Image via CrunchBase

2011 was a year of rapid growth and change in the mobile advertising industry. It was the year that saw smartphones, Tablets and the mobile internet become mainstream among consumers, and that saw marketers and advertisers increase spend and begin prioritising mobile. 2012 looks set to be even more of a critical year in the development of the industry. From Adfonic’s own data and knowledge of the industry we predict that the following developments will become hot topics over the next 12 months.

Tablet boom
With the iPad being one of 2011′s most popular Christmas presents, and with the new Kindle Fire making tablets more affordable and accessible, we can expect to see tablet devices replacing lower-end laptops and notebooks over the course of 2012. It is not unrealistic to expect that Tablet ownership will more than double.

Rich media going mass market
Rich media is already emerging as a game-changer for the mobile advertising industry, as it offers the consumer a more engaging and interactive experience and facilitates superior branding opportunities for advertisers. Until now, rich media advertisements for mobile have, for the most part, been offered as a premium or niche service across a small number of high end mobile publishers. In 2012, mobile ad networks will be offering rich media on a global scale, giving advertisers access to millions of consumers and challenging budgets across other media channels.

Advertising spend shifting towards mobile
As smartphone penetration booms, consumer mobile usage will continue to increase and extend across new times of the day. For example, one of the most quoted use cases in 2011 has been consumer use of tablet or smartphone devices during TV commercials. Consumers are browsing mobile sites and using apps on their tablets and smartphones in place of TV commercial consumption, which suggests that the perception of mobile as primarily an extension of the PC internet will finally disappear. It is becoming increasingly clear that mobile operates as an alternative to the “fixed internet” for many people and this can no longer be ignored. Advertising budgets will increasingly follow the consumer over to mobile.

Phasing out of feature phones
Smartphones are now becoming more economically accessible to all consumer segments as a result of the large range of Android devices coupled with Apple’s pricing strategy for older phones. As the number of services and options begin to concentrate on tablet and smartphone platforms, advertisers and agencies will slowly phase out features phones from their plans.

Apple and UDIDs
During 2010 and 2011, much investment poured into app tracked campaigns enabling advertisers to deliver installed apps at low cost. A new common approach, superseding UDIDs, will become mainstream across agencies, advertisers, ad networks and other players in the ecosystem, as Apple plans to phase out access to the UDID on its mobile devices.

Mobile web versus applications 
During 2011, there were hints (driven predominantly by large industry players opting for HTML5 over a multi-app approach) of the mobile web challenging applications as the way forward for mobile internet usage. During 2012, we are likely to see this debate evolve with the potential for some major decisions by digital players to impact the market and force some rethinking.

Geo-location services 
There is likely to be more integration across marketing channels, platforms and other parties that will enable geo-location services and advertising to ramp up during 2012. Driven predominantly out of the US (where most geo-location business is currently concentrated) we are likely to see more demand for campaigns targeted to smaller areas (ring-fencing) with a view to driving footfall into retail stores, restaurants and other outlets.

Increasing use of mobile payments 
While this may not be the year that mobile payments become mainstream, many players will come together to make significant progress in piecing together the mobile commerce ecosystem. The success of Google Wallet last year will drive industry players forward in 2012, with major advertising events like the Olympics providing a springboard for new, exciting innovations around mobile commerce.

Facebook and mobile advertising
Facebook has been holding back on pushing mobile advertising aggressively. With close to 1bn users online, and over 300m users now accessing Facebook via their mobile, it provides a significant game-changer and possible milestone for the mobile advertising industry. However Facebook decides to execute on mobile advertising will, without a doubt, have a big impact on the digital industry in general.

Further progress on standards and privacy
With mobile advertising moving at such a fast pace in terms of innovation and market demand, there will be  increasing requirements for further standardisation (ad formats, for example, including rich media) and frameworks and policies driven by the trade bodies on privacy and data.

Via: http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/content/whats-trending-2012?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I am now looking at the next big thing and will update all via my blog in due course.  It is exciting times for mobile and we are all moving at an incredible rate.  So many fantastic new start ups with so many ingenious ideas all to make our lives better.  I believe we strive to help people communicate, engage, consume, learn, inform and so much more.

This global society that we have born is the future and will change lives forever to come.  No borders, no politics, no fuss.  A generation of globally connected people wanting to share experiences and information from across all corners of the globe.

I am privileged to be part of such an amazing evolution of communication…

Following eBay‘s grand introduction of its X.commerce open-source platform at the Innovate Developer Conference last week, eBay is having another week to boast about.

This afternoon eBay reported third-quarter earnings of $490.5 million, or 37 cents a share. Non-GAAP earnings were 48 cents a share on revenue of $2.97 billion.

