Conversational Apps on Mobile — Expanding Channels and Reach

May 16, 2011 By

Mobile web is our core and base delivery.

But, we understand that people are using app stores for Search at a level nearly equal to mobile web search.

So, about two months ago, we added Android delivery to the mix.

In the past week, we’ve now tested and are pleased to add Windows/Mobile and MeeGo — and, Barnes and Noble’s NOOK, to our mix of delivery channels; for both Tablets as well as phones. And, we’ve undertaken a fascinating test to delivery our mobile web pages through a mobile chat Client — Not merely the chat, but, the full page experience, including animation and graphics; providing a wide reach to low-level data plan users.

So, where’s iOS in all this? Well, iOS users can always reach us via mobile web. But, we’re also working on a solution specifically for iOS that doesn’t require a full rebuild simply to reach a couple of devices.

More to follow…

Filed Under: AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, mLearning, Mobile, mobile marketing, Products, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“People want that two-way conversation…” – Conversational Mobile in a Nutshell

May 3, 2011 By

There’s a terrific post over at Mobile Commerce Daily HERE that extracts quotes and  a video from Herman Nell, VP/CIO of PETCO as well as Katie Grisko from PETCO with regard to mobile engagement and consumers.

Some key quotes:

“Customers want to have a conversation with you and they want you to provide them with the content they’re looking for…”

“People want that two-way conversation and they want to carry on with that conversation when it’s right for them.”

“…companies looking to extend to mobile should think of unique content for the specific channel, as opposed to copying and pasting from their Web site.”

It’s nice to hear others articulating the need for conversational mobile marketing.

Enjoy the read.

 

 

 

Filed Under: AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, mCoupons, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Conversational Mobile Apps – Defining Products

April 30, 2011 By

Having been down this path before with developing emerging media technologies, it’s always a terrific moment when the business makes the transition from “defining technology” to “defining applications” to then “defining products.”

contentAI studios have been developing it’s technology for over a year while testing in various applications and seeing market response and adoption — Over the past month, the “product definitions” have become far more clear (at least, the initial product offerings, as there are others which will follow).

- Conversational Mobile Campaigns — Motivated, directed conversational engagement with a purpose:  enter a contest, acquire a contextual mCoupon, engage in an entertaining interactive story. . .i.e. drive the User to take a specific action in an enjoyable exchange.

- Mobile FAQs — This is the economical version of the platform that allows a Brands mobile web site to deliver deep information and graphics without a complex user navigation or dense, unreadable text.

-  Conversational mLearning with emphasis on ESL — Our http://ESLai.com initiative is roaring along; the consumer-facing Beta apps are now accessed in over 100 Countries from both mobile web and Android app stores.  We’re keen to engage in partnership opportunities with ESL curriculum providers, schools and regional mobile content portals.

/////

What are the future products?

Interactive eBooks with a focus on children’s entertainment and mLearning is high on our list.  And, beyond campaign/marketing apps, we see the platform serving as a complementary story-platform for motion pictures and television — widgetized TV is a space that is fascinating to consider.

Stay tuned.

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, ESL, mLearning, Mobile, mobile marketing, Products, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

AdTech 2011…New Products … Uniquely Mobile Experiences

April 17, 2011 By

AdTech 2011 in San Francisco last week offered up a lot to consider with regard to both mobile publishing (our mLearning B2C initiatives) as well as a mobile technology and service provider for marketing, advertising and entertainment applications.

One big take-away was that a number of established, online advertising platforms are only beginning to wrap their heads around mobile – all too frequently, they are not grasping the unique User Experience that mobile requires, as they rush to port old static web solutions to mobile.

That said, there were a few gems in the mix as well as a number of prospective relationships where the contentAI platform is complementary and delivers a uniquely mobile User Experience, adding value to both the Brand and User.

