Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - This Just In: Size Does Matter

The No. 1 factor for Millennials and Boomers in determining which screen to use for an activity is its size, reports Millward Brown Digital. But, according to the new survey, for Gen Xers, it is speed and performance.

Japanese schoolgirls ages 10-18 spend seven hours a day on their mobile devices, according to security firm Digital Arts. It’s four hours for male counterparts.

A separate study by the University of Basel said that teenagers who used digital media at night had an increased risk for poor sleep and depressive symptoms.

Every hour, 148,400 smartphones are sold around the world, according to CTIA. For those challenged with math, that’s 41 smartphones moved every second.

There was a 15% increase in sales via tablets during recent East Coast snowstorm, per IBM.

This year, Groupon reportedly will launch a targeted deals product powered by beacons.

CBS forecasts 2016 Super Bowl ads to cost more than $5 million. No word on whether mobile will make the big game in any meaningful way.

iPhone 6 Plus owners consume twice as much data compared to other iPhones: Citrix.

JetBlue announced that it will soon accept Apple Pay at 35,000 feet.

73% of mobile searches result in an additional action such as a call, store visit, or purchase: Google.

How many knew this before Valentine’s Day? More than 60% of mobile dating apps put the users at a potential risk of cyberattacks, reports IBM.

Mobile now accounts for more than 60% of all digital media time spent: comScore.

Facebook delivers three billion video views per day, with 65% coming on mobile devices.

82% were likely to get a Valentine's Day restaurant recommendation or make a reservation via mobile, a Verizon survey says.

Mobile firms raised $4.2 billion in venture capital globally in January: Rutberg.

Seven in 10 mobile users would stop using an app if it uploaded personal info without permission, according to eMarketer.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Curves of All Kinds Were On Display At CES

There were lots of curves at CES - no, not those kind. OK, those kind, too, but curved screens caught my eye. Supposedly they help eye strain. The other curves cause it.

Holiday shoppers tweeted more than 28 million mentions about their gift purchases - up 8% year over year – SAP.

Lots of new interesting numbers from Pew -- Almost half (49 percent) of Instagram users are on the platform daily; 52 percent of online adults now use two or more social media sites, a significant increase from 2013; Facebook is still the most popular, but other platforms have seen a higher growth rate.

Despite slowing growth, tablets will pass the 1 billion mark in 2015, per eMarketer.

If your, ummm, behind is your best side, and, you want to, ummm, share it, you may like the Belfie Stick.

From a man on the street - actually a cabbie in Las Vegas, on the prospect of a smart refrigerator alerting him when low on milk or beer: "Why would I want that?"

There was signage at CES for a $33 Android tablet. That follows talk of a $25 smartphone.

58 percent prefer to look up info on mobile device while shopping, rather than talk to an in-store employee, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.

64 cents is the average consumer cost for cable per hour of entertainment, per Flurry. 18 cents for mobile.

Also from Flurry: app usage grew 76 percent in 2014 with shopping apps leading the way.

More surprising than seeing a large RCA presence at CES was news that it introduced new mobile devices.

Uber has been sued for allegedly violating TCPA rules and sending unwanted text messages.

From Nestle’s Pete Blackshaw: "Don't overthink it. Have simplicity in messaging, good search on your mobile website, plus sharing."

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - No, You Can't Drive A Truck Over Your iPhone

I’m guessing that beyond sitting on it, you can't drive an F-150 over an iPhone 6 Plus. But don't try it at home.

67% of moms entertain kids with mobile videos & games, up 2X from last year, Yahoo says.

The North American mobile industry accounts for 3% of the GDP, according to industry group GSMA.

Apple sold 39 iPhone 6's per second in its first weekend.

A Homeland mobile ad uses phone vibrations to set off a virtual bomb in your hand.

Nordstrom wants to text shoppers who are interested in certain merchandise. That makes sense. It gets us closer to one-to-one marketing rather than one-to-one list.

Mobile spending on branding-related objectives will grow faster than direct-response initiatives in the next year, Nielsen says.

Nearly 75% of consumers ages 18-44 access a social network daily, Adobe reports. Mobile is the most-used device.

Smartphone penetration has made it to 70% in the U.S., Nielsen tells us.

Here’s one to stump your friends at a dinner party - research shows Japanese travelers are three times more likely to book via mobile than Germans.

Mobile now accounts for more than 50% of ecommerce traffic, according to Shopify.

