Mobile

Since her debut in 2010, we’ve gotten to know T-Mobile’s spokeswoman Carly Foulkes as the effervescent, pink-wearing promoter of T-Mobile goodness. For the latest ads, T-Mobile has turned her into a biker chick, doing away with the floaty dresses and putting her in a leather outfit and helmet.

T-Mobile’s SVP of brand, advertising, and comms tells Mashable that the ad is meant to convey the company’s status as a “challenger brand.”

“The makeover from the girl-next-door to an edgier, more tech-savvy and spirited Carly is synonymous with the evolution of the T-Mobile brand,” he says.

Jezebel, who isn’t a fan of the Foulkes to begin with, isn’t buying it.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

According to GigaOm (a story that was mentioned during our chat with GalleyCat’s Jason Boog this morning), bringing the two companies together is sending some people elsewhere. But for the most part, this acquisition was a way for both Facebook and Instagram to add to their dominance.

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The world has gone mobile and the worlds of PR and marketing are racing to do a bit of catching up. As the lines between marketing disciplines blur, so do the lines between when and how people are logging on to the Web. They’re on their computers and watching TV at the same time. Or watching TV and tweeting from their mobile devices during the commercials.

In today’s guest post, Zach Hoffman, founder and CEO of Internet marketing company exults talks about how marketers and PR pros can make their mobile campaigns resonate with an ever-growing audience. Exults was rebranded this year, and Hoffman has more than 15 years of experience in the Internet marketing space.

According to Hoffman, by taking three basic factors into account, you can jump start your mobile efforts.

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We wondered how long this would last. Answer: about 24 hours.

That’s how long it took Verizon to back down from its absurd plan to charge wireless customers $2 for each one-time payment made online or over the phone, a.k.a, in Verizon parlance, the “convenience fee.”

The announcement was made in a press release on the Verizon website. According to the statement, they’re dumping the fee following “customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions.” In other words, the company was being skewered on social media and in the press and decided the $2 wasn’t worth the bad buzz and negative business consequences. Sounds very familiar.

According to The Huffington Post, there was online outcry, petitions, and even talk of an FCC investigation. Rather than charging the fee, the company says it will encourage customers to use one of the existing payment options. The fee was meant to go into effect in January.

Because there hasn’t been enough weirdness in wireless news, it’s being reported that analysts predict Leap and Metro PCS may be taken over by one of the monolithic carriers.

Businessweek says AT&T and T-Mobile USA are eyeing the smaller pay-as-you-go wireless companies because the AT&T/T-Mobile merger fell through this month amid antitrust problems. Vision2mobile.com also writes that the deal would be more likely to get approval. Metro PCS, based in Texas, has 9 million subscribers and Leap, 5.7 million. T-Mobile, by comparison, is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., with 33 million subscribers.

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A leaked memo posted on Engadget reveals Verizon’s plan to start charging customers $2 for each one-time online payment or bill payment over the phone on January 15. Verizon confirms this ridiculous plan. And they’re calling it a “convenience fee.”

Remember the uproar when Bank of America tried to charge $5 for debit card purchases? Apparently, Verizon doesn’t. Ultimately, BofA had to dump the plan because of the backlash and other banks, taking a hint, decided to dump theirs as well.

Both Engadget and CNET suggest alternatives to charging a fee, such as stiffer late fee penalties and (gasp!) a reward for loyal customers who sign up for an automatic bill pay.

Charging people more when they’re recovering from holiday spending during a tough economic period is simply wrong-headed. It’s made even more so when telecom companies were among those on a “most-hated” list published just a couple of months ago. Folks on Twitter and on blogs are already complaining. Moreover, this is happening while service outages are a problem. Let’s see how long this lasts.

Mobile, mobile everywhere. News from the mobile space keeps coming as the technology and business of mobility continues to sort itself out. For PR pros, it’s an area rife with opportunity.

In today’s guest post, Jonathan Heit, partner and head of digital media and technology, Allison+Partners, takes a closer look at some of the big stories and trends in mobile moving forward.

Click through for his thoughts and click here for more on the firm’s Naked Culture blog. And if there’s anything you’d like to add to the conversation, the comments section is open.

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The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that it will award the top campaigns in mobile starting in 2012, and leading the Mobile Lions jury will be Saatchi & Saatchi’s Tom Eslinger.

Mobile Lions will be handed out to the best examples of campaigns which work through a mobile device, app, or mobile Web, according to a press release from the Cannes Festival.

Campaigns will be judged on creativity, execution, relevance to the mobile platform and results.

What categories will be up for grabs?

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