Wall Street was expecting eBay to report third-quarter earnings of 48 cents a share, rising from earnings of 40 cents last year, on revenue of $2.91 billion.

In prepared remarks, eBay president and CEO John Donahoe touted the mobile-commerce strategy:

Our company reported another strong quarter, with eBay, PayPal and GSI each performing well. Mobile commerce continues to accelerate as consumers change the way they shop and pay. We expect eBay mobile commerce to generate almost $5 billion in merchandise volume this year and PayPal mobile to exceed $3.5 billion in payment volume. Mobile is one way online and offline shopping are blending into a single commerce environment. We are focused on enabling commerce, helping consumers shop anytime, anywhere, and being the commerce partner of choice for retailers of all sizes.

PayPal more than any other company in eBay’s expanding portfolio (including eBay itself) is really responsible for strengthening eBay’s mobile-commerce plan.

For starters, PayPal now stands at more than 103 million active accounts and counting–a 14 percent increase year over year. The payments service also signs up an average of 1 million new accounts each month.

PayPal’s revenue is also up 32 percent year-over-year, which is primarily due to increased integration on eBay and more adoption by merchants and consumers. Additionally, PayPal is now used by 63 of the top 100 top online retailers in North America–up from 56 last year.

“PayPal is driving innovation and customer convenience in the mobile arena,” Donahoe added during the quarterly investors call this afternoon, reiterating that we will likely see more change in commerce in the next three years than we’ve seen in the last decade.

Donahoe posited that consumers want to shop anytime, anywhere, and at the moment, “merchants can’t compete when consumers have shopping malls in their pockets.”

“X.commerce makes our technology and global platforms available to third-party developers, which we believe will accelerate commerce innovation,” Donahoe argued.

For the outlook, eBay is predicting a revenue of $3.2 billion to $3.35 billion at the end of the fourth quarter with non-GAAP earnings 55 cents to 58 cents a share. Wall Street is looking for earnings of 58 cents a share on revenue of $3.3 billion for the fourth quarter.

For 2011, eBay is planning on delivering revenue between $11.5 billion and $11.6 billion with non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.98 to $2.01.

Additional numbers:

• Non-GAAP net income was $628.2 million.
• eBay generated $809 million of operating cash flow and $526 million of free cash flow during the third quarter.
• GSI, which was acquired in the second quarter of 2011, contributed $202.6 million in revenue for the third quarter by generating $608 million in global e-commerce merchandise sales during the quarter.

Via: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20122767-93/ebay-rides-mobile-commerce-to-strong-earnings/

Google Ventures announced recently that it is investing inAstrid, a task management app, and Crittercism, an SDK that helps provide customer support for mobile.

Google Ventures’ partner Rich Miner made the announcement during VentureBeat’s fourth annual MobileBeat conference. (We have a separate story withmore details on the Astrid investment.) We’ll be posting more on those companies throughout the day.

After the announcement, Miner answered the question on everyone’s mind: Where’s the Android fund? Kleiner Perkins has its Apple-focused iFund, but neither Google nor venture firms have anything similar for Android startups.

“I think the time has gone by,” said Miner. “It’s now all about mobile.”

The proof is in the pudding, er, funding: Astrid and Crittercism are both mobile companies.

Miner has a front seat to watch mobile phone market growth. He became a partner of Google Ventures after Android, the mobile platforms company he co-founded, was acquired six years ago. He has over 25 years of experience growing businesses with innovative communications and interface-intensive applications. During his early years at Google, he helped lead the development of the Android platform and ecosystem. Prior to Android, Rich was a Vice President at Orange, where he led R&D activities in North America and was an original principal at Orange Ventures when it was founded.

Miner recalled his early days at Google six years ago, when Android was “treated as a separate startup.” The company was self-funded when Google picked it up.

“It was Larry [Page, Google co-founder] who latched on first. He was our champion. He shared our strategic view,” said Miner. He says he was impressed that Page, his co-founder Sergey Brin and then-CEO-now-chairman Eric Schmidt understood the mobile industry. It was important for Android to have support and flexibility right from the start, and those ingredients are necessary today.

“There were skeptics about Android all the way through last year,” said Miner. “There has been a tipping point.”

That tipping point happened in the last six months, he explains. As a VC, Miner’s goal has always been to make money, and Apple’s App Store makes money. Up until last year he was recommending companies focus on iOS. Now, he says, Android is “on a rocket ship.”

Another hot topic: Where is Google going with Chrome?

Miner believes the line between Android and Chrome has been drawn: Android is for mobile, while Chrome is for desktop and laptop environments. The theme is that Google understands the open platform. Miner also believes native apps and HTML 5 both have their place. Android, however, supports both for the times you want or need to go offline.

