Can You Hear Me Podcasting Now?
A partnership between Samsung and VoiceIndigo, a mobile marketing service based in San Francisco, is bringing podcasts to mobile phones.
According to a recent press release, Samsung mobile phones are already being shipped with VoiceIndigo’s mobile podcast application pre-loaded.
The mobile application provides pre-loaded podcast channels that the mobile user can browse for available episodes. Of course, you can also choose which podcasts you want to automatically download to your phone.
Here’s an overview of how VoiceIndigo’s application works.
According to the press release:
VoiceIndigo is the first advertising-supported Podcasting service to ship bundled on a phone from a major handset manufacturer and a major carrier in the United States.
In addition to getting free podcasts on your mobile phone, VoiceIndigo’s mobile application is completely free. Here’s a list of phones that the mobile podcast application will work on, in addition to some phones that will "probably work".
From a podcast listener perspective, I can definitely see some benefits of using VoiceIndigo’s service:
- Access to free podcast content almost anywhere
- Easily sharing podcasts with friends
- Only having to grab one device when running out the door
But this will definitely have to be one simple service to use if VoiceIndigo wants me to unplug from my iPod. Apple has made it 3rd grader easy to update and listen to podcasts while I’m on-the-go.
As a podcast producer, I was immediately curious about what it takes to make a podcast series available to this emerging mobile podcast network.
From VoiceIndigo’s 3 choices for content providers it appears that the Mobilize option is the quickest option for making a podcast mobile-ready. But there’s very little information about the benefits of doing so on this page and even less on the site’s FAQ page.
The Featured Placement option appears to be the choice for getting a podcast listed in VoiceIndigo’s online directory and in the company’s pre-loaded mobile podcast application.
Billed as "an easy way to monetize your podcast", the Podsense option promises massive reach(?) and Ambient Advertising™, which appears to generate visual ads during podcast playback with Click-to-Buy, Click-to-Call, and Click-to-Request options for advertisers.
VoiceIndigo is providing opportunities for podcast producers that are definitely worth exploring. All I ask is for some additional up-front information about each of these options before I have to fill out a form or hand over my feed URL.
All in all though, it’s fantastic to see companies moving forward with mobile options for both podcast listeners and producers.
Read about More Mobile Milestones.
