2010 Mobile Access survey shows “more people doing more things on their cell phones”

Mobile trends continue to show in 2010 that people are talking less yet doing more with their mobile phones and devices. According to the latest report from the Pew Research Center, their 2010 Mobile Access Survey shows that now 38% of users access the internet on their mobile device. However, the two mobile activities people do the most include: taking pictures on their phone (76%) and sending or receiving text messages (72%).

Other popular activities by mobile users include:
34% Play a Game
34% Send/Receive an Email
33% Play Music
30% Send/Receive IM
34% Record a Video (quickly growing)


Compared to April 2009, 76% of people take pictures with their phones, up from 66% and 72% send/receive text messages compared to 65% in 2009. Other comparisons include: over a third play games, up from about a quarter. A third of people now play music on their phones, compared to 21% in 2009, but the biggest jump is in recording video: 34% vs. 19% before. Given the number of new video-enabled phones released throughout the last year, it is expected this will grow to the heights of pictures.


Additional mobile activities are now being tracked. Among all cell phone owners:
* 54% have used their mobile device to send someone a photo or video
* 23% have accessed a social networking site using their phone
* 20% have used their phone to watch a video
* 15% have posted a photo or video online
* 11% have purchased a product using their phone
* 11% have made a charitable donation by text message
* 10% have used their mobile phone to access a status update service such as Twitter

Mobile Internet usage growing.
Nearly 89 million people in the U.S. have used the mobile internet in the past year — close to one third of the total current U.S. population.

Pew also found that 53 percent of Americans who use their phones to go online do so at least once per day. That’s more than 47 million daily mobile internet users in the U.S.

One would think that these growth numbers come solely from the increase in smartphones. And while there certainly is a bump, consumers are using more mobile internet even on their regular cell phone. According to Forrester Research, by the end of 2009 only 17 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers owned smartphones. So while the iPhone and Android user consumes more mobile web, the average user using newer feature phones are also hitting the mobile web in droves.

Mobile Web Usage by Demographic:

African-Americans and Hispanics leading mobile usage trends
When we break out mobile web usage by demographic, you find 46 percent of non-Hispanic blacks and 51 percent of English-speaking Hispanics using their phones for internet access, compared with only 33 percent of non-Hispanic white Americans.

The survey also found cell phone ownership is higher among African-Americans and Latinos than among whites (87% vs. 80%) and minority cell phone owners take advantage of a much greater range of their phones’ features compared with white mobile phone users.

Mobile Web Usage by Age

About 65 percent of U.S. cell phone users ages 18-29 go online from their phones, compared with 43 percent of those aged 30-49. Young adults are heavily invested in the mobile web, although 30-49 year olds are gaining ground.

Nine in ten 18-29 year olds own a cell phone, and these young cell owners are significantly more likely than those in other age groups to engage in all of the mobile data applications we asked about in our survey. Among 18-29 year old cell phone owners:

* 95% send or receive text messages
* 93% use their phone to take pictures
* 81% send photos or videos to others
* 65% access the internet on their mobile device
* 64% play music on their phones
* 60% use their phones to play games or record a video
* 52% have used their phone to send or receive email
* 48% have accessed a social networking site on their phone
* 46% use instant messaging on their mobile device
* 40% have watched a video on their phone
* 33% have posted a photo or video online from their phone
* 21% have used a status update service such as Twitter from their phone
* 20% have purchased something using their mobile phone
* 19% have made a charitable donation by text message

Although young adults have the highest levels of mobile data application use among all age groups, utilization of these services is growing fast among 30-49 year olds. Compared with a similar point in 2009, cell owners ages 30-49 are significantly more likely to use a range of mobile data applications on a handheld device.

The mobile data applications with the largest year-to-year increases among the 30-49 year old cohort include taking pictures (83% of 30-49 year old cell owners now do this, a 12-point increase from 2009); recording videos (39% do this, an 18-point increase from 2009); playing music (36% do this, a 15-point increase); using instant messaging (35% now do this, a 14-point increase); and accessing the internet (43% now do this, a 12-point increase compared with 2009).

For more information, click here: Pew Internet Research 2010 Mobile Access Survey

Tap into the power of mobile marketing, give us a call toll-free today @ 877-747-9274..

July 9, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments

Text2Drive powers mobile campaigns at the New York International Auto Show

New Suzuki mobile marketing campaign allows interested car buyers to get quick and easy info on available cars at the last major North American new-car event of the season.

Text2Drive, the leading mobile marketing firm in the auto industry, is in the driver’s seat again - taking car information mobile for auto buyers at the New York International Auto Show. Building on the success Text2Drive achieved by powering the Chicago Auto Show in February with their Mobile Marketing Platform, Text2Drive has recently been selected to promote Suzuki’s mobile ad campaigns during the New York International Auto Show from April 2 – 11, 2010.

Suzuki is using the Text2Drive Mobile Marketing platform to offer car shoppers a very quick, easy and hassle-free method of obtaining vehicle information without the need of the Internet on their phones. Using text messaging (SMS) and picture messaging (MMS), car shoppers can take home important information on different makes and models available from Suzuki. According to Nielsen, only 30-40 percent of consumers have Internet connectivity on their phones. Text2Drive allows car shoppers to get instant information on their cell phone about a specific car including mobile website links and photos sent via MMS.

Text2Drive is powered by leading mobile marketing and mobile commerce company, QWASI, Inc. The Philadelphia-based company provides cross-market interactive solutions for fortune 500 companies, as well as SMBs (Small to Medium Businesses), across the nation.