Via: http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/12/google-ventures-rich-miner-on-the-mobile-revolution/

Image via Wikipedia

Borrell Associates, which specializes in research covering local and online advertising, issued a new report this week called  “Main Street Goes Mobile” that examines the role that mobile media is projected to play in  local business marketing over the next five years.

Pointing to a business and consumer environment ready to embrace mobile advertising, Borrell cites statistics indicating that a full third of website readership already accesses information via mobile devices. Meanwhile, half of local businesses report plans to engage in mobile marketing.

These local marketers plan to commit roughly 20% of their budgets to this effort. Will they follow through? While mobile marketing (and hyperlocal efforts in general) can be turnkey in some respects, there are still costs to consider, along with the navigation of complex technologies and new business relationships.

The difficulties most local (and national) businesses encounter with online and mobile implementation have led directly to the rise of a media middleman — Groupon is a well-known example. Whereas traditional ad agencies and marketing firms handle creative and placement, taking fees directly from advertisers, many local advertisers are opting for promotions and other efforts that come without a clear price tag attached. Using the model embraced by many group deal sites, advertisers actually receive money from these middlemen (albeit much less than they would from traditional customer engagements) rather than doling it out.

Borrell projects that, by the end of 2011, 1/3 of all mobile phone users will have smartphones. Soon, mobile capabilities will be the price of entry for marketers. Advertisers are looking to firms like Groupon, LocalUp and GeoIQ to keep their advertising efforts streamlined, transparent, and supported on multichannel platforms.

We’re talking about real money here. Borrell projects that local online advertising will reach $18 billion by 2016, with local mobile couponing at $3 billion. While this growth is occurring at a rate much faster than the slow initial shift to online advertising, we need to remember that there is already what Borrell calls an “installed base”: advertisers and consumers comfortable with online marketing, for whom the addition of mobile is simply a shift within a familiar environment.

In an important divergence from ads of the past, “the medium is no longer the message,” according to the report.

Borrell asserts that “mobile is not a channel — it’s a [series of] platforms,” allowing real-time engagement with consumers. Within mobile usage lie options for email and paid search advertising. Both of these highly popular functions provide a fertile environment for mobile advertising. But advertisers are also examining text / SMS, downloaded apps (a key opportunity) and in-game environments. And not all these channels will grow at the same rate.

In an important divergence from ads of the past, “the medium is no longer the message,” according to the report. With content and channel decoupled, advertisers need to consider that communication can be delivered in a number of ways at a number of different moments in a consumer’s day, and need to plan their messaging accordingly. Even the way the industry measures and tracks marketing success will need to change, since we are going beyond eyeballs and “impressions” to assessing the distinct action a consumer takes (or doesn’t take).

The research firm notes that local radio companies have largely missed the boat when it comes to online marketing opportunities, leaving the spoils to companies like Pandora and Slacker. This is a useful observation, as local radio really does seem half-hearted about its online presence; it will be interesting to watch future activity in this space.

The report includes a number of insightful charts projecting revenue and growth rates for components within mobile advertising. While national ad spending continues to rise in some channels, it drops in others, and local ad spending is projected to rise across the board.

An especially interesting point is the blurred point of difference between promotions, which have traditionally been more B2B-focused, and advertising, historically a B2C effort. Driven by coupons and discounts / deals, mobile marketing is starting to move across each category of US promotional spending.

Coupons, discounts and deals have “evolved,” Borrell says, to a balance point where they are both easy to execute and appealing to consumers. Other, more complex promotions prove to be more challenging to implement. An example: proximity marketing is enjoying press exposure right now. Borrell projects that the nascent marketing structure will hit its stride about two years from now. For the moment, promotions involving geolocation and “fencing” are too complex, data-driven and expensive for all but large national advertisers to take on.

It would seem that there is a major creative opportunity for middlemen — or traditional ad and marketing firms — to help develop effective and simple creative to push through these new channels, allowing advertisers to retain their hands-off status. Gradually, however, the creative quality will be forced to improve, based on consumers’ heightened expectations and the risk otherwise of saturation.

Borrell’s report effectively illustrates the skyrocketing growth of mobile marketing and advertising, as well as clarifying the multiple channels that fall within our current definition of “mobile.” They do remind the reader, though, that this all exists within a much larger bucket of money still being spent by national advertisers on traditional marketing and advertising efforts. Mobile marketing is an infant: tiny, but loud, and getting louder.

Via: http://streetfightmag.com/2011/08/12/borrell-report-local-marketing/

Huge!

Google is buying handset maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash.

That’s a 61% premium.

