Windows Phone Thoughts: Intrusive Noisy Bandwidth Clogging Adverts: Coming to Your Phone, Soon?

"Television-style advertising is coming to a mobile phone near you. It is part of a broader push by marketers to create a new generation of "up close and personal" ads by delivering video, audio, banner displays and text clips over a device carried by most American adults. Marketers said they were particularly excited about the prospect of eventually using cellphones, many of which are equipped with global positioning systems, to send ads to consumers based on their location. With that information, marketers could, in theory, send pitches from retailers to cellphone users who might be in the vicinity of a store. . . This has to be approached delicately because there's a fine line between adding value to a customer and intruding, said Pragnesh Shah, vice president of product innovation at Sprint Nextel"



A fine line??? Like the one that this plan massively steps over? The New York Times article mentions that Verizon and Sprint Nextel are the guilty parties thinking of inflicting this on us. There is mention of 'incentives' like reduced subscription rates if you agree to receive the adverts, but how long will it be before you have no choice but to accept them? A mobile phone is a device you almost always have on you, so there would be no escape from the incessant clamour of advertisers trying to make you feel unhappy and inadequate unless you purchase their products. I watched 'Minority Report' recently and it's a scary future when you really do get location targeted adverts jumping out at you. I've signed up to every anti-advertising scheme I can find for my snail-mail, email and landline and if this mobile plague is released I'll sign up to anyone who promises not to send these infernal mobile adverts to my phone. Bah. :evil: