Posts Tagged ‘iTunes’

Guardian mobile site drives mores unique browsers & traffic than apps & tablets combined but where is the engagement?

Posted: May 17, 2012 in Digital Marketing, Industry News, Information communications technology, Internet, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Applications, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Mobile Platforms, Mobile Technology, Online, Publishing, Publishing Industry, Tablets, Technology, Uncategorized, User Experience & Usability
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Deutsch: logo der tageszeitung the guardian

the guardian (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It has been some time since I first remember trying to sign The Guardian to the YOC media network, sometime in 2009.  From memory at the time, 4th Screen were selling around 1 million page views per month.  I have posted below the latest figures from their site**, that figure now stands at 6.2 million and generates more unique browsers and monthly page views than their iOS, Android and iOS tablet apps combined.  These figures are somewhat surprising but not because their mobile internet has the biggest pull,  rather that their mobile traffic has only 6 fold in 4 or so years and all their mobile channels are not generating significant page impressions.

I have always been an advocate for mobile internet and I do get and understand that having an app strategy for print and digital publishers makes perfect sense.  After all, I have personally been involved in building so many for clients as such, why wouldn’t I think this.  My bigger question is why is their mobile internet site and apps not generating higher levels of uniques or monthly page impressions?  We know they have an award winning app and their paid for model seemed to work and made them a small profit after development costs.

But… why is their mobile internet site generating far less monthly page impressions in ratio to their applications? And… are their applications generating enough impressions in ratio to the unique users?

Mobile Internet

Generating 6.2 million page impressions from 2.5 million unique browsers can be averaged out that for every one customer visiting the site once a month is only generating 2.5 page impressions per visit.  I am guessing that their customers are visiting more than once a month which would mean they are generating even less impressions per visit (just divide the impression number by the number of visits).  As you can see from these states it becomes somewhat disappointing and raises some concern.  Maybe I am interpreting unique browsers wrongly as unique users, but it sounds like the same thing to me.

The iphone app is a little better…

Again applying the same principle generating 1 million page impressions from 34,000 uniques can be averaged out that for every 1 customer using the app once a month is generating about 30 impressions per visit.  Like their mobile internet users the reality is they are visiting more than once a month and therefore the impressions they generate per visit are even less.

Lets look at the rest, again applying the same methodology…

iPad app

45,113 monthly uniques generating 3.45 million page impressions equates to 1 customer visiting once a month generating 75 page impressions per visit.

Android app

11,000 monthly uniques are generating 1.2 million page impressions equates to 1 customer visiting once a month generating 110 page impressions per visit.

What does this all mean?

Image representing Android as depicted in Crun...

In summary, it shows that their Android app is generating a much richer experience than their other channels.  Or maybe Android users are just more engaged than iOS users.  We have to be careful here as their mobile internet site will have traffic from all devices but overall the statistics suggest that most of their mobile site users are less engaged than their app users.

In my experience, working with print and digital publishers it is typical for a user to generate up to 10 impressions per visit but at an absolute minimum of visiting the site or apps 2 to 3 times a week.  This would mean you would have to divide those impressions (generated by the users) by approximately 12.  In doing that, the numbers would suggest that only their Android app and iPad app are delivering a rich experience where the user is most engaged generating 9 to 6 impressions per visit respectively.  The others fall well short of this and their mobile internet site alarmingly so.

m.guardian**

A dedicated mobile site giving users access to guardiannews.comcontent any time and from any device. It is optimised for mobile screen sizes and connection speeds.

Traffic:

2.5 million monthly unique browsers
6.2 million monthly page views

m.guardian is showing incredible growth and almost doubled its traffic over the course of 2011 – growth that is outstripping total growth of the mobile internet market (+25% yr on yr).

Users are accessing a broad range of content through m.guardian with the top five most visited sections being world news, football, sport, technology and Comment is free. Comment is free alone delivers over 250,000 page views per month – an indication that users are valuable opinion leaders.

iPhone app

An award winning iPhone app featuring video, live blogs and more that is available free to users in the US.

