for Facebook’s growing developer community.”

Facebook’s previous pow wows were all single day get-togethers.

What to expect?

“Last year’s was jam-packed with announcements including its Audience Network mobile ad network, anonymous login, the App Links deep linking framework, the mobile Like button, and a massive reduction in what data about people’s friends apps are allowed to pull from users,” explained TechCrunch. “CEO Mark Zuckerberg also announced the conference would now happen every year rather than every few years like before.”

Industry observers expect Facebook to introduce new developer capabilities, improvements to Facebook’s advertising system, and also an expansion of the “Parse mobile-backend-as-a-service development platform.”

In a word, Facebook is still looking to secure its place against Twitter and Google. That goal, it appears, might well take two days to discuss.

The post Like and Share: Former One Day Facebook Conference Expands to Two Days appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

At least one thing is for sure. 2014 will be better than 2013 for Target. How could it not?

Last year, Target had some serious trouble with the holiday shopping season, including a massive post-Thanksgiving security breach that affected thousands of credit card numbers. A new ecommerce website, launched at the beginning of the shopping season did nothing to help declining sales. In order to not repeat last year’s blunders, Target has come up with a progressive, targeted plan to make sure that they take advantage of the year’s biggest shopping season—and they should. Like most retailers, Target makes at least 20% (more like 40%) of their total year’s profits during the holidays.

So, what changes were planned ahead of the holiday marketing bonanza? To start, the retailer has gone back to basics, namely, brand names at lower prices. Nate Berkus was only the latest in Target’s long line of designers who have made “just for Target” lines. This year, they are going to ramp it up, with even more big name brands funneling their merchandise toward target.

Specifically, the charity-shoe company Toms is partnering with Target, with a fifty-piece collection that will be exclusive to Target, just during the holiday shopping season. In fact, the merchandise just launched in stores over the weekend. Why Toms and why the holiday season? Tom’s track record of philanthropy is a great selling point for consumers during the season of giving.

If you skipped Target last year for the holidays, will you be returning on Black Friday as the holiday shopping season officially gets underway?

The post Target Aims to Dominate Holiday Marketing, Shopping, and Sales appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says the long-rumored device is designed specifically for Amazon Prime customers.

“At first blush,” says Matt Burns of TechCrunch, “it looks like any other smartphone currently on the market, but it has a secret: the ability to track a user’s head.”

This is done through four corner-mounted, front-facing infrared cameras and produces wild 3D effects. But it’s not traditional 3D in the sense that images pop out of the screen. The head-tracking tech adds depth to the phone. It’s like looking down a street. But into your phone’s screen.

According to Amazon, Dynamic Perspective uses four ultra-low power specialized cameras and four infrared LEDs built into the front face of Fire, a dedicated custom processor,  real-time computer vision algorithms, and a new high-performing and power-efficient graphics rendering engine.

Fire ships on July 25th and is available exclusively on AT&T.

Fire with 32GB is available for $199 with a two-year contract.

The post Amazon Unveils Long Awaited Smartphone appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The value of the purchase is $48.5 billion.

With a customer base topping 35 million subscribers, DirecTV knows what it means to be No. 2, as well. The company remains the second-largest pay TV provider in the U.S.

So what’s behind the biggest proposed merger we’ve seen in quite some time (at least since Comcast and Time Warner dished on their plans)? AT&T says the acquisition will help create “a unique new competitor with unprecedented capabilities in mobility, video and broadband services.”

About the only piece of the ecosystem AT&T-DirecTV doesn’t have covered is broadband, says Jeff Bercovici of Forbes.

“The would-be mergees say their union will accelerate AT&T’s rollout of high-speed broadband to 15 million new locations, most of them in rural areas where broadband penetration is scant,” Bercovici writes. “That still leaves the parties of that other big telecom merger, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, as the biggest providers of broadband by far. But the gain in size from swallowing DirecTV still leaves AT&T that much better equipped to grapple with Comcast-Time Warner, if and when regulators OK their marriage.”

The acquisition remains subject to regulatory approval, a process that will likely play out in a very public fashion in the coming months.

The post The Latest on AT&T's Decision to Dabble in DirecTV appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Driving this growth is a host of new technologies and companies entering the fray in 2014. The result, ABI says, will be an acceleration of adoption across all major verticals as a slew of new services and revenue opportunities emerge.

In ABI Research’s “Indoor LBS: Applications, Advertising, and Revenues,” the indoor location opportunity is considered across 11 retail verticals and all major technologies.

Senior analyst Patrick Connolly says 2014 will be a watershed year for indoor location technologies.

“In 2014,” Connolly projects, “a number of major retailers are approaching the end of their trial periods and we should start to see a step increase in deployments. iBeacons/BLE will also help to drive awareness and acceptance but are by no means the silver bullet here. Most importantly, retailers now understand the need to address the newly emerging smartphone shopper.”

“Analytics,” Connolly continues, “is a fundamental first step, but longer term, a combination of targeted in-store offers, hyperlocal search and in-application advertising will drive $5 billion in revenue in 2019, enabling retailers to better reach their customers both in-store and at home.”

The post The Bar Has Been Raised for Indoor Location Retail Revenues appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.