It’s exciting to see how auto manufacturers are using the Text2Drive service at the New York Auto Show and other car shows around the country. It’s important to provide today’s car buyers with instant information that is easy to access. The power to connect with these car buyers is available through a program like Text2Drive so car manufacturers can also connect with them after the show ends.

We see more and more carmakers and dealers finally beginning to get serious about offering mobile marketing and communications at dealerships, their advertising and direct communication with their customers. Text2Drive can be found online at http://www.text2drive.com

April 9, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments

5 Billion Text Messages sent/received each month in the US. Mobile Messaging continues to show enormous uptake in SMS and MMS.

The Wireless Association (CTIA) today announced at it’s semi-annual conference its semi-annual survey results. Mobile messaging continues to grow in both text messaging (SMS) and multi-media messaging (commonly referred to by some as picture messaging or MMS).

THE HIGHLIGHTS
SMS/ Text Messaging Stats:
According to the survey, text messaging (SMS) continues to grow at an unprecedented rate: more than 822 billion text messages sent and received on carriers’ networks during the last half of 2009—amounting to almost 5 billion messages per day at the end of the year. During the 2009 calendar year, there were more than 1.5 trillion text messages reported on carriers’ networks.

MMS / Multi-Media Messaging Stats:
Wireless subscribers are also sending more pictures and other multimedia messages with their mobile devices—more than 24.2 billion MMS messages were reported for the last half of 2009. That’s more than double the number from the previous year, when only 9.3 billion were reported for the last half of 2008 – a growth of over 250% year over year growth. The growth in messaging take up is also fueling mobile marketing growth and adoption of mobile marketing by companies of all sizes.

Device Growth & Increase Data Connection:
There are now more than 257 million data-capable devices in consumers’ hands in the US - up from 228MM at the end of 2008: 50 Million are smart phones or wireless-enabled PDAs and nearly 12 million are wireless-enabled laptops, notebooks or aircards.

As of December 2009, more than 285 million wireless connections. This represents a year-over-year increase of more than 15 million.

“With wireless connections now equal to more than 91 percent of the U.S. population, mobile broadband is pivotal to ensuring all Americans are ‘digitally literate’. CTIA’s survey results show the wireless ecosystem is constantly reinventing itself, and other industries, to be more productive and efficient” said Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA -The Wireless Association. “Mobile broadband will increasingly play a vital role in people’s lives.”

People Still Making Calls:
Other highlights included wireless customers using more than 1.12 trillion minutes in the last half of 2009, up 38 billion from the last half of 2008—and breaking down to 6.1 billion minutes-of-use per day. Wireless service revenues for the last half of 2009 amounted to almost $77 billion—up from a little more than $75 billion in the last half of 2008.

The CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey results were released at International CTIA WIRELESS 2010. For more survey information, please visit: http://www.ctia.org/advocacy/research/index.cfm/AID/10316

POSTED: March 23, 2010 (LIVE FROM CTIA)

March 23, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments

Mobile Ticketing to grow to 15 Billion by 2014 (Juniper Research)

Juniper Research released its latest report on mobile ticketing and predicts that by 2014 nearly 15 billion tickets will be delivered worldwide to consumer’s mobile devices.

Juniper categorizes mobile ticketing into three major segments that cover most of the ticketing applications in the following categories:

• Transportation including Air, Rail and Bus
• Sporting Events, including sports at the club, national and international levels, as well as major international sporting events such as the Olympics and World Cup.
• Entertainment & Events, including live music, theatre, ballet, comedy, cinema, night clubs, museums & galleries & trade shows.

The Juniper report shares that mobile ticketing is being adopted the fastest in the transport sector through SMS, bar codes and apps offered by mass transit, railways and airlines. It predicted mobile ticketing would be more widespread in Cinema’s, Concert halls and sports stadiums by 2014.

The report also stated that in 2009 the majority of mobile ticketing transactions where in the Far East and China. While Europe’s contribution in 2009, of 17% is mainly due to advanced transport ticketing systems in Scandinavia. But the report predicted that Europe would be the leading region by 2014.

March 15, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments

SMS & MMS Outlook Strong; Text Message Revenues Reaching $233B By 2014

<h3>Worldwide Messaging Revenues set to exceed USD 233 billion by 2014</h3>

According to a new research published by Portio Research called ‘Mobile Messaging Futures’ reveals that revenues for mobile messaging is expected to reach 233B By 2014. SMS and MMS usage continues to grow worldwide. The Mobile Messaging Futures report, focusing on the overall mobile messaging industry worldwide, indicates that in 2009 alone, the industry generated a $150 billion in revenue, with a projected $233 billion by 2014. The report also reveals that the use of the technology shows no signs of slowing down either.

Text Messaging remains a ubiquitous feature on all cell phones in use today. In 2009 alone, the report suggests, worldwide SMS traffic topped 5 trillion messages, and that figure is set to exceed 10 trillion in 2013.

MMS is ready to break out too in the coming months as carrier finish upgrades to their platforms and allow for interaction via short codes. Full year revenues for MMS in 2009 amount to almost USD 27 billion, an impressive figure, and lest people forget and not far off what SMS was generating a mere 5 years ago. MMS is growing fast in all major regions around the world as affordable camera-equipped handsets flood the market and increasingly become the norm. Read more on MMS here: MMS Messaging

QWASI MMS OUTLOOK: MMS will move mainstream as SMS has done over the last several years offering a true multimedia approach to messaging.

The uses of mobile messaging for business today for entertainment, mobile commerce, mobile coupons, mobile ticketing, mobile donations, mobile search, blasts, alerts and additional mobile marketing.

Read the entire report here: Worldwide Mobile Messaging 2010 Report

February 3, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments