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Mobile by the Numbers
Mobile is a rapidly developing sector. According to some projections, mobile internet usage will overtake desktop usage before 2015. In preparation, companies are developing new mobile commerce platforms, strategies, and marketing efforts. Microsoft Tag recently attempted to sum up this constantly changing space with a single infographic. Here’s the summary: The mobile market is large; local searches, games, and YouTube are all doing well on Mobile; and socializing is the most prominent use of the mobile Internet. See the full infographic below.
via: http://mashable.com/2011/03/23/mobile-by-the-numbers-infogrpahic/
Google Is Closing The Gap On Apple's App Store
We thought for sure Android's Market for apps would have blown past, or at least caught up to Apple's iPhone App Store by now, but a look at the most recent numbers show it still has some work to do. Apple has 350,000 apps in its App Store to Android's 250,000. However, the rate at which apps are coming into Android's store is faster than Apple's App Store. In the next few months we expect the stores to be equal.
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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/Google and VivaKi Eye Mobile and Video Ad Exchange
On Thursday, Google and VivaKi, part of the digital agency Publicis Groupe, will announce a two-year renewal of their 2008 partnership that will incorporate a new platform for buying video and mobile display ads in the United States and Europe. The platform, an extension of the VivaKi Nerve Center trading desk, or the Audience on Demand product, would allow companies to bid on mobile and video display advertising space in real time on ad exchanges, including Google’s DoubleClick exchange.
“Marketers have seen the power of addressable advertising; the logical progression is to do this in video and in mobile advertising,” said Curt Hecht, chief executive of VivaKi Nerve Center. “Finding the right person at the right time on any screen or any device is the future of marketing,” Mr. Hecht said.
The vision for the product that Google will co-develop with VivaKi involves building on the existing technology of Invite Media, the ad-buying platform Google bought in June, and the automated display advertising technology of Teracent, the San Mateo start-up Google acquired in 2009, said Neal Mohan, the vice president for product management responsible for Google’s display-advertising products. “It’s a large market today; we believe that it can be substantially larger,” said Mr. Mohan, echoing one of the predictions he made for the future of Google’s display-advertising model at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Mixx conference in New York in September.
Mr. Mohan described the feedback from publishers as “extremely positive,” adding that display advertising has so far represented a $2.5 billion business for the company, and mobile advertising a $1 billion yearly run-rate. Mr. Hecht predicts that video and mobile advertising will make up a bigger market than graphical display advertising and that the impact will be seen on the creative side. “The notion of dynamic messaging and advertising is going to be critical,” he said. “The real-time buying aspect of this is going to turn into real-time creative as well.”
Google’s acquisitions of YouTube and AdMob, the mobile advertising start-up, also represent vast inventory pools for advertisers, added Mr. Hecht.
Publishers Are Shelling Out More Than $50K For The New York Times' iPad/iPhone App Platform
 Image: AP |
On August 2, The New York Times announced it is launching a new platform called Press Engine that other publishers can use to create their own iPhone and iPad apps based on templates developed by
The Times. Publishers who sign on will benefit from a new advertising revenue stream, and The Times benefits from a one-time licensing fee and a monthly maintenance fee from each of the participating media companies. We hear from a source familiar with talks one publisher had with The Times that the licensing fee for Press Engine is in the ballpark of $50,000, and that the monthly maintenance fee is a bit under $1,500, though a Times spokesperson told us that the maintenance fee varies based on the size of the publisher's audience and "other variables," such as how many apps a publisher buys. The licensing fee is a flat fee, the spokesperson said, adding: "We are not going into specifics about clients' costs."