Gartner says that more than 75% of mobile apps will fail basic security tests through 2015.

Mobile search prompted 30 billion calls to businesses in 2013, reports Harte Hanks.

Pinterest is the most popular social media channel on mobile devices.

Over 30% of Staples' mobile traffic is tablet-driven.

Trend Micro says that 40% of mobile users do not use a password to protect their devices. I would’ve guessed 70%.

Reports say that approximately 85% of iPhone 6 buyers had previous Apple phones. That explains the record pre-order – it was something other than blind faith

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Including Why The Point-and-Shoot Is Left Home On Vacation

Last week, I saw several 60ish tourists taking NYC photos of landmarks via tablets. The behavior looked funny, but if the oversized device worked for them and for others, who am I to argue? Nowhere to be found – the seemingly pre-historic point-and-shoot cameras. Approximately 144 million of those were sold in 2010, eclipsing all other years. Today? I know no one who has bought one. Do you?

Google is testing a method to bridge the ad-targeting gap between mobile web visitors and mobile app users, Advertising Age reports. Following a consumer from one screen to another is the next frontier.

68% of consumers engage in "content grazing" - multi-tasking using several devices at once, Microsoft Advertising found.

GroupM is seeing 20-30X lift on beacon beta testing. It was called “potentially transformative” by Jesse Wolfersberger (@jesseberger), Director of Consumer Insights at the company.

Nielsen says that 32% of mobile payers are age 25-34. 46% are multicultural. Hispanics have long led in early adoption of mobile products and services.

In the U.S. in Q2, smartphone penetration increased to 70%. Roughly 93% of the devices sold now are smartphones. Both stats came from leading industry analyst Chetan Sharma.

Looking to learn how to on adapt to the changing mobile shopper? I recommend following Ryan Craver (@ryanmcraver) of Lord & Taylor/Hudson Bay.

“Everything is a screen” - do away with the term “mobile”, urges Rachel Pasqua (@rachelpasqua), Head of Mobility at MEC.

Headline: Wireless Charging Is One Step Closer To Being Reality. My take? This is taking as long as improvements to in-air Wi-Fi.

Price savings more than privacy was on the minds when smartphone users were asked about receiving offers in-store, eMarketer said.

We're more than midway through 2014 and we're still being asked "why mobile?" Really.

The first video uploaded to YouTube was an explanation of what’s cool about elephants, Pew said. As I saw on safari during my “Mobilized Marketing” book tour, lots of things are cool about these majestic animals. I loved the experience.

First locker rooms, now the field - the NFL will let teams use tablets on the sidelines during games.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Where Mobile Stands In Lives of 18-24 Year Olds

18-24 year olds in a Bank of America survey are most likely to view their mobile phones as very important (96%) – more so than deodorant (90%) and their toothbrush (93%). Does that say more about the role of mobile or a gross decline in basic sanitary habits?

The core of an American soccer audience? About a quarter of Hispanics and young adults followed the World Cup very closely, according to Pew. Those demographics are highly engaged in mobile, too.

The U.S. mobile ad spending will surpass digital ads and print in two years, eMarketer forecasts.

Predictably vendors are talking up beacons.  My recent conversation with brands say that a robust testing period is needed first. I’ll do a webinar on the topic July 23 for Market Motive http://www.marketmotive.com/training/tutorials/conference-calls-and-workshops/workshops.html.

Shazam has moved inside movie theaters to give second-screen advertising another shot, Adweek says. You have a captive audience, so it isn’t as ill-conceived as one would think.

SAP says “the mobile revolution is now.” Jeez. Just what we need is more hype.

Mobile email opens have increased 400% in the last three years.

The average smartphone user has 21 apps and uses 8 in a week, Survey Analytics reports. Those numbers seem low on the total number and high on the weekly usage.

Separately, Apptentive says that only 4% of customers will still be using an app a year after they download it.

50% of Walmart smartphone owners use mobile to help them shop in stores, the retailer claims.           

Mobile device adoption will grow to 2.4 billion smartphone and 651 million tablet users by 2017, Forrester predicts.

80% of smartphone users want to interact with doctors on mobile devices, according to Cisco. Other than privacy concerns, why wouldn’t one want to do this?

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer -- Are Two-Year-Old Smartphones Useless or Good Enough?

I read on Business Insider where "80% or more of current iPhone users are due for a new phone because they're using old iPhones that are near the end of their useful lives." Says who? Two-year-old or more devices are “useless” for those with limited budgets?

