Patent hints at coming BlackBerry mobile ad service

During its annual BlackBerry Developer Conference in November 2009, Research In Motion announced the wheels were in motion to introduce a new services platform enabling developer partners to integrate mobile advertising into their BlackBerry applications. RIM has divulged next to nothing about the project in the months since, but a new U.S. patent filing uncovered by MobileSyrup.com hints at what the device maker is planning.

The patent, which outlines a "System and method for incorporating multimedia content into a message handled by a mobile phone," states "Multimedia content can be incorporated into a message handled by a mobile device with minimum invasiveness by utilizing linking mechanisms that are visually identifiable with certain content and can reveal the multimedia content, e.g. an advertisement, upon selection. This may be done by examining content in the message handled by a mobile device and matching portions of the message with predetermined criteria such as keywords or phrases. Upon finding matches, corresponding multimedia content is associated with a respective portion of the message content and access to the multimedia content is enabled through selection of a linking mechanism that is visually identifiable with the respective portion of the message. The message is modified to include such linking mechanisms such that upon viewing the modified message, a user may reveal the multimedia content by selecting the linking mechanism."

The RIM patent also underscores the importance of targeted, relevant ad content. "Advertising may only be effective if the user is interested in the content and can become a nuisance if the user is overwhelmed with too much content, or content that may be deemed inappropriate or irrelevant... On a mobile device, although the user may have access to such broadcast content and may be able to access particular media, various other uses of the mobile device may command the user's attention at various times during a given day. As such, advertising on a mobile device can be more challenging than simply associating generic advertising content with a given medium."

For more on the RIM mobile advertising patent:
- read this MobileSyrup.com article

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