Traffic:

34,000 monthly unique browsers

1 million monthly page views

With steady growth in unique browsers of almost 50% over the last four months, the iPhone app is another strong performer in GNM’s mobile portfolio. What’s more, the proportion of heavy users is high at just over 50%. That, combined with a strong frequency metric for user behaviour, indicates a very loyal and engaged audience.

In addition to the regular news content, users have a strong preference for football, sport and business content.

iPad app

We launched our critically acclaimed iPad app in October 2011 and since then it has been downloaded more than 500,000 times (globally). With a clean, modern design and easy navigation the Guardian iPad app is immensely readable.

Traffic:

45,113 monthly unique browsers

3.45 million monthly page views

Android App

Free to download and available from the Android market worldwide it contains the latest news, sport, comment, reviews, videos, podcasts and picture galleries from the Guardian website.

Traffic:

11,000 monthly unique browsers

1.2 million monthly page views

The app delivers a globally minded audience of opinion leaders and the most popular sections include football, Comment is free and world news.

Furthermore, over one in three are heavy users and this has steadily increased over the last few months – an indication that user loyalty and engagement is growing.

SOURCE**: Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/advertising/mobile?newsfeed=true)

Understanding Mobile Advertising

Posted: April 19, 2012 in Ad Industry, Advertising, Digital Display Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Online Advertising
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My Comments:

A nice article summing up the basics of mobile advertising.  I would point out that another Key Metric is Conversion i.e what happens after the click: download a piece of content, register to a service, make a transaction etc etc.

Posted By }  (@davidhillis)

So you have built your mobile website or app and now you want to monetize it. You have a few options: you can sell apps on iTunes or other stores, charge a subscription or paywall, or make your content free and subsidize it with advertising.

The best approach will be determined by your audience, the value of your content or service and your distribution model.

If you are looking to grow your user base substantially, advertising is one of the only effective approaches. By some estimates an app distributed for free will have 10 times more downloads compared with a paid application.

With the growth in smartphones, mobile sites and apps, mobile has become the fastest growing category in advertising. According to eMarketer, mobile advertising spending in the US will grow 80 percent to over US$ 2.6 billion in 2012. And many experts expect mobile advertising to exceed desktop web advertising in the next few years. Whether you are a developer, a publisher or marketer, mobile advertising is a hot topic.

Yet, despite the increased spending in mobile advertising, publishers and advertisers alike are challenged with understanding the key metrics in mobile advertising, as well as finding a reliable way to forecast mobile advertising revenues and ROI.

The opportunity for mobile advertising far exceeds display ads. From location-based services, to bluecasting, to video, to interstitial web pages, there are many ways to create sponsorship. But for most sites and apps, mobile advertising is still focused on display ads. When using display or banner advertising, there are a few key metrics that provide the foundation for nearly any mobile advertising campaign.

Key Mobile Ad Metrics

eCPM

The estimated cost-per-thousand (or Roman number M) is the key metric in mobile advertising. This is the amount that a publisher is paid on average per 1,000 impressions.

For publishers, bulk mobile eCPMs range on average between US$ 1.25 per thousand impressions to as little as US$ .25 per thousand. On the desktop web, advertising is usually sold by either CPM or PPC (pay-per-click). In PPC, also called CPC (cost-per-click), the publisher only gets paid when a user clicks on an ad.

Mobile advertising differs from the desktop Internet in that some networks, like Apple’s popular iAd program, provide a blended model that provides a minimum CPM rate as well as an incremental PPC fee. Of course Google is still one of the major advertising players in mobile and, as with desktop advertising, heavily slants towards PPC.

Regardless of whether you use CPM, PPC or a blended model, forecasting will still use CPM units with an assumed click-thru rate (CTR), which is why the “e” for estimated has been appended to the CPM metric.

CTR

The click-thru rate, or conversion rate, is how often a user actually clicks on an advertisement compared with how often an ad is shown. If an ad is clicked on one time per one hundred impressions, the CTR is one percent.