One significant result that emerged from assessing the market during AdTech was the need to scale an economical product specific to delivery of “FAQ” pages on mobile sites and apps.  Please see more on this offering HERE. While we will offer this direct to clients, it is also an offering designed for mobile web and mobile app developers to plug-in to their tool kit.  FAQ pages are a part of our web life; but, on mobile, they are nearly impossible to read and navigate.  While these are not “storied” experiences, the contentAI platform is ideally suited to provide a cost effective solution for mobile sites and apps that need to present FAQ data in an easy to use interface.

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, ESL, Friendly machines, mCoupons, mLearning, Mobile, mobile marketing, QR TAgs, Virtual Agents, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

contentAI will be at Ad:Tech San Francisco – Let’s Connect.

April 7, 2011 By

Interested in connecting in person during Ad:Tech in San Francisco from 11-13 April 2011?

Want to learn more about conversational mobile marketing and entertainment offerings from the team?  We’ll be showing some private Beta demos with new features and discussing how our integration with apps will further expand the platform.

Pop us an email and let’s connect.

Filed Under: AI conversation, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, mLearning, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Conversational Mobile Engagement — Think Big. Think Fresh.

March 29, 2011 By

We attended the MobilePortland gathering last night that addressed Mobile as a Platform for Change.

It was an unusual tech event for Portland, in our opinion, because it (a) thought bigger, (b) inspired outside of the box thought, and (c) was global in scope — local events don’t always hit those points.

But, it was also sobering.

For all of the potential of mobile, it also reinforced the notion that most people involved in mobile campaigns or initiatives are sadly lacking imagination.  The “shrink the internet” work that permeates this space was highlighted as delivering consistent failures.  The utopian advertising ideals of entirely rethinking how ad-dollars can truly add value to a brand and the human condition was refreshing…though I suspect it’s a tough road to travel.

There are signs of hope eeking through.  The effort for mobile English learning in Bangladesh that was highlighted by National Geographic here:  http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/29/english-in-action-mobile-learning-in-bangladesh/ that converges a television show with mobile learning (“transmedia” anyone?) is a terrific read.  For contentAI studios, this article and the efforts in Bangladesh represent the original impetus for creating the platform — Extending television properties to interactive mobile engagement, based on the most intuitive form of mobile interaction:  short, conversational text messages.

Additionally, it ties in with he application of our  platform for mobile English language learning at:  http://ESLai.com

So:

  • 5 Billion Mobile Devices in the World
  • 1 Billion People engaged in some for of ESL learning
  • Advertising dollars shifting to Mobile which could add real value to people’s lives and support the Brand

How to tie this all together?

These are great ingredients, now it’s time to figure out the recipe.

 

 

 

Filed Under: AI conversation, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, ESL, mLearning, Mobile, mobile english, mobile marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Conversational Mobile Marketing – Interesting Bits from the Week

March 25, 2011 By

Fascinating week here.  We wrapped  the http://ESLai.com conversational apps into Android with the http://appsgeyser.com online platform.

We’re anxiously awaiting AppsGeyser to tweak their platform so that the apps can be submitted into the new AMAZON Android App Store (whatever it will be called???).  Word is “about 2 weeks.”  In the meantime, the apps are already on the main Android Market, GetJar and a few others.

The news that BLACKBERRY’S tablet will be compatible with Android apps was a fascinating development in terms of some level of standardization emerging.  We hope more OS’s will allow x-platform app access.  We still highly believe in mobile web and a build-once strategy; but, the AppsGeyser solution allows us to leverage our single build but be found in multiple locations.

Finally, we were impressed with the Vid.ly “universal URL” offering to deliver optimized video across all mobile (and desktop) devices and platforms.  Very cool.  It also has an embed feature which is the first we’ve seen for mobile (though we’ve talked about it endlessly).

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, mLearning, Mobile, mobile english, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Web First, But Apps as Backup – Single Build Practice

March 18, 2011 By

We are proponents of pushing mobile web builds and delivery.  Most content and user experiences don’t require Apps — the bells and whistles they offer are often hollow.  Plus, mobile web is increasingly capable of delivering those same bells and whistles, ideally, used well.

