The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA, at www.mmaglobal.com) is a global association with headquarters in New York that focuses on developing and promoting the mobile marketing industry, educating the market players about mobile marketing, measuring the industry, providing best practices in metrics, guiding the industry through the thought-leadership of its members, and publishing industry self-regulatory guidelines and best practices.

dotMobi (www.mtld.mobi) is the main source of .mobi domain names. It provides a number of other valuable mobile technology services and resources to businesses and individuals to ensure that the Web works well on mobile phones. Here are some of the services dotMobi provides:

If you want to register a common short code (CSC) in the United States, you need to go through the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA, at www.usshortcodes.com). The CSCA also has a resource center with whitepapers, tutorials, videos, podcasts, best practices, and case studies. Find more about common short codes in Chapter 4.

If you can remember only one word before launching a mobile marketing campaign, it should be the word test. To test your campaigns, you can go out and buy a few thousand of the most popular devices, or you can use services like Device Anywhere (www.deviceanywhere.com) to provide instant remote access to more than 2,000 real devices across live global networks in seven countries.

Device Anywhere allows you to see how your applications, automations, and certifications are going to function so you can either discover problems or have the confidence to launch your campaigns without fear of technical glitches across multiple devices and networks.

Another great mobile testing and monitoring service is Keynote (www.keynote.com). Keynote monitors and tests your messaging (SMS and MMS), mobile Web, and applications. They can do this over short periods of time or you can contract them to continuously monitor your services to ensure that they are performing properly. They can also compare the performance of your services against your competitors.

Another form of testing is test and control benchmarking to compare your customer engagement before and after you add mobile marketing to your marketing programs, or when you make changes to your mobile marketing programs. A number of research firms can help you with this, including Synovate (www.synovate.com), Insight Express (www.insightexpress.com), Dynamic Logic (www.dynamiclogic.com) and Luth Research (www.luthresearch.com).

The Federal Communications Commission has a wireless division known as the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB). The WTB governs all the wireless telecommunications programs and policies in the U.S. including licensing, enforcement, and regulatory functions.

The WTB publishes resources on its Web site (wireless.fcc.gov) related to new laws and government policies. Be sure to check it out periodically to keep up with changes. See Chapter 3 for more on related resources.

The Federal Communication Commission puts out a great report each year called the FCC Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) Competition Report. Find it at http://wireless.fcc.gov/index.htm?job=cmrs_reports.

Mobile Marketer (www.mobilemarketer.com) is the leading news publication covering mobile marketing, media, and commerce. The publication covers topics that are relevant to advertisers, technology partners, publishers, agencies, senior executives, and everyone else who needs to make decisions about mobile marketing. They also include information about successfully combining mobile marketing with other marketing channels.

Mobile Marketer owns other publications and blogs, like Mobile Commerce Daily (www.mobilecommercedaily.com). It also delivers Webcasts, events, and other resources with the latest mobile marketing information.

In addition to Mobile Marketer, here are a number of other great blogs and sources that you can check out to find information on mobile marketing:

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is the leading global trade association of businesses and non-profit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques.

Because mobile has a lot of value in the direct marketing space, the DMA works to advocate industry standards and provide cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities at its Web site, found at www.the-dma.org/segment/mobile.

Founded in 1917, DMA today represents companies from dozens of vertical industries in the U.S. and 48 other nations, including nearly half of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as non-profit organizations.

CTIA: The Wireless Association (www.ctia.org) is an international non-profit membership organization that has represented the wireless communications industry since 1984.

The association is an advocate on government policy and provides consumers with a variety of choices and information regarding their wireless products and services. This includes voluntary industry guidelines, programs that promote mobile device recycling and reuse, and wireless accessibility for individuals with disabilities.

CTIA also supports important industry initiatives such as Wireless AMBER Alerts. The association also operates the industry's leading trade shows, as well as equipment testing and certification programs to ensure a high standard of quality for consumers.

Another leading carrier-centric trade association you should be aware of is the GSMA, which can be found at www.gsmworld.com/. Whereas the CTIA focuses on U.S. carrier relationships, GSMA has a global focus.

MyWireless.org (www.mywireless.org) is an advocacy organization promoting government policies that benefit wireless consumers and promote freedom of use and innovation in wireless.

MyWireless.org focuses on unfair and excessive taxes and regulations on wireless that threaten the innovation, value, and choice wireless consumers enjoy, especially for those on fixed budgets, like seniors, working families, and small businesses.

The Netsize Guide (available at Netsize.com/Ressources_Guide.htm) is a comprehensive annual industry report documenting the state of the global mobile content and services market. The guide is put together using in-depth research and exclusive interviews with industry executives and opinion-makers.

The guide includes interviews with industry senior executives, survey results, and mobile data from more than 40 countries. The guide can be downloaded as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document from the Web site.

You may also want to check out Clickatel's Web site (www.clickatel.com). Like Netsize, Clickatel is a leading mobile aggregator. You can find a lot of useful information on international SMS deployment at its site.