Pew reports that 47% of those mobile users with a household income under $30,000 own a smartphone. Who says that they will put the next purchase of one before anything else?

Techcrunch took the same stance as I did. "The next two years will be the era of good-enough smartphones."

Integrated cross-platform ads are not driving reach, ROI: Nielsen. It’s the early days. The study doesn’t say that they won’t. It’s says that they aren’t.

That study aside, the obvious question from Mary Meeker's new Internet Trends report - with mobile adoption and usage so broad, why are brands slow to use the channel? Mobile now gets 11% of all the digital advertising spend.

Mobile advertising was up 47% year over year, Meeker noted.

The death of the tablet, eh? Tablet units are growing faster than PCs ever did -- +52% in 2013 , Meeker reported.

The U.S. market in on track to exceed $100 billion in mobile data revenues in 2014, analyst Chetan Sharma says.

As compelling as possible products that we'll see, I'm most intrigued by how ultra-strong personalities from Beats play within the Apple world.

A memorable tweet from Southwest Airlines: “You are now free to skip the printer: Mobile boarding passes land at all domestic Southwest airports!”

A new study says that 70% of retail marketers say personalization represents the future of marketing. Do the others think “one to all” will get it done?

Are these tons of World Cup apps meaningful or just for kicks?

Nearly a quarter of digital ad spending by U.S. healthcare and pharma firms will go toward mobile this year, eMarketer says.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Making Sense of The Mobile Wallet Hype

One in 5 mobile handsets will have mobile wallet functionality by 2018, per Juniper Research. Functionality means squat without usage.

I have long said that we don't live in world of absolutes - no, tablets haven't become irrelevant. As far as the latest statistics, 18.5% of all marketing emails were opened on a tablet in Q1 2014, up 5% in 9 months.

A mobile vendor that I won't name (I have friends there) sent me email starting Dear Maryann. And they sell the concept of personalization.

72% of all tweets about a sporting event on TV is tweeted by someone under 35 years old (Nielsen).

Headline: Hispanic Consumers Embrace Mobile Technology. It's one thing in the industry that hasn't changed since I got in in 2005.

I saw where Fitbit has 50% of the world’s wearable market. Yeah, but we’re in second inning.

There’s news that Verizon is about to target its subscribers with ads. No one has more data on users than the carriers.

Facebook has launched new Shazam-like features. The jury is out on whether a big number of users want to access information this way.

YouTube reaches more 18-34 year olds than any cable network.

Citi saw the growth of mobile banking go from 22% to 59% in two years.

Gartner says that the global spend on mobile ads is expected to hit 18 billion, an increase from the estimated $13.1 billion last year.

15% of all e-commerce sales are estimated to come from mobile, McKinsey reports.

Tweet from Bill Murray – “Nuns in wheelchairs = Virgin mobile.”

Houston first responders and doctors in dispatch centers are using tablets in treatment of patients who don't need an emergency room trip.

A final few words from Arianna Huffington - "We take better care of our smartphones than we do ourselves." Are you guilty as charged?

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - "The Don't Underestimate The Brick and Mortars" Edition

I’m as bullish on mobile as the next guy or gal. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Despite mobile’s influence, 90 percent of U.S. retail sales this holiday season are projected to occur in brick and mortar stores, according to ShopperTrak.

iOS users far outspent Android users over the holiday weekend, IBM says. Marketers, plan accordingly for rest of season.

From the same source: smartphones are for browsing - tablets are for buying. Black Friday mobile stats confirm our beliefs.

How did the retailers fare? The percentage of mobile sales for department stores was up 46.4 percent over last year.

PayPal saw a 123.9 percent increase in global mobile payment volume on Black Friday over 2012. This isn’t 1980.

Amazon took $50 off Kindle Fire prices for Cyber Monday. The company breaks even on the hardware, makes money instead on future purchases customers will make with the tablet.

A delay of NBA League Pass radio broadcasts in the Game Time app shows the score minute or so ahead. That makes no sense.

About 75 percent of smartphone and tablet users use a second screen more than once a month as they watch TV: Nielsen.

My 84-year-old mother in law is teaching us about Netflix on the iPad. Is this kind of stuff happening in your world, too?

Are we that out of control? A restaurant offers a 50 percent discount for turning off the phone.

I predict voice use via mobile phones on planes will never fly. Even those of us addicted to connectivity say no.