Impressions

Each time an ad is displayed it creates an impression. How a site or application is created and which ad network or server is utilized will impact the number of impressions.

Refresh Rate

Refresh rates are how often a new ad is loaded.

Many mobile ad networks have a refresh rate of 30 seconds. Thus, a two minute session on a mobile application will generate four impressions. However for Apple iAD the refresh rate is every three minutes, which would result in only one impression within a two minute session. Moreover, some ad services will create a new impression for every page view on a mobile website.

When forecasting your impressions you need to know the ad refresh rate, the average duration of an app session per user, and if page views and/or duration are used to create impressions. You also need to determine which refresh rate will create the most click-through rates for your ads.

Fill Rate

The fill rate is how often an ad is delivered compared to how many times it is requested.

Mobile usage far exceeds the amount of available paid advertising, and fill rates for mobile websites and applications are notoriously low. Although fill rates vary between networks, Apple iAD often only delivers a 25 percent fill rate, or in other words only one ad delivered per four requests. Other networks boast higher fill rates, but often with substantially lower CPMs.

Ideally, publishers will utilize multiple ad networks to fill 100 percent of the inventory. This may be supported through client-side script in the site or app, or by using a mobile ad server, such as AdWhirl, that can broker the ad requests.

Ad Units

The ad unit refers to the dimensions of the mobile ad.

Ad unit standards are in a bit of flux, complicated by the sheer number of handsets and screen sizes on the market. But the most popular smartphone banner size is 300 x 50 pixels.

The Mobile Marketing Association advocates the following ad units.

Full-Feature and Smartphone Standard Ad Units:

  • 120×20
  • 168×28
  • 216×36
  • 300×250 (Smartphones Only)
  • 300×50 (Smartphones Only)
  • 320×50 (Smartphones Only)

Tablet Standard Ad Units:

  • 300×250
  • 468×60
  • 728×90
  • 1024×90

Category

The subject of the app or mobile site is referred to as the “category.”

Some categories have much higher eCPMs compared to other categories. When purchasing mobile advertising you need to think about which categories you want to support based on the positioning and relevancy of your product or service.

Publishers need to understand that the topic of the app or site will dramatically affect the rate that advertisers will pay to place ads. For instance, according to a recent report published by Velti, the weather category averages over twice the eCPM of games.

Platform

The platform is the type of device that the mobile ad is delivered on.

Platform can impact the eCPM earned for ads as well as the ad units required to deliver those ads. The most popular platform is Apple iOS, accounting for over 50 percent of all mobile ad impressions and often generating the highest eCPMs for mobile ads.

Forecasting Mobile Ad Revenue for Publishers

As a mobile web or app publisher it can be challenging to forecast mobile ad revenue, especially if you are using multiple ad networks to fill the available advertising inventory, and if those networks use a CPM or PPC model. To make an accurate forecast you need to make some broad assumptions.

The first item to forecast is how many impressions you think you can generate. This will be calculated by:

  1. The number of times per month people will use your mobile site or app
  2. The average duration of each session of usage for your mobile site or app
  3. The refresh rate for how often the ads are loaded with the app or web page

Once you understand how many impressions you can generate, you need to calculate the eCPM rate for each thousand impressions. This will be impacted by:

  1. The category of your app or website
  2. The click-thru rate for ads on your app or site
  3. The platform(s) your app or site are delivered on

Lastly you need to calculate the fill rate for how much of the available ad inventory will be filled by an ad network. Assuming you are using multiple networks to increase your fill rate, you need to determine which percentage of requests will be filled by which network, and at which rates.

Conclusion

Mobile is the future of advertising. It delivers location, context, behavior and other dimensions that promise to make advertising more relevant for end users and more profitable for publishers.

Yet today mobile advertising is in a bit of a freefall, with mobile usage growing faster than available advertising, resulting in falling eCPM rates. On the other side, the growth of mobile is creating more impressions, which equates to more revenue for publishers. Deciding if mobile advertising fits your business requires building a strong forecast model and then testing those assumptions as you go to market.

