Huge Slump in Smartphone Market Share - Can Microsoft Reinvent Itself?

When you take a close look at the smartphone market, you will notice something strange. Experts often talk about what is possibly the most popular smartphone available today – the Apple iPhone. They talk about how Google Android could give Apple a tough competition. They talk about Symbian and they talk about Blackberry. They even talk about recently released smartphones like Motorola Cliq and Droid. One name that is conspicuously missing from this list is Microsoft’s Windows Mobile.

It is really surprising. After all, Microsoft entered the smartphone market long back – Pocket PC 2002, the predecessor of Windows Mobile OS, was released in 2002. Soon, Windows Mobile was released in 2003. What has Microsoft managed to achieve in the past six years? The answer is – nothing worthwhile.

Windows Mobile, as of now, is the fourth most used mobile operating system in the world. Nokia with its Symbian OS is the market leader – followed by Blackberry and the iPhone. Experts, however, predict that it might not be able to stay at that spot for long. When you take a good look at the numbers, you get the feeling that what they predict might actually come true.

In the first quarter of 2004, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile had an envious 23% share in the smartphone market. In the first quarter of 2005, there was a steady decline and its market share was somewhere around 18%. In the first quarter of 2006, it further slumped and remained with a market share of 12%. In 2008, its market share dropped to 14%. At the start of 2009, it slumped further and remained at 7.9%. If we go by the recent report from AdMob, Microsoft’s market share, as of now, is only somewhere around 4%.

It is quite a slide – from 23% market share to 4% market share in a span of just five years. In the mean time, Apple, Nokia, RIM, and even Google have made their presence felt in the market big time.

It is really hard to believe. After all, Microsoft has got everything - all the money in the world, some of the brightest minds in the world, and plenty of goodwill. Yet, it has not been able to conquer the mobile market like it conquered the PC market. While late entrants like Apple and Google have been able to generate a big buzz, Microsoft has not been able to do anything that is worth taking notice.

Apple iPhone continues to climb the ladder and even new entrants like Motorola Droid have managed to create a big buzz. With this being the case, Microsoft’s only bet is Windows Mobile 7 OS – which incorporates the elements of Windows Mobile 6.5 and Zune – which is slated for release in 2010.

The mobile phone industry, the smartphone market in particular, is expected to grow bigger by the day. Mobile advertising, as we all know, is set to grow big as well. The time is ripe and the competition is intense. The question is – can Microsoft pull it off?

Categories: All things mobile phones, Microsoft.

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MSNBC’s New Mobile Application for Apple iPhone Users

Here’s an important piece of information for Apple users.

MSNBC has come up with a mobile application for Apple iPhone and iTouch users. It has joined hands with a mobile media company called Zumobi to develop this application. Zumobi is famous for developing unique mobile applications for various smart phones like Apple iPhone, Google Android, and Palm Pre.

The application brings all the latest news from around the world to the mobile screen. The developers have integrated Twitter into this application which makes it even more useful for the end user.

With this application, you will be able to check out all the latest headlines any time you want right from your mobile phone. From world news to business, sports, weather, or entertainment, this app brings you pretty much anything you need right to your mobile screen. You will also be able to track Twitter feeds, or Tweets as they are called by many, from msnbc.com and share your favorite news items with your friends. The best part about this application, as far as I am concerned, is that it is totally free. You can download it directly from Zumobi’s website.

MSNBC has said that the interactive features in this application will offer a thoroughly engaging experience for mobile users. It has also said that this application offers a great chance for advertisers in the form of premium brand sponsorships.

In my opinion, this app could become pretty popular with iPhone users. If you remember, Associated Press launched its own mobile news network some time back. Considering how popular it became in a very short period of time, I think my prediction might come true very quickly.

Categories: Apple iPhone, All things mobile phones, Apple.

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The Future of Cell Phone Advertising?

A lot of people are wondering whether cell phone advertising is actually as big as everyone claims to be. If you are one of those people too, I’ve got something to tell you. It is going to be much bigger than most people can ever imagine. Let me tell you why I think so.

