Posts Tagged ‘Mobile Internet’

Tomi T Ahonen ] Time to Confirm some Mobile User Numbers: SMS, MMS, Mobile Internet, M-News

Posted: January 14, 2011 in Digital Marketing, Digital Trends, Industry News, Information communications technology, Marketing, Mobile Industry News, Telecommunications
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Posted By Tomi T Ahonen ] Via http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/

This is the time of the year when we can do verification of many statistics, was it true what they said back then. I have good data now on SMS, MMS, Mobile Internet users and consumers of Mobile News.

The regular readers of this blog know that I have a passion for the numbers of the industry, the statistics. I load my books with them, I cram my presentations full of them and I quote stats in most any discussion I have about this industry. There are many reasons for my love of mobile industry statistics, but one of the biggest is that we have them. Those who know me from more than ten years ago, will remember the young Nokia executive who was peddling future stories about something we called 3G, and used utter promiseware and forecasts built on nothing but assumptions. After my career at Nokia, when I started my consultancy on October 1, 2001, there could be no stats for the new 3G industry, because literally that very same day the 3G industry was launched in Japan. I love the numbers of our industry so much, because way back then in the olden days, we didn’t have any numbers.

I have been desperate to find the ‘facts’ the stats the numbers and the proof, that this industry is and can be viable. As over the years the numbers started to appear, I have collected them feverishly, memorizing every detail and studying every variation. That passion eventually turned into an annual review of where the industry numbers are, at this blog. And two years ago, I turned that into the TomiAhonen Almanac, which is now an annual statistical publication and highly respected and widely quoted.

But with the numbers, I often get the question, where do the numbers come from. And I explain, the numbers in the Almanac are produced by my consulting company, TomiAhonen Consulting, as short-term forecasts, based on very many public data sources, with some TomiAhonen Consulting actual surveys, fortified with some data from my internal sources inside the industry. All of that goes into my big ‘black box’ ie my big model of the industry’s numbers and facts. There I have several proprietary formulae with which I generate the numbers. So for example I was the first person in the world to spot the multiple subscription (first discovered in Finland obviously) and have had more than 13 years of time to build, test and evolve my multiple subscription model to calculate out the multiple subscriptions from the total subscriber count of any country. When later tested against known (surveyed) results, my model has proven remarkably accurate. And so forth.

So in the current TomiAhonen Almanac 2010, I have over 80 tables and charts of mostly data that is not available in any public data source. And then inevitably one will want to know, how accurate is it. Tomi ‘claims’ that SMS had 3.6 Billion users worldwide, which was 78% of all mobile phone subscribers at the time. How can that be, when we see for example in the USA, that only 62% of Americans were using SMS at the same time. Is Tomi ‘exaggerating’ and how reliable are his numbers. Obviously, over time, we will get other, independent sources that report on many of the stats in my Almanac. Which of the stats get reported, I have no control over. But any one of them could potentially make me look ridiculous haha..

But for the mobile service user numbers, we have had several major analyst houses do international surveys over the past two years, which give us enough data to cover most if not all of the 25 largest countries on the planet. These 25 countries all have populations of (around) over 50 million up to China and India at 1.3 and 1.2 Billion respectively. Together thse 25 countries account for 5 billion people and 74% of the planet’s population. As it includes some of the most affluent countries like the USA, Japan, UK etc, and some of the poorest like Ethiopia, the Congo and Bangladesh, across the globe, it is a very good sample, from which we can fairly calculate a world average number for these statistics. Note that none of the analyst houses has bothered to go study each of these countries, but they can cover half a dozen or more, with usually regional focus areas. Specifically I am referring to public source information in press releases, white papers and news stories covering research by (in alphabetical order) Acision, Aenas, Asia Marketing Yearbook, Boston Consulting, ComScore, gfk, Informa, Jagtag, Nielsen, Ofcom, Pew, Research & Markets, TNS and Trak In. This data has then been supplemented with national regulator data, major operator data, and major domestic newspaper stories for those countries in those areas where these analysts had not covered that country or that service category. For the best case (SMS use) I had over 90% of the data points, for the worst case (News) I had 45%. I think these were enough that we can make very reliable nationally tested and relevant calculations of how many people are truly currently using these services. So lets go to the findings.

SMS HAD 79% USERS

For SMS I had written in the TomiAhonen Almanac 2010 that the end of year 2009 user level for SMS globally was 78%, ie 3.6 Billion. What kind of data points do we find? The USA is now up to 72%. Russia is at 80%, Germany at 88%, Italy 89%, the UK at 90%. Clearly my number is in that ballpark. There are lower numbers too. I was surprised to find that the latest finding from India says only 48% of the mobile phone subscribers in India use SMS, but this is probably due to the rapid expansion of mobile phones to those parts of the population who are not literate. Brazil was at 57% and Mexico at 68%. But Vietnam is at 90%, China at 93%. And so forth. So when we do all the math weighted by the size of each nation’s population, we arrive at an SMS user level of… 79%. First, wow that is as close as it can possibly be. Remember I said 78% at the start of the year, and this 79% is roughly from half-point in the year 2010 (the various studies were completed at different points in time, in most cases during 2010, some in 2009). I had been saying before, that the SMS user base grows roughly 2 percentage points annually, so this finding is also totally consistent with the number having been 78% at the start of the year!

And projecting it to 80% for end of year 2010, what would the SMS user base be today (when the world has 5.2 Billion mobile phone subscribers?) 4.16 Billion. If you round off that number, in round terms its 4.2 Billion. And you know what? ABI Research reported on December 29 of 2010, that by their calculations the world had …4.2 Billion users of SMS text messaging. It cannot get more precise than this haha. Can you trust my numbers? I think I know pretty well what I am doing haha. Now, lets go to the hidden success story of mobile, MMS.

