The good news is that this will prove that big companies like Coca-Cola actually listen to their consumers. The bad news is that they have finally figured out a way to invade our cell phones and other mobile devices.
The story is that companies will offer free utilities that we can use on our phones. Of course, whenever we use those little programs they hope that we will think of them. And then buy their stuff.
This really isn't such a new concept. After all, free toys have been coming inside cereal boxes for years. Before that, it was the prize in your Cracker Jack's box. Happy Meals are just a hamburger, fries, and a "free" toy at McDonald's. Hollywood studios will often offer "free" downloads such as screensavers, desktop wallpapers, and sound bites which double as an opportunity for us to advertise their movie for free. I currently have a "Bee Movie" wallpaper on my computer desktop which looks pretty but also reminds everyone who walks into my movie about a certain animated movie in which Jerry Seinfeld played a bee.
So, this sounds like just more of the same from our friendly neighborhood companies. Let's just hope that they don't take things too far and add a little extra to our free utilities. After all, you can't exactly put a camera in every cracker jack but you can record where people go using the GPS features on their phones, or perhaps what numbers they dialed.
But, then, this can't possibly happen can it? I mean, if it did it would be just like the problems we've had our computers. It is ironic that five years ago the programs that we got from advertisers were considered to be "free."
Now, we call it spyware.
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