Mobile applications for Google Android phone a hit among users - says Google

Here is some happy news from the Google camp. The mobile applications for the recently released Android phone – T-Mobile G1 – are a hit among consumers.

Google executives have stated that on an average, a T-Mobile G1 user downloads 14 mobile applications. There are around 200 mobile apps available in the Android Marketplace right now and almost all of them have been well received by mobile users. Google is very happy with how things have gone with the Android phone.

As of now, the mobile apps in Android Marketplace are free. However, Google is planning to let developers charge for their apps soon. Once it happens, 70% of the revenue generated will to go the developers, a small percentage of the revenue will be used to cover the transaction charges, and the rest of the amount will go to the mobile operators. None of the mobile operators has raised any questions about this revenue sharing model so far, so we can safely assume that they are fine with this arrangement.

Google is also happy about the use of mobile data on the T-Mobile G1. Consumers have been very active so far and use various Google services like the search facility and Google Maps and a variety of third party services as well. Google has stated, without revealing the actual numbers, that there has been a ‘huge spike’ in consumer activity in the last month or so.

So, things are hunky-dory at the moment for Google. It will be interesting to see how consumers react once developers start charging for the software. What do you say?

Categories: Google, All things mobile phones.

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Mobile advertisers to target the Hispanic community?

The latest report from comScore discusses the prospects of mobile advertising in the Hispanic mobile user community. Not surprisingly, the predictions are very optimistic.

Hispanics and Latin Americans have always been active mobile users and it gets reflected on the fact that they over-index in mobile data and mobile advertising consumption. Also, a significant number of Hispanics and Latin Americans do not have access to the PC or the internet, but have a mobile connection. So, not surprisingly, when it comes to mobile content consumption, Hispanics are way ahead of the market average. This makes mobile marketing the perfect option for businesses to target the Hispanic and the Latin American community. Now, let us take a look at some numbers from the report.

1. Over 70% of Hispanic mobile users regularly download mobile content while the market average is only around 48%.

2. Over 40% of Hispanic mobile users can recall seeing ads on their mobile phone while the market average is only 30%.

3. Over 22% of Hispanic mobile users responded to mobile ads while the market average is only around 13%.

Based on this data, we can safely assume that the Hispanic market could be one of the most exciting markets for mobile advertisers. Already, mobile marketing companies like Hipcricket, Latin-Pak, Ansible Mobile, Vibes Media, and Univision Movil have started targeting the Hispanic mobile user community specifically and as the community grows stronger, we can expect a lot more companies to enter the market as well.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

1 comment.

On why mobile web is the next big thing

Sometimes, people ask me why I get excited about the future of mobile web. Well; what do I tell them? Just check this out.

There are 3.3 billion mobile users in the world today as opposed to 1.5 billion TV users and 1.1 billion PC users.

In Japan, only 30% of use their PC to access the internet. The rest, a whopping 70%, use their mobile phones to access the internet. In other words, mobile browsing is the thing in Japan now.

In South Africa, mobile data plans are very cheap and this encourages people to use their mobile phone to access the internet. In fact, South Africa is one of the biggest markets for mobile web in the world.

Click through rates in mobile advertising are roughly 10 times more than the click through rates of traditional advertising. This will encourage mobile advertisers tremendously to join hands with carriers and offer ad funded mobile content via mobile web to people.

Any other doubts?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Web.

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Google has its eyes on TV white space

After advocating open access in 700 MHz spectrum, Google has now set its eyes on TV white space – the empty spaces between television broadcasting frequencies which act as buffer zones. The reason – Google thinks the space could be used for mobile internet.

Earlier this week, Google sent its pitch to the Federal Communications Commission regarding this issue. Google believes that TV white space is the solution to provide high-speed wireless broadband services across the country.

It further went on to add that by using TV white space, it could provide very high-speed mobile data transfers which will be immensely useful for mobile users. In fact, Google says it could provide a mind-boggling “gigabytes per second” speed by using the TV white space. Also, it could pave the way for low cost broadband services all over the country, according to Google.

To prevent television broadcasts and wireless microphones which depend on TV white space from interfering, Google will use its spectrum sensing technology.

Most importantly, this will make things easier for Android based mobile phones. As of now, around 30 companies are working on mobile phones that can support Android platform. If Google could get TV white space in its kitty, it will make the future of Google Android even brighter.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google, All things mobile phones.

1 comment.

Debunking the myths about mobile advertising

Alright; I’m back in my pavilion. I was just reading some articles on mobile marketing and this one caught my attention. The author has written something about eMarketer’s Mobile Advertising Report. The report focused on the impact of mobile advertising in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) market and its possible implications in the US market.

Now, the article says that by subsidizing mobile data plans by advertising, mobile advertisers are trying to turn mobile phones into TV sets. I wonder how on earth he came up with this correlation. Even I feel bored to say this again, but then…

Mobile advertising has something called ‘opt-in’ facility. You have to opt in for a mobile advertising campaign to get ads in your mobile phone. In other words, you have the choice to keep your phone away from ads. Do you have such options in TV? Advertisements in TV, whether you like them or not, will always be there and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. So, please don’t compare TV to mobile phones.

Some of you must have heard about Sugar Mama from Virgin Mobile, which gives you free talk time for watching mobile ads. Now, the author even mocks this by coming up with this gem.

“I’m sure you’re ad creative is impressive, but I’d venture to guess that they went there to get free air cell phone minutes, not view ads.”

Oh yeah? People don’t watch TV to view ads either, you know?. They watch sitcoms and movies, in which they are served with ads, which they cannot escape from. The point is - It doesn’t matter. People are open to mobile ads as long as they gain something from them.

At last, he comes up with something about Americans getting tricked by mobile advertisers.

“You may have tricked us with TV commercials and OLAs, but we typically don’t fall for the same tricks twice (except for George W).”

Really?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Rant.

2 comments.