Free mobile phone load in exchange for ads
Xero mobile is on the move. Will it succeed? Starting with zero subcribers, Xero will target the campus and retiree market.
If this were to happen in the Philippines, would it be free TXT in exchange for spam TXT ads? But we’re already paying and still getting those ads!
On Apr. 11, a little-known outfit called Xero Mobile became public through a reverse merger, making available 46 million shares trading at about $1 apiece. What’s remarkable about this newly public outfit is that it doesn’t have any products, customers, or revenue. Even more remarkable: Xero wants to be the first advertising-subsidized wireless service.
Starting at the end of the year, Xero (XRMB) will hand out free phones and ultra-cheap wireless service to 17.5 million college kids around the country. The catch? The students have to agree to watch a few video ads each day.
Ads on a mobile phone? “Some people are very adamant about saying ‘no’ to ads,” says Marcia Kaplan, an analyst with consultancy visiongain. Yet some analysts believe this ad-supported service will take off. Xero hopes to have 5 million customers by the end of 2007. That’s a fraction of the 212.4 million U.S. wireless subscribers. [source]