The Future of 3G and 4G Services - A Detailed Look

Wanna hear something really incredible? According to TeleGeography, by the year 2013, the addressable market for 3G and 4G mobile services will be, hold your breath, somewhere around 4.5 billion people. In other words, nearly one third of all mobile users in the world will have access to these high speed mobile networks. That is right folks. An unbelievably big number – 4.5 billion wireless subscribers.

It is expected that more than 95% of wireless subscribers in Western Europe will have access to 3G and 4G services in 2013, which is nothing short of amazing. Europe still continues to be the leader as far as mobile market is concerned. Nearly 90% of mobile users in the U.S. and Canada, more than 80% of users in Latin America and Eastern Europe, 70% of users in the Middle East and Africa, and 60% of users in the Asia Pacific region will have access to these next generation cellular services. While it could be said that this is a highly optimistic prediction, the possibility of such an occurrence definitely cannot be ruled out considering the rate at which mobile web and other mobile related services are growing.

I have often argued that India and China are the countries to look for when it comes to mobile services because of their huge population and rapidly developing economies. Now, looking at the numbers above, some of you might wonder why only 60% of users in Asia are expected to have access to 3G and 4G services. The reason is not hard to fathom. The population of China and India is so big that it is nearly impossible for mobile service providers to expand their networks to that extent in such a small period of time. So, even if only 60% of wireless users access 3G and 4G services, it is still a huge achievement.

The most important thing about this news is that it hints at the possibility of a global network of mobile phone users connected by the invisible web of 3G and 4G networks. This, in my opinion, could result in the explosive growth of mobile social networking. The ability to access social networking sites right from their mobile phone at the click of a button is something that every other mobile user, particularly teens and young adults, wants. While this news is certainly exciting, it is not that big of a surprise to me. After all, it is something that we all knew was going to happen sooner than later, isn’t it?

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Social Networking, Mobile Web.

2 comments.

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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Indian company to introduce audio ads in mobile phones

How many times have you called your friend on his mobile phone and heard a song instead of the usual ringback tone? It’s quite common these days, right? Well; we’re about to get to the next stage of it. How about getting some audio ads instead of ringback tones?

OnMobile, an interactive advertising company in India, has come up with this idea. Suitably named AdRBT (Ad Ringback Tones), the program allows mobile users to opt in to the program which will replace the usual ringback tone with a variety of audio ads. In exchange, the user will get special discounts and offers.

OnMobile is confident that these audio ads will have high response rates and excellent recall rates and the impact might be huge. However, I think it’s only a 50/50 chance. Not many will be excited at the prospect of replacing their ringback tones with arbitrary ads and it might not be a smooth sail for the company initially. The way I see it, even people who are fine with text message ads and banner ads might find these audio ads a tad intrusive. But then, it’s just my opinion. And the Indians in general are not as finicky about mobile ads as their US counter parts. So, I might as well be proved wrong. Either way, it will be interesting to see the progress this company makes.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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YuuZoo enters mobile advertising with a bang

YuuZoo, a popular name in the world of mobile content and mobile advertising, has moved from its beta phase and will soon start rendering its services to a number of countries including China, India, US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

In case you don’t know YuuZoo, here’s a small piece of info. YuuZoo is backed and financed by a number of high profile executives from Nokia, Ogilvy & Mather, and Ericsson and is famous world over.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of YuuZoo is the extensive range of mobile content it has on offer. It has partnered with some of the best mobile technology companies in the world and offers a wide range of mobile content, most of which are exclusive.

With the current set up, YuuZoo can easily reach around 1 billion consumers around the world. What this means to mobile advertisers around the world is that they can now easily target a huge number of consumers with the help of YuuZoo. With its technology, YuuZoo can help mobile advertisers send highly targeted ads to consumers – both local and international.

It will be interesting to see the growth of YuuZoo in the coming months. With such a strong set up, I think it is certainly a force to be reckoned with in the mobile advertising industry.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Coca Cola and Hindustan Unilever launch mobile advertising campaigns

Two of the major FMCG brands, Hindustan Unilever and Coca Cola, have recently launched mobile advertising campaigns in India.

Mobile advertising in India is becoming popular of late and we’ve already seen some evidences of clever mobile advertising campaigns from film personalities in India. Now, it’s the turn of big brands to get into mobile marketing seriously.

While Coca Cola has launched a mobile advertising campaign for its fizzy drink Sprite, Hindustan Unilever has launched one for its ice-cream brand Cornetto. Among other things, you need to understand the ‘timing’ of these campaigns. This is the summer season in India and believe me, it’s h-o-t. In fact, it’s so hot that more than 50% of annual soft drink sales happen during this season. So, what better way to boost it further than by launching a mobile advertising campaign? Clever stuff, I should say.

Coincidentally, both these companies have sought the services of Oxigen, a value-added service provider for mobile phones. If this turns out to be a success, we can see more and more companies getting into mobile advertising in the coming days.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

1 comment.

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