More Access To Mobile Than Clean Drinking Water

Sadly it wasn’t news to me when Nielsen reported recently that more in Africa have access to a mobile device than clean drinking water.

We pray that technology advances will improve the water situation soon.

Other data points from Nielsen were new and fascinating:

South Africa ranks fifth in the world for mobile data usage, ahead of the United States, which ranks seventh.

Facebook is the most popular social media platform, used by 85 percent of mobile subscribers. Half of all users of Facebook in South Africa access the site via their mobiles.

Text messaging is used by almost 4.2 times more people than e-mail. More than two-thirds (69%) of consumers prefer sending texts to calling, in large part because it is less expensive, and 10 percent believe texting to be a faster way of communicating.

The majority (60%) of South African mobile users said they are aware of mobile banking services offered by banks, but only 21 percent say they use such services. A much larger number of those aware of the services said they would never use them, suggesting banks might need to invest in communicating the benefits and security of mobile banking.

Nielsen’s blog post on the study is here http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/mobile-phones-dominate-in-south-africa/.

For Travelers, Mobile Is As Commonplace as Toothpaste

Mobile devices have become nearly as commonplace as toothpaste for travelers in North America and Europe. Like the true road warriors we are, we take our wireless gear with us wherever we go — and our use of them is unprecedented.

According to new data from Boingo Wireless, a leading provider of software and services worldwide, smartphones and tablets passed laptops as the most widely carried Wi-Fi device in airports, reaching 58.9 percent of all devices in June. Mobile devices topped the 50 percent mark for the first time in February of this year. The study draws from data across Boingo’s managed network of 60 airports and aggregated network of hundreds of thousands of hotspots worldwide.

There are ample opportunities for marketers to reach these folks. In my latest MobileGroove column, I discuss Blue Moon’s efforts and more. http://www.mobilegroove.com/mobile-marketers-should-sync-offers-with-our-transit-routine/

Roundtable on Coolest Things In Mobile

One of my favorite books in recent years is The On-Demand Brand: 10 Rules for Digital Marketing Success in an Anytime, Everywhere World http://www.amazon.com/Demand-Brand-Digital-Marketing-Everywhere/dp/081441572.

Rick Mathieson is as savvy as they come about how brands need to evolve.

Rick invited me recently to speak on a mobile roundtable with Julie Fajgenbaum, vice president of brand marketing and social media for American Express, and Adam Broitman, CEO of digital ad agency Circ.us.

There are several installments posted on Rick’s site including this one where I discuss the “coolest” thing in mobile these days – Ford’s 15.4 percent lead generation program that adds mobile to the automakers’ ample marketing spend.

 

Are Group Messaging Apps A Good Choice For Marketers?

Mobile Marketer asked me whether group messaging apps are an effective tool for brands.  Here’s what I told Chantal Tode:

“Savvy marketers like Macy’s, MillerCoors and others use text messaging for both reach and to build a one-to-one relationship that has valuable remarketing opportunities.

“The mere idea of a group app eliminates the means to personalize communication and offers. Marketers are succeeding through relevant exchanges, not group messages that can feel like impersonal blasts of information.

“I see these apps as niche at best.”

For more of my comments and the entire story, please see http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/10880.html.

Did Mobile Missteps Lead To Yahoo CEO's Exit?

This week Yahoo’s board fired CEO Carol Bartz, news that rocked the industry and has some debating if the company’s inability to choose between being a media company or a technology provider is to blame. I think we need to look elsewhere and ask: Would Yahoo’s shakeup at the top have happened if the company had been innovating in mobile instead of slipping further behind?

We’ll likely never know the answer. But it’s safe to say that Yahoo’s disjointed mobile strategy was largely responsible for the board’s decision to oust Bartz.

What were the missteps in mobile that cost Yahoo, a company once so close to expanding its prowess in search, social and technology to mobile, its competitive edge? News site mocoNews provides some worthwhile insights and analysis.

It argues that Yahoo made a series of bad moves:

  • Yahoo has not committed efforts and investments in the vital area of research and development, and has a lousy track record of starting and stopping initiatives.
  • Livestand, the company’s digital newsstand for tablets, is late to market. It was expected to be delivered in the first half of the year.
  • Yahoo has failed to grab a significant slice of the search advertising pie, and research firm IDC reports that Yahoo is losing share in mobile advertising.
  • There has been frequent and disruptive change at the top of Yahoo’s mobile units.

Ironically, Bartz – who didn’t steer Yahoo back on the mobile course  when the company lost the plot– sent her farewell email to employees via an iPad.

I agree with Om Malik ’s view that an acquisition would help Yahoo get back in the mobile game. Malik names Foursquare and Flipboard as possible candidates. As for Flipboard, the social magazine for the iPad has been the leader of the pack since its launch in summer 2010, when it immediately could not keep up with demand. I still use Yahoo, but it is more about personal habit than a conscious choice to be with an innovator. Like everything else in mobile, the story has yet to be written. But this latest shakeup signals that Yahoo is running out of time to be included in the narrative.

(Item first appeared here - http://www.mobilegroove.com/has-yahoo-missed-the-mobile-boat/)

Checking In On The Check-Ins

The most interesting check-in of the summer was done by the Pew Research Center.

According to the highly-respected organization http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Location.aspx, 28% of mobile owners use phones to get directions or recommendations based on their current location— 23% of all adults.

A much smaller number (5% of cell owners, equaling 4% of all adults) use their phones to check in to locations using geosocial services such as Foursquare or Gowalla. Smartphone owners are especially likely to use these services on their phones.

My take?

Despite the hype, the check-in numbers call into question the short and long-term value of Foursquare and the like.

I have the Foursquare iPhone app and twice have told myself to get committed to the activity. But there just hasn’t been enough of a pull for me either time.