That said, a whole lot of people Search for Apps and with the emerging tools and platforms that can wrap a well constructed mobile web site in an App-Shell, there is no reason not to offer the single-build content through App stores as well, in native formats.

We undertook the first “wrapping” of our ESLai.com conversational apps and porting to Android by using the http://AppsGeyser.com platform.  It was a breeze. It’s a push button operation and a download (plus distribution through their App Store); this allowed adding the Apps to the Android Store as well as GetJar; where they get secondary pick-up through their affiliates.  Yes, we’ll do an iOS version too; but, we really like Android here, so it was first on the list.

Here’s where you can pick up the Android version of the two ESL conversational simulations (plus, it’s still on mobile web, where any WAP or HTML browser can access them):

ANDROID MARKET:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dreamstep.wESL_Conversational_Sim_Pizza

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dreamstep.wESL_Conversational_Sim_Picnic

 

APPSGEYSER MARKET (with QR Code for Download):

http://www.appsgeyser.com/getwidget/ESL+Conversational+Sim.Pizza

http://www.appsgeyser.com/getwidget/ESL+Conversational+Sim.Picnic

 

 

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, ESL, iPad, Mobile, mobile english, mobile marketing, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Conversational Virtual Agents, Mobile and Visual Avatars…

March 10, 2011 By

Over at Forrester, Diana Clarkson’s blog brought up an interesting topic – What should avatars look like for virtual agents?

http://blogs.forrester.com/diane_clarkson/11-03-09-what_should_a_virtual_agent_look_like

As you can see, or not see, we don’t incorporate visual avatars with our contentAI virtual agents, characters or mLearning applications (See:  ESLai.com)

Why not?  Especially since the Principals of the company come from a deep motion picture and CGI background?

Basically, the technology isn’t good enough right now for real-time, on the fly,  virtual avatars.  Yes, we could pre-render much of them and pull off some fancy tricks to cover text-to-speech realtime adjustments — But, we don’t find this to be satisfying for the end user.  Frequently, the end user doesn’t want to turn up the volume and listen – Nor do they want to watch…when reading allows them to quickly scan/read or look away and return to the content on their own schedule.

As one comment on the Forrester blog mentions, using the dialogue itself to paint the picture for the end user is consistent with our approach.  The end user’s imagination fills in many blanks.  As we review the (anonymous) chat logs and see 10-20 minute sessions, we know the end user is “buying into” the experience without the aid of a cartoonish animation.

Our preference is for incorporating a video, audio or still image within the first step of a chat session to “establish” the experience, then, let the User create their own “vision” from there.  This also personalizes the user experience more than if we provided a simplistic visual.

We did like the follow up COMMENT from Clarkson on the post:

“I think we’ll see a lot of interesting developments in the virtual agent space with mobile in the coming year.”

In our opinion, that’s starting today!  Right here.

 

Filed Under: AI conversation, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, mLearning, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents, writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Intelligent Packaging — Extending Engagement to Mobile

February 8, 2011 By

The buzz words “intelligent packaging” are bandied about a bit.  Typically, what we see is that “intelligent packaging” means giving the User/Consumer additional information.  In some cases, it also includes a social recommendation engine.

However, our approach is that “intelligent packaging” should include, but be more than, just additional information – It should engage the User at a conversational level; allowing the User/Consumer to become part of the brand story itself.

Information informs.

Story sells.

This is where the 3-dimensional narrative engine we’ve built comes into play — User/consumers are always “driven forward,” however there are many paths “forward.”  And, Users can access “information” through our “backstory” engine, before returning to the progressive conversation.

“Intelligent packaging” truly connects when it does so on an emotional level, not just data/information.  This is where personalization and contextual relevance and “understanding” come into play.

OK — Just wanted to define “intelligence packaging” from our perspective — it’s bigger than “more information.”

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »