KOM's Digital Nation kicks off 4 March

What's possible? Made-for-mobile TV episodes, time and location sensitive information and the opportunity to sample mobile video games are just some of the ideas that will be discussed at Knowledge Oasis Muscat's inaugural Digital Nation seminar (www.kom.om/ev.html) scheduled to held 7:45pm Sunday 4 March at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The first seminar is entitled: Your Mobile: the Next Frontier and will feature speakers from Ericsson; Microsoft; Omania e-Commerce; Hewlett Packard; Sohar Aluminium and Nawras. The panel moderator will be Graham Porter of Cisco.

According to recent research, the mobile entertainment market is forecast to be worth US$42 billion by 2010 and that is attracting a range of new players into the mobile content marketplace, from brand owners and media companies, spurred on by the continued improvements in network and handset capabilities that are increasing the end-user experience. "As media platforms converge, the mobile phone looks more exciting than ever," says Mohammed Al Maskari, KOM's Director General.

'The Internet is going mobile and across the globe broadcasters are connecting with phone companies to run mobile TV trials. Even magazine and newspaper publishers - from Condé Nast to the UK's Guardian - are moving beyond websites - once considered a radical step - and putting their content on phones. These developments aren't being lost on marketers,' says PEIE Advisor, Dave Pender. "As people's lives get busier, the mobile phone is the one device they have on them at all times."

Marketers are using mobiles to achieve a huge range of objectives, from text-to-win competitions to direct-response handling, customer service management and brand building. Pender calls mobile marketing a way of "extending your brand to the pocket" - into consumers' phones.

"In Oman it's common to upgrade your mobile handset every six to 12 months," says Al Maskari: "Here, the mobile phone has already become the can't-do-without device." Mobile allows marketers to have a conversation with new or existing customers - wherever they are. "It's a two-way - or even a multiple-way - conversation, says Al Maskari, as consumers engage with brands and with each other.

A lot of Oman-based firms assume mobile marketing is best suited to FMCG brands just because they neatly dovetail with the buying habits of consumers, I don't agree with this, remarked Al Maskari. He argues other sectors provide opportunities to approach mobile marketing "in a more inventive and intelligent way." Mobile marketing is a personalised interaction between a brand and a consumer and creates a new dynamic to the relationship. "The key to making it effective is to ensure it gives the consumer something they want," remarked KOM's Director General.

The four Digital Nation seminars are supported by Ericsson; Microsoft; Nawras; Omania e-Commerce; SAP Arabia; Hewlett Packard; Times of Oman; Oman Economic Review; Al Watan; Infocomm; RealityCG; and Infoline. 'We're absolutely delighted with the backing that the Digital Nation series has received from multinationals, local ICT firms and the media,' remarked Digital Nation Co-ordinator and member of KOM's marketing team Mulkie Al Hashmi.