Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - MLB is Big League With Mobile App

It isn’t called the major leagues for nothing. Major League Baseball had 8.4 billion minutes streamed to its mobile app in 2015, per comScore. A total of 53% of the total minutes consumed were in the At Bat app with users watching or listening to games. The activity was more than than in all other U.S. official sports leagues apps combined.

Nearly one in four shoppers say that they have changed their minds while in a checkout line after looking up details on a smartphone: Google.

Meerkat is dropping the livestream. It’s a cautionary tale for those looking at "solutions"at SXSW that may be shiny and not stand test of time,

Headline: Retail Executives Say Mobile Investments to Increase This Year. Me: you don't say.

Two weeks after calling for an Apple boycott call, Donald Trump was using an iPhone to send half of his tweets: Marketing Land.

A man with a gun while taking selfies fatally shot himself in Concrete, Washington, police say. Interestingly, the Russian government has issued a guide to discourage people from taking dangerous selfies.

Consumers’ use of health apps and wearables has doubled in the past two years, according to Accenture.

After all this time, Apple has now opened a Twitter account to answer tech questions and to deal with problems.

I read a story that predicted: "When you tuck your iPhone 9 into your back pocket, it may well flex to conform to the contours of your butt" I can only say yay.

One in 10 U.S. Internet users (31.1 million people) will be mobile-only this year, eMarketer reported.

Mobile payments make up only 3% Of U.S. transactions, per GfK. Weren’t we told that cash would be gone by some Tuesday in 2015?

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - It Isn't The Young That Value The Smartphone The Most

To those who still claim that there is still a technology divide among generations, I offer this: the older you are, the more that you value the smartphone, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

82% of the 65+ crowd say that their device gives them “freedom”.  The same percentage consider mobile a connector rather than a distraction. That's primarily because the devices are intuitive.

Conversely, 36% of 18-29 year olds say the smartphone is a leash and 37% call it a distraction.

Six ducklings that fell down a storm drain were lured out by a firefighter using the duck call ringtone on his iPhone.

Meerkat has introduced its app for Android, temporarily giving it a difference-maker over Twitter’s Periscope.

Meanwhile, the use of these apps is being limited by sports leagues and associations. The latest? The PGA Tour revoked a reporter’s credentials for using Periscope.

There are more mobile-only Internet users than desktop PC-only users in the U.S., per CTIA.

My new on-demand mobile foundations course is now available via Market Motive. There is actionable discussion to drive ROI.

20% more Americans use PINs/passwords to protect data on smartphones and tablets in 2015 vs. 2012, CTIA says. What stops the others?

Secret, a $100 million social app, closed but the co-founders made off with $6 million and a Ferrari. Evidently, they spent no money on a PR strategy.

Nearly half of Fortune 500 websites aren't mobile-friendly by Google's standards, according to Merkle.

Last quarter, Apple sold an average of 8 iPhones per second, 24 hours a day, for 90 straight days.

Starbucks says that its mobile transactions top 8 million weekly.

An Apple Watch fitness app from a deodorant company doesn't pass my sniff test.

39 of the top 50 news sites get most of their web traffic from mobile: Pew.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Do QR Codes Have Better Prospects Than The New York Giants?

QR codes have more doubters than the New York Giants, but they may have a better chance than the football team of having a successful fall season.

According to a new Adobe report, 76% of consumers asked said that their QR code scans brought them to a mobile-optimized experience. It provides a lesson about staying current on mobile activity. Report after report in the last 18 months or so put QR codes in the “can do without” pile.

My takeaway from Pew’s expert predictions that, by 2020, most people will adopt smart-device swiping for purchases? Maybe. Even so, will the payment companies and Apple, among many others, be patient for this to grow over a half-decade?

As Yahoo’s David Pogue tweeted, “This business of paying with your phone won't be real magic until it works everywhere (not just the 200K stores with receivers).”

More than three-quarters of the leading brick and mortar department stores use push notifications. Of course, that’s a tactic, not a strategy.

Customers are eager to share their location if you give them something in return, says Ryan Craver, who leads mobile for Lord & Taylor.

I’m not promising that I won't get an Apple Watch (I know myself and, ummm, time will tell), but I’ve been living with the feeling that I'm too connected at times. More often equals bad. Or at least stress that isn’t welcome at what could or should be off-times. I know, I know, it's all about self-control, right? Easier said than done, especially with the expectations of others.