Whatever direction you take, the one thing you can count on is that it will all change tomorrow. The mobile industry is evolving at such a fast pace that any advertising program will need to be readdressed on a near continual basis.

Feel free to share your thoughts and questions on mobile advertising in the comments below.

Via: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/understanding-mobile-advertising-015180.php

(VIDEO) Apple Introduces iOS 5

Posted: June 7, 2011 in Handset manufacturers, Industry News, Information communications technology, Mobile Developers, Mobile Handsets, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Platforms, Smartphones, Tablets, Technology, Telecommunications, Wireless Technologies
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Scott Forstall took the stage at WWDC 2011 to introduce the new iOS 5 which boasts over 200 new features.  See the video below for the update.  It will be made available in Autumn.  The update will be compatible for the iPhone 4 and 3GS, iPad 1 and 2, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th generation.

STATS: Consumers keen on m-commerce (75% of 16-24 year olds in favour)

Posted: May 16, 2011 in E-Commerce, Industry News, Information communications technology, M-Commerce, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Payment Solutions
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NUREMBERG: A majority of consumers around the world are interested in mobile commerce, a trend most pronounced in emerging nations like Brazil and China, a multimarket study has shown.

Research firm GfK surveyed 8,603 adults in nine countries – Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea, the UK and US – and reported that 62% of contributors thought making payments through wireless handsets was an “appealing” prospect.

Figures peaked at 75% among 16-24 year olds, also hitting 74% for innovators and early adopters, and 72% regarding smartphone owners.

South Korea constituted the only market already offering established services to shoppers, and attitudes varied substantially elsewhere.

For example, 82% of China’s panel, and 73% of Brazilians, proved enthusiastic about completing transactions in such a way, but totals slipped to roughly 50% across the US and Europe.

One reason behind this trend was that customers in more mature regions already trust existing chip-and-pin processes, while habits are still evolving in fast-growth economies.

In terms of assessing which firms they would trust, consider and prefer to offer payment services, 48% of the sample chose players from the financial sector, particularly high-street banks.

Mobile and telecoms companies, however, lodged just 10%, with network carriers generating the largest levels of approval here.

The smartphone audience, younger participants and early adopters displayed a greater willingness to countenance mobile telecoms specialists and operating systems providers fulfilling such a role.

“Creating a mobile payment service that consumers are comfortable adopting means leveraging the trust placed in financial brands, but it is also vital to have a presence in the mobile sector,” said Ryan Garner, director, GfK Technology.

“By tapping into all of these strengths, a mobile payments solution would quickly gain momentum with consumers.”

PayPal, Nokia are Apple were the brands securing the best numbers for favourability, with the first member of this group carrying the strongest preference.

More specifically, PayPal delivered 30% for familiarity, 21% when discussing its expertise, and 17% concerning the confidence it commanded among interviewees.

Nokia received a trust rating of 38% in China, measured against 14% globally, and benefitting from a solid record of meeting subscriber needs in the world’s most populous nation.

People possessing an iPhone awarded Apple a 38% trust score, climbing from 11% over the entire survey community.

“Those that own iPhones are already used to using their iTunes account to pay for apps and media content, so the step to paying for physical products with their iTunes account is less of a stretch,” said the study.

“These three brand examples show that, whilst financial brands have built up high levels of trust, mobile-based brands such as Nokia and Apple, and relatively new financial brands like PayPal, have the potential to quickly disrupt this seemingly comfortable position.”

Via: http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/Consumers_keen_on_mcommerce.news?ID=28277

Apple, Google, and Microsoft – The Latest Moves in the Mobile Internet Market

Posted: April 27, 2011 in Handset manufacturers, Industry News, Information communications technology, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Mobile Platforms, Mobile Technology, Technology
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There is a trend brewing and it seems rather ominous. It seems all major tech corporations are trying to step into each other’s territory, sometimes overtly. Competition definitely benefits the consumers, but the way tech majors are encroaching upon each other’s realm is definitely surprising.

