Thanks. Just noticed the SIDEBAR thingy over the weekend. VZW has a lot of nerve. But if enabling the SIDEBAR also enables the GPS, it may be worth it :)

i think you are missing the bigger picture,

as for viigo, its an 3rd party app. not your service provider dimein in from both ends.

hey you pay for service, hey they pay to put ads on my phones for my service.

their is a big difference from a 3rd party app doing ads on free ware apps, then the telco running ads for a service you pay for.

as for vz this is like a new low they are stopping too.

Remember, this is just a pilot program for Verizon. There is no indication that SIDEBAR is part of Verizon or vice-versa, or that it will be promoted indefinitely. I assume, if it goes well, it will be marketed to other mobile carriers. Whether or not it goes well remains to be seen.

I really cannot imagine any mobile users appreciating a pop-up ad when they reach a new level on BrickBreaker, or when they get a phone call. :razz: If the pilot program with Verizon does not go well for SIDEBAR, they may have to rethink their marketing tactics.

Or they will just make it more appealing to the carriers, who will then force it upon our devices.

It would be interesting to know if the carriers would receive any financial benefit from the program. Usually the company, SIDEBAR, would receive revenue from advertisers, and the advertisers would receive income from users who clicked on the ads or purchased things from the ads. Also SIDEBAR could potentially sell user data, like phone numbers, browsing or purchasing habits, to other companies. I may see if I can dig up some more info on this.

Boy, I wonder what Chad's (alltel) going to say about this?
hahaha

great post, Daphne! I tried it... provided my age, gender, etc., and I am sure I was getting the same generic crap as the next person - there is no targeting. Also, it appears to use the radio constantly so it was killing my battery. (n)

This is why I went apesh!t when T-Mobile started pushing Facebook onto our Blackberrys. What if Verizon or whoever decides they want/need the revenue from this kind of advertising and starts pushing this sidebar onto our devices? And not long after we get the xxxxxx text ads, we start hearing, "Congratulations! You've been selected to win a free laptop...." at max volume, in a sales meeting with the department head. The only consolation is that he'll be hearing it too. Carriers pushing content to us is a bad, bad trend.

I noticed yesterday the SIDEBAR download link is no longer on my BB Verizon homepage. It would sure be interesting to know how the pilot program went. I seriously cannot imagine anyone liking this app. :razz:

No one will like it, but they need to complain loud and long about it. Like Leonidas at the end of "The 300". The telcos are the Persians and we're the Spartans, standing up against mysticism and tyranny. I feel very strongly about this. And also folks without data plans trying to sleaze data functions anyway. But I digress....:)

Wirelessly posted

Absolutely agree on pushing content being very, very bad. I complained on this site about O2 pushing FaceBook onto BB's and was met with a "what's the problem" response. You've highlighted the exact worst case!

Hey- c'mon-- Babe of the day? Joke of the day? Trivia? Movie trailers?
Its not that bad. I find myself thumbing through it when I'm bored. I'm always curious to see what I get sent next.
...I *really* doubt anybody will ever get a loud xxxxxx ad in the middle of a business meeting, or have anybody abscond with your private information and/or use private information where or how it shouldn't be used- there would be no value in that at all.

The spammers will pay for your information so they can mass-market you with their garbage. There's no limit to what could show up. It's all a question of who controls the content on YOUR Blackberry. I check my spam email account (Hotmail) once a week and the sheer volume of that junk makes me fear for what the telcos could subject us to.

That's a very naive point of view. Data like your email addresses and mobile number are valuable commodities. Companies buy and sell them all the time.

The lack of a privacy policy is unacceptable, as is this:

Maybe some people might like ads in the middle of their games, or in the middle of their sms messages, but I can't imagine why. If you like that stuff, maybe you are in the adware business yourself...

Correct 100%. Just say no to spam, malware, and addware content on blackberry.

Later

There really is no defense for spammers. They're low, vile creatures and should be dealt with in the harshest terms. Saying "it's not so bad" is a terrible attitude to take. Opening the door to these swine is the LAST thing any of us should do. Like the mighty ****roach, if spammers get a foothold in our mobiles it will be almost impossible to get rid of them.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-- attributed to Eduond Blurke