Over 120 million in the U.S. will research products on a mobile device this year, eMarketer says.

I have no quibble with the assertion that indoor location-based services will mature in 2014. There is value for mobile users

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer: Aspirin Tablets To Handle Tablet Ad Blitz

 With a tablet advertising blitz coming between now and Christmas, we will need aspirin tablets. Microsoft is said to be coming big with Surface ads, but not quite to the Samsung spending level.

Despite those who want to convince you otherwise, Twitter is gaining in popularity among teens.  So is Instagram.

HTC will donate $1 for every Movember HairstoChange picture posted to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

T-Mobile's “free” tablet data plan costs $10 a month.

As my friend and keen industry analyst Ross Rubin says about early holiday sales, “If every day is Black Friday, no day is Black Friday.”

The strength of the Apple brand? I bought two iPad Airs for holiday giving sight unseen.

Almost half of Facebook's daily users are mobile-only. Please tell those who still view mobile and social in silos.

Facebook's mobile ad revenue was 49 percent of total ad revenue during third quarter (up from 14 percent in Q3 2012).

Home Depot approaches 100,000 mobile point of sale transactions per week.

For the first time ever, ESPN mobile properties saw more unique visitors than http://ESPN.com in September.

Yet another rumor of larger iPhone has me wondering whether I'm in small group that doesn't want size changed to bigger or smaller.

Heard about a tanning salon that had its best-ever Monday after sending out its first mobile blast. Mobile success doesn’t necessarily need scale – it needs customers.

How do you feel about this one? 38 percent of children under 2 use mobile media, a new study says.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google’s smartwatch will launch in the next few months. Marketers, please take a measured approach to wearables. It’s very early days of adoption.

Free registration for the Nov. 14 webinar with the Mobile Marketing Association, Mobivity, and Valley Yellow Pages - enabling local business to thrive with mobile https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/851664870.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The Marriage of TV and Mobile Edition

Who expected this headline in 2013: Gannett Doubling Down on TV with Belo Purchase? It’s not your grandfolks' TV - mobile makes it interactive and more attractive to advertisers.

"Flat design" and "deglitzed" failed to make it to Apple’s iOS 7 intro. It was all about benefits, just as it should be.

Of course, designers and other pundits attempted to have the last word – and made up some new ones, including overhelveticated.

Google maps turn by turn for iPhone rocks – that’s not news but it can't be said enough.

How important is mobile to Nordstrom? The retailer says that for every $1 spent via mobile today, mobile will inspire $13 of in-store purchases – and $22 by 2016.

70 percent of sales organizations using tablets are already realizing a positive ROI, according to a study.

Facebook mobile ad revenue is expected to top $2 Billion this year.  It’s the subject of my Market Motive webinar this Tuesday.

In a related note, local mobile advertising is expected to double in 2013, according to Borrell.

If you have a bad mobile site, Google says that you'll soon have a SEO problem. Bravo.

Mobile wallets are about experiences, not payments, according to a MasterCard exec. I say that you build loyalty to fight commoditization.

One third of Americans own a tablet. And further growth could come through reported $99 #Android devices launching this year.

I was struck how Siri expectations were raised so high for iOS7. I’m definitely in the "show me" place on this one.

Nokia has a new television spot selling what it calls the best low-light camera. Is that key to a buying decision for more than a few? Doubtful.

I wonder how many used their mobile device to watch the CBS Sunday Morning piece on not being able to put your phone down.

A Forbes article asked Will Mobile Revolutionize Advertising--Or Kill It? I say that it’s neither. There are no absolutes. It will change it. Already has.

An Ogilvy executive is the latest to remark that we need to bring value to mobile users. That can't be said enough.

Another article I saw said that Mobile Isn't Just a Screen or Device, It's About Behavior. Yeah, but it’s about understanding behavior that leads to business results.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The Like and Tweet Edition

Smartphone users check Facebook 14 times a day. That’s when they are not tweeting.

Anyone other than me think it was a mistake to bring the first new BlackBerry without a physical keyboard? Touchscreen is me-too.

It's not a T-Mobile contract - it's an Equipment Installment Plan. Wasn't this going to be dead simple?

In-app purchase revenue has hit records: 76 percent Of U.S. iPhone app revenue, 90 percent in Asia. Not just any apps - games.

54 percent of retailers see mobile as biggest growth area. The others are destined to fail.