I see that Rolex is advertising on the BBC homepage. Do you think that company feels breath on back of neck with Apple Watch. Probably just a little for now.

Even with an intuitive interface, education needs to come with Apple Watch and health apps. With my now departed Fitbit (it went back due to a recall), I was surprised to know that I was burning calories sleeping.

Speaking of education, the same goes for Apple Pay. My wife's first questions were around unintended purchases while walking by a terminal.

Is it wise for Apple to compel Apple Watch owners to also have an iPhone? Or does that limit sales by shutting out too many who carry other devices?

An app lets women call taxis driven only by women.

Twitter suggests that I follow Karl Rove. It is as clueless as TiVo suggesting poker matches for me, a non-card player. Recommendation engines leave a lot to be desired.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The "Silencing The Loudmouths" Edition

Scientists are working on ways to enable mobile users to charge their phones by yelling. It has to do with what smarter-than-me folks at Queen Mary University of London and Nokia call “stray energy" sources. This idea is as bad as allowing passengers to talk on phones during flights. Silence is golden, people.

Elvis’ Graceland home is implementing beacons for tourists. No word on whether visitors will get messaging asking “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” Of what the message would be after that.

With perks via mobile app and more, 7-Eleven marked the 50th anniversary of the sale of the first “freshly-brewed” coffee. Admittedly, I’m a coffee snob from Seattle, but isn’t using the term freshly-brewed “grounds” for claims of misrepresentation?

As many as 70% of retailers are employing omnichannel strategies, says KPMG.

Mobile spending on programmatic more than doubled this year, eMarketer tells us.

Due to privacy regulations and concerns, Apple has reportedly banned iOS developers from selling HealthKit data to ad networks.

Sony's rumored QX1 lens could turn a smartphone into a DSLR (digital single lens reflex camera), according to Gizmodo.

Will eye and head-tracking do what police and Mom can’t - convince people to stop texting and driving? General Motors will install a half-million devices in cars over the next few years, according to the Financial Times. The technology supposedly will know when a driver is texting by gauging eye and head movements. More importantly, it will then implore the driver to stop.

The tweet of the week is from friend and former colleague Mick Prendergast (@rMEDIUM) -if @apple can't keep nude selfies safe...how can we trust them with our money?

Per a study by Internet Retailer, mobile ecommerce accounts for 21 percent of all online purchases.

There has been a 49% growth in mobile malware since 2011, McAfee found. I would’ve bet the over on that number.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Will We Need Cash After Apple Introduces Mobile Payment Option?

The next iPhone will include near-field communication (NFC) mobile payments, per Wired.  To me, it’s significant but not "cash gone by Tuesday" significant. There will continue to be slow adoption to mobile payments due primarily to security concerns, but faster with Apple pushing it.

Push notifications boost mobile app engagement, according to Localytics.  That makes sense since it's permission-based. When done well, value is provided.

Headline: Really. It's Time For Brands To Deliver Real-Time Personalization. My reaction: time? The word is overdue.

Apple is reportedly considering a $400 price tag for its wearable device, which supposedly will be introduced Sept. 9 but not go on sale until early in 2015.

70% of college students post to Snapchat daily, Sumpto says. 46% post to Twitter. 11% take to Facebook.

50% of Square businesses are owned by women. Women own approximately 30% of all businesses in the U.S.

There were 1.1 million tweets during the Emmys telecast, seen by 8.8 million people.

The Falcons app allows you to click for an in-stadium "cheerleader visit". Watch out for the blitz since your wife will surely visit next.

There are nearly as many McDonald’s with free Internet (12,000) as public libraries (15,000), Pew reports.

My favorite tweet of the week came from Bob Davis (@BobDavisHCP), a VC with Highland Capital. “Auto correct makes me say things I didn't nintendo.”  

The runner-up tweet comes from marketer and friend Rick Mathieson (@rickmathieson). “Kimberly-Clark potty training app offers rewards every time your toddler downloads.”

73.4% of smartphone owners used them to access the Internet in 2013, Harte Hanks tells us.

Juniper Research predicts that there will be over 1 billion mobile coupon users by 2019.

The majority of digital media consumption occurs in apps with most activity coming from 7% of power users: comScore.

751 million users access Facebook from mobile with 7,000 different devices.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The Smartphone Turns 20 And No Longer Connects To Fax Machines

The world’s first smartphone just turned 20. Yes, there was a smartphone before the iPhone.

