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

Local Search powers 30% of all Mobile Searches

Google this week shared some very powerful and persuasive data about local search on mobile phones and devices. Diana Pouliot, Director of Mobile Advertising, Google, Inc, shared with those in attendance at the CTIA Wireless Conference Mobile Marketing & Advertising forum that 30% (one-third) of all Google searches on the mobile web are about some aspect of the searcher’s local environment.

Paul Feng, Google’s Mobile-Ads Group Product Manager, expounded on Google’s efforts to make the search giant’s advertising reach as “local as possible”. Some efforts underway include developing new ad formats. Feng suggested further tweaking of those formats in the near future – changes that may even involve new forms of user interaction, including navigation. “We think of location as a hugely important signal.”

And Google is admittedly hard at work optimizing advertising platforms for the increasing pertinence of “local-intent” in a substantial chunk of all mobile searches. Google, however, isn’t along in its efforts. For example, this week Yahoo’s sales reps are “going after big companies with outlets that advertise in local newspapers and on regional radio stations and Web sites.” The marketers referenced include Dunkin’ Donuts, Burger King, Pizza Hut, State Farm Insurance and Home Depot.

The mobile industry seems to agree: analysts are now forecasting and predicting that location-based mobile spending will top $4 billion in 2015. That’s up from just $34 million spent just last year.

Mobile Marketing and Mobile Advertising center on location, location, location. Certainly already a very familiar concept in real estate marketing and other industries that base it’s value around location including: billboards, channel position on cable channels, online marketing (above or below the fold), land value, store traffic, etc.

Bottom Line: Local Intent will drive mobile marketing and advertising.

March 25, 2010 in Blog   |   1 Comment

The Apple iPad – the new "tablet computer" killer

Apple’s new device is called the iPad.

According to Apple’s announcement this morning from Steve Jobs, Apple currently has the phone market covered. They have the notebook category. But it needed to find something “in between” – and therefore, a new category of devices they have named their iPad.

The new Apple iPad supports: Browsing the web. Doing email. Enjoying and sharing pics. Watching videos. Enjoying music. Playing games. Maps. Reading ebooks. Super smooth scrolling. iCons fly in when you unlock it. It has iTunes store built right in. YouTube, and YouTube in HD. Replaces the old paper calendar with a similar size version.

Hardware Details:
.5 inches thin
1.5 pounds
9.7 inch IPS display
1GHz Apple A4 chip
Full capactitive multi-touch
Available in 16GB, 32, 64
Wifi & Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
10 Hour Battery Life (they claim)
App Store – supports iPhone Apps
Built in Apple Software
Speaker, Microphone
Accelerometer & Compass
iWork – for the iPad

The Specs:

Size and weight:
Height:
9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
Width:
7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
Depth:
0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
Weight:
1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model;
1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

The other announcement is iBooks. The new iBookstore allows for easy book browsing and purchases, includes a great reader too. All in one really great app. We use the ePub format.

The uses for the new iPad are unlimited. It’s the true “cross-over” platform and device. including leisure activities to light business work. It is also expected to take colleges and universities wireless for textbooks.

“At that price, they’ll sell millions,” Hakim Kriout of New York-based Grigsby & Associates told Bloomberg News. (Kriout’s firm owns Apple shares.) “It’s very, very affordable for what it does. This is going to add a huge revenue stream for Apple.”

As for connectivity, the iPad works on WiFi networks, and there are models that will have 3G connectivity. AT&T will offer unlimited data for $29.99 a month, or $14.99 for 250 Mb/month. There are six models in all, ranging in price from $499 to $829, depending on the amount of storage you want and whether you want 3G.

For more information, visit http://www.apple.com/iPad/

January 27, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments

SMS Preferred Mode of Communication on Mobile

New research continues to point to huge increases in preference for SMS over other forms of mobile communication.

According to a survey conducted by Tekelec (a messaging company powering telecom operator applications), 60% of 45 year olds were found to be just as likely to use SMS as they were to make voice calls from their mobile device. The survey of 500 people in North American and Europe also found that text messaging is gaining on email as the preferred means of daily international communication, with 32% of responses across all ages preferring SMS, compared to 33% for email. And nearly a third of respondents said their use of SMS would increase in 2010.

In addition, more than 80 percent of respondents across all age groups thought they would get a quicker response from a text than from an email or voice message. Women preferred to let their fingers do the talking, with 40% describing themselves as ‘mainly texter’, compared to 30% of men.