MMS USERS 39%

One year ago, in the TomiAhonen Almanac 2010, I said that the active user base of MMS had reached 1.7 Billion people, which was 37% of all mobile phone subscribers at the time. Using the same process as the above, lets pick a few of the data points we find now from the surveys. In the USA, MMS is used by 54%. In China 49%. In Russia 36%. In Indonesia 25%. In Italy 42%. In Mexico 25%. In Turkey 26%. You get the picture. After all the math is done, the world’s average user base of MMS at roughly mid-point of the year 2010 was a bit more than my 37%, it was… 39%. I said the world had 1.7 Billion users, I should have said 1.8 Billion. If we add a bit of growth for the year, today the world has 40% of all mobile phone subscribers as active users of MMS, and that means 2.08 Billion people, lets call it 2.1 Billion. That is the measured, accurate MMS user base today. No wonder MMS revenues grew so heavily last year. And by the way, in the most advanced countries like say Norway, the MMS user number is now at 84%, but Norway is too small a country to count in my model. The real number is probably even higher than what the model now predicts (by a fraction of a percent..)

MOBILE BROWSING 26%

So then the contentious number. The reported stories about mobile browsing are all over the place. We see some famous analysts like Morgan Stanley say that the point of when more than half of all internet users access from mobile phones will happen in a couple of years from now, while others like IBM and Nokia saying the world has already passed that point, and today more people access the internet on a mobile phone than on a PC of any kind. One way to examine the absolute truth, is to count actual national internet user data, and see what percentage of it uses mobile phones. Using that method, I already confirmed that the mid-point had been passed in late 2009, that yes, today more people access internet content, or ‘surf’ or use browsing services on a mobile phone than on a PC worldwide. I am quick to add, that this includes WAP, the basic form of browsing which is not HTML traditional ‘real internet’ browsing but rather the more simplified and mobile-optimised ‘small screen’ mobile internet use, but nonetheless, if its Google on your phone or Yahoo or eBay or Facebook or Twitter, who cares if its on WAP or HTML web, its the familiar internet brand, and its delivered on a browser, on your phone. For those consumers they think they are surfing the ‘real’ internet if they Google on their phone and it gives them the result. But yes, to be clear, when I say ‘mobile browsing’ I do mean both ‘real internet’ browsing of HTML content like we’d do on our iPhones, or the more basic WAP use that many do, in particular in the Emerging World markets. Still, just looking at the 10 largest countries by internet users, 6 out of the 10 have already passed the point where more internet browsing comes from mobile phones than PCs, starting obviously with China, India, Russia, Japan etc.

Now, in my TomiAhonen Almanac 2010, I said that the user base of mobile browsing was 1.3 Billion people ie 28% of all mobile phone users. What does the survey tell us. Not quite that good. When we measure mobile phone users and how many use the mobile internet, we have countries like China 24%, USA 38%, France 37% and Germany 27%. Then there is Japan at 84% of course. But then we have countries Russia 12%, Pakistan 22%, India 10%, and Spain 20%. The math doesn’t come quite up to my percentage, rather than 28%, the survey result only confirms 26%. But that is still 1.2 Billion people -well more than the total installed base of personal computers in use in the world according to the latest ITU numbers. So my short term forecast seems to be a bit off on this.

But here, a very important point – these surveys are mostly consumer surveys, ie the companies like ComScore or TNS or Pew will ask the consumers what they are doing. So the consumer is asked for example ‘do you use SMS text messaging on your phone’ or ‘do you use the internet on your phone’. And here, there is confusion. I have heard from several of my colleagues, that measuring the mobile internet usage in consumer surveys will under-count the real usage. The consumers are confused on this question, because they feel the internet experience is used ‘on a PC, using a keyboard and mouse’ – but if the same consumer is asked for example, ‘do you use Facebook on your phone’ there will be many who say ‘yes’ to that, while saying ‘no’ in the same questionnaire if asked if they use the internet on the phone. I am not saying this as an ‘excuse’. I am saying this as my finding, that on this specific question, apparently, with ‘WAP’ and ‘Mobile Internet’ and ‘mobile browsing’ and ‘mobile web’ and whatever other possible permutations, the consumer can become very confused. A good market reserach instrument (the questionnaire) will attempt to correct for these types of errors, but they are likely to be in some of those findings.

What I will do, of course – numbers are my buddies – is to tell the truth of course – and to adjust my numbers downwards for the next TomiAhonen Almanac 2011, to reflect these findings. That is the very purpose of this process, that I always do at this time of year, I try to fine-tune and calibrate my model to be as accurate as it possibly can be, and there will invariably be small alterations I have to do to it across hundreds of data points. But for you the reader, I want to express the particular problem with this specific data point (which is not the problem with the three other data points we have here in this blog). And what kind of numbers do we now have for end-of-year 2010, if we use the 26% level for the full 5.2 Billion mobile phone subscribers? Try 1.35 Billion people who today are (definitely) using their phones to browse internet type of content. Wow. That is huge.

Remember, the total internet user base is 2 Billion now (said ITU a couple of weeks ago) and that 2 Billion number includes also those hundreds of millions who access the internet in internet cafe type of situations or libraries or at school or university. The world has only 538 households with a personal computer (ITU 2010). Then we have another about 370 million PCs used at work (many of these users will also have a PC at home so you cannot add the two numbers together). Clearly the mobile phone based internet access is far greater than PC-based access already today, but also, in the Industrialized World most of us who have a PC will also have a smartphone or premium featurephone that has a full HTML browser, so we can easily access internet services on both devices. Then as smartphones keep getting better, like the iPhone 4 for example, the stats now report that people are abandoning laptops and desktops and doing all their surfing on their smartphones. Not all users but the trend is away from legacy PC use. Japan saw this trend first, half a decade ago.