According to eMarketer, Twitter will earn $308.9M in 2013 mobile ad revenue -- more than they earned in 2012 total, from any ad type.

An analyst says that the iPhone 5 got five times as many tweets as the Galaxy S4. Meaning what? Little to nothing.

IDC: tablet sales grew 78.4 percent year over year in 2012. They are expected to pass desktop sales in 2013, portable PCs in 2014.

Apple plans to triple the number of authorized resellers in India by 2015. That could coincide with a cheaper iPhone.

News that an Australian business is charging $5 to "fight" showrooming was trending but it won't create a trend. It more likely will put the company out of business.

From the Wall Street Journal no less came a feature on the Mets PR director it calls a "butt dialer" for inadvertently placing mobile calls.

JetBlue plans to offer fast onboard Wi-Fi free of charge. Hopefully that’s the start of a trend.

HTC is no longer "quietly brilliant" in its marketing. It will be louder. As for brilliant, we'll see.

Young Americans send almost ten times as many texts as Americans over 55. What's noteworthy is that the 55+ set texts.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The "Items May Appear Larger" Edition

A study says augmented reality apps will generate $300 million in 2013. Put on special glasses and it will look like $300 billion.

Unable to deliver iPhone 5s to satisfy demand, word comes that Foxconn may build 130-inch Ultra HDTV panels. Rest assured fewer will want them.

I will remember 2012 as year Twitter became my number one news source. You?

47 percent of 18-34 year old smartphone owners have reportedly clicked on a mobile ad in the past three months. How many have “fat fingers” causing unintentional clicks?

It’s $60 for TomTom's new North America Android app - cheaper than a standalone unit, pricier than Google Maps.

There were 66.8 million viewers for at least a minute of TV election coverage between 8 and 11pm. It was 71.5 million in '08. I expected a bigger dropoff.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney's "victory" speech was written on an iPad. Was it autocorrect or the nation that changed it to a concession? Or both.

The tablet market is now nearly 32 percent the size of the traditional PC market. It happened in LTE speed, so to speak.

"It's gonna be raining tablets," said AT&T’s CEO on shared data plan growth. To me, it’s first about consumers understanding usage, then making decisions.

Nearly 40 percent of U.S. mobile users accessed social media networks on their device in Q3, according to comScore.

We're in a smartphone frenzy, but feature phones have 80 percent share worldwide, according to new stats from Mary Meeker.

If history of inaccuracy is a guide, Siri will sell you tickets to the wrong movie through the Fandango tie-in.

An analyst said that Facebook will "disappear" in 5-8 years. The better bet is that analyst will vanish.

A headline asked, “Who Will Be Disrupted By The Rise Of Mobile?” The better question is who won't be?

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Saluting The French Fry Edition

McDonalds was added to Apple’s Passbook but you can only purchase in France. Is this to honor the French fry?

Speaking of calories, here’s the obesity problem as seen through offers - why do I need to buy SIX cupcakes?

Did you hear that digital tipping coming to Starbucks apps next year? Better latte than never. Sorry.

It takes 41 cents a year to charge an iPhone? Imagine if the battery was what we need it to be.

61 percent of Facebook femaie members engage mostly on mobile, 10 percent more than men – report. They polled 15-25 year olds. Representative?

I’m dizzied by conflicting Foxconn accounts.  Did workers get three times pay to work on a holiday to produce iPhone 5s? Or is it true that "quality control inspectors fell into to conflicts with workers and were beat up multiple times by workers"?

According to industry guru Tomi Ahonen, the mobile handset market 2012 is $250 bilion. There will be 1.75B new handsets sold with an average price of $143. 41 percent will be smartphones.

Headline: The Only 7 Tablets To Buy. Me: are there really seven deserving choices?

Ironically I was on a Macbook Air at 35,000 feet a year ago when I heard about the death of Steve Jobs. How far we've come in tech.

There was news that HP CEO confirms no new smartphones coming in 2013. Who will notice? Or care?

Facebook “Goes Old-School With Metphor Ad”. Seems like I'm in minority – I, ummm, like. A lot. But the spot won't monetize its business.

A report says that the percentage of shopping sessions that convert to purchase falls more than 75 percent without a mobile optimized shopping and purchasing experience. Makes sense – beyond price and availability, it’s about ease and convenience.

People have 70 apps on average on their smartphone; but use less than 12, according to SAP. That is consistent with other accounts.

