February 26, 2010

More Affordable iPhones on the Way?

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty is predicting that Apple will introduce a cheaper iPhone this summer.

"We expect Apple to launch new iPhones in June that offer both a lower total cost of ownership and new functionality, potentially including gesture-based technology," she said.

Morgan Stanley research shows that cost is the greatest barrier to iPhone adoption.

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20 Trends from Mobile World Congress Event

Coming in at #18 was "Going local."

Check out all of the trends

Ad Age Uses Mobile Bar Codes

The cover of Advertising Age's annual digital issue features a first mobile 2D bar code ever offered to its readers.

The codes are promoting the chance to win free admission to the Ad Age Digital Conference on April 13-14 in New York. Readers use their camera phones to take a picture of the bar code and send it in. No download is required like the recent mobile bar code campaigns we shared recently.

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February 24, 2010

Nielsen: 2010 Industry Fact Sheet

Here are some points on mobile from Nielsen's media industry fact sheet:

> U.S. mobile phone users 13 and older top 223 million;

> Number of mobile Web users is up to 60.7 million (up 33 percent from 2008);

> Smartphones account for 18 percent of mobile devices (up from 13 percent in 2008);

> Eight percent of mobile device owners streamed audio via mobile phones, while 7 percent viewed video; and

> Twenty-five percent of mobile devices sold in Q3 2009 were smartphones; that's estimated to grow to 40 or 50 percent in 2010.

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February 23, 2010

Mobile Advertising: Steady Shift to Digital / Mobile Media

BIA/Kelsey's Local Media Annual Forecast (2009-2014) included some interesting information on local advertising and the shift to digital and mobile media.

-U.S. local advertising market is expected to reach $144.9 billion in 2014, representing a modest compound annual growth rate of 2.2 percent from 2009.
-Local media spending is expected to be slow through 2011, with meaningful recovery beginning in 2012.
-Spending on traditional media is forecasted to decline from $115 billion in 2009 to $108.2 billion in 2014. During the same period, however, spending on online/interactive/mobile media is projected to grow from $15.2 billion to $36.7 billion.

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iPhone Continues to Grow Market Share

Here are some key points from ComScore's U.S. Mobile Market share survey:

>Apple's smartphone market share soared to 25.3 percent in December 2009, up 8.5 percentage points from the year ago period

>Google's smartphone share "gained considerably in the final months of 2009 and is poised for continued growth in 2010 with the introduction of new devices featuring the Android platform."

>Smartphone market penetration "continued to climb" in 2009 with smartphones accounting for 17 percent of mobile phone subscribers in December 2009, up nearly 6 percentage points from one year ago.

>RIM, with its BlackBerry device, retained the top market share position with 41.6 percent of the smartphone market in December 2009 followed by Apple at 25.3 percent.

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App Stores Will Continue Growing in Popularity

According to Gartner, most smartphone owners are using mobile apps and "explosive growth" in this market is anticipated.

It predicts more than 4.5 billion mobile apps to be downloaded worldwide in 2010, resulting in around $6.8 billion to app stores. In addition, more than eight in 10 apps downloaded this year will be free.

By 2013, Gartner expects downloads and revenues to more than quadruple. Free app downloads are also believed to increase in that period.

Yankee Group predicts 1.4 billion app downloads in the U.S. alone equating to $573 million in revenue. It expects revenue to exceed $4.2 billion in 2013, when U.S. consumers will download nearly 7 billion apps.

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February 19, 2010

Mobile Advertising: Animated Ads

In a recent study conducted by Quattro Wireless, animated ads were named the fastest-growing and most-effective mobile ad format. These ads give brands the chance to share their message without requiring a click.

Animated ads (sequential GIFs) generate a 63-point performance lift (measured in click-throughs) over standard banner ads and are over twice as effective as standard text ads, according to Quattro.

NOW partners can sell local ads, including animated GIF banners as long as they meet the Mobile Marketing Associations latest ad standards.

XL Image Banner = <7.5 KB file size

Large Image Banner = <4.5 file size

Medium Image Banner = <3 KB file size

Small Image Banner = <1.5 file size



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iPad Increases App Store Development

The App Store's existing apps will work on the iPad, so special versions are not required but many are rushing to create apps designed specifically for the new tablet. The iPad will have a 9.7-inch display and use more multi-touch gestures, such as three-finger twisting and swiping.

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Mobile 2D Barcoding Hits Fashion Week and Mobile World Congress

2D barcoding for mobile devices made headlines this week at events in New York and Barcelona.

During Fashion Week in New York designer Norma Kamali used 2D barcoding in her boutique to make for a more interactive shopping experience. Shoppers first had to download an app for their phone. Then they could snap a picture of the bar code on a specific item with their phone and receive videos, photos and press giving them the scoop on the design. Read more

Meanwhile, Barcelona was the host city for this year's Mobile World Congress event. Visa sponsored a contest for attendees first requiring them to download an application to read 2D bar codes. The conference information packet contained faux Visa gift cards and info on how to scan the bar code each day for the chance to win 50 euros. Read more

WRAL's "Go Ask Mom" iPhone App, Mobile Web Site

WRAL recently launched a new feature on their web site with news and content for moms named "Go Ask Mom." They also launched a mobile web site and iPhone app with an exclusive sponsor - Duke Medicine.

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February 18, 2010

Bango: Mobile Web Traffic Surging Worldwide

Mobile technology company Bango produced an annual mobile usage study providing some key findings about global mobile web usage.

>Key categories for mobile browsing are news, sports and general media sites (including newspapers), mobile content downloads, social networking and retail sites.

>Users visited mobile web sites in December 2009 six times more often than the same month a year earlier.

>The average time on site = 3 minutes, 21 seconds, averaged across user visits to all sites, compared with just over 1 minute, 30 seconds in 2008.

>The average number of pages viewed per visit = five pages, up from just over two pages per visit a year ago.

>Smartphones are driving the highest usage of the mobile web, with BlackBerry accounting for over 17 percent of the mobile devices recorded across sites. The number of visits by BlackBerry users also exceeds any other device.

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Survey Says: 17% Of U.S. Adults Use Mobile Banking, Mobile Web & SMS Leading Methods

Luth Research recently shared the results of a survey revealing that 17 percent of U.S. adults use mobile banking. Surprisingly, the majority if those using mobile banking are accessing it via mobile web vs. apps or SMS.

Growth in mobile banking is anticipated to continue as more users become comfortable with accessing sensitive information via mobile.

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Location-based in-app advertising blocked by Apple

Apple is now blocking applications using location-based data to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location.

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February 12, 2010

Study shows mobile ad campaigns 5 times more effective than online

InsightExpress recently shared the results of their mobile advertising study which found that mobile ad campaign norms were four-and-a-half to five times more effective than online norms.

The study attributed the increased effectiveness to the explosion in technical capabilities, lack of clutter and novelty.

The firm compared three different mobile media types — mobile Internet, SMS and mobile video and shared that the mobile Internet is more dominant.

"Mobile Internet campaigns resulted in increases of 9 percentage points for unaided awareness, 9 percentage points for aided awareness and 24 percentage points for ad awareness."

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