NEWS USERS ON MOBILE 23%

Finally we have consumption of news on the mobile phone. I see a lot of numbers on music use, ringing tones, listening to music etc, and on gaming downloads etc. Those numbers are so frequently reported over the years that my numbers are very well in line with the industry. But news is more obscure and for it we have just about enough data to make a good projection for world use. We find data points like 23% of mobile subscribers in China consume news, 30% in Japan, 35% in the Philippines, 32% in Thailand, 23% in the USA and 21% in Germany, but only 8% in Indonesia, and so forth. The calculated world average based on the sample, is 23%, which corresponded to 1.1 Billion users at mid-point in the year 2010. What did my TomiAhonen Almanac 2010 tell you a year ago? It said that at the start of the year the world had… 1.1 Billion people who consumed news on their phones. Is that accurate or what? Well, lets take this to the end-of-year numbers for 2010, so today the user number, assuming no growth in the percentage, is 1.2 Billion people. Bear in mind that the world circulation of newspapers, paid and free, is 480 million daily. 2.5x more people pay to consume news on a phone than on a newspaper. What of cable and satellite TV like our CNN, etc? The world has 950 million paid cable TV/satellite TV subscribers. So more people today pay to consume news on their phones than pay to see news on their TVs. Note, there is still free over-the-air TV, the world has 1.6 Billion TV sets – so mobile has still a couple of years to go to pass that for news, but for paid news, mobile is already the world’s most used paid newsmedium. Makes you think… No wonder CNN, the BBC and just about every major news organization is rushing to deploy mobile services.

NEW NUMBERS TO MEMORIZE

So we have big numbers. 4.2 Billion active users of SMS text messaging. Wow. The most used data application on the planet, by far. More than twice as many people send text messages on their phones, than use the internet on any device. More actve users of SMS than total number of FM radios in the world. Except for the population of mobile phones themselves, SMS is the second most widely-reaching medium and technology. And still growing strong. SMS added 600 million new users in the past 12 months, so it grew its user base by 17% in just one year! No matter what industry you are in, no matter what you want to achieve, you have to know SMS, its like what email was more than a decade ago, but turbo-charged, rocket-powered.

Then the much younger sibling of SMS, we have MMS, which has 2.1 Billion active users. Wow. Exactly half of all SMS users have also adopted the multimedia cousin of MMS. 2.1 Billion mobile phone users send and receive multimedia messages – pictures, videos, sounds and long-form texts, on their phones. Not only is it twice the number of personal computers in use in the world, but there are more active users of MMS than the total number of television sets worldwide, by a wide margin. The second most widely used data application, obviously (behind only SMS) whatever anyone ever thought they would want to use the computer for, whether to do newsletters or promotions or coupons or show videoclips or short music or recordings or pictures or paragraphs of text – far bigger than the reach on Facebook or Twitter or any social media, the first choice has to be MMS. How much did MMS grew its user base in the past 12 months of economic troubles in the world? try 24% ! Can you imagine something which had more users than the internet, or more users than total number of television sets – and then it grows by 24% in one year. In one year! At this rate, MMS would double in 3 years and 2 months from now. Is this a cool industry to be in, or what?

And the mobile internet (including WAP). It is now measured to be 1.3 Billion in size – and thus, out of the 2.0 Billion total internet users in the world (including PCs of any kind from desktops to laptops to tablet PCs like the iPad, at homes and at work; and PCs used at internet cafes; and mobile phone based internet access including HTML real internet on smartphones and featurephones, and the more simple and mobile phone optimised WAP browsing) – 65% use a mobile phone at least part of the time. There is absolutely no question, that the point of when ‘more people will use the internet on a phone’ – has passed. Years ago! 1.3 Billion people use a mobile phone to browse internet content, at least part of the time. The poorer the nation, the greater the proportion by which mobile leads, to the point where 90% of internet use in India is from mobile phones today, as the regulator from India reported last year.

Wow, 1.3 Billion mobile phone users, 26% of us all, already surf the web on our phones. That number is bigger than the total number of fixed landline phones globally. Not that there are more internet users than fixed landline phones, but that there are more people who use the internet on a mobile phone – than total fixed landline phones (many who are now no longer used for voice calls and only used for the home internet access, what an irony, even this cannot save the fixed landline).

Or compare that to the maxiumum accessable market size for those famed ‘App Store’ applications. If we take all existing smartphones in use – about 750 million today, and of those we use the brand new statistic we heard today that 71% of the smartphone users actually install apps onto their smartphones – the accessable market size for an ‘apps strategy’ would be 530 million. Mobile web users are more than twice as big as that market. And that market is half Symbian, Nokia’s OS. Blackberry is the second most used platform, iPhone only has less than 100 million iPhones in its total active installed base. So you could launch an iPhone app today, or if you went for the WAP/web version on a phone – it would cost you only 1/10th the cost to develop and you’d reach an active user base that is 13 times bigger. Now what was the smart strategy, again?

And we have now measured that it is true, 1.1 Billion people – 23% of mobile phone owners, receive news on their mobile phones. More than the total paid subscribers of cable TV and satellite TV who have access to 24 hour news like CNN, Sky, BBC, etc and more than twice the total circulation of all daily newspapers, free and paid. The newsmedium which has most paid users is now.. mobile! Cool. Oh, and what is the most-used format for news consumption on the phones? Its SMS of course. What is the second-most used? You guessed it, MMS of course.

4.2 Billion is SMS users, 2.1 Billion is MMS users, 1.3 Billion is mobile browsing/mobile internet users and 1.1 Billion is consumers of mobile news. Big numbers indeed.

There you go. We have some measured data on major mobile user stats. And the TomiAhonen Almanac is proving a very accurate source indeed. Now, for those readers who don’t have the Almanac, it only costs 9.99 Euros and I have a special treat for you newcomers. If you buy the TomiAhonen Almanac 2010 now, during January 2011, you will receive it instantly of course, and then you will also receive, for no further cost, the TomiAhonen Almanac 2011 edition as well, that will be released in February (for which I am obviously right now calculating and researching the data. There will again be new data in several cool new charts and tables that was not in the previous Almanac). Isn’t that a fair deal? If you ever wanted to know all the data, facts and stats about the mobile industry, now is your chance. For more info including several sample pages with full un-obscured charts and tables, see TomiAhonen Almanac 2010.

