In the past, CBS has invested heavily in the development of their mobile sports presence. And building upon last year’s successful mobile coverage and corresponding iPhone app for March Madness, CBS is rolling out a host of new developments for the CBS mobile sports platform.

Chief among such noteworthy developments is the addition of 3G/EDGE support, which will bring live streaming video to the “CBS Sports: NCAA March Madness on Demand” iPhone/iPod Touch application.

The app in question debuted last year to much fanfare and was created with the help of mobile video solutions provider MobiTV. In 2009, however, the application’s enjoyment was limited to those capable of securing a WiFi connection.

The 3G support add-on is certainly a welcome addition, although the upgrade comes with a substantial price increase. Last year’s $4.99 has been replaced by 2010’s new price tag of $9.99.

CBS says their NCAA March Madness on Demand will provide the most comprehensive coverage possible, including all tournament games from the opening round to the Final Four. That means basketball fans can stream 63 live games in all right from their mobile device.

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Want to find local food and drink deals? Cellism hopes you can wait to appease that growling tummy and use their new MealDeals iPhone, Android and Blackberry smartphone app to save money before spending your cash and filling your belly.

The app is the newest offering in the mobile marketing space for restaurants and eateries hoping to market to locals and visitors in the area. Yesterday, we covered 99 Apps, which is making $99 customized iPhone apps for restaurants and requiring a monthly fee if the restaurant wants to edit content and add deals. MealDeals is also big on the number 99, but this app will charge advertisers $99 per month for each campaign.

Restaurants in California, Chicago and New York have been piloting the platform for the past three months to promote new menu items and specials. Elio D’ Urzo, Owner of Sapore Italiano Ristorante in California was quoted in the release as saying, “MealDeals helps us get more exposure and extends our marketing efforts to reach many more customers.”

The system currently carries over 7000 web and mobile coupons. Over 30 restaurants in Denver are set to begin their mobile advertising campaigns on the platform soon. Users can download the application free on their mobile devices and find coupons for nearby restaurants.

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For the first time ever, advertisers will spend more on digital than print, according to a new study by Outsell released today titled “Marketing and Ad Spending Study 2010: Total US and B2B Advertising.” But mobile marketing isn’t quite ready for the spotlight yet, and will see a spending decline in the coming year. The study finds that advertisers will spend 16% less on mobile in 2010.

Of the $368 billion marketers will spend this year, 32.5% will go toward digital, 30.3% will go towards print. “It’s a watershed moment,” lead author of the study and Outsell vice president Chuck Richard told Forbes.com. However, in regards to mobile marketing, “the proof isn’t in yet that mobile spending is all that effective,” Richard adds in the article. He gives the example of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit iPhone app which was the 33rd-highest-grossing mobile app in the iPhone store — 32,000 people paid $2 to download the app, netting $64k. However, one page of advertising in the issue makes $135,000. Richard obviously isn’t a fan of mobile marketing. “It’s time for a reality check,” he says.

But mobile marketing isn’t just about iPhone apps, and comparing the amount of money made from an iPhone app to the money made from print advertising is comparing apples to bananas. If you’re a brand, you don’t necessarily build an iPhone app just to make money from that app. The app may also be for increasing brand loyalty and seen as a digital PR move. Also, iPhone apps can make money later with in-app advertising that makes the app download fee worth more than the original purchase price.

The Outsell study collected data from 1,008 US advertisers in both consumer and B2B that marketers in December 2009. Stats that advertisers will spend 16% less on mobile in 2010 might scare mobile marketers, but it’s a natural pause after a growth spurt in the industry. Over the past year, there was a lot of excitement and experimentation in mobile marketing and advertising, and likely advertisers had unrealistic expectations in ROI in a still young smartphone market.

In the year’s to come, mobile advertising spend will likely go up. That’s according to me, not the Outsell study. The reason for this? Mobile is more than phones, and in the coming years we’ll see mobile-connected devices become more popular in the mainstream. Tablets, netbooks, portable network-connected gaming devices (like Sony’s upcoming PlayStation phone) will allow the rise in digital ad spending to leak into mobile and grow mobile ad spend in the next decade.

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When it comes to launching mobile marketing companies, some firms believe it’s best to go after one industry, offering easy and affordable ways for businesses in that industry to get into mobile marketing. 99 Apps, the latest of these industry plays, is targeting restaurant owners — with $99 customizable iPhone apps.

The company launched today with technology that helps restauranteurs get in on mobile marketing with an easy-to-make and relatively affordable customized iPhone app. So far, they’re doing a good job getting the word out about their service and building apps — in a two-month beta period, the 99 Apps has 50 live Apps on the iPhone that have generated thousands of downloads.

“We believe that all businesses, large and small, will benefit greatly from a mobile platform, and the high cost of custom development shouldn’t get in the way,” said Nick Ostroff, co-founder of 99 Apps, in the launch release.

The $99 fee is actually pretty cheap considering 99 Apps is doing customize design work for each restaurant based on the restaurant’s menu and location data. That fee alone isn’t going to keep 99 Apps in business, but the $9.99 plus monthly charge to update app information just might.

For the restaurant who signs up for 99 Apps, the challenge is to get the app downloaded to customer phones in the first place. Also, unless a customer loves your restaurant and is a frequent visitor already, chances of them using your app on a frequent enough basis to be worth the monthly service fee may not be high enough. Then again, just having an official iPhone (and Android and Blackberry) App will be a benefit to the brand’s overall image. But just as it’s difficult to get customers to sign up for an e-mail list and read e-mails, it’s difficult to get customers to download a mobile app and visit it once it’s on their phone.

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It’s a headline that will certainly inspire more than just a few double-takes. But the reports are, indeed, true. There are, at this very moment, more books available in Apple’s App Store than there are games. It’s a significant shift of content momentum that has taken place in a surprisingly rapid fashion.

This reality represents the first time the game category has taken a back seat to any other. According to a report from Mobclix, an ad exchange provider for iPhone apps, the App Store currently offers approximately 26,5000 books. All told, that represents approximately 19% percent of the total apps available in the App Store (142,0000 in all). On the other hand, Only 25,000 games are now available, a figure representing roughly 18% of the App Store’s total offerings.

The explosion of ebooks and the growing popularity of mobile news platforms add up to music to the ears of a multitude of mobile marketers chomping at the bit to capitalize on the booming business of e-readers and devices like Apple’s forthcoming iPad.

But as Mobclix is quit to reiterate, the App Store “has been ever-evolving since it’s conception.”

As both developers and iPhone owners discover new uses for apps for work, fun, and daily life we expect to see even more changes in the future.

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