According to The Times' press release:
The Telegraph Media Group and A.H. Belo Corporation-owned The Dallas Morning News, The Providence Journal and The Press-Enterprise are the first publishers to license Press Engine. Several New York Times Company-owned newspapers, including the International Herald Tribune, The Gainesville Sun and The Lakeland Ledger, will also participate in the product launch. Reached by phone, Dallas Morning News President and General Manager John McKeon, who was quoted in the release, declined to comment on how much the paper was paying for Press Engine. Attempts to reach executives at The Providence Journal and Press-Enterprise were unsuccessful. We asked The Times if any additional publishers had signed on ? News Services has received a great amount of excitement and interest from publishers since we announced Press Engine last week. We are having in-depth discussions with several publishers who have responded well to both the business model and the design of the application framework. The first Press Engine apps are expected to be rolled out in the fourth quarter of 2010
Mobile Users Ready for Location-Based Text Marketing
Mobile marketing is not just for smartphones 
Though smartphone shipments are rising and expected to surpass shipments of feature phones in 2011, according to Morgan Stanley, feature phones are still the devices in the hands of most mobile users. An April 2010 ExactTarget study found 58% of all US internet users ages 15 and older had one, compared with 31% who had a smartphone.
That means a large swathe of mobile users cannot be reached by more sophisticated mobile marketing efforts like sponsored apps, in-app ads or campaigns on the mobile web. According to location-based advertising network 1020 Placecast, opt-in text alerts are the smart way to target a fuller mobile audience.
A May 2010 survey conducted for Placecast by Harris Interactive found that while most mobile users still have not signed up for any text alerts, there was a small rise in interest since a similar poll in 2009: 28% were at least somewhat interested in the alerts, up 2 percentage points, and 8% were extremely or very interested, up 3 percentage points. For under-35s, interest was significantly higher.
Those who wanted the alerts were most interested in coupons and promotions from grocery stores and restaurants. Respondents who had signed up for text alerts said it made them more likely to visit the company’s website (34%), visit the store (33%) and purchase the product being promoted, either in online (28%) or in the store (27%).
Many agreed that making those text alerts location-based, so that recipients would get the right offer at the right time, could make the channel more useful or interesting.
While awareness of location-based text alerts is still building, there is the potential to reach a broader audience than with check-in apps such as foursquare or Gowalla, which are designed with smartphone owners in mind. And despite negative attitudes of many mobile users toward SMS marketing, Placecast reports low opt-out rates among recipients.
“The brand faithful view these kinds of alerts as a service, not just marketing or an intrusion,” Placecast CEO Alistair Goodman told eMarketer.
Mobile Automotive Marketing Revs Up - Finding in-market car shoppers on the go
The Internet’s role in the vehicle purchase process is well documented. In a March 2010 poll of Web users by About.com, for example, nearly three-quarters of respondents described themselves as likely or very likely to research online before buying a car, with expert reviews their content of choice.
As the mobile Web becomes more important to consumers in all facets of their lives, automotive marketers have to contend with the same demand for trusted information, only on smaller screens in the hands of prospects with shorter attention spans.
“Automakers generally focus on using mobile to drive brand awareness and consideration for prospective car buyers just beginning the purchase process,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report “Automotive Mobile Marketing Shifts Gears.” “At the same time, they try to steer prospects to a nearby dealer to schedule a test drive.”
Data on consumer engagement with automotive mobile advertising is directionally positive. A May 2010 survey of about 100 US users on AdMob’s mobile ad network uncovered fairly high recall rates of automotive ads and even higher click-through rates.
Still, whether mobile advertising is effective is a source of ongoing debate. In terms of branding metrics specific to the automotive industry, InsightExpress found that automotive campaigns ranked second for mobile ad awareness and brand favorability. They scored at or below average for unaided and aided awareness and purchase intent.
“Given that cars are still a highly considered purchase, it is not surprising to see relatively low purchase metrics,” said Mr. Elkin. “Even the most well-executed mobile display campaign is not going to be the decisive factor that completes the purchase of a vehicle.
“However, automotive brands do have opportunities with mobile to influence consumers at the top of the purchase funnel,” he continued.
Mobile Social Networking Drives Rising App Usage
240% increase in social networking app access
As smartphone usage grows, users are also becoming more sophisticated and using apps at a higher rate. According to comScore’s MobiLens study, the total number of mobile app users in the US increased by 28% from April 2009 to April 2010. Several app categories saw usage grow much faster. Social networking apps grew their user base by 240% during the period, to more than 14.5 million mobile users. Other categories boasted even more users, including weather apps at more than 18 million and maps at about 16.8 million.