Via: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/

My train journey to Work and Study: Be prepared for the smartphone takeover ] Econsultancy

Posted: September 1, 2010 in Digital Marketing, Display advertising, Industry News, Internet, M-Commerce, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Multichannel Marketing, Retail, Smartphones, Trade Associations
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This article was discovered by email on my iPhone, it was read on the Mobile Internet (well that is a slight lie, as their site is not optimised for mobile), shared and commented on via my iPhone blogging app. All of this achieved in 5 minutes whilst I am on my daily commute to work and my free Metro newspaper remains unread in front of me!

I think back to when I first started commuting into London many years ago, you had to slam the doors shut on the train, do you remember that? Now of course the doors shut automatically. Winter time was a pain too, as the windows were always open so the trains used to be freezing cold and noisy. Now the air is regulated, no matter what time of year, removing the need to have the window open and all that noise stopping me read in comfort the then paid for daily Guardian newspaper, which was always a lottery as the delivery boy threw it on to the drive in the morning come rain, sun or snow. It was big and not easy to read on a crowded train. Now of course, I can read any paper or content I like on my phone….which I am pretty sure isn’t thrown into my drive every morning. I am not being disloyal to the Guardian but there is so much interesting content out there, by this I mean in hyper space and I feel I just need to explore, discover and share my experience. I am no longer restricted, I am liberated to make my choice of journey and choose who I want to share that with (the Metro, still remains unread).

Like the automatic doors and air regulation making the train journey an overall better experience, so to does my mobile phone. My journey has been informative, engaging and viral. Shared via my blog which updates, Linkedin, Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter all through hyper space. How times have changed.

Now where is that Metro…Double dip fears for house prices..sh*t I just bought a house!

Posted 01 September 2010 03:26am by Meghan Keane @ Econsultancy

More than a few businesses are hoping that mobile will save their bottom line in the coming years. Why is that? For a few reasons. But one factor involves consumer tolerance for ads and charges they reject in the desktop environment. Moreover, mobile adoption is skyrocketing.

According to a new study by Burson-Marsteller and Proof Integrated Communications, smartphone shipments will exceed PC shipments within two years. Marketers need to start paying attention.

B.L. Ochman, Burson-Marsteller and Proof Integrated Communications’ managing director of emerging media, calls this study “be mobile or be dust.” That’s because the mobile adoption numbers it cites are pretty staggering.

According to the study, 80% of the US population will have a mobile phone by 2010. That number alone may not be of note, but cell users are using their phones less for making phone calls and more for digital activities. According to the report, the average iPhone user only spends 45% of on-device time making phone calls. The majority of their time in mobile is spent browsing the web or using applications.

That number has grown 110% in the last year. By 2011, 99% of mobile phones will be data-capable devices (though that number includes phones that can send and receive SMS texts, not necessarily smartphones).

However, by 2012, smartphone shipments will exceed shipments of PCs. Already 40% of iPhone and iPod Touch users go to the internet more via mobile than they do on a computer.

According to the study:

“The speed of mobile adoption growth is far outpacing that of prior technologies, and using mobile to access data and to make transactions is nearing the tipping point. Mobile will soon be the primary digital means that consumers use to interact with brands, friends, retailers and other businesses.”
Smart brands should take note. Mobile devices are pretty amazing purchasing tools. As Burson-Marsteller points out, mobile users are searching for products, reading reviews, comparing prices, locating items in stores and making purchases from their phones.

Mobile users also tend to be more social. Of Facebook’s 500 million users, 100 million of them access the site through their mobile phones. Those users are twice as active on the social network as non-mobile users. Also, 25% of mobile users access Twitter, compared to only 8% of respondents who access the internet only from a PC.

The mobile phone more seemlessly connects the digital and real worlds. It is uniquely positioned to aid in the handling of impulse activities and on demand services.

Most especially, as brands are learning, mobile phone adopters aren’t only young, tech savvy people. A whopping 82% of seniors use their mobile phones to get information and learn.

But businesses aren’t quite up to speed yet. 80% of US multichannel retailers don’t have m-commerce capabilities. Furthermore, 42% of those respondents don’t have plans to launch a mobile site within the next two years. Only 12% of the top 500 internet retailers have sites optimized for mobile phones, and only 7% have downloadable mobile applications.

Mobile phone users are often at the most desirable point of the purchasing funnel when they’re looking for information with their devices. The quicker businesses take to mobile, the better off they will be.

Whether it be coupons or ads or location based services, brands that want to reach customers (ie: all brands) should seriously pay attention to this space.

Via: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/6502-study-be-prepared-for-the-smartphone-takeover?utm_medium=email&utm_source=topic

NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT CONSUMERS ARE MOVING FASTER THAN RETAILERS TOWARDS MOBILE INTERNET

Posted: August 18, 2010 in Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, Industry News, Information communications technology, Internet, M-Commerce, Mobile Internet, Retail
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NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT CONSUMERS ARE MOVING FASTER THAN RETAILERS TOWARDS MOBILE INTERNET

Survey commissioned by AIME, IAB and IMRG shows that 41% of UK retail brands expect to have a transactional mobile site or application within the next year

Too few retailers have a solid mobile presence today, however, 41% plan to have a transactional mobile site or application in place within the next year, according to the results from a new research partnership between the Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME), the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).  The study found that while mobile commerce is still very much at the consideration stage, the majority of retailers surveyed expect mobile commerce to be part of their main strategy within the next 12 months.

eDigital Research, commissioned by AIME, the IAB and the IMRG surveyed 140 marketing professionals from the retail sector in the UK to understand attitudes, behaviours and perceived challenges to mobile commerce.  Over half (59%) of the senior-level representatives from UK retail brands that took part expected their mobile revenues to increase over the next 12 months, and 94% saw it as a real opportunity for their business.

More retailers need to follow their audiences on mobile

The research highlights the need for retailers to move faster to keep with the consumers already seeking out retail websites via their mobile phones. Each month in the UK, a staggering 4.2 million consumers are visiting retailers’ websites using the mobile internet (GSMA and comScore, 2010).