As you know, I’m all for deals and believe relevant offers delivered via mobile is only going to get more important for brands.

But I’m like most who can’t – or won’t – do everything. Foursquare hasn’t made my cut.

Nor has it made the cut for most of the more than 300 million mobile users in the U.S.

You Need Both Disruption and Adoption

As mentioned in a previous post, there hasn’t been a bigger or better disrupter in this century than the now former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

iPod. iPhone. iPad.

Game-changers.

In my weekly column on mobilegroove.com, I asked what should marketers make of disruption and how should they react?

As always, the key is to time your participation so that your brand is out of the gates once the disruptive activity settles and it’s clear which technology or tool is winning the race. Jumping the gun doesn’t guarantee a head start in the right direction. There are graveyards full of innovative technologies and devices that failed from the get-go and never gained the traction we expected. Remember Digital Audio Tape and Betamax videotapes?

In mobile marketing and advertising, just because something can be done, doesn’t mean you should blindly spend against it before its time. (An example is Augmented Reality, a technology packed with ‘wow’ effect but lacking in mainstream take up.)

Jobs’ iAd is in that same category.

Apple’s closed mobile advertising network (closed because you can reach only those people on the iOS platform) has been a large disappointment for many advertisers and others (like me) who looked at Apple’s move into mobile advertising as a milestone and a much needed push to move the industry along.

But don’t close the chapter on iAd just yet. Despite his resignation, there are indications that Jobs may not be done tinkering with iAd.

You can read more of my thinking as well as my take on BlackBerry’s newest devices here http://www.mobilegroove.com/steve-jobs-steps-down-at-apple-whats-next-for-mobile-marketers/

Steve Jobs' Influence Over Mobile Marketing and Advertising

I was among those asked by Mobile Marketer to assess Steve Jobs’ influence on mobile marketing and advertising.  Here is what I told the Rimma Kats:

Steve Jobs’ biggest influence on mobile marketing and advertising is in the way the iPhone and iPad changed behavior.

Never before had we had such pleasing user experiences and access to content on our terms via the real Web and the revolutionary App Store.

For years, I’ve been waiting for a Web page to load properly on my BlackBerry.

[Mr.] Jobs’ contributions in those areas will be remembered more fondly than in Apple’s iAd efforts.

IAd will go down as a milestone because of the reported $300 million that Apple paid for Quattro Wireless to build out the iAd network.

While iAd has been short on return for brands, Apple’s dollars and efforts have validated the mobile advertising business models pursued by many others.

You can read the whole article here http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/manufacturers/10807.html

How Should We View The Latest Mobile Stats?

Atop my list of mobile best practices is the need to stay current on consumer behavior and interests. This summer has brought fresh data that has ramifications for all of us conceiving and executing mobile programs.

Here are a few numbers and their importance to us:

Stats: The average Android consumer in the U.S. spends 56 minutes per day actively interacting with the web and apps on his or her phone. Of that time, two-thirds is spent on mobile apps while one-third is spent on the mobile web (Nielsen).

Meaning What? You’ve likely heard notable analyst Mary Meeker’s prediction that more will access the web via mobile than via PC by 2015 http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/mobile-web-stats/. But this is 2011 and it would be foolish to spend exclusively on the web on Android devices. Instead, consider a mix of app and Internet. You have time to worry about 2015.

I look at many others in my latest imediaconnection.com post http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/08/22/the-latest-plethora-of-mobile-data-means-what/

Has Holiday Season Already Passed You By?

The retail experience has changed forever now that people rely on their mobile devices for product information while they shop.

The impact of mobile on shopping and commerce was also the focus of proprietary research I introduced last June. My findings highlighted precisely how consumers use their social networks to get input and advice at a brand’s “Moments of Trust”.  The result is profound impact on sales and loyalty.

Interestingly, Yahoo has released insights that confirm my findings and help us better understand the impact of mobile Internet on mobile shopping and purchases. Yahoo teamed up with Nielsen to interview 8,384 U.S. residents ages 13-64 via an online quantitative survey. Of this sample: 5,313 were mobile Internet users who access information related to at least one of 12 product categories. 3,071 were PC/laptop Internet users who access information related to at least one of the 12 product categories and could not access any category Internet information on a mobile device.

So, what is the place of mobile in our shopping experience? Yahoo findings indicate mobile is at the center of the in-store action, making mobile devices a great advertising vehicle for retailers. In fact, a whopping nine out of 10 mobile users have accessed the mobile Internet while they were actually in the store. What’s more, approximately 50 percent of in-store mobile web activity is related to shopping. And people also share while they shop. Almost half (48 percent) of in-store mobile users take and/or send a picture of a product they are considering buying to a friend or family member.

Among the key findings:

  • 51 percent of consumers indicated that they do make a purchase after doing research on their mobile device.
  • On average 16 percent use their mobile phones for shopping research, but interest for this in the next 12 months is extremely high at 57 percent among mobile Internet users and 41 percent among non-mobile Internet users, on average.
  • One in 5 mobile shoppers who have seen advertising during the shopping process say they always look at it. The key to being successful in mobile shopping advertising is to make sure the ads are informative.

It’s 100 degrees in many places, but towel off and lock in your mobile strategy for the holiday season. Marketers and retailers alike have to ask (and answer) some tough questions: How will you influence your customers at the point of sale? Are your salespersons ready for shoppers who have instant access to information, product reviews, and competitors’ prices? Is there a plan for consumers who are using mobile to speak about your products and services (or just let off steam) via their social networks? You can forget the holidays (and celebrating anything any time soon), if you haven’t figured even the basics of where mobile fits in your business.

More from my MobileGroove column http://www.mobilegroove.com/lock-down-your-mobile-strategy-now-for-holiday-season/