In short: Media delivery and advertising platform Mobile Posse on Thursday announced Firstly Mobile, a next-generation take on its solution that promises to revolutionize mobile discovery and put an end to the contemporary concept of “bloatware,” or at the very least make it less annoying. “Our goal is to offer a highly differentiated and better device experience that consumers can opt-in to,” Mobile Posse SVP Greg Wester told AndroidHeadlines. The service consists of three separate but complementary solutions: “unlock agent” firstAPP that can deliver personalized content after a user unlocks the screen of their (Android) handset, general-purpose destination discovery tool firstPLACE, and online content discovery platform firstPAGE. As is the case with Mobile Posse’s previous solutions, one of the main selling points of Firstly Mobile is the fact that the service has been specifically designed for delivering brand-safe content, though it’s now said to be capable of doing so in an unprecedentedly intelligent manner.
Background: The launch of Firstly Mobile is part of a wider strategy that saw Mobile Posse start calling for a “smarter phone revolution” earlier this year. The Arlington, Virginia-based firm believes existing mobile technologies are currently far from fulfilling their potential in terms of meeting user expectations on quality content discovery, arguing that bloatware could and should be replaced with native content targeted at individual users that’s more engaging and less annoying. In an open letter addressing the industry sent this May, Mobile Posse Chief Executive Officer Jon Jackson acknowledged the telecom segment is already on the right path to fulfill this potential but maintained it needs to do so in a swifter manner. Given the company’s subsequent activity, AndroidHeadlines understands that’s precisely what Firstly Mobile is meant to help wireless carriers and device manufacturers accomplish. “Firstly Mobile doesn’t force a change in behavior or the phone UI/UX in ways many lock screens or launchers do. It just makes it better and smarter,” Mr. Wester explained.
Impact: While essentially no industry analyst believes bloatware will ever go away, Mobile Posse’s solution promises to make such pre-installed content aimed at after-sales smartphone and tablet monetization much more bearable for consumers. Whether that ends up being enough to change the overwhelmingly negative public opinion on forced “media discovery” remains to be seen but as things stand right now, Firstly Mobile is as good of a chance for the mobile industry to do so as they come.