However, just four out of the top 20 most frequently visited retailer websites are presently optimised for mobile, and only eight of the top 20 have any kind of mobile application for smartphones like the iPhone, Blackberry or Android powered devices. This means that many retailers could be missing out on additional revenues from the ready and willing mobile consumer traffic to their sites.

In response to the research, Sienne Veit, Social and Mobile Commerce Development Manager at M&S Direct said: “Mobile internet sits at the heart of many of our customer’s lives, and we’ve invested significant resource to ensuring that their mobile experience is as straightforward and rewarding as possible. This research from AIME, the IAB and IMRG highlights how emerging mobile media looks set to play a much stronger role in UK commerce, and for us as retailers it’s been essential to establish a solid mobile presence to fully complement the evolving customer journey.”

Whilst most retailers believe their mobile revenues will increase over the next few years, currently around 63% either make less than 1% of their total revenues via mobile, or don’t measure their mobile revenues at all at present, citing a lack of knowledge and expertise about the mobile platform. However, the research found that over half (59%) of the senior-level representatives from UK retail brands that took part in the survey, expected their mobile revenues to increase over the next 12 months, and 94% saw it as a real opportunity for their business.

More mobile training needed

The majority of UK retail brands welcomed the opportunity for further training in mobile commerce and advertising, recognising the increasing part the medium will play in the customer journey – 74% of those respondents stated that they would like to receive training in this area. Currently 1 in 10 retail marketers cites themselves as a ‘mobile expert’, while 43% believe they have a basic knowledge of the medium.

In the coming months, the AIME, IAB and IMRG will be holding a series of events around mobile commerce, as well as producing educational materials for retail brands and conducting further research into the behaviours and attitudes of UK consumers in this area.

Edward Boddington, Chairman of AIME and CEO of Harvest Media, commented: “The results of this survey commissioned by these three leading trade associations clearly demonstrates the opportunity for M-Commerce to develop rapidly over the next 24 months from a £500m industry today. Increasingly, consumers are looking for best deals, especially in a tough economy and mobile represents the most convenient tool for instant redemption in the form of coupons and also loyalty clubs.”

Alex Kozloff, mobile manager for the Internet Advertising Bureau said: “For brands, extending their presence onto mobile has been a daunting prospect, simply due to the new jargon, technologies and tricks of the trade that need to be understood in order to make the most of the medium.  But with UK consumers already seeking out brands on their mobile phones, in particular retailers, it really is essential that marketers ensure the mobile experience they offer is just as useful, usable and engaging as their other properties, both on and offline. If they don’t, those competitors who have already put mobile on the agenda may start to steal their otherwise loyal customers.”

Andrew McClelland, Director of Operations at IMRG said: “Consumers are once again driving demand for a new, convenient shopping channel, just as they did in the early days of online retailing. This time around, the cultural shift required for retailers to recognise this demand is much smaller and in many cases requires the optimisation of an existing web presence rather than a ‘ground-up’ development of a new technology. However, there is a thirst for knowledge with in the retail sector to best understand how a mobile channel fits with their customer proposition.”

Steve Ricketts, Head of Mobile Marketing and mCommerce Services, Orange said:”Retailers know that there is a huge audience wanting to engage with them via mobile and the mCommerce opportunity is there for the taking. It’s great that just under half of respondents intend to provide customers with the opportunity to purchase via their mobile in the next 12 months - what the others need to ask themselves if they’re happy letting their competitors steal the march.

Tom Sondej of eDigitalResearch said: “The research shows that retailers are all aware of boundless opportunities that mobile commerce holds such as increased revenues, identification of niche markets and a possibility to target ‘low incidence rate’ groups with different marketing mix campaigns. However mobile operating platforms must be fully optimised for the retail marketplace to take the full advantage of M-commerce and the research reveals that many retailers are still lagging behind in terms of developing their M-commerce offer. Good news is that more retailers anticipate M commerce to become a part of their main strategy in the near future.”

- ENDS -

For further information or comment please contact:

Andrew Darling

Communications Director, AIME

Tel: +447968 166407

andrew@aimelink.org

Amy Kean

Senior PR and marketing manager, IAB

Tel: +447739 372042

amy@iabuk.net

About the AIME

AIME (www.aimelink.org) is a UK based membership organisation representing and promoting the commercial interests of the interactive media and entertainment industry – where customers use their phones, televisions or computers to access, interact and pay for information, marketing or entertainment services using leading edge micropayment technology.

AIME’s membership represents the entire value chain – from the providers of end user content to the networks and technical services that deliver and bill them to customers. No other organisation can offer such opportunities for profitable contacts, networking and supporting information. By setting industry best practice standards, AIME builds solid and lasting relationships with legislators, regulators and stakeholders to ensure our members’ business is professionally represented and given every opportunity to grow.

About the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB)

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the trade association for digital advertising. With around 500 member companies, it’s run for the leading media owners and agencies in the UK internet industry. Online is an exciting and fast-growing medium and our job at the IAB is to work with members to ensure marketers can identify the best role for online and mobile, helping them engage their customers and build their brands. Through the dissemination of research and the organisation of regular events, we aim to put digital on the agenda of every marketer in the UK, acting as an authoritative and objective source for all internet advertising issues.

About IMRG

IMRG (Interactive Media In Retail Group) is the industry body for global e-retail. Formed in 1990, IMRG is setting and maintaining pragmatic and robust e-Retail Standards to enable fast-track industry growth, and facilitates its community of members with practical help, information, tools, guidance and networking. The strength of IMRG is the collective and co-operative power of its members. www.imrg.org

Will Mobile Web Apps Eventually Replace Native Apps?

