Innovative Mobile Applications from SingTel

SingTel, the leading mobile operator in Singapore, has launched three innovative mobile applications to simplify the task of shopping and make it a lot more enjoyable experience for its subscribers.

Go! Shopping is a location based application that lets people find their way through the busy shopping malls of Singapore. It gives people access to indoor maps of various shopping malls in the country. With this app, people can find the details of particular stores at the click of a button. They can even save the details for future references.

Price Pal is a barcode based application that lets people find and compare the prices of various products easily. All a customer needs to do is scan the product barcode using his cell phone camera. The app will immediately display the prices of the product sold in various retail stores. This helps people compare the offers of various retailers and make an informed purchase decision.

Property Buddy is an application that gives valuable real estate information for people. If a customer needs to get a list of properties for sale or rent, all he needs to do is point his mobile phone camera towards the direction of the properties he wants to search. The app will display a list of for sale/for rent properties available in the area and their transacted prices.

SingTel has stated that these applications will be available free of cost for its subscribers. It, however, adds that it plans to generate revenue with the help of advertising. It says that the apps will come with standard in-app mobile ads that people will not find too intrusive. It also gives its customers the option of receiving targeted ads based on their preferences. These ads, however, are meant only for people who are interested in disclosing their preferences. The rest, who are not interested in the offer, can continue to enjoy these apps with limited ads.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Applications.

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Mobile Applications Revenue to Reach $32 Billion in 2015

Juniper Research’s latest report says that the revenue generated from mobile applications is set to increase sharply in the next few years. The report predicts that the revenue generated from in-app advertising, pay-per-download, and value added services will rise from $10 billion in 2009 to $32 billion in 2015.

The report sheds some light on Apple app store, the most popular name when it comes to mobile applications. As some of you might be aware of, Apple’s mobile app portal registered its 4 billionth download in April 2010, which is a remarkable feat. While ‘4 billion’ sounds like a huge number, the fact that most of these downloads were free makes us look at the statistics in a completely different manner. In fact, the number of paid-for applications is somewhere in the range of 5% to 15% of the total number of apps downloaded. So, the report says that the number of downloads and the amount of revenue generated are not directly proportional and hence an increase in the number of downloads does not necessarily mean an increase in industry revenues.

One of the main points that the report raises is the importance of developing mobile applications that can be accessed using a wide range of handsets. While platform-specific applications can be downloaded and used only by a particular set of mobile users, these generic applications can be downloaded and used by anyone who has a mobile phone. This move can be particularly effective in developing markets where the use of high end mobile phones and smartphones is very rare as most of the people still use low end phones.

The report also discusses in detail a number of topics including the need for scale, the need to monetize the mass market, app store overload, and content legacy. You can find more details here.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Applications.

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Google Upbeat About The Future of Mobile Advertising

Depression or boom, good economy or bad economy, if there is one thing that you can bank on, it’s the performance of Google. The internet giant disclosed its first quarter results recently and the numbers were nothing short of incredible. The company saw a 35% rise in net profits ($1.9bn) and a 23% rise in total revenues ($6.7bn).

The lion’s share of Google’s revenues comes from online advertising, which is not very surprising. The company generated $4.4bn from ads on its own sites and $2bn from ads on third party sites. An interesting thing mentioned in the first quarter results was the success of mobile advertising.

Google considers mobile the ‘third axis’ and has asked its developers to focus on mobile advertising and technology. Eric Schmidt, in fact, has gone on record to say that the company encourages its developers to think ‘mobile first’.

Google is benefiting a lot from the growth of smartphones that can access the internet. The company also says that the launch of new products like the Nexus One has boosted the revenues considerably this year. Though no one knows the exact sales figures of Nexus One, it is said to be one of the top selling smartphones on the market today.

Google has been selling the unlocked version of Nexus One for $529 and the locked version, which comes with a T Mobile contract, for $179. Already, the phone works with AT&T Mobility and T Mobile USA’s 3G networks and other major operators like Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel are expected to support the device soon.