34 percent who watched Olympics on mobile device were 50 years old or over. You still think it's only a young person's device?

25 percent of American adults own tablet computers as of August 2012, according to Pew. That shows phenomenal growth in a category that wasn't around all that long ago.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - "Grandma is Packing" Edition

Overheard on a flight - a grandma frantically searching, then finally finding her mobile phone. Her grandson then told her to stick it in a pocket. She said she would put it in her bra. True story.

Do you remember when the only option for reaching out was landline calls? Now 1.4 billion minutes are used on Skype every day.

More than 70 percent of seniors use the Internet every day. It is helping drive smartphone penetration.

Google’s Nexus tablet reportedly will be unveiled next week. Will consumers buy on brand alone? No.

Nokia’s 41 megapixel 808 PureView camera phone comes to the U.S. for an unlocked price of $700. That’s dollar per wrinkle for some headshots.

I find it curious that LG exits hot tablet industry, but continues to make refrigerators. But not your grandpa’s appliance. A Wired story talks about mobile users receiving texts when the fridge is out of beer.

The bullish sentiment for mobile video at the Mobile Marketing Forum contrasts with what some told me in Mobilized Marketing. In the U.S, we mostly commute with our cars, not mass transit. That’s an inhibitor for use, plus there are issues around carrier capacity and cost.

The Federal Communications Commission will review mobile phone radiation guidelines. There is no proof of danger. Beware of hysteria headlines.

Christina Aguilera is among the celebrities pushing a QR code campaign to boost voter registration of young people in 2012.

Sign of the apocalypse - Twitter airs first TV spot. Why? Easy. 46 percent of time spent with media involves TV – twice the second place finisher (Web).

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The "Make It Stop Raining" Edition

The Weather Channel iPhone app, long one of the most popular, has gotten its first redesign since 2009. Nice, but you still can't stop it from raining.

Who is scanning QR codes? Scanbuy says it's 68 percent males.

Eight percent of magazine pages had a mobile bar code during Q1. That’s a move toward the passive becoming interactive.

Coca Cola will use mobile and music in a London Olympics effort to "inspire youth". Included are a wide variety of mobile tactics, including SMS, apps, and more.

Beyond the hardware change, I await a new iPhone most for have-to-have Siri improvement. It’s shocking that Apple heavily advertises such a poor experience.

Speaking of which, there are several “new” reports that Steve Jobs influenced the design of the next iPhone. There is no news here. Product cycles are that far out.

Does size matter (in tablets)? Amazon is looking to turn around its slumping Kindle Fire sales with a screen three inches larger.

T-Mobile makes good points in downplaying shared data plans. Who wants to keep track of the family's consumption?

An Apple board member says an iCar designed by Jobs would've taken 50 percent of auto market. That’s laughable.

American Express’ mobile strategy, like its social efforts, is deeply rooted in measurable sales. Imagine that.

Marketers take note: one tablet generates as many website visits as four smartphones, according to a report.

70 percent of mobile app users pay little or nothing, a study says. It explains how a large number of app makers don't make money.

30 percent of Groupon transactions in North America were completed on mobile devices in Q1. It was 25 percent in December 2011.

Teenagers believe that adults text as much as they do - which means a lot, a survey says. That’s surprising.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The Dream Edition

A psychologist has created an iPhone app that can manipulate dreams. No, not those kind of dreams. More like the ones where you are walking in the woods. Yeah, I’ll pass, too.

New York City is transforming old phone booths into ‘smart screens’. Kids, they were places to make calls. Oh, you need the definition of a call?

Blackberry 7 is rated the most secure mobile operating system. RIM’s problem is that security is not even a small driver when consumers purchase.

Everyone wants in on the Instagram talk. Mitt Romney talked up Instagram and innovation less than a week after someone signed him up for the service.

Nokia cut its financial guidance due to "competitive industry dynamics”. Was competition unexpected?

Meanwhile, Nokia identified a Lumia 900 software glitch, then offered a fix and $100 credit. It is due to a memory issue. My question - will consumers remember at the point of purchase?

According to an analyst, Best Buy's mobile business brings one third of the profits but accounts for less than 10 percent of the overall square footage in retail stores.

Wireless device charging is coming to some Chryslers. Will they prevent all those coffee spills that come when we fiddle with plugs?

It isn't the size but cost that may doom Toshiba's 13-inch tablet. It is $650 at the low end. Consumers will buy this why?