Posted: July 6, 2010 in Industry News, Information communications technology, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Applications, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Mobile Phones, Mobile Platforms, Mobile Search, Mobile Technology, Multichannel Marketing, Smartphones, Technology, Telecommunications
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Written by Chris Cameron / July 5, 2010 12:35 PM

appvsweb_jul10.jpg

Last week I had the chance to attend Qualcomm’s Uplinq 2010conference in San Diego where I was able to sit it on several interesting discussions about mobile technology and its future. One of the sessions I was particularly interested in was a chat about the tools being created to improve web development optimized for mobile devices. Qualcomm engineer Bijan Amirzada showed off some interesting new capabilities within mobile Web browsers, but one assertion he made has since been stuck in my mind: will Web-based apps eventually dethrone native applications on mobile devices?

googlemobile_jul10.jpg

This same move from native applications to Web apps is happening as we speak on desktop computers. I am writing this very article onGoogle Docs because, to me, it’s just as good as any desktop word processor and it automatically saves my work to the cloud. Universal access from multiple devices is large reason why Web apps have taken off for desktop users, but native mobile applications have not yet made this same leap.

That same desire to have our data at any time doesn’t influence mobile development as much because our phones are portable and are already with us all day. Web apps for mobile will instead have to rely on other ways to attract users away from native applications. To do that they will first need strength in numbers, and that means attracting developers, and as Amirzada explained, there are several reasons developers should be excited about mobile Web development.

Attracting the Mobile App Developers

The first is the simplicity of the coding itself. Experienced Web developers are more likely to pick up mobile Web development than, say, iPhone app development. Developers can use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to create Web apps instead of learning new languages to code native applications. Native app development may not be the hardest of tasks from a developer’s point of view, but Web development is a skill they have likely already mastered and are adept at.

webnative_jul10.jpg

Secondly, as Amirzada pointed out, the mobile Web market is much larger than native applications markets. By coding for the mobile Web, app developers can reach a broader audience on multiple devices and platforms in a single stroke. Platforms like iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile (which all use unique languages and techniques to develop applications) only represent a fraction of the overall mobile device market, while the mobile Web is accessible from a much larger number of handsets.

The third and possibly most important reason developers should be attracted to mobile Web apps is that the Web is an open platform. Developers don’t have to spend weeks on an application only to see it rejected for increasingly strange reasons. Steve Jobs can’t censor the Web like he can the iPhone, and there is no waiting for applications to be approved.

Hurdles to Overcome

Unfortunately for mobile Web app fans, these benefits also come with equal and opposite disadvantages. While coding for the Web may be simpler than creating native apps, the native platforms allow the apps to take advantage of the device’s functions and features. From a user perspective, native apps are more appealing because of this. I would rather use an app that felt like it belonged on my phone rather than use a Web app that seems shoehorned onto my device through HTML.

cappuccino_jul10.jpg

Another problem with Web apps is their performance when compared to native apps, which are streamlined to run as efficiently as they can on the device they are designed for. Amirzada said that this is changing, however, as HTML5 improves on the infrastructure of the Web and makes applications faster and more functional.

He also demonstrated how using open-source JavaScript frameworks, like Cappuccino, on Qualcomm’s Brew mobile platform can give developers access to various device sensors to create richer Web-based mobile apps. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is also working on bringing mobile Web apps up to speed by creating astandard for Web-based push notifications.

But the question still remains – will mobile Web apps one day outpace native applications? The largest push in this direction seems to be the openness of the Web, as closed platforms have turned many developers away from popular native platforms like the iPhone and iPad. But those developers could just switch to Android or Windows Mobile. Once we reach a point where mobile devices have the computing power of our desktop machines, mobile Web apps could make a run on native apps, but that is still likely a few years out.

Let us know what you think about mobile apps versus native apps in the comments below!

Disclosure: Qualcomm covered the author’s travel costs to attend Uplinq 2010.

URL Link:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/will_mobile_web_apps_eventually_replace_native_apps.php

YOC to create mobile destination for silicon.com

Posted: May 24, 2010 in Industry News, Information communications technology, Internet, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Uncategorized, YOC news
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Posted By ] by Tim Green @ Mobile Entertainment

YOC says the mobile site will be rendered for each individual handset that users can benefit from an intuitive browsing experience.

“We’re really pleased to add such a high profile publication as silicon.com,” said Oli Roxburgh, MD of YOC UK.

“CBS Interactive’s move into mobile is a further sign that companies are now recognizing that mobile should form a fundamental part of an integrated digital strategy going forward.”

The deal marks further progress for Germany’s YOC Group, which now has offices in UK, Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Belgium. Its clients include Coca-Cola, News International, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Kraft Foods and more.

URL link:

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/37237/YOC-to-create-mobile-destination-for-siliconcom

Mobile commerce: should you have a site or an app?

Posted: February 28, 2010 in Customer Relationship Marketing, Digital Marketing, Display advertising, E-Commerce, Industry News, Information communications technology, Location Based Services, M-Commerce, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications, Mobile Handsets, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Mobile Search, Mobile Technology, Retail, Sms, SMS Advertising, SMS Marketing, Telecommunications, Trade Associations
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My Comments on the below article:

M-commerce is a natural progression for retailers to extend their existing e-commerce operations.  I also have the viewpoint that m-commerce will leapfrog e-commerce in less established markets. After all mobile internet has done this in countries like India, China, Korea (to name a few) so why not m-commerce? Retailers have been traditionally slow in taking up mobile as a marketing/sales channel.  It was no different in the early fixed internet days. However, with players like Google and Apple moving into the market, I do believe Retailers are being forced to wake up and realise the true potential of this device.  Whilst they are behind other sectors in mobile adoption, it is not too late for them to get involved.

Unfortunately, we have already seen retailers start to embrace mobile with the wrong strategy and are making the mistakes that others are savvy too. We are seeing retailers jump on the app bandwagon without considering the mobile internet first, this is a classic mistake to make.

Mobile Internet is at the heart of Mobile Marketing campaigns. The key to this is to remember mobile works best when integrated into traditional media whatever the format.  Mobile applications are just one element to utilise as a marketing channel. At present only iphone applications are offering the rich levels brands would expect and the experience consumers would hope for. The others are some way behind.  There is limited reach, as in the UK iphone has only **17% handset penetration (much less Globally) with Blackberry slightly higher on **20% and Nokia still dominating with a huge **39%  (**Smart phone penetration).

