Young Haven Bluetooth Hotspots brings Location-based Mobile Marketing comes to Jamaica

The email read like a sales pitch from the get go. The headline asserted, “The Future is Now” then said,”distribute your business cards, flyers and ads electronically-stop the unnecessary printing.”  It was an introduction to Young Haven Bluetooth Hotspots, a mobile marketing startup based in Kingston, Jamaica.

It’s email pitch continued with 16 reasons why they think their offering of location-based mobile marketing(Bluetooth) is great for Jamaican advertisers and consumers.

 To consumers the Startup said

 1. Now: you can receive rich full colour text, images, videos, games to your cellphone

 2. Support file formats: jpeg, gif, mp3, mp4, java

 3. Stay connected to the latest of updates anywhere you go

 4. No need to be around a computer nor at home infront of the TV.

 5. Receive free content: Ring tones, Wallpaper, Updates, etc.

To Advertisers: Business persons, Party Promoters, Entrepreneurs they told

 1. Reach your customers on the most personal of devices.

 2. Everyone in Jamaica has a cellphone or three

 3. Most Phones have bluetooth capability

 4. Advertise 24 hours a day 7 days a week for less

 5. Very effective, innovative way of marketing your brand and business

 6. Ideal for party promotions and other events

 7. This is a DIRECT form of marketing that puts you in the palm of every consumer

 8. Perfect to get the word across at Trade shows, Plays, Cinema, Events, PRESS Launch,etc .

 9. We will host your electronic business card on our system so that everyone that walks pass your store will get a pleasant surprise on their phones – and will be influenced to enter your store.

 10. Send electronic coupons, SALE NOW ON info, electronic INVITES, etc   

 11. Bluetooth Zones include the Half Way tree Commercial district, New Kingston the Business district, Portmore, UWI/UTECH universities and Spanish Town.

All that’s cool but let’s examine some things.

 The Business Idea & Model

The idea itself is solid, location-based mobile marketing which is basically the delivery of relevant media directly to the user cellphone at the right time and place has been growing as a viable marketing tool in places like the US and China. It’s a low cost-effective methods to distribute rich media content for purposes of say Broadcast location-based coupons, Contextual advertising, Localized information, Gaming and music.

The Business model is fairly simple. They’ll say to advertisers, listen we have x amount of people signed up for this service and here’s a clue into their behaviours and wants, now if you want to reach them, here’s how much it’s going to cost. 

This is an idea and a business model that’s popular, but will it work in Jamaica?

 The Market Premise

The surveys that came back on this for me said 10-15% of Jamaican mobile users have Bluetooth enabled phones. That is 10-15% of a potential 1.8 million people which is about 200,000 and of that potential market, how many fit the profile of being interested in such a service. Will it be enough of a lucrative niche to make this grow into a viable business? Are they targeting a specific demographic? Seems not, as from their email ad, they are casting a very broad net to see what catches they make.

The Email ad

They didn’t do a very good job of selling the benefits in a detailed, pithy and exciting way. So let’s see what other tools and technique they use from here on in.

Bluetooth Security

This entire business is based on the premise that people will be ok with keeping their Bluetooth feature on and not hide it as so many already do. They hide it primarily because it’s a not a feature they use daily and secondly even though many may not know leaving your Bluetooth feature on can leave your phone information exposed, and it sucks your phone’s battery life.

So what are the odds of this business succeeding ** ½ out of 5.

What do you think?

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 FYI: What is Bluetooth and how does it work?

Bluetooth was designed to be the basis of the Personal Area Network (PAN) – a way for devices within relatively close proximity to communicate wirelessly with one another. The range for Bluetooth transmissions varies from about 1 meter up to 100 meters, depending on the power class of the device. In fact, the most powerful (Class 1) can communicate over a distance of more than 300 feet, similar to a typical wi-fi network.

Why does Bluetooth Security Matter?

The special concern regarding the security of Bluetooth mobile phones is that phones may have information stored on them such as the addresses and phone numbers of contacts, calendar information and other PDA-type data. Hacking into these phones using Bluetooth is called bluesnarfing. Newer mobile phones and software upgrades for older phones can patch this vulnerability.

Additionally, Bluetooth devices can also be targets of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, typically by bombarding the device with requests to the point that it causes the battery to degrade. Plus, there are “cell phone worms” such as Cabir that can use the Bluetooth technology to propagate. Cabir targets phones that use the Simbian OS. ( Nokia, Sony Ericcson, Motorola)