Mobile World in 2009 - Some Numbers

Check out these numbers from the Mobile Market View study by BIA/Kelsey.

• The number of people who use social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace increased by nearly 7% in 2009.

• The number of mobile users who send or receive more than 10 emails a week increased by nearly 10%.

• The number of mobile phone users who send or receive more than 10 text messages a week increased by nearly 10%.

• The number of people searching the internet for products and services available in their area increased by nearly 3%.

• The number of local searches done on the mobile phone exceeds the number of out-of-area searches. In other words, local search is increasingly becoming popular with mobile users across the country.

Done? Now, check out some random statistics I picked up from various sites on the internet.

• There are about three billion mobile phones in the world today, which makes mobile technology the most widely used technology on the planet today.

• For a large number of 16-24 year olds, the mobile phone is a lot more important than the TV.

• The number of people who have mobile phones is significantly higher than the number of people who have credit cards.

• The amount spent on mobile media rose by nearly 40% last year. In other words, mobile media is the fastest growing media channel in the world today.

• In 2012, the amount spent on mobile media in the U.S. will be somewhere around $6 billion. The total amount spent on mobile media worldwide will be in the range of $18-20 billion.

What do these numbers tell you? Firstly, the world is becoming increasingly mobile savvy. Secondly, a large number of mobile phone users use their phone for browsing the net, searching for stuff, listening to music, watching videos, and connecting with their friends through various social networking sites. So, the mobile phone is no longer just meant for sending and receiving text messages and calls. It is slowly becoming a multidimensional tool.

If 2009 is a precursor of things to come in the world of mobile phones, we can expect a lot more in the coming years. And that is good news for mobile advertisers all over the world.

Categories: All things mobile phones.

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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.

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Future of Mobile Advertising - Notes from Cannes Lions Ad Festival 2009

Mobile advertising was one of the important topics which were discussed at the 56th International Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. A number of executives representing big advertising and marketing firms around the world discussed the future of mobile marketing.

A lot of people who discussed the future of mobile phone advertising were of the opinion that it could become really big in the next two or three years. There are two reasons why they believe so.

1. The large number of mobile applications designed exclusively for smart phones which allow users to access multimedia content right from their mobile phones.

2. The ever-growing popularity of social networks like MySpace and Facebook which can be accessed right from the mobile phone thanks to mobile social networking.

Statistics show that mobile advertising has grown at an average of 45% in the last five years, which is incredible to say the least. In other words, what used to be a $3 billion industry has now become a whopping $30 billion industry in just about five years.

Let us now take a look at some of the most important points discussed.

1. A lot of executives said that they have launched a lot of mobile advertising campaigns in the recent past and the response so far has been pretty good.

2. Almost everyone was of the opinion that advertisers need to be more creative to generate interest among users. They were very clear that run of the mill ads which interrupt users every two minutes will definitely not work.

3. It was predicted that in the next three to five years, mobile marketing will account for nearly 10% of global media ad spending.

4. Highly targeted local mobile advertising campaigns will generate enormous amount of interest among small retailers. (Incidentally, this is something that I have repeatedly said in this blog. You can take a look at it here, here, here, and here.)

5. Emerging markets like Africa and Latin America hold a lot of promise as the number of mobile users has increased steadily in the past few years.

6. One of the biggest hurdles for advertisers around the world is the lack of compatibility between 3G networks in Asia and Europe.

7. 4G – the fourth generation high speed mobile technology – is something that advertising firms around the world are waiting for with bated breath. It is expected to hit the market in another ten years or so.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Mobile Advertising Company Gets $10.5 M Funding

Appterra, a California based mobile advertising company, was recently in news for two reasons.

1. It got $10.5 million in funding from Walden International, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Alloy Ventures.

2. David Karnstedt, a former Yahoo senior executive, joined its board of directors.

Appterra is known for its Voice & Visual MobileAd Marketplace which enables mobile advertisers serve voice ads accompanied by interactive visuals. The company has an impressive list of publishers including some big names like AOL, AT&T, movietickets.com, Jingle, MySpace, and Facebook.

Appterra has stated that the money will be used to improve its MobileAd Xchange program which helps mobile advertisers serve ads to end users. The company is also looking to expand its mobile advertising network further by joining hands with more publishers and advertisers. Moreover, David Karnstedt who joined the company recently brings a lot of experience with him and is expected to play a pivotal role in the operations.

Like I’ve stated many times in the past, it is always good to see a small company making big strides in the market. However, all these small companies need to understand that it isn’t going to be a smooth ride. With giants like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo striving to conquer the mobile advertising market, these companies should be judicious in their decisions and try to carve a niche for themselves. Like I already said, it’s going to be a multibillion dollar market. There is room for everyone. If you are smart enough, you can always find your audience.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

1 comment.

And the number of mobile social networks keeps on growing

If you thought social networking was a huge phenomenon, wait till you see the next generation of social networking – mobile social networking. Social networking has gone mobile big time and a healthy number of mobile users regularly visit social networking sites from their mobile phone.

Social networking giants like MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster have realized the enormous potential of mobile social networking and have released the mobile versions of their sites. However, the story doesn’t end there. In fact, it just begins there. Plenty of companies have started mobile social networks which have become tremendously popular with people.

First it started off as a new phenomenon and when mobile users showed great interest in them, mobile social networking sites became hugely popular. As a result, we now have a big list of mobile social networking sites and most importantly, the list keeps on growing. Check out a detailed list of mobile social networks here.

Categories: Mobile Social Networking.

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