The concept of exchanging voice minutes for obligatory ads pushed to handsets is a business model still very much in its infancy, but Blyk -- which currently has a live MVNO in the UK and plans to launch in the Netherlands later this year -- must be feeling good about its chances right now, because it has announced a planned expansion into the German, Belgian, and Spanish markets next year. Key to the service's success is recognition by advertisers that customers actually give a crap about the highly-targeted marketing material being pushed to them; Blyk claims that click-through rates are rockin', which is probably providing the impetus for the planned expansion. We're still not so sure we'd trade 217 text messages and 43 voice minutes a month for the privilege of being blasted with spam targeted promotions, but if they're somehow able to boost the allowance into the range of a typical plan and maintain profitability, they could be sitting on a gold mine.

[Via mocoNews]

Hold on to your seats, chaps -- Blyk has just surpassed that magical 100,000 subscriber mark in Britain that it's been aiming for ever since the company got off the ground last fall. For those curious as to why "just" 100k is a milestone worth celebrating, this particular MVNO -- which rents airtime from Orange and utilizes equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks -- issues its customers a free pool of minutes / text messages in exchange for them accepting advertisements. In other words, a totally ad-funded service is somehow managing to go over at least decently well. According to the outfit, it reached the aforesaid goal a full six months ahead of schedule and is currently seeing ad response rates of 29-percent. Kudos, Blyk -- way to quiet those naysayers.

[Via textually]

It has yet to be conclusively proven that the ads-for-minutes system really works, but UK-based Blyk Mobile is starting to offer up some stats on how it's fared since its launch a couple months back. As a refresher, Blyk is offering folks in their teens and early twenties precisely 43 minutes of voice and 217 text messages per month for the right to send out six targeted ads per day -- and believe it or not, it might just be working. Blyk claims that it's seeing click-throughs ranging from 12 to 43 percent depending on the type of ad (text, video, and so on), and its demographics are fairly well balanced to boot with a 52 / 48 percent gender split in favor of men. The MVNO has a fairly modest 12-month subscriber target of 100,000 users -- and while they're being a little coy about whether the service on track for that number, they've reiterated that it's still the number they're shooting for. So yeah, Xero Mobile, if you ever want to get off the ground, how's about you take a few pointers from these guys?

Alright, we give Xero Mobile a pretty hard time around here -- mostly deserved, we'd argue -- but at least its business model has now been partially validated by the launch of a similar setup across the pond, Blyk. Currently open only to 16 to 24 year olds (by invitation only, no less), the MVNO offers users 217 free text messages and 43 voice minutes per month in exchange for an agreement to receive six SMS ads a day, participate in some polls, and fill out some profiling information; any additional usage will cost cold, hard cash. Blyk operates atop Orange's British network; there aren't any immediate plans to launch elsewhere, though the company says it's in talks to do so. At this point, Xero might want to hold out and see whether this is successful before they bother launching. And no, we can't believe we just suggested Xero should delay its launch even longer than it already has.

[Via mocoNews]

Blyk, the European ad-backed MVNO headed by a Nokia alum, has had its launch delayed. Blyk's free wireless service targeted towards 16- to 24 year-olds is apparently undergoing some last-minute business plan tweaking since, you know, free wireless service supported by ads alone is still an unproven business model. It looks like an October 2007 launch is set for now, so no Blyk goodness is coming to the UK this summer. Until then, you can gaze at Blyk's odd and strangely surreal corporate logo to the right.

[Via mocoNews]

We're not entirely sure what chemical they've put in the water in the past couple years to make everyone suddenly think that cellphone users want to get blasted with ads in exchange for airtime -- but alas, please welcome Blyk (not to be confused with "bilk") to the party. The upstart Finnish MVNO, put together by an ex-Nokia exec, looks to target young Europeans aged 16 to 24 as soon as next summer by hooking them up with questionnaires that will allow advertisers to send ultra-targeted ads based on lifestyle, hobbies, and preferences. Blyk claims that most handsets already on the market will be compatible with its service -- even those without graphical displays -- suggesting that most ads will initially fly over SMS. The company is making a big stink over the fact that they're the first to suggest that this is a good idea; we think Xero Mobile would beg to differ, but that's one chicken we won't be counting 'til it hatches.

[Via Smart Mobs]