Expanding its Ecosystem

A fortnight ago, the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, forayed into cloud services offering its consumers an ability to access their music from anywhere on any device. This is a territory that cannot be deemed as a business realm of Amazon. Though rumors were rife that Apple and Google to are also planning to launch similar services, nobody had expected that it would happen so soon. According to Reuters, they have learned from reliable sources that Apple has inked a deal with two of the major record labels to supply music to its online music storage services. The major difference here is, rather than giving access to music to the users from any device, the access is limited to just Apple devices. In short, Apple is just expanding its ecosystem.

Attempting to Forge Business Relationships

The music of course will be sold through iTunes. The only difference is that users can stream their purchased music from multiple Apple only devices. The move undoubtedly is an effort to strengthen its position in the mobile apps and the mobile OS market. Another major difference is the fact that unlike Amazon, Apple actually is seeking the permission from record labels to allow them and its users to stream their music from any geographic location. Sony, WMG, EMI, and UMG are some of the record labels Apple is trying to persuade.

Apple’s True Intentions

If Reuters is to be believed, then the deal with WMG has been cracked or solved; this was a mystery for some time. Apple had acquired lala.com some time back. At that point of time, the acquisition did not make any sense, but now some light has been shed on their original intentions. Apple is not a dumb company; they would not be at the forefront of the tech universe otherwise.

Skip the Middle Man

If you are thinking that Google is just snoozing around, you are wrong. Google Music is another service that everybody has been eagerly waiting for. And if rumormongers are to be believed, the search engine giant is already in talks with Spotify, which industry insiders say will be instrumental in rolling out music streaming services. Spotify however denies any such association or covert discussions. It was also heard that Google, which has been unable to broker any agreement with the record labels, had almost abandoned any plans for music streaming. However, Google might have taken a cue from Amazon and might launch the particular service without actually taking into confidence or forming any business ties with any record company. Well, at least they tried; no one can harangue them for that.

Microsoft in an Innovative Lull?

The only major player in the tech market not making any big announcements so far is Microsoft. Investors and aficionados have been complaining that the company has stopped innovating. However, things may change a bit and these puff puffs may be put to rest after Nokia starts putting on shelves Windows 7 based phones. But again, that may not happen anytime before 2012.

Movers and Shakers

Google, Apple, and Microsoft, each one is eager to capture and dominate the mobile internet market. Apple though may have the lead at the present moment, though Google may catch-up real soon. Microsoft is clearly in the third spot.

Via: http://newsystocks.com/news/4095374/apple-google-and-microsoft-the-latest-moves-in-the-mobile-internet-market

Nokia Loses Battle for Apps as IPhone, Android Snare Developers

Posted: June 14, 2010 in Industry News, Information communications technology, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Applications, Mobile Handsets, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Mobile Phones, Mobile Platforms, Mobile Technology, Smartphones, Technology, Telecommunications
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My Comment:

What many people overlook here is the iTunes model.  Asides for the obvious differences in platform development and handset capabilities, even if Nokia get up to speed they do not have iTunes (it is not just about the developer).  So as a user of this demographic, the choice of a phone that comes with iTunes is much more powerful than one without.  Therefore, this compliments apps as the model roles on into the app store and people already understand the payment process.  They already have all their music and movies synced with the account.  They do not have to start buying a load of music again to load on to a new device from the Ovi store, which is by far sub-standard to iTunes.  When the app hysteria settles and the focus shifts elsewhere, this will leave Ovi store with a very uncertain future, and a hefty investment bill from trying to play catch up.  This too also stands for other platforms including Google’s Android, although their demographic to-date is mainly made up of geeky males that just love gadgetry (not a bad move).

Posted By ] Diana ben-Aaron June 13, 2010, 6:26 PM EDT

June 14 (Bloomberg) — As Nokia Oyj prepares to introduce its latest flagship smartphone, developer Jan Ole Suhr says he knows why the brains behind addictive applications are shunning the Finnish company.