In order to maximise the success of any campaign you need to reach the targeted masses; which means you need to consider all platforms and formats whether it is an application, mobile internet site or simple SMS communications or mobile vouchers (to name but a few). This always comes back to the key metrics in determining the success of any campaign:

Reach, Targeting, Engagement, Viral-ability and Transactional…..

Does it have reach?  Is it targeted? Is it engaging?  Is it viral? Can you make a sale?

The higher it scores in these areas then the closer you are to running a successful mobile marketing campaign that has delivered recognised measured tangible results.

The iPhone apps and other apps can be an added benefit to a customer base and must be considered.  Starting with the mobile internet will enable reach of a much wider audience and they can run trageted ad campaigns on mobile internet sites which will produce much better ROI than simply trying to drive traffic to download their iPhone app (which is not measurable and excluding to the masses if  integrated into traditional media). Only recently I published a press release on my blog from the IAB who conducted research with Nationwide showing  that using mobile and online advertising in combination can significantly increase brand awareness and purchase consideration:

http://wp.me/pxxzu-6R

I have been working in mobile with some of the worlds leading brands since early 2003 across many sectors.  Mobile is a powerful communications channel whether it is engendering loyalty, acquiring customers or retaining customers. It delivers in all these areas across all mobile formats.

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Posted By, 26 February 2010 10:30am, Graham Charlton @ Econsultancy

One trend I’ve noticed lately is that the few UK retailers that have launched mobile commerce services have opted to do this via mobile apps rather than a mobile website. Both Next and Net-A-Porter have the app, but not the mobile site.

Is there an argument for producing an app rather than a mobile site? Or should retailers be looking to reach as many customers as possible with a mobile site? Or should they have both?

I’ve listed some of the arguments for and against…

Why have a mobile commerce app?

Since smartphones, and the iPhone in particular, currently dominate the mobile internet, there is an argument that an app is more likely to appeal to them.

Smartphone users are more affluent. Therefore, apps will appeal to an audience with more disposable income.

Better functionality. Smartphone features like GPS and the compass on the 3GS means that retailers can offer a richer experience, with location based services, augmented reality, or the photo function on the Amazon iPhone app.

Greater visibility. The popularity of App Store as a model for distributing apps means that retailers can get some good exposure for their apps. For example, the recently releasedNext iPhone app currently sits at number two in the Top 25 free apps list, which should guarantee plenty of downloads.

Your customers have smartphones. If you have a significant proportion of mobile visitors using Android phones and iPhones, then an app may be the best way to appeal to them.

Why have an m-commerce website?

Greater reach. An app restricts the number of customers you can appeal to.

Appeal to mobile searchers. Apps need to be downloaded in advance. If customers don’t have your app, they can’t buy from you, but if you have a mobile-optimised site, they can search and find it on their browsers.

No third party approval required. If you want an app, you’ll need to wait for approval before release and before you make adjustments. Having a mobile site means you are unrestrained in your site design and can push out updates and changes whenever you want.

No need to design multiple apps. Eventually other phones will eat into iPhone market share more and more, meaning that you may have to develop apps for several handsets. You can avoid this with a mobile site.

The browser-based mobile market is the future. According to recent Taptu research, the browser-based mobile web market will grow much faster than the app market, so a mobile site will be necessary long term.

—-

For a retailer looking for the largest possible audience for its products and services, the best starting point may be a website optimised for all mobiles, as this allows you to reach the widest possible audience. You allow people to stumble upon your site via a mobile search engine.

If a healthy percentage of visitors to your mobile site are using iPhones, Android Handsets or others, then there is a case for developing a dedicated mobile app to improve the experience for these customers.

Or, to cover all bases, why not have a mobile site AND app? This is what eBay, Amazon, Best Buy and others all do, and it seems to be working for them.

URL Link:

http://econsultancy.com/blog/5481-mobile-commerce-should-you-have-a-site-or-an-app#blog_comment_22997

Augmented Reality for Mobile Advertising

Posted: February 6, 2010 in Customer Relationship Marketing, Digital Marketing, Display advertising, Industry News, Information communications technology, Internet, Location Based Services, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Internet, Mobile Search, Technology, Trade Associations
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My Comment on the below article:

Augmented reality works well because it removes the need to actually text a keyword to a shortcode or take a picture to receive more info back.  The beauty of it is the user can be served some bitesize information, whether it is directional, promotional or editorial.  Enough info so that the user can decide whether to engage further.  For example, you are driving along the road and you see a for sales sign.  You stop the car get out your phone and hold it up to the sign, from here you get some top line info on the property, like number of rooms, if it has a garden and maybe even its price etc which is enough to decide if you want to arrange a viewing or even engage further to get some preview pictures of the property there and then through a clickable link to the mobile internet site of the estate agent.  This can be applied to lots of things, like bars, hotels, restaurants, pubs, clubs, parks, shops, coffee houses and more.  It is a very scalable which is why I think Augmented reality in the future will be big.  We are not there yet on the technology front and I even think our mindsets will need some work but this will all come with time.

Posted 06 February 2010 15:46pm by Tina Whitfield

What happens when brand marketers think of a mobile application the same way an ad? Solid revenue with exponential value-adds.

elephant ar

Think of an application as an item of inventory that’s exceptional because it is also can be a utility that enhances productivity and engages consumers with cool features.

The item of inventory can be sponsored, and the application can be sponsored, covering a white-label or co-branding.  There is no need for the brand marketer to invest in building an application and invest in marketing to support activation and engagement.  Rather, the brand marketer has a multitude of options that will yield a greater return on investment.

  1. Sponsor a pre-built application that is tested, optimized, and already enjoy a following on the market.  This is akin to sponsoring a sports and entertainment venue such as Monster Park, where the San Francisco Giants play.
  2. Sponsor a custom app built by professional developers with tremendous app design and execution as well as market strategy abilities.
  3. Co-sponsor or be one of several sponsors for an app particularly suited to multiple sponsors.

