This year marked my first Boston Marathon.

It also marked my first experience with AT&T’s Athlete Alert System, which gave each runner the option of entering the mobile numbers up to three friends or family members who would receive text alerts at the 10K, half-marathon, 30K, and finish.

Sounds excellent, si?

Except that it didn’t work. At least not well.

My mom received one text alerting her that I had passed the 10K mark… over an hour after I had passed it. She also received a text saying that I had finished, which was symbolically pretty nice, but it was little help in actually getting to the finish line in time to see me cross. My other two alertees never received anything.

AT&T promoted the fact that the alerts worked on any network, but I suppose it’s unsurprising that my mom is on AT&T, and the other two are on Verizon.

With over 25,000 runners with three peeps a piece, that’s no small text messaging campaign; regardless, 2 out of 10 messages delivered are some disappointing numbers.

[tags]The Web Outside, LocaModa, Boston Marathon, AT&T Athlete Alert, Text Messaging, SMS, Mobile Marketing, runner alerts[/tags]

I bookmarked this NYT article about the Text Generation Gap a couple weeks ago, and finally got around to it today. Sure, the article came to all of the obvious conclusions, but for those of us working in social, interactive media, it’s certainly a decent read. Anecdote-heavy, it’s a nice collection of mini case studies on shifting communication habits.

[tags]The Web Outside, Text Messaging, Interactive Media, Social Media, Media Habits, txt, text habits of teens, New York Times[/tags]

While Tom Brady may be getting all of the attention from Boston sports fans over the next couple weeks (and rightfully so), Celtics’ big gun Kevin Garnett has scooped up the lion’s share of the mobile buzz.

Thanks to Adidas’ “Basketball is a Brotherhood” campaign, over 65,ooo people have texted to a shortcode to receive an inspirational message from Garnett since the campaign launched just two months ago. What’s more… 25K of the texters have called back and left messages for Garnett. Users also have options of creating customized ringtones and loading up personalized mobile greetings voiced by KG.

While I’d love to see them extend the interactive portion to the out-of-home market, the roots of the campaign show excellent cohesion– remaining mindful of the user experience throughout each component. I can only imagine what would happen if they brought this to a big screen at the Garden (hint, hint).

A tip of the hat to Carat-NY and Isobar-Boston for their work thus far on the campaign.

[tags]The Web Outside, Carat, Isobar, Kevin Garnett, Adidas, Basketball is a Brotherhood, mobile marketing, mobile campaigns, OOH advertising, digital media[/tags]

It took a good few years for most academics to accept the notion of online classes, and many still aren’t there yet. So try this one on for size: a college class in Japan is being taught entirely on cell phones. Now, not only can you “go to class” in pajamas, but you can do so while watching YouTube videos and chatting on IM… because– seriously – your computer can’t sit there idle for an entire class period.

The class is taught via Cyber University in Tokyo, which offers only online (and now, mobile) classes. The class consists of a powerpoint presentation downloaded to students’ handsets, accompanied by streaming audio of the professor’s lecture.

The university is majority-owned by Softbank, a dominant Japanese carrier. And herein lies the catch: the classes are currently only available on select Softbank phones. This will be an interesting company to watch, as I’m curious to see if this single class spirals into a full-fledged marketing play.

As a sidenote— the topic for the class: “Mysteries of the Pyramids.” Random for a jumping off point, no?

[tags]The Web Outside, cellphone college class, Japan, mobile class, online classes, Cyber University, phoning it in[/tags]

Apple’s latest iPhone commercial stars a proud flight crew member who, upon hearing the Captain’s announcement that they’re facing a 3-hour delay due to bad weather at their destination, whips out his iPhone, proves him wrong, and gets the flight underway.

Good for him? I guuuueeess… but he also comes across as quite the pompous bastard.

So, what’s worse?
How about having the same thing happen in real life, except this time with some random Joey Jackass wielding the iPhone, rather than a crew member?
Yea, that’d work.

Planebuzz reports that passengers on a flight from Memphis encountered just this scene. An annoyed passenger recounts: “We push back, get advised of a ground stop in MEM due to storms in the area. Go to the penalty box and wait. My Captain does the lecture over the PA… not one minute later, we get dinged from the F/A ‘Some guy with an IPhone says the weather is good, and wants to know what the real reason is for the delay. Is something wrong with the plane?’”

Oy.

[Now, given that I hate (hate, hate, hate) planes, this is not even the slightest bit amusing to me... even given the remote chance that he was simply trying to be helpful.]