Needless to say this is a gamechanger in the mobile world, as Google moves down the stack, and is no longer just an operating system provider meaning it competes directly with Apple as well as the various other handset makers who currently use Android.

What’s more, one of the biggest arguments in favor of Apple’s continued to dominance is that without a complete end-to-end “stack”, no other platform could compete with its integrated software/hardware setup.

Bear in mind that Google has over $35 billion in cash, so this answers one question about what they’ll do with it. The company still has tons more dry poweder.

Other handset makers, like RIMM and Nokia are both up pre-market on the news as the focus obviously turns to Microsoft: Is it now forced to buy one of them? Or does Microsoft benefit because the remaining handset makers (Samsung, etc.) now turn more towards Windows?

Another angle that will be scrutinized is MMI’s patent portfolio, and how that plays out.

That’s one of the key points made by Larry Page in his post on the subject:

We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to “protect competition and innovation in the open source software community” and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Appleand other companies.

Obviously lots to digest. Stay tuned with LIVE coverage all day at SAI.

Full press release below, and below that we’ve posted Larry Page’s Google blog post explaining the deal.

—————

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - News) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MMI - News) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, “We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the US, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and the approval of Motorola Mobility’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Webcast Information

Google and Motorola Mobility will hold a conference call with financial analysts to discuss this announcement today at 8:30am ET. The toll-free dial-in number for the call is 877-616-4476 (conference ID: 92149124). The call will also be webcast live at http://investor.shareholder.com/media/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=101369&CompanyID=ABEA-3VZHGF&e=1&mediaKey=A21887C59EBAAC12F1BCF4D43C080953. The webcast version of the conference call will be available through the same link following the conference call.

———————–

Supercharging Android: Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

Since its launch in November 2007, Android has not only dramatically increased consumer choice but also improved the entire mobile experience for users. Today, more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide—with over 550,000 devices now lit up every day—through a network of about 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers in 123 countries. Given Android’s phenomenal success, we are always looking for new ways to supercharge the Android ecosystem. That is why I am so excited today to announce that we have agreed to acquire Motorola.

Motorola has a history of over 80 years of innovation in communications technology and products, and in the development of intellectual property, which have helped drive the remarkable revolution in mobile computing we are all enjoying today. Its many industry milestones include the introduction of the world’s first portable cell phone nearly 30 years ago, and the StarTAC—the smallest and lightest phone on earth at time of launch. In 2007, Motorola was a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance that worked to make Android the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. I have loved my Motorola phones from the StarTAC era up to the current DROIDs.

In 2008, Motorola bet big on Android as the sole operating system across all of its smartphone devices. It was a smart bet and we’re thrilled at the success they’ve achieved so far. We believe that their mobile business is on an upward trajectory and poised for explosive growth.

Motorola is also a market leader in the home devices and video solutions business. With the transition to Internet Protocol, we are excited to work together with Motorola and the industry to support our partners and cooperate with them to accelerate innovation in this space.

Motorola’s total commitment to Android in mobile devices is one of many reasons that there is a natural fit between our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere.

This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.

We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to “protect competition and innovation in the open source software community” and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

The combination of Google and Motorola will not only supercharge Android, but will also enhance competition and offer consumers accelerating innovation, greater choice, and wonderful user experiences. I am confident that these great experiences will create huge value for shareholders.

I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.

Posted by Larry Page, CEO

Via: http://www.businessinsider.com/breaking-google-buying-motorola-mobility-for-125-billion-2011-8#ixzz1V6KELtUY

Posted By ] Adam Satariano

Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iAd mobile-advertising business has cut rates by as much as 70 percent as some marquee clients are using rival services, two people with knowledge of the matter said, signaling the company is struggling to parlay its technology leadership into success in the ad industry.

When Apple rolled out iAd a year ago, companies such as Citigroup Inc. (C) and J.C. Penney Co. were being charged $1 million or more to run ad campaigns. Today those brands aren’t using iAd, and Apple is offering packages for as little as $300,000, said the people, who asked not to be named because the rates are private.

Even with lower prices, some advertising agencies are balking at iAd’s cost, especially because the promotions only reach Apple users. They’re turning instead to Google Inc. (GOOG)’s AdMob, Millennial Media and Greystripe, which serve a range of devices. That means Apple risks losing ground in a market that will generate $2.5 billion by 2014, according to EMarketer Inc.

“Apple’s closed ecosystem may have been interesting in the short run for advertisers, but in the long run they priced themselves out,” said Thom Kennon, senior vice president of strategy for the Young & Rubicam ad agency in New York.