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What are the hottest advanced technologies in 2010 that are mobile market ready and waiting for sponsorship?  One such technology is augmented reality for mobile local search.

AA Browser

Additionally, brand marketers can take advantage of virtual billboards that are dropped into a real-time view.  The virtual billboards can be general or location-based such as the location-based billboards by Bionic Eye.

Bionic Eye

Augmented reality used in mobile advertising should reach beyond the cool factor and provide utility to enhance productivity in user’s lives. Mobile local search is one productivity tool that is proving to be a market success.

One of the most important user experience concerns for brand marketers should be quality. The length of engagement with the brand and repeat exposure to the brand through repeat use will only occur if the user found the experience pleasant. Yes, the term is “Pleasant.” There are many half-baked augmented reality apps that are cool and drive buzz, yet they are not pleasant and will not attract a loyal passionate following:  a primary goal of a mobile application that is used for marketing.

While augmented reality for local mobile search is the hot new productivity application, smart phones have the technology to enable video overlays of reality to bring pre-recorded actors and objects into camera frame of the real environment. This new creative for mobile TV commercials will open up new revenue possibilities with a new generation of consumers that expect this high-level of visual immersion.

Augmented reality is one of the keys to unlocking a profitable application marketplace in mobile.

URL Link:

http://econsultancy.com/blog/5397-augmented-reality-for-mobile-advertising

Cisco: supercharge the mobile Internet

Posted: January 30, 2010 in Industry News, Information communications technology, Mobile Internet, Mobile Technology, Technology, Telecommunications
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CISCO

This looks really interesting.  I was made aware of this webcast and thought I should give it a plug on my site. Details below.

What’s possible when you supercharge the mobile internet?

Prepare for new developments from Cisco that will help service providers create new experiences.

On February 9, 2010, what’s next will help enable new services, reduce costs and transform businesses.

Here is a link to register for the up and coming Cisco webcast:

http://www.cisco.com/web/solutions/sp/ip_ngn/index.html

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IAB – Apps: The future of mobile?

Posted: January 6, 2010 in Digital Marketing, Information communications technology, Internet, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications, Mobile Gaming, Mobile Internet, Technology, Trade Associations
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My Comments on the below article:

I am late putting this up on my blog but finally had to do it, as the app versus mobile internet debate continues…

Mobile apps have seen huge growth throughout 2009, but are they the future for the mobile industry? Are they more important than mobile sites? These were the questions that an IAB debate earlier this week sought to answer.

Friday, 4 December 2009

The motion for the debate was “Mobile apps are more important than mobile sites”. Prior to the debate, a poll of the audience was taken with 58% opposing.

IAB mobile debate

Jon Mew, head of mobile at the IAB, introduced the proceedings by outlining some key statistics to highlight the popularity of iPhone apps in particular. Mew pointed out that there are now 115,000 iPhone apps for sale in the Apple app store and 2.4bn have been downloaded, meaning that more people have downloaded an app than own a TV.

Arguing for the motion were Amer Hasan, senior manager, apps and developer marketing, Vodafone; Chetan Damani, managing director of acrossair and Oliver Newton, head of emerging platforms at iLevel.

The team argued that the phenomenal growth of the iPhone showed that apps were the future for mobile. Citing figures from acrossair, they demonstrated that the iPhone is the fastest growing technology product ever.

Another key issue they sought to highlight was the enhanced experience offered by the iPhone. Fucntionality such as augmented reality made the iPhone experience far superior to traditional mobile sites it was argued.

Putting the case against the motion were Christian Louca, managing director of YOC; Clive Baker, managing director of Movement and Tim Hussain, head of mobile and video advertising at BSkyB.

This team sought to argue that reach is more important that experience. While they acknowledged that the growth of the iPhone is a hugely important development for the mobile market, they pointed out that only two per cent of the population currently have an iPhone.

The solution they offered therefore was not to cut off a huge percentage of your potential audience by only creating a mobile app, but instead to offer both an app and a traditional mobile website.

This argument seemed to sway the audience as, by the end of the debate when the final poll was taken, the percentage of attendees who opposed the motion had risen from 58 to 87.

Commenting on the debate, Jon Mew, head of mobile at the IAB, said: “The turn out and content from the debate showed what an interesting area apps are for brands. The debate centred around user experience versus reach, and the end result showed that the most important thing for brands is still being accessible to as many people as possible and providing the best experience they can.”

URL Link to IAB:

http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/thefutureofmobile041209.mxs

8 out of 10 mobile Internet users frustrated by search

Posted: November 24, 2009 in Digital Marketing, Industry News, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Internet, Mobile Search, Search Marketing, Trade Associations
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Consumers expect their mobile Internet experience to be every bit as easy and accessible as it is on their PCs, but this isn’t necessarily the case according to new research from Xiam Technologies.

 by Helen Leggatt

 The survey of over 2,500 U.S. and U.K. mobile Internet users found that 8 out of 10 are frustrated by mobile search capabilities despite 68% of mobile users being dependent on mobile search engines to access content.

Not only do they have difficulty finding online content but they also claim to have to wade through too much “irrelevant information”, found Xiam Technologies’ survey (.pdf), with too much scrolling and clicking required to find what they want.

Content most desired and used is weather-related, followed by maps, social networking, games, music and local/world news. Significantly, respondents said that 27% of the time they were unable to access mobile content. Often this is a result of poor mobile webpage design (too large/small).

Research commissioned by Gomez earlier this year found that a bad mobile experience could turn users off a brand for good, driving them to competitors.

According to the 8-page report (.pdf) “It is clear there are serious consequences for organizations who fail to deliver quality mobile web experiences. The mobile website that fails to perform a transaction at speeds that mimic mobile behavior (e.g., waiting in line, stopped on a sidewalk, or sitting in a bus) or that doesn’t function as intended is unlikely to attract and retain users.”

URL Link to Biz Report:

http://www.bizreport.com/2009/11/8_out_of_10_mobile_internet_users_frustrated_by_search.html

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