“It’s difficult for small developers to invest in the smartphone segment of Nokia when nobody knows its future,” said Suhr, creator of Twitter application “Gravity,” which was showcased by Nokia when it opened its Ovi applications store last year. “The new shiny things aren’t available and there’s only the old-fashioned stuff, where it takes a lot of work to make the software look good.”

Nokia’s 41 percent share of the smartphone market, the fastest-growing piece of the mobile-phone industry, has failed to make it the platform of choice for software writers. It is instead at the bottom of the pile, behind Apple Inc.’s iPhone and devices based on Google Inc.’s Android.

Developers of games, music, videos, media and other apps want to see if the N8, Nokia’s first device running the Symbian 3 system for touchscreen phones, delivers on promises of improved look and feel, an easier interface and operability across devices — in short, if it’s more like an iPhone. For many, the device scheduled to be released in the third quarter has been too slow in the making and may still disappoint.

“Symbian needs a more competitive platform to attract users, early adopters who are the sort of people who download lots of apps,” said Gartner Inc. analyst Nick Jones. “We may have to wait until Symbian 4 to get a really compelling Symbian device, so that the ecosystem may not start to achieve its full potential until 2011.”

‘No Visibility’

The world’s largest mobile-phone maker’s failure to lure apps developers, whose products help sell iPhones and Android devices, adds to the perception that its devices are behind the times. With Apple last week unveiling iPhone 4, with a video- chat feature, and Android devices chalking up sales, the Espoo, Finland-based Nokia risks not being able to recoup lost ground.

Nokia may post lower-than-expected second-quarter profit because of a weak product range and falling prices, Macquarie Group Ltd. analysts said last week. There’s “no visibility on the N8, continued heavy competition in handsets and softening demand,” Phil Cusick and colleagues wrote in a June 9 report.

Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in April he expects sales of handsets and associated services to be between 6.7 billion euros and 7.2 billion euros in the second quarter. He cut the company’s full-year margin forecast, citing the slow development of the N8.

Apple Effect

Nokia shares have plummeted 51 percent since Apple opened its App Store on July 11, 2008. Its market value has shrunk to 29 billion euros from 203 billion euros in 1999, when it was Europe’s most-valuable company.

Nokia, which doesn’t disclose its catalog size, says it has 1.7 million downloads a day of apps including QuickOffice, Skype Internet calling service, Shazam music identifier, Spotify music, Snake games and Lonely Planet travel guides. The company’s secrecy about the number of apps is “probably because it’s still rather small,” said Gartner’s Jones.

Its offerings lag behind Apple’s App Store, which has more than 225,000 apps. Android has more than 70,000, according to Androlib.com, which tracks the platform’s apps.

More than 5 billion programs have been downloaded from its store, Apple says. IPhone users spend more on apps than people with Android devices, who in turn spend more than users of Nokia handsets, developers say. That drives software efforts.

‘Six of Six’

Nokia opened the Ovi Store to offer developers a channel to the 68 million people a year who buy its smartphones. Developers spoiled by iPhone tools say they found Nokia’s software and storefront clunky. Many are turning to Android and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry.

“The Ovi Store doesn’t have any traction in the U.S.,” said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi Inc. in Seattle “They’re probably number six of six,” behind Apple, Google, Palm Inc., RIM and Microsoft Corp.

Willner’s company, whose applications present media content such as MSNBC and Parenting magazine on iPhones, chose Android- run devices as its second platform, bypassing Nokia.

“Large numbers of developers see Nokia as less relevant for distributing apps,” said Martin Garner, a London-based analyst at CCS Insight. “They prefer to work with software that has obvious growth momentum in the market.”

Shrinking Share

The market share of Symbian, Nokia’s main smartphone operating system, fell to 44.3 percent in the first quarter from 48.8 percent a year ago, according to Gartner. Although mostly on Nokia phones, Symbian is also used by Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Ericsson. iPhone’s share rose to 15.4 percent from 10.5 percent, while Android soared to 9.6 percent from 1.6 percent.