One more difference between the sexes: women were more likely to engage in TV voting via text, with 25% versus just 14% of men engaging in such behavior.

But those under 35 were the most likely age group to vote via text, with 16% of them saying they do so, followed by 9% of 35-44 year olds, and 7% of those 45 and older. However, 35-44 year olds are the largest consumers of news and sports by text at 18% compared to 17% for those under 35, and only 8% for those over 45.

SMS – A look ahead at growth for M2M (machine-to-machine)

AT&T and Verizon Wireless nearly doubled their text message traffic from third-quarter 2008 to third-quarter 2009, showing that SMS continues to become even more pervasive.

While person-to-person (P2P) messages will keep increasing, the next major growth area is in fact machine-to-machine (M2M) SMS.

ABI Research recently released data showing that M2M SMS and MMS message volume will have a compound annual growth rate of 40.06 percent from 2008 to 2014 (“Mobile Messaging Services: SMS, MMS, Mobile Email, and Mobile IM,” 4Q 2009).

Brands can capitalize on SMS M2M to more rapidly meet their customers’ needs. For example, vending machines located anywhere with cellular reception can send texts when inventory is low, rapidly and affordably assuring that goods remain in stock. M2M will open up an entirely new growth area as new solutions focused on cost savings emerge.

Bottom Line: SMS & M2M will bring huge growth in mobile over the next decade as consumer prefer SMS for their mobile communication.

January 12, 2010 in Blog   |   1 Comment

Google Android leads Web & Data Usage in recent Study. Smartphones also will be Majority of Cell Phones By 2011 – according to Nielsen.

Over the last several weeks, new phones have hit the cell phone market and have landed in consumers pocket. The latest was the Google Android “DROID” phone by Motorola. The smart choice for today’s consumers is a amart phone: iPhone, BlackBerry, Droid or other Android-powered device.

What’s most revealing is that the Android phone also outpaces Mobile Web and Data use over the iPhone which has been quickly adopted by consumers looking to use their iPhone Data & Web plan through the use of Apps, Text, MMS and Mobile Web. Here’s how web and data consumption fares among the leading smartphones:

SMARTPHONE FUTURE IS BRIGHT
Nielson projects that the majority of mobile phones by 2011 in the U.S. will be smartphones, with the devices used by half of cell phone subscribers, or 150 million people, by mid-2011.

“This shift could happen much faster with the right conditions such as continued competitive price points on devices, lower ‘all you can eat’ data packages and the increasing consumers who need to be connected anytime, anywhere,” according to a post Wednesday on the Nielsen blog by Jerry Rocha, senior director of the online division.

In just the third quarter of 2009, Nielsen estimates that smartphones accounted for 40% of new phones sold in the period, up from 25% in the prior quarter. And in the third quarter, for the first time, more people accessed the Internet from smartphones than regular phones. “If this trend continues, we’ll see more than 80% of the devices accessing the Internet being these advanced phones,” wrote Rocha.

MOBILE INTERNET via a SmartPhone Device
Assuming that 150 million people will be using smartphones by mid-2011, that means 120 million will be on the mobile Internet and 90 million, or 60%, will be watching video, according to Nielsen projections based on current data trends.

As of the second quarter, Nielsen has previously reported that some 15 million U.S. mobile subscribers watch video on their phones for an average of three hours, 15 minutes each month.

With the launch of the Motorola Droid by Verizon Wireless last week, Nielsen also compared data and Web usage between the iPhone and Android devices. The results were roughly even, with 92% of Android users accessing the Internet compared to 88% of iPhone owners, and 76% of Android customers using applications versus 74% on the iPhone. Given Apple’s 10-to-1 advantage over Android in the number of mobile apps offered, the parity in usage should be welcome news to Google.

MOBILE VIDEO
When it comes to watching video, Android had a clearer edge over the iPhone, at 47% to 40%. But iPhone and Android users separately outstripped smartphone owners overall in Web browsing, video viewing and using apps. The Android phones helps accelerate adoption of the mobile Web and content, especially of popular Google programs like Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Voice.

“The trend in the U.S. is more interaction, more consumption, and more connected devices,” wrote Roche. “While not a competition killer, the Droid is the next logical step in a market with a wide array of rich media devices.”

November 13, 2009 in Blog   |   No Comments