MobiMate Ltd. recently announced its co-operation with Amobee Inc. to create a free, ad supported, version of WorldMate. It will initially support Nokia S60 devices and will be distributed online, for free, to millions of S60-based Nokia device users.
WorldMate Free Edition will include a bundle of travel services including world clocks, weather forecasts, currency exchange rates and more. The application will include advertising in the form of “interstitials” shown during idle-time (i.e. when the application is first loaded or when data updates occur). These ads will also enable users to respond immediately to advertisers’ messages. Advertisements are served on-line using Amobee Media System technology and are rotated over time, just like banners or interstitials in a web-site.
As far as I know, this is the first free, ad supported, Symbian application. Are we about to enter the new age of mobile applications where we’ll have the fully functional free, ad supported, version and paid, ads free, version of the same software? It’s not that clear. Mobile bandwidth is still very expensive in many countries, making the ad serving expensive for the end user. Until that issue is settled and prices go way down, I don’t think this will be the case. Companies as Google, which already has its free online services and products, could drive this shift. Till then, we’ll have to pay for the software — as we’ve always did.