Makers of applications, who benefit from iAd by selling advertising, are getting only 5 percent to 15 percent of their space filled by the Apple system, according to Mobclix Inc., an exchange for buying and selling mobile ads.

Lower Prices

Apple has cut the minimum ad purchase from $1 million to $500,000, and it’s offering agencies deals for as low as $300,000 if they bring together multiple campaigns, the two people said.

The company still has the advantage of offering the biggest selection of mobile applications. Its App Store, which provides software for its iPhone, iPad tablet and iPod Touch media player, has more than 425,000 programs. When an ad runs within an app, Apple gives the developer 60 percent of the revenue.

Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California- based Apple, said the company continues to sign some of the world’s leading brands.

“In its first year iAd has launched more than 100 campaigns in seven countries,” she said.

Apple also is taking steps to attract more advertising. In addition to offering lower prices, it hired a former ad agency executive, Carrie Frolich, who was the head of digital for WPP Plc’s MEC. And Apple added a new online design feature, called iAd Producer, to help agencies design ads more quickly.

Disney, AT&T

Twenty companies have used iAd in the past month, including Walt Disney Co. (DIS), where Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is the biggest shareholder; AT&T Inc., a carrier of Apple’s iPhone; and insurance provider Geico Corp. About 50 campaigns will be joining the platform in the coming months, according to Apple.

The iAd system carried unrealistic expectations from developers and advertisers, said Noah Elkin, an analyst at EMarketer, a research firm in New York. Its biggest contribution is validating the nascent market of showing advertisements to people on their smartphones, he said.

“It has been successful in that it created a beacon for mobile advertising,” he said. “Advertising was always going to be a minor revenue source for them.”

Even if prices have come down, Apple legitimized the idea of spending large sums on mobile ads, said Krishna Subramanian, the co-founder of Palo Alto, California-based Mobclix.

“You can go to an automotive company and pitch a $500,000 to $1 million campaign, and it’s realistic,” he said.

Disappointing Results?

Still, iAd has frustrated some developers, which haven’t made as much money as expected, Subramanian said. They have turned to other companies to sell ad space, he said.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. is using competing mobile-adverting networks after being part of the initial group of companies to advertise through Apple, said Ed Gold, the insurer’s advertising director.

J.C. Penney, another inaugural user of iAd, also is working with other services, said Danika Berry, a spokeswoman for the retailer. Citigroup confirmed that it’s not currently using iAd as well. The companies said they may use iAd in the future.

Rival mobile-advertising companies have been luring clients by undercutting Apple on price and promoting their ability to run across multiple devices, including handsets from Samsung Electronics Co., HTC Corp. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. – - phones that rely on Google’s Android operating system. Millennial Media also hired one of Apple’s iAd sales managers.

Limited Audience

“You’re cutting your potential audience in half by focusing on a single platform,” said Dane Holewinski, head of marketing at Greystripe, which was acquired by ValueClick Inc. (VCLK) in April. About 80 percent of the company’s advertising campaigns work across multiple devices. “Advertisers don’t care about platform. They care about audience, performance and engagement.”

The iAd system carries a level of prestige, in part because of its sleek design, said Rob Norman, CEO of ad agency GroupM North America, whose clients using iAd include Unilever NV.

“Everyone likes the consumer experience it creates,” he said. “Everyone wants to be there because they think that, possibly since television, this is one of the most elegant customer experiences.”

Still, companies must account for the cost, Norman said.

“We’d all like to stay at the Four Seasons, but not if it costs $150,000 a night,” he said. “There’s a price equation.”

Quattro Acquisition

The iAd platform was started after Apple acquired mobile- advertising company Quattro Wireless last year. It was introduced last July at the company’s annual developers conference as a way to take more interactive features, such as videos, and embed them within applications.

Apple targets ads by using data from the millions of accounts registered with its iTunes software. The pitches are made based on demographic information, along with a user’s music, movie or App Store purchases. Advertisers can choose “buckets” of users to target, based on demographics, though they can’t pick which specific applications the ads run in.

When it was introduced, Jobs said most other mobile advertising “really sucks.”

For now, many ad agencies haven’t embraced iAd as an improvement over the old approaches, said Rachel Pasqua, vice president of mobile for ICrossing, an online marketing firm. She cites the cost, time needed to get ads approved, limited size of the audience and control Apple has kept over data.

“I haven’t encouraged any of my clients towards it,” Pasqua said. “I haven’t seen a huge value proposition.”

While Apple has stumbled in advertising, its influence over the technology industry means it’s too soon to count the company out, said EMarketer’s Elkin.

“IAd may have receded in to the background, but it’s too early to assume it’s not going to come back,” he said.