1. The sales of smart phones. Even at the time of a global recession, the sales figures of Apple iPhone and Blackberry have been very good. The number of people who use smart phones has more than doubled in the past few years.

2. Various studies show that smart phone users are most likely to recall ads and other stuff. They spend a lot of time surfing, playing games, watching TV, and shopping on their phones. In other words, they spend a lot of quality time with their phone – which is exactly what marketers want.

Take Pandora for example. It is an online service provider which allows users to design their own radio stations depending on their preferences in music. It is a free service which is backed by ads. Pandora has been in the business for nearly nine years now and it currently has a whopping six million users. Some of its notable clients include Best Buy, Nike, Dockers, Puma, Domino’s, and Target. They all buy ad spots on Pandora regularly.

These big brands have been using Pandora in their own ways. Dockers, for example, offered 20% flat discount to everyone who used the promotional code ‘Pandora’ on their website. Puma, which was one of the sponsors of the movie Fast & Furious 4, allowed Pandora users to buy shoes that were featured in the film. It goes on and on. One thing that the marketing houses of all these big brands have been saying is this – the response to cell phone advertising exceeded their expectations. The average response rate was somewhere around 5%, which is way more than the average response rate for online ads.

The icing on the cake is the statement of Rob Weisberg of Domino’s. He said that marketers these days have no choice but to take cell phone marketing seriously. They need to be where their customer works, lives, and plays.

All I’ve got to say is simple – wait and watch. Like I have always claimed, cell phone advertising will become bigger than any other form of conventional advertising methods.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Watch Ustream.tv’s Live Video Feeds On Your iPhone

Watching the live video feeds of Ustream.tv just got easier for iPhone users. Ustream.tv has come up with an exclusive iPhone application which will allow iPhone users to watch live video feeds anytime, anywhere and connect with people who do the same.

Since developing apps for the Apple iPhone seems to be the in-thing now, I was not surprised to hear this news at all. After all, Ustream.tv has made a name for itself by providing high quality streaming video service. So, it was really a matter of time before they came up with this application. So, from now on, iPhone users can watch every single broadcast of Ustream.tv right on their phone. Also, using this application, you will be able to chat with people who watch Ustream shows and connect with like-minded people.

This will make it easier for iPhone users around the world to watch the live feeds from Ustream.tv no matter where they are. Moreover, the ability to connect with people on the move adds a nice social networking touch to the application. So, the way I see it, this application could easily become massively popular with iPhone users.

As of now, the application is still in beta. Ustream.tv has asked iPhone users to send in their identifier number in order to be able to get a copy of this application. Ustream.tv will select a number of people among the applicants and send a copy of the customized application to them.

Categories: Apple iPhone, All things mobile phones, Apple.

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Indian Mobile Advertising Market on a Roll

We have seen a lot of reports about India being a very dominant player in the mobile advertising market, right? Here is one more report to add to that long list. Limbo, a California based mobile social networking company, and GfK Technology, a Germany based market research company, have come up with a joint report which brings up some important points about mobile advertising in India.

The report says that eight in ten mobile phone users in India get ads on their mobile phone which is unprecedented to say the least. The numbers we are talking are huge – there are 300 million mobile users in India now and, on an average, there are 100 million new mobile connections added every year. In this scenario, mobile ads could have a tremendous reach in both urban and rural areas.

The report also says that text messaging or SMS (short messaging service) is the most sought after format of mobile advertising. Around 75% of the ads delivered in India are text based.

Mobile internet or mobile web is not as popular as one would imagine in India as data plans are quite costly. But the report predicts that the rates will come down significantly due to three reasons.

1. A lot of youngsters are interested in mobile web. Considering the fact that more than 500 million people in India are yet to celebrate their 20th birthday, this is a huge market.

2. The quality of mobile web browsing has increased tremendously thanks to high end phones like Apple iPhone. So, the number of people who use the feature will go up steadily.

3. Most importantly, mobile web, as predicted by experts around the world, is the future of mobile advertising. So, mobile advertisers will find a way to reach their target customers through mobile web. What this means to the end user is that he could get a lot of free, ad sponsored multimedia content.

At the end of the day, all this data leaves us with a question – is the future of mobile phone advertising heading east?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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