Nokia says its new line of smartphones with Symbian 3 and Symbian 4 improves the user interface and carries a new version of tools for developers, making cross-device development easier.

“You’ll see a big improvement in terms of the store experience with the introduction of the N8, as well as with subsequent devices,” said George Linardos, the Nokia vice president who runs the Ovi Store. He cautioned that there won’t be any “immaculate moment” when the store is perfect. “I look at this as the first innings of a very, very long game.”

Switching to Android

Many developers don’t want to wait, and say they can’t take the risk of developing for a yet-to-be-perfected platform. Even long-time Nokia software authors are looking elsewhere.

Take Alan Masarek, chief executive officer of Quickoffice Inc. in Plano, Texas. Nokia helped his 150-person company become one of the biggest independent mobile apps developers with its stripped-down word processor and spreadsheet running on more than 240 million mobile devices worldwide.

About 1 1/2 years ago Masarek, whose software is preloaded on all Nokia Symbian devices, began working on Android phones.

“That in hindsight has proven to be a good move,” he said. “The numbers on Android are very ascendant right now. We’re on all these devices that just started shipping in meaningful volumes the last two quarters.”

Android-based smartphones threaten to top the iPhone in 2013 in market share, according to Framingham, Massachusetts- based IDC. Shipments of Android devices may reach 68 million that year, making it the second-most popular operating system after Symbian, according to IDC.

For Quickoffice, Apple and Android now each account for about 30 percent of shipments against 40 percent on Symbian.

‘No Comparison’

Some developers are shunning Symbian entirely so far.

“Development on Symbian has historically been difficult and Google and Apple leapfrogged Nokia in terms of developer friendliness in the past two years,” said Phil Libin, chief executive officer of Mountain View, Calif.-based Evernote Corp. “There’s no comparison.”

His 30-person company’s main product is a note-taking application that runs on desktop computers, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Palm’s WebOS and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile — all except Nokia’s Symbian.

Apple has a system in place that makes selling and buying apps easy and painless, said Joseph Darling, a long-time Nokia user in Sydney, Australia, who opted to develop his ParkWatch parking monitor application for Apple.

“They have a payment system that was already popular for music and video,” he said. “That takes you from browsing to buying in a couple of clicks. They’ve brought that entire community over into apps. It’s hard for others to duplicate.”

Gravity’s Suhr, who lives in Berlin, is one of the few developers to have worked on mastering the Nokia system, supporting himself by writing apps for it since 2002.

His application, which lets users read and write Twitter messages on phones, was touted by Nokia at the launch of its N97 smartphone last year. Suhr says Gravity is “almost the only application that makes a Nokia device look like an iPhone.”

“It should have been very easy to create Gravity-like applications to cover other functions,” he says. “And then I bet the whole reception of the platform and the phone would have been very different.”

–Editors: Vidya Root, Heather Harris

URl Link: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-13/nokia-loses-battle-for-apps-as-iphone-android-snare-developers.html

Industry is level-headed about potential of iPad

Posted: January 28, 2010 in Industry News, Information communications technology, Internet, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications, Mobile Gaming, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Mobile Technology, Online, Technology, Trade Associations
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Posted By| By Joe Fernandez, Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Industry experts have cautiously welcomed the launch of the iPad although some are not convinced it meets an “untapped need.”

Aoole iPad

However, the ability to engage with consumers through “amazing new apps” and the launch of an apple iBookstore, available via iTunes, has excited observers.

The device has filled the media this morning (8 January), with mixed reviews for the device, which has been widely dubbed as an “oversized iPod Touch”.

Tweet this

Yet, according to Andrew McGuinness, co-founder of BMB , the opportunity to make use of the new software development kit that comes with the iPad will enable marketers to launch apps that are “ten times better than before.”

Julia Ask, a mobile analyst at Forrester, adds: “For marketers, the iPad further evolves contextual advertising. Consumers will be in an environment where they can act on an impulse to buy. If this product can change and grow media consumption, advertisers will be happy.”

