Potential Drawbacks of Moving Downstream for Mobile Technology

The availability of location-based mobile technology is exciting to say the least.  Perhaps this excitement stems from the potential usefulness of this technology, or from the sheer novelty of being able to inform all of one's Facebook friends where one happens to be in real time.  Those who seek to use such technology for marketing purposes, however, need to make sure that they don't spoil the technology's usefulness by inconveniencing potential customers.

Most users of mobile telephones, and especially smartphones, relish such devices' ability to make their lives more convenient.  No longer do individuals have to go home to talk on the phone.  No longer do they actually have to have access to a computer to get directions to a meeting.  No longer do they have to put up with heinous telemarketers calling them at all hours of the day.  The relative anonymity and the freedom  from invasive marketing practices that mobile phones provide their users is largely what has led to the decline of the home phone line.  Companies employing mobile advertising need to make sure that their advertising techniques make shopping as convenient as possible for customers and don't end up annoying or turning off potential customers.

If location-based technology is used to essentially spam a person's telephone with advertising text messages, people will not be happy at all, and may start limiting their reliance on mobile technology.  One major problem with such technology in its current state is its inaccuracy.  Most of the time, phones can only determine a person's location within a certain range (say a 100 ft. area).  If all businesses within a person's range sent them text messages about sales, activities like going to the mall or driving down a commercial street would become a nightmare.  Getting a text message upon entering a store is one thing, but if one were to receive a text message just for being near a store, people would get fed up pretty quick.

The bottom line with the move toward downstream advertising is that it has to be done in a way that encourages mobile phone use and not one that makes a person cringe every time they receive a text message.