The IBM Simon wasn’t called a smartphone, but it did feature software apps. It could also be linked to a fax machine. Young ‘uns, consult Wikipedia or a history book if you have never heard of a fax machine.

It was amusing to see some tech sites diss TMZ for showing and hyping supposed bogus iPhone 6 photos. Of course, hunting for clicks, the same sites went that route themselves.

Headline: Researchers Say They Can Charge a Phone With Ambient Sound. Me: consumers need a compelling reason to upgrade. A device that constantly has power is meaningful to many.

Half of Facebook and Twitter users get news on those sites, Pew reports. It was on Twitter that I learned about the deaths of Robin Williams and Michael Jackson, not to mention the ultimate fate of Osama bin Laden.

More than one in three seniors in the U.S. will make a digital purchase this year, eMarketer tells us.

Travel "deals" on Twitter remain a head-scratch - who do you know who will head to Ho Chi Minh on Friday as result of Wednesday night "offer"?

How many times are Promoted Tweets repeated? I wasn't interested the first, fifth or 20th time.

Real value - Google Now for Android shows alternate flights when yours gets delayed.

Lookout Mobile Security nabbed $150 million in funding. As was the case with PCs, consumers will be slow to protect their devices. This is an Enterprise play for now.

Apple supposedly wants to be a “hub” of health data and is in talks with top hospitals. Tracking will soon be more robust than calorie counts and steps taken.

More than half of 18- to 24-year-olds say they "never" unplug from technology, according to eMarketer. We at least have that in common.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Is Captain Kangaroo Still King?

Parents say mobile education apps don’t provide value, but TV still does. So says a study from education-focused research firm The Joan Ganz Cooney Center. Since I don't have young kids, I need to ask - who is the modern-day Captain Kangaroo?

For all of Amazon's knowledge of the user, is it not surprising that local offers delivered daily are generic?

It has been five minutes since I've seen a tweet about the weather in NY for Super Bowl 48. C'mon, people. I need to stay informed.

The Weather Channel is doing heavy promotion to try to get us to leave the Super Bowl telecast at halftime to watch its forecast for the second half. Really?

A study says that looking at your smartphone at night can make you more tired the next day. We know this, but can't help ourselves.

My Fitbit Force says I burned more calories in less than four hours of sleep after midnight than in 28 minutes on elliptical. Really?

The size of the iPhone has always been ideal for me. Making it larger might bring others into fold, but send others like me away.

Facebook is either going out of business over the next several years or it wins in mobile advertising. The latter is more likely.

More and more, I'm hearing feature phones referred to as dumb phones. Keep that reference out of your marketing.

Is engagement the metric that matters most with mobile? It’s extremely important but sales trump everything.

My new Market Motive mobile certification students are from China, India, Canada and the U.S. It is representative of where mobile is today.

BlackBerry landed a massive Pentagon order and its stock soared. What is this, 2005?

Apple is no longer the consumers’ favorite tech brand, according to a Forrester study. It dropped to No. 5.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The "Fat Chance" Edition

Headline – “Using smartphones too much may make you anxious, fat and a poor student.” So may Twinkies.

The text message turned 21 this week. With 160 characters, there is nothing sexy about text message marketing. Except that it works. In that regard, it likely leads in sex appeal.

Approximately, 100 million U.S. Internet users will log on to social networks via smartphones this year, according to eMarketer. Almost 80 million will use tablets to do the same, up 52 percent from 2012.

In five days, the video of the final play of the Iron Bowl was watched 2,245,386 times on Auburn's YouTube page.

Amazon, the king of personalization, delivered to me an offer for laser toenail fungus removal treatment. Flying trapeze lessons weren't available?

The tweets off of last week’s Amazon "news" drone on. Five years of this?

Text, coupons have replaced flash deals as a mobile holiday focus with just 5 percent of retailers using daily deals, eMarketer says.

Gogo tops my list of technology that needed major improvement in 2013 but failed miserably. Meanwhile, the company’s Twitter description says it’s “everyone’s favorite part of flying”. Someone has lost his or her mind.

Quote I read – “"Shopping is in the process of being forever changed by mobile." You think?

Smartphone sales have surged 61 percent in Southeast Asia. Android dominates with a 72 percent share, but that will change with Apple’s deal with China Mobile.

There are an estimated six billion mobile telephone devices used in the world today, and, for the first time, a small majority are smartphones.

In Japan, you can buy underwear for your smartphone. Some things should never come to America. This is surely one of them.