But Chris Bourke, head of mobile at Media Planning Group’s Media Contacts, says that Apple has missed a trick by not adding a camera to the device.

“It’s an overblown version of the iPod Touch with no mobile activity and no flash, a huge miss from Apple in our perspective, we are struggling to find a reason d’etre for the iPad. A netbook appears to be just as good except for the rotating screen of course. I might be underestimating it, of course, and I’m sure there will be demand for consumer interaction on the medium,” he says.

Others see more potential in the capabilities of the iPod. Jon Carney, CEO of Marvellous, an Aegis-owned digital creative agency, says: “It spells the end of pointer driven interaction and introducers the most smart touch interaction ever possible. The slick, interactive experience that has been demonstrated will drive brands towards wanting to be a part of the iPad experience, just as they have the iPod and iPhone.”

Christian Louca, managing director of mobile marketing agency YOC, adds: “For me, the iPad certainly presents a different concept for advertising compared to what we are used to on the mobile. It will of course present advertising opportunities for apps but this device is positioned for online browsing rather than on the go mobile internet. For the publishing and gaming industries alike, I can certainly see why they are getting excited about the new device as perhaps they see this as a new format from which to generate more revenue, and why not? Give a good user experience and charge for it.”

But he cautions: “In my opinion, I cannot see many people carrying around a mobile phone (in some cases two mobiles) and a rather bulky ipad (and in some cases a laptop too). This is far too many devices. If you already have an iPhone or any other quality smartphone and laptop do you really need or want an iPad as well?”

Paul Berney, European MD of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) says iPad’s launch will have a significant impact on mobile marketing.

“The Apple Tablet is going to have a significant and positive impact on the practice mobile marketing and the value that can be generated with it. For marketers, the impact aligns along the factors of potential reach and rich media Internet-enabled services delivery. For instance, there are over 10 billion mobile-enabled device in the market today, including phones.”

“For consumers, the value aligns along the lines of increased capability and access. They will have more and more opportunity to easily access Internet services and related mobile applications and solutions enabled by these new devices to accomplish what they want, when they want it and how they want it. These services will provide marketers and consumers alike with the ability to have a global presence while engaging in locally relevant services and community. “

Brand experts say that Apple’s credentials with the existing i-range of products will make the new bookstore a highly desirable distribution point.

Paul Cowper, brand director of Added Value UK, says: “Apple is renowned for its iTunes store already and the companies that are involved in it. Media networks and book publishers will undoubtedly be keen to be involved in the new bookstore. The core question is if the device is actually meeting an untapped need yet? I’m not entirely convinced.”

George Nimeh, regional CEO for Europe, iris Digital, echoes these thoughts and says that it could be the kick that the industry has wanted in the e-books market.

But he adds: “Undoubtedly, the touch experience is phenomenal and we will get involved, but what’s important is we don’t let brands get carried away. It’s still just a small extra to the overall digital capabilities that are possible.”

Christian Lindholm, managing partner at amobile specialists Fjord, says: “The most fundamental development with the iPad will be what it will do for youth. For youth, the iPad will redefine computing. The iPad works essentially the same way as an iPod Touch. However, if you are a child, arguing to your parents that you need a computer, you will be unable to argue that you would like an iPod Touch. It’s just not going to fly. However, if you argue that you would like an iPad, it will fly. So, for many young people, this will be the first computer they own. And I don’t think that they will go back.”

Lorenzo Wood, chief innovation officer at LBi, summarises: “Basically, the iPad will enable higher resolution and quick experience of brand interaction – another possibility in the growing digital arena. It will create some exciting new for marketers and developers to look to tap into, and will be phenomenal if the functionality works well. For the on-the-go consumer, it will be the key to them being online wherever they are and having just one task to do at a time. Demand will be high – servicing consumer needs will be the challenge. After all, this is the year when the consumer will blame the brand and not the handset as technology continues to evolve.”

URL Link:

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/industry-is-level-headed-about-potential-of-ipad/3009322.article