Via: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-07/apple-s-iad-mobile-ad-service-said-to-cut-prices-as-clients-turn-to-rivals.html

The mighty Google has dispelled any doubt about the importance of the exploding Facebook nation and the need for companies to exploit evolving social mobile dynamics for ecommerce.

In its biggest and most adroit reactionary move yet, the search advertising giant’s new Google + aggregates its existing services and competencies (including its mobile Android operating system) in a social networking mesh that taps its vast collection of user information.

Friend grouping (Circles), sharing (including individual or crowd video chats called Hangouts), news and photo aggregation (Sparks), recommendations and other social features of Google+ look and feel like Facebook’s familiar framework — but their orientation and approach to leveraging social networks  are completely different.

Google is a social outlier that filters user information through complex algorithms and manages the relationship as a critical adjunct to its advertising and search business. Facebook was created as a user interface with members’ interactions, interests and functionality at its core.  Interactivity on Facebook is all about relating to others inside of existing and morphing social graphs; interactivity on Google is all about individual functionality inside of massive constructs like search, gmail and Picasa photo app.

Given the similarities of Google+ to Facebook, it seems ironic Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra told TechCrunch that the company considers online sharing “broken…even awkward.” Google has consistently missed the mark on real-time sharing among friends that is the glue that makes Facebook so “sticky.” But being late to the social -networking party is not the issue. Google’s Android is giving Apple a run for its money, even as a relative newcomer to the mobile operating system space.

Google+, an outgrowth of the earlier Google BUZZ, will be as much of “a crushing success,” according to Internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis.  Google is poised to take half the social networking market from Facebook  because Google+ is backed by a mobile operating system that Facebook lacks, one fourth of the browser market (with Chrome), an app  store that competes with Apple’s iTunes (charging only 5% versus Apple’s 30%), and a responsive privacy dictum (compared with Facebook’s privacy games). Google also is moving more decisively in secure mobile payment by transforming smart phones into e-Wallets.

 
It fundamentally comes down to which player is more successful at bending companies away from the status quo and into the new social commercial paradigm. With all the fuss over Google+, it’s easy to lose sight of the enormous advantages Facebook has as an agile, private company seeking to out-design and out-execute Google and others.

A recent Web panel discussion hosted by Wedbush Securities Internet analyst Lou Kerner underscored the less obvious ways that Facebook is quickly moving to leverage its more than 600 million global active users (70% are outside the U.S.), 250 million active mobile users and $85 billion private-market value.  Here are some of the panelists insights into why the premiere social network is poised to drive social marketing and commerce:

Monetizing connections
People, not brands drive social commerce. Social graph is as important as individual preference since Facebook users generally each connect with some 140 other Facebook members. These are the micro markets some marketers and retailers have begun to creatively exploit. American Express is allowing members to convert their points to Facebook credits. The July 4 weekend, Paramount became the first studio to sell movie tickets on Facebook to Transformers III.

Defining economics
Facebook’s new video ads are being compared to conventional TV. Essentially, Facebook members (in particular the gaming zealots who have morphed on the social platform) receive credits to play even more for “free” if they periodically stop to watch relevant  Facebook video ads in pop up windows. Many believe that game king Zynga is carrying Facebook developing revenue streams by contributing about $300 million in Facebook credits and $200 million in advertising.

Buying critical mass
Just a fraction of Facebook’s global user base simultaneously “liking” something could exceed the several hundred million homes tuned into any one of television’s big live events, such as the Super Bowl.  Some portion of television’s $71 billion ad dollars, which are not yet reflected in Facebook’s $2 billion in annual revenues, will shift to social media because it creates its own scale, said Mott Monahan, director of digital ad network EpicSocial. eMarketer already is crediting Facebook with driving online display ad revenues beyond expectations to an estimated $31.3 billion in 2011.

Qualifying the ad spend
Unlike television, social media allows marketers to know precisely who sees and responds to any form of advertising. Facebook tracks engagement on a one-to-one basis, and marketers only pay when a person clicks on their ads. The result is more qualitative and quantitative impressions (generally 1,000 % higher than average ad unit), which renders a more efficient and cost effective ROI, according to Justin Merickel, vp marketing at digital marketing agency Efficient Frontier.

Learning the viral play
Facebook represents an amazing word-of-mouth marketing engine and personalized brand opportunity, according to 8^th Bridge CEO Wade Gerten. The social shopping service’s survey of Facebook users indicates more than one-third prefer never to leave the platform for any functionality, including shopping, suggesting that Facebook is morphing beyond a social network. 85% of consumer interaction with the more than 50 brands and 3,000 shopping campaigns 8^th Bridge manages occur through friend-to-friend sharing and recommendations.