Thankfully, the Captain had eaten his Flagrant Flakes that day. His response is nothing less than masterful (okay, cheeky, but masterful nontheless):

If the passenger with the IPhone would be kind enough to use it to check the weather at our alternate, calculate our fuel burn due to being rerouted around the storms, call the dispatcher to arrange our release, and then make a phone call to the nearest Air Traffic Control center to arrange our timely departure amongst the other aircraft carrying passengers with IPhones, then we will be more than happy to depart. Please ring your call button to advise the Flight Attendant and your fellow passengers when you deem it ready and responsible for this multi-million dollar aircraft and its passengers to safely leave.

I thank you, Sir.

What happens if I click on that creepy barcode on the left?

Will I be entered to win a 6 day, 7 night stay at the Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu? (Yay!)

Or get a terrible worm that will suck the life out of my hard drive? (NOOOOOO!)

Or… or… or… will LonelyGirl15 come to my birthday party? (Huh? Sicko.)

All excellent guesses, but no… the whozimajiggie on the side there is actually a Augme datamatrix barcode containing an encoded URL of this website, which can be displayed on MySpace, Facebook, t-shirts, posters, you name it. (And, btw, clicking on it will do you no good.)

Come again?

Maybe I should start over…

Augme is a Florida-based company looking to get ahead of the curve on mobile barcoding technology. While most Japanese phones already have barcode readers (and most owners actually use them), such technology is still seen as a unnecessary novelty in European and US markets… at least for now. Augme wagers that because Nokia has begun installing barcode readers in many of their higher end models (N95, N93, N93i or E90), the trend is primed to spread.

Don’t have a Nokia? (Yea, me neither.) You can download barcode-reading software on an affiliated Augme page.

So, the all-important question arises: Why would I want to do this?

Well, for starters… as an aspiring band, you could have your customized barcode link to a downloadable MP3… for a hopeful model or actress it could lead directly to your portfolio. Users also have the option to create a profile within Augme itself (with or without direct contact info) that can be easily encoded.

Augme’s revenue model is reliant upon an online store selling t-shirts emblazoned with your barcode(s).

If the market for mobile barcode readers takes off, Augme is definitely in a great spot– far ahead of the curve. However, if the turtle-like uptake of the technology outside of Asia is any indication of the trend’s stickiness potential, this could quickly become a rocky business path.

The site is super easy to navigate (it took me five minutes–tops–to register and create the customized barcode shown above), and the idea is boldly forward-thinking, so I certainly wish them well.

[tags]The Web Outside, Augme, mobile, technology, barcode, tagging, QR codes, datamatrix codes[/tags]

Steve Smith at MediaPost published a short piece this afternoon entitled “Make My World Clickable,” in which he muses about the allure of turning the non-virtual world (as Smith cheekily calls it) into one huge reality-blanketing web app.

Sound familiar? The Web Outside, indeed.

Smith, a self-proclaimed “modern urban creature saturated in electronic media,” decries organic beauty in favor of the digital version thereof. To capture his worldview in a quick nugget: “I also have this overwhelming desire to turn up the color setting on landscapes so that the outdoor world better matches the fantastic palette of my Sony HDTV.”

Smith comments that he’d like to see the mobile phone “as a universal mouse on reality.” Although I tend to lean towards the terminology “universal remote control,” Steve and I are definitely on the same page on this one.

And his dream of a “standard, friction-less mobile pull technology” may be further along than he thinks…

Smith’s article can be found on MobileInsider at MediaPost (subscription required).

[tags]Steve Smith, MediaPost, MobileInsider, The Web Outside[/tags]

Over the weekend, LocaModian Bill Nast had an iPhone emergency. After running out of battery power, his precious device refused to be recharged.

OMG! Poor Bill! What evaah will he do?
[to be pronounced with a Southern drawl, not a Boston accent]

Understandably upset, Bill made a call to Apple Customer Care.
Turned out to be the right iDea (okay, sorry, sooorry). Not only were they pleasant (customer service? pleasant? humina whaaat?)… but they were –get this– helpful.

Without further ado, check out the photos of the Apple iPhone Help Kit, delivered via FedEx Overnight.

In case you can’t read the copy on the box, here ’tis:

We’re sorry that your iPhone isn’t working as it should. This kit contains a temporary iPhone and everything you need to have your iPhone repaired as quickly as possible.

That’s right. Everything. Including a paperclip (in a cute little baggie with visual instructions) to switch out the SIM cards, packing tape for the prepaid FedEx return, and a sturdy, branded packing box.

While Jobs’ price cuts are still being debated as a major gaffe, they’re definitely right on the money with their CS.