AT&T has rethought its Rethink Possible tagline. It has evolved to “It's what you do with what we do”. Makes sense because mobile is personal.

Some predict apps will lose favor as the mobile web advances with HTML5. But Juniper sees twice as any app downloads by 2016.

American Idol gets lots of credit for the use of text messaging. Will it do the same for Shazam? Of course, Shazam was part of the Super Bowl telecast, but you may have been in the guacamole at the time.

Notes From a Mobilized Marketer - The Kleenex Edition

The msnbc.com story said that the iPad is to tablets as Kleenex is to tissues. To me, this thinking is premature.

Speaking of tablets, will a two-month delay to July push Google's first one to $200? The need to be more efficient to move the price down has reportedly been deemed more important than time into the market.

I still believe that Philadelphia's walking lane for texting was a keeper. It was only in place around April Fools Day. While we’re at it, we need one for elevators and another in airports.

Approximately two billion Facebook posts per month include a geolocation tag. Of course, it’s not only about what you say but where you say it. 

Did you hear the NPR piece on phone tracking? The question was whether the carriers are selling private records to law enforcement. It seems to me that the answer is yes despite the fact that the mobile operators don’t want it called selling.

This from a memo from Yahoo’s CEO Scott Thompson – “Our users want fun, informative, engaging experiences on all screens.” Does this signal that the company will finally seriously integrate mobile?

I'm all about new media but Vin Scully took me back 45 years with his call on Opening Day. He was so good describing the baseball game that I barely picked my head up to watch the game in HDTV.

The latest proof that it’s not our grandparents' world? About 29% of those who read ebooks consume them on cellphones.

Consumers don’t engage with channels, they engage with the brand, said a Walmart executive at a conference. Further, make the experience as seamless as possible, he said. I couldn’t agree more.

For a peek into several sections of my nearly released Mobilized Marketing book, please see the Inside This Book section on my Amazon book page.

Assuming the rumor is true, I would like to know why Apple thinks a 7.85 inch iPad is the right size. I’m disappointed that it's not 7.97258 inches. Call it isanity.

Barcelona's Diet of Ham and Mobile

Tourists travel to Barcelona to feast on ham. Geeks go there this time of the year to get their fill of what’s next in mobile.

Here’s what I’ll be looking for from the Mobile World Congress that starts Sunday with news conferences:

Virtually every announcement and product introduction will be positioned as a game changer. We likely will ultimately count on one hand how many live up to the hype.

No one will need longer battery life innovation than the nearly 60,000 in attendance who will do a Spanish dance for power outlets. The other large constituent rooting for more sustained smartphone life will be those pushing the mobile wallet concept. Mobile subscribers will need devices that keep pace with their lifestyles.

Will we see more hybrids like the 5.3 inch Samsung Galaxy Note device that was introduced during the Super Bowl telecast? Is this what consumers desire? I haven’t personally thought of the day when my smartphone and tablet would become one for more effective note taking. And I also haven’t met anyone who desires such a combination smartphone/tablet device. There are hundreds or thousands of smartphone and tablet applications that were built to take down our notes. The Siri voice assistant on my iPhone 4S does this effectively using speech recognition and natural language understanding. Personally, I’m happy to leave my stylus days in the past. But I’m also happy to concede that one form factor won’t win the game.

There are rumors that Nokia will introduce a 12 megapixel phone. With picture taking right behind text messaging as the leading mobile subscriber activities, advancements in photo capture should be well received.

RIM is reported to be about six months away from introducing new devices. The company is in danger of being irrelevant. Software demonstrations in Barcelona won’t cut it.

Speed will be on display with quad core processors. Too bad RIM can’t strap one on to its fortunes.

On Tuesday, we will learn if my company Hipcricket will be named the “Mobile Marketing and Advertising Agency of the Year” by the GSM Association. Hipcricket was selected as a finalist from a pool of more than 600 entries. The award honors firms that are "spearheading the growth, adoption and evolution of mobile advertising".

If you want more on what to expect in Barcelona, Engadget’s preview is for you.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/24/mobile-world-congress-2012-preview/

I’ll blog about developments during the week.

Keeping Tab On The New Tablets

At CES in Las Vegas today, Samsung's attempt at the hitting the sweet spot was the introduction of a 7.7 inch Galaxy tablet. You may remember the company's first effort was 7 inches. Did focus groups tell Samsung that the 7-incher was too small and 8-incher was a wee bit too big?