The Mobile Marketing Association has arranged over $1 million in funding to launch new global research into the impact of mobile marketing.

The project, which is believed to be the first global research project of its kind, will test real marketing campaigns to determine the economic value of investing in mobile channels compared to traditional marketing channels. It’s been named SMoX.me: Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness.

The Mobile Marketing Association has announced the new members who’ll be joining its EMEA board of directors. 13 new members have been elected by the MMA’s membership to join 11 existing board members who weren’t up for re-election.

In addition, Kerstin Trikalitis, CEO of Out There Media, has been appointed to chair the MMA EMEA board.

Google and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) have updated ‘Our Mobile Planet’, the mobile consumer data resource they created last October. It provides free access to data and research from 40 countries in collaboration with the IAB and Ipsos MediaCT.

As part of the re-launch, Google commissioned new research that looked at internet use on smartphones.

The Mobile Marketing Association has announced an updated version of the MMA Universal Mobile Ad Package, which details the ad formats it’s recommending as industry standards for mobile web and in-app advertising.

It follows a consultation period launched in December.

The Mobile Marketing Association has released a revised version of its mobile advertising guidelines.

It’s asking for feedback on the ‘Universal Mobile Ad Package’ before the final version is released in January 2012.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

This week's news report begins with quarterly figures from Samsung and Apple - and a discussion about what the future may hold for iOS.

We also talk about instant messaging versus SMS, the end of Best Buy's European joint venture with Carphone Warehouse, patent wars, white spaces and connected cars.

It feels like many people are hanging on to mobile advertising as the future of mobile marketing.

Yet there's much more to mobile marketing than the banner ad. In this podcast a panel of experts considers the latest trends and innovation that could change the future of marketing.

In this special feature we're looking around the GSMA Connected City at Mobile World Congress 2013.

Mark Bridge and Grant Notman discuss machine-to-machine communications and the Internet of Things, meeting people who've worked with 4G-enabled cars, port logistics, connected houses, m-health and the GSMA's own app development programme.

There's a diverse collection of mobile-related news in this week's 30-minute podcast.

We start with the new Twitter music service before moving on to discuss quarterly results, patent licensing, wireless charging, advertising and mobile payments... before ending with a curious report about app-controlled underwear.

This is the second part of our programme recorded at the April 2013 meeting of Mobile Monday London, where a panel of experts discussed the topic 'BYOD: A Faustian Pact?'

The panel was chaired by David Rogers of Copper Horse Solutions. His panellists were Caroline Maloney from Telefonica, Charles Brookson of Azenby, David Arnold from BlackBerry and Gemma Coles from Mubaloo.