While social media clearly will be a driver of e-commerce and an overall economic power shift, it is easy to over simplify this phenomenon. A Booz and Co. strategy + business article earlier this year dubbed “social apponomics” as the holy grail for companies to profitably commercialize on social media with community-based marketing and tailored applications. The key will be to focus on partners (not competitors), think local mobile, target customers in multiple segments and transform pricing into a trusted dynamic conversation that will pay continuous dividends.

Getting marketers and retailers to that promised land is where Facebook and Google will carve out their competitive edge. Successful social mobile marketing and commerce requires a completely new mind-set and wiliness to innovate. Perhaps the best evidence is that online e-commerce still comprises less than 10% of all retail sales largely because retailers essentially have slapped their print catalogs onto Web sites and into emails and texts without fully exploring social mobile commerce dynamics.

At this early juncture, both Facebook and Google are flawed in shifting their focus more to collective connections as critical mass rather than on nurturing, mining and monetizing individual consumer relevance, which could have more steady, long-term advantages to marketers seeking loyal customers.

Still, the rush to mine social commerce by Facebook, Google and others could have negative repercussions. Users already overwhelmed with instant mobile communications and data might easily be quelled by powerful new waves of interactive marketing and commerce even in the company of friends. The reluctance of consumers to spend in an uncertain economy will remain a potent counterbalance. No matter how much “fun” it is to share, recommend and buy with friends, consumers will come to their senses faster than any of these well-heeled companies.

Via: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-google-locked-in-social-marketing-e-commerce-fight-to-the-death-2011-7#ixzz1RKIihQg7

Image via CrunchBase

Posted By: ComScore

Spotlight on France Reveals Seasonal Growth in Tax, Car Rental, and Flowers Web Properties

London, UK, July 6, 2011 - comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of Internet usage in Europe, showing 366.9 million unique visitors went online in May 2011 for an average of 24.2 hours per person. This study draws its data from comScore’s research panel, which measures Internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated under the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Among the reportable markets, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Turkey showed the highest average engagement with users from these markets spending an average of more than 30 hours online in the past month.

Top Web Properties in Europe
Google Sites ranked as the top European web property in May with 333.4 million unique visitors (up 9 percent from a year ago), reaching 90.9 percent of the total European Internet audience. Microsoft Sites continued to rank second with 270.9 million visitors (73.8 percent reach), followed by Facebook.com in third place with 240.0 million visitors (65.4 percent reach). Among the top properties for May, the biggest gains versus April came from The Mozilla Organization (up 52 percent), WordPress (up 13 percent), and VKontakte (up 12 percent).

Europeans continued to spend significant time on social networking sites, with Russian social network VKontakte exhibiting the highest average engagement among the top 30 properties at 496.7 minutes (8.3 hours) on the site. Facebook.com overtook Russian web property Mail.ru Group in May with an average of 326.0 minutes (5.4 hours) spent by visitors on the property, up 15 percent from the prior month. Mail.ru Group visitors spent an average of 315.1 minutes (5.3 hours), up 7 percent. Facebook.com also continued to account for the highest number of page views at 139.8 billion in May (up 21 percent), representing 12.8 percent of all pages viewed in Europe during the month.

Spotlight: Travel, Taxes, and Flowers Draw Visitation in France
In May 2011, a total of 47.4 million users in France (age 6+) went online, up 3 percent from the previous year. Users in France stayed an average of 1,571.8 minutes or 26.2 hours online in May, 2 hours more than the European average for the month and up 12 percent from May 2010. Google Sites ranked as the most visited property with 44.5 million unique visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites (40.8 million visitors), and Facebook.com (32.5 million visitors). Luxury retailer Groupe PPR, which attracted 18.2 million visitors, was the fastest gaining property with a 17-percent increase from a year ago.

As there were a string of bank holidays in France in May, the fastest growing web category was Car Rental (up 69 percent from the previous month), driven by the growth in monthly visitation to Paris-based European rental car company property Europcar, Hertz.fr, and Priceline subsidiary eLocationdeVoitures.fr. In preparation for an annual income tax filing deadline at the end of May, properties in the Taxes category also saw an increase in visitation of 50 percent. Finally, as Mother’s Day approached for France, properties purveying flowers, presents, and e-cards in the Flowers/Gifts/Greetings category saw an increase of 43 percent.

*Excludes Platform and ISP categories.

About comScore 
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Berit Block
comScore, Inc.
+ 44 (0) 203-111-1758
worldpress@comscore.com

Steve W. Martin teaches sales strategy at the USC Marshall School of Business. His latest book on sales linguistics is Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology: How to Penetrate the C-level Executive Suite and Convince Company Leaders to Buy.

