The Need for Mobile Websites - Will Big Brands Wake Up?

Here’s a news item that surprised me to say the least. Interbrand recently released its list of the top 100 brands for 2009 and nearly 1/3rd of the brands in that list do not have their own mobile website.

If your reaction to this news is ‘dude, what’s the big deal?’ – let me tell you something. According to statistics, the number of people who use smart phones (read iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc) keeps increasing every year. In North America alone, nearly 26% of mobile users use the mobile web facility on their phone regularly. In other words, they use their mobile phone to browse the web. With more and more people buying internet enabled high end phones, it is only logical to assume that this percentage will grow significantly in the near future. So, you’d assume that big brands would have woken up to reality long time back and created their own mobile websites, right? Well; it turns out it is not the case.

Remember – I am not talking about small, lesser known brands here. Big, famous brands like Coca Cola and GE do not have a mobile website. To say that this is surprising is a huge understatement.

I have talked about the importance of big brands having a good mobile presence and how important it is to have a decent mobile website. I firmly believe that a well designed, easy to access mobile website is of paramount importance for any brand, leave alone huge brands like Coca Cola and GE.

Some could argue that iPhone and certain other mobile phones offer a full browser experience and so there is no need for a mobile website. Guess what? Not everyone in the U.S. uses an iPhone. There are other phones whose mobile browsers are not nearly as good as the iPhone mobile browser. What about the people who use these phones? What are they supposed to do?

Contrary to what most people think, browsing the web using a mobile phone is not easy. The screen is small, the keypad is small, and it is certainly not as easy as browsing the web on your PC or laptop. This is why you need to have a customized mobile website which loads quickly and easy to navigate. It is not hard to do. Facebook has a very good mobile site, Toyota has one, MySpace has one, Microsoft has one, and a number of other famous brands have one too. So, the only explanation is that some brands have not yet realized the potential of mobile internet and are reluctant to reach out to their users through their most personal device – the mobile phone.

I hope it does not stay this way. The future is mobile and let us hope – for the sake of all mobile users in the world – these brands realize this sooner than later.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Web.

2 comments.

Mobile Advertisers Eyeing the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa

A recent report from JBB research, a U.S. based research group, says that the 2010 soccer world cup could give the mobile advertising industry in South Africa a huge boost.

The soccer world cup starts on June 11 and ends on July 11. This month long event is supposed to generate a huge amount of interest among fans all over the country and advertisers are planning to reach out to these fans using the mobile phone as a medium.

The report says that advertisers are planning to come up with a lot of ad funded UGC (user generated content) applications to make fans actively participate in various contests. The soccer world cup is the world’s most watched sporting event and the amount of money spent on advertising will be huge. A significant amount of this money will be spent on mobile advertising since the country has a very active mobile user base.

This news should not come as a surprise for anyone who has been a regular reader of this blog, since we have already discussed the staggering growth of mobile advertising in South Africa here, here, here, and here. If you are an advertiser in a country which has 30 million mobile users, most of whom are into mobile social networking and mobile web, it is only natural that you use the mobile phone as a medium to reach out to your target customer base. In fact, the report says that most South Africans keep in touch with each other through mobile social networking sites like MXit, Meep, MTN’s noknok, and Facebook instead of calling each other or texting each other.

The report also says that the number of high end phone users in the country could increase significantly by the end of this year, when video broadcasting enabled mobile phones are introduced to the market. This could open a plethora of opportunities for advertisers to reach out to their target customer base – video streaming, video based mobile blogging, and more. So, mobile advertisers are very optimistic and are expecting very good response rates for their mobile marketing campaigns.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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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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IBM Survey On Mobile Phone Based Entertainment

IBM’s recent global online survey of consumer digital media and entertainment habits has unearthed some interesting facts. Let me present to you the ones that caught my attention.

1. According to the survey, a lot of mobile users these days are willing to get ads on their mobile phones in return for free digital content. Well; if you’ve been following this blog, this news should not come as a surprise to you at all. But the interesting thing here is that mobile users from six countries – India, Australia, the U.S., Germany, Japan, and the U.K. – have said the same thing.

2. Quite a few mobile users have stated that they would be willing to share their personal information with mobile advertisers if they were to get targeted incentives through mobile ads. The most preferred incentives include free audio/video tracks, discount coupons to retail stores, and air travel and hotel reward points.

3. A lot of mobile users find the mobile search facility extremely useful. Moreover, with the advent of 3G networks, mobile web could become a lot more popular than what it is right now – something which I have stated again and again in this blog.

4. Mobile social networking is considered the next big thing. It is one of the most sought after services by mobile users around the world.

5. One thing that stands out in the survey is the notable decline of TV as the primary media device. Thanks to the wide range of multimedia content available on the internet and mobile phones, people do not tend to spend as much time on TV as they used to in the past.

6. Most people do not prefer TV type advertising - getting interrupted by ads in the middle of a program. Instead, they prefer to see ads before and after the show. This way, they get to enjoy the digital content without any interruption. Product placement is yet another option for mobile advertisers, but it could, if overdone, turn customers off. So, they should try not to go overboard with product placement in mobile video games and other such digital entertainment content.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Germany based mobile web portal offers free text message service

If you are one of those people who are still wondering if the whole concept of ‘offering free mobile content supported by ads’ is good or bad, here is some news for you. A German company has recently come up with an idea that is so good that even the harshest critic of mobile advertising will find it hard to argue against.

Mjoy.com, a Germany based mobile web portal, offers free SMS (text message) service for its registered users all around the world. The service is simple – as a registered user, you will be able to send text messages to any phone, any network, anywhere in the world – for free. How does it sound?

This is usually the point at which the question ‘how can they afford to do so?’ comes up. The answer to that question is something you are already familiar with, if you have been following this blog. It is mobile advertising.

This free service is supported by advertising banners in the portal. Mjoy has officially stated that these mobile ads will not be a hindrance for users as they will be placed in such a manner that they do not disturb the user experience by any means. On top of that, the company has also promised that the users will not be sent any sort of commercial text messages at any time in the future.

Even at the risk of making this blog post sound like a sponsored piece, I have to tell you something about the cool features of this service.

1. There are no character limits for the text messages that you send.

2. The text messages you send and receive will be stored in chat mode in your Mjoy inbox.

3. As a registered user, you can sync your mobile phone contacts with the Mjoy network if you want to.

4. You can also access a variety of mobile content like videos, widgets, pictures, sounds, and much more in Mjoy portal.

Already, we have seen a success story in Blyk, which has now become synonymous with ad supported mobile content. Is Mjoy another success story in the making? Only time will tell. What do you think?

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

1 comment.

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