Social networking was also the fastest-growing mobile content category when it came to browser access, with nearly 30 million mobile users visiting the sites through mobile browsers. “Social networking is by far the fastest-growing mobile activity right now,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile, in a statement. “With 20 percent of mobile users now accessing social networking sites via their phone, we expect to see both application and browser usage continuing to drive future consumption of social media.” The most-used app across nearly all smartphone operating systems also falls into the social networking category. The top social Website, Facebook, is entrenched as the most widely used app by owners of BlackBerrys, iPhones and other smartphones. Only users of Google’s Android operating system are more likely to use Google Maps than Facebook.
Other top apps across operating systems included offerings in the fast-growing and highly popular weather and maps categories.
Apple and Google Tied in Social App Use on Mobile Devices
In recently gathered data from comScore, we see that Google and Apple are neck and neck — with Google showing the slightest of leads — in the percentage of users who access social media applications from their mobile devices. Ever since the advent of the smartphone and native mobile applications, using and enjoying social sites from a mobile device has been increasingly common and increasingly important to users. We look forward eagerly to new and better ways to access our Twitter and Facebook accounts while on the go.
comScore’s stats show that 64.9% of Android OS smartphone users are accessing social networking sites from their mobile devices. This number dwindles slightly to 64.3% for iPhone users — a nearly negligible difference.
These two leaders are trailed by RIM, whose BlackBerry users are as likely to access social services as not. Palm, Symbian, and finally, Windows Mobile phones round out the data set; each of these user groups showed numbers between 36 and 40%.
Overall, 52% of smartphone owners are using their devices to access their social media accounts, while only 11% of feature phone users are doing so. Without doubt, the smartphone set will continue to increase their use of social sites on their phones as networks, apps and the services themselves improve and adapt for mobile use.
What do you think gives Google () and Apple their edge in the world of mobile social access and communication? Is it the apps? The data plans and networks? The devices themselves? Let us know your conjectures in the comments.
Apple Upsets the Google Search Cart
As noted in the chart above, Google controls the traditional search engine market by a wide berth. (comScore doesn't yet track mobile search data.) More than 97% of Google's revenue comes from search ads, and with computing and search going increasingly mobile, Google has been eager to make itself indispensible in the mobile market, also.
Contrary to Job's assertion, for the vast majority of smartphone owners, Google search is by far the leading search service.
Mobile ads will bring in an estimated $500 million in revenue for Google this year, according to Caris and Co. analyst Sandeep Aggarwal. That is "perhaps the fastest growing revenue line" for Google, Aggarwal wrote in a research note Monday. Aggarwal also adds that there are a couple challenges along the mobile road for Google. For one, Google's dominance of search means that each mobile search is -- cannibalistically-speaking -- one less desktop search. Second, apps on phones bypass Google search. But Google has hasn't exactly been a coasting on its desktop success. The push into smartphone operating systems with its Android three years ago has been the Trojan horse of Google mobile search. By contrast, Microsoft's(MSFT) disappearance from mobile hasn't been particularly helpful to the mobile adoption of its Bing. And Yahoo!(YHOO) has fumbled badly in mobile search.
Google has tried to move beyond the classic browser-based searches in mobile. For example, many Google Android phones, particularly the Verizon(VZ) Incredible and Droid line, have included free Navigation software that combines GPS, Google search and maps for turn-by-turn directions. Google has also honed its verbal searches, so users can speak their search terms rather than type them for surprisingly accurate results. Google's pending $750 million deal for in-application advertising shop AdMob stands to give the search giant a big piece of the mobile advertising market more targeted to display than search. Maybe too big though -- the Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the deal.
"Applications are an opportunity for Google," said Sullivan, who points out that Google doesn't have specialized search engines for information on things like restaurants. Outfits like Urbanspoon and Yelp have loads of restaurant data, like menus and reviews, all in one place.
"Applications are a threat, but not a big threat," said Sullivan. "People are always looking for the Google killer. I call applications the Google killerettes. They take a slice at Google in various ways."
--Written by Scott Moritz in New York.