If you ask an extremely successful salesperson, “What makes you different from the average sales rep?” you will most likely get a less-than-accurate answer, if any answer at all. Frankly, the person may not even know the real answer because most successful salespeople are simply doing what comes naturally.

Over the past decade, I have had the privilege of interviewing thousands of top business-to-business salespeople who sell for some of the world’s leading companies. I’ve also administered personality tests to 1,000 of them. My goal was to measure their five main personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and negative emotionality) to better understand the characteristics that separate them their peers.

The personality tests were given to high technology and business services salespeople as part of sales strategy workshops I was conducting. In addition, tests were administered at Presidents Club meetings (the incentive trip that top salespeople are awarded by their company for their outstanding performance). The responses were then categorized by percentage of annual quota attainment and classified into top performers, average performers, and below average performers categories.

The test results from top performers were then compared against average and below average performers. The findings indicate that key personality traits directly influence top performers’ selling style and ultimately their success. Below, you will find the main key personality attributes of top salespeople and the impact of the trait on their selling style.

1. Modesty. Contrary to conventional stereotypes that successful salespeople are pushy and egotistical, 91 percent of top salespeople had medium to high scores of modesty and humility. Furthermore, the results suggest that ostentatious salespeople who are full of bravado alienate far more customers than they win over.

Selling Style Impact: Team Orientation. As opposed to establishing themselves as the focal point of the purchase decision, top salespeople position the team (presales technical engineers, consulting, and management) that will help them win the account as the centerpiece.

2. Conscientiousness. Eighty-five percent of top salespeople had high levels of conscientiousness, whereby they could be described as having a strong sense of duty and being responsible and reliable. These salespeople take their jobs very seriously and feel deeply responsible for the results.

Selling Style Impact: Account Control. The worst position for salespeople to be in is to have relinquished account control and to be operating at the direction of the customer, or worse yet, a competitor. Conversely, top salespeople take command of the sales cycle process in order to control their own destiny.

3. Achievement Orientation. Eighty-four percent of the top performers tested scored very high in achievement orientation. They are fixated on achieving goals and continuously measure their performance in comparison to their goals.

Selling Style Impact: Political Orientation. During sales cycles, top sales, performers seek to understand the politics of customer decision-making. Their goal orientation instinctively drives them to meet with key decision-makers. Therefore, they strategize about the people they are selling to and how the products they’re selling fit into the organization instead of focusing on the functionality of the products themselves.

4. Curiosity. Curiosity can be described as a person’s hunger for knowledge and information. Eighty-two percent of top salespeople scored extremely high curiosity levels. Top salespeople are naturally more curious than their lesser performing counterparts.

Selling Style Impact: Inquisitiveness. A high level of inquisitiveness correlates to an active presence during sales calls. An active presence drives the salesperson to ask customers difficult and uncomfortable questions in order to close gaps in information. Top salespeople want to know if they can win the business, and they want to know the truth as soon as possible.

5. Lack of Gregariousness. One of the most surprising differences between top salespeople and those ranking in the bottom one-third of performance is their level of gregariousness (preference for being with people and friendliness). Overall, top performers averaged 30 percent lower gregariousness than below average performers.

Selling Style Impact: Dominance. Dominance is the ability to gain the willing obedience of customers such that the salesperson’s recommendations and advice are followed. The results indicate that overly friendly salespeople are too close to their customers and have difficulty establishing dominance.

6. Lack of Discouragement. Less than 10 percent of top salespeople were classified as having high levels of discouragement and being frequently overwhelmed with sadness. Conversely, 90 percent were categorized as experiencing infrequent or only occasional sadness.

Selling Style Impact: Competitiveness. In casual surveys I have conducted throughout the years, I have found that a very high percentage of top performers played organized sports in high school. There seems to be a correlation between sports and sales success as top performers are able to handle emotional disappointments, bounce back from losses, and mentally prepare themselves for the next opportunity to compete.

7. Lack of Self-Consciousness. Self-consciousness is the measurement of how easily someone is embarrassed. The byproduct of a high level of self-consciousness is bashfulness and inhibition. Less than five percent of top performers had high levels of self-consciousness.

Selling Style Impact: Aggressiveness. Top salespeople are comfortable fighting for their cause and are not afraid of rankling customers in the process. They are action-oriented and unafraid to call high in their accounts or courageously cold call new prospects.
Not all salespeople are successful. Given the same sales tools, level of education, and propensity to work, why do some salespeople succeed where others fail? Is one better suited to sell the product because of his or her background? Is one more charming or just luckier? The evidence suggests that the personalities of these truly great salespeople play a critical role in determining their success.

Via: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/06/the_seven_personality_traits_o.html