Google’s mobile operating system Android is also expanding its presence on the market rapidly. As of now, the OS is on 34 devices from 12 different mobile manufacturers. The company says that more than 60,000 Android devices are getting activated every day, which is quite a big number. The Android market now has more than 38,000 mobile applications and the number is growing by the day thanks to mobile app developers all over the world who are religiously working to come up with new, innovative apps.

The Google story can be summed up in just one sentence – so far, so good. Right now, more than anything else, the company seems to be focused on expanding its presence on the mobile market. While it is good news for mobile users, it is not so for Google’s competitors.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google.

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A Detailed Look at Google’s Acquisition of AdMob

So, Google has acquired AdMob. Is it a big deal? Yes, it is. Will it have a big impact on mobile advertising industry? Yes, it will. Is it surprising? No, it is not. Let me tell you why.

Regular readers of this blog know a thing or two about AdMob. It is one of the few mobile advertising companies that I’ve written a lot about on this blog. Anyone who has seen the growth chart of AdMob will hardly find it surprising that a giant like Google has acquired the company. After all, the company has served billions of mobile ads and its clientele include big names like Yahoo.

AdMob specializes in web display ads and application display ads. When mobile users surf the net or play a mobile video game, they will be served targeted ads. Google, as you know, specializes in search ads. When mobile users search for something on the internet, the results page they get will contain targeted ads. Now, combine these two technologies and you have a killer mobile marketing strategy.

Google has spent an astronomical $750 million on this acquisition. Some people think it has spent a lot of money to acquire what many perceive a small business. I do not think so. Google, as we all know, has been trying to make its presence felt in mobile advertising market for quite some time now. While it is certainly seen as a force to be reckoned with, its success on the mobile market is nowhere near its success on the internet. So, acquiring a company like AdMob can help Google establish itself on the mobile phone advertising market.

Moreover, this acquisition will give Google a chance to understand the dynamics of the mobile advertising market. It now has access to a huge amount of data which includes the usage data of various mobile applications. It now knows what kind of mobile apps are preferred by mobile users and what kind of ads have the best conversion rate. With this knowledge, Google can fine tune its advertising strategies and get even better results. So, in my opinion, this acquisition can only be good for Google in the long run.

If you think about it, what Google has done is not surprising at all. You are a new entrant to the market. You see that a number of players are already going strong. You can grab a big share of the market by either competing with them or by buying them out. When you have enough money to buy half of your competition, the latter sounds like a much better option, don’t you think? Something tells me that we’ll see more such acquisitions in the recent future.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google.

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Smaato Mobile Advertising Awards 2009 – The Search for the Best Mobile Websites, Mobile Games, and Mobile Applications Continues

Smaato, a pioneer in the field of mobile advertising, has announced the Smaato Mobile Advertising Award 2009. The event was a great success last year and garnered a lot of attention. The event had more than 100 entrants and the feedback was mostly positive. Considering the fact that the event was first-of-its-kind, the reception was quite good. So, the company has decided to make the event bigger and better this year.

The competition has been divided into three different categories – iPhone, Mobile Applications (including games), and Mobile Web. The participation is free and it does not cost you a dime. If you think your mobile website, application, or game is really cool, you can participate in this event. The deadline for submissions ends on the 9th of October, 2009. You can find more details here.

A winner will be chosen from each category and all three winners will be invited to be a part of Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. Also, just like last year, Smaato will introduce the winners to the VCs who attend the event. Additional prizes include free tickets for Mobile World Congress, exhibition stands at M Days 2010 in Munich, and more. If you remember, Dial Plus was the winner at last year’s event and it has gone on to become very popular in a relatively short period of time.

Smaato has formed an impressive jury which includes some well known names from Mobile Marketer, Mobile Entertainment, VentureBeat, Mobile Monday, Infinita, Norwest Venture Partners, MSearchGroove, MobiAdNews, and more.

Like I have repeatedly said, events like this are very good for mobile advertising industry as they promote healthy competition and innovation. Most importantly, for up and coming mobile startups, events like these could be a great launch pad. So, in my opinion, these types of events are a sign of the growth of mobile advertising as an industry.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Mobile Events.

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