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Mobile / Smartphones
61% of mobile users are unlikely to return to your mobile site if they had trouble or if your site was too hard to use, according to a March 2011 study by Compuware. 40% said they would visit a competitor's site instead, and 19% said they would have a negative overall perception of your business if they had a bad mobile experience with your site.
Research shows that web retailers could increase consumer engagement by 85% with a mobile-specific website. 51% of consumers are more likely to purchase from retailers that have mobile-specific websites.
Leon Spencer shares five best practices to keep in mind when building your mobile website:
- KISS - that's right...Keep It Super Simple! Think about it. When you're on your mobile device you are most likely on-the-go. When you want some sort of information, you need it quick and you don't want to have to hunt all over for it. Make sure that your navigation and layout is simple. Don't try to include everything from your main website into your mobile site. People searching mobile are only looking for basic information.
- Design for Thumbs...not Mice. Again, you're not putting together a site that someone is going to spend a ton of time on. You want to make it as easy and simple for them to navigate as you can. If they can click-to-call you with their thumb or find a map to your location with their thumb, then you are on the right track.
- Prioritize your Content - Give your mobile site user the most often needed information first. Maybe it's just your telephone number. Maybe it's your address. Whatever it is make sure that you come up with your own order of priorities for the information you are providing. You can use Google Analytics from your main website to see what is most often being searched on mobile devices and this should help you in sorting your content.
- Use Uniquely Mobile Features - make sure that you're not building your mobile presence in the same way you would for desktops. Use the functionality of what a mobile device provides to enhance your engagement with your customers. For example, mobile devices use GPS. Keep that in mind if you are offering content that could be relevant to specific geographical areas. Don't waste your site user's time by giving them content that's not relevant to their location. Let's say you have multiple locations for your business. Through location-based technology in mobile you can provide the most relevant location of your business to a user that is searching for your company. Another way to use mobile features is to provide content that would be relevant to what the user would actually be doing at the time they are searching for you on a mobile device.
- Make it easy to convert - Because people are most likely out and on-the-go when they are accessing your mobile site, so their ability to get distracted and move on is high. So, if you are collecting information in a web form - make it short and sweet. Don't require a lot of fields to be completed because it can be difficult and take too much time. Think of the bare minimum that you may need. Make it easy to call you! Maybe put a click-to-call button at the very top of your mobile site. Wherever you place it make sure it is very easy to see.
(BlogNotions, November 2011)
Currently 38% of travel brands have a mobile friendly website, up from 35% in February 2011, according to the second edition of EyeforTravel's Travel Marketing & Distribution Barometer published in November 2011.
At 67%, China was the country with the highest proportion of brands with mobile friendly sites. The UK stood at 55%. Spain had the lowest out of the countries surveyed at 20%. (eyefortravel, November 2011)
Mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, now account for 7% of worldwide traffic on the Web, according to a report by comScore.
ComScore found that 37% of cellphone traffic takes place over a Wi-Fi connection. That has continued to grow in recent years; the report noted that Wi-Fi traffic through mobile devices grew as much as 3% in the last three months alone.
Most startling among the mobile statistics is the disproportionate usage rate of Apple iPad owners. The report found that the iPad accounts for 97% of all tablet traffic in the US. Analysts at IDC recently estimated Apple has sold 75% of all tablets. Apple said in July 2011 that it had sold close to 29 million iPads since the device went on sale in April 2010. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, October 2011)
Smartphone adoption in Europe stands at 39%, according to InSites Consulting "The world is mobile" study. 28% have a smartphone with Internet/data subscription and 11% have a smartphone without internet/data subscription.
47% of smartphone-connected Europeans will surf the mobile internet every day and 66% of connected smartphone users log on to their social media profile(s) every day. 56% of Europeans smartphone users follow brands on social media. (InSites Consulting - four words newsletter, October 2011)
38% of internet users worldwide had a smartphone in the second quarter of 2011, according to the results of Insites Consutling "Social Media around the World 2011" global study about the usage of social media around the globe, with 9,000 repsondents in 35 countries.
Those smartphone owners are more intensive users of social networks than people without a smartphone. On average, people install 25 apps on their smartphone, but only use 12. Most used apps are social network apps.
The study also found that 12% of smartphone owners are using location-based services. 20% of location-based users checks in daily. Findings also indicate that 4% of smartphone users are familiar with augmented reality. (InSites Consulting - four words newsletter, October 2011)
The number of passengers carrying smartphones has almost doubled in the past 12 months, jumping from 28% to 54%, according to the annual SITA-Air Transport World passenger self-service survey found.
The figure soars to 74% of business and first class passengers and frequent flyers, with exactly three-quarters of passengers passing through the world's busiest airport, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, carrying one.
SITA-ATW spoke to nearly 2,500 passengers at Abu Dhabi International Airport, Beijing International Airport, Frankfurt International Airport, Mumbai International and Sao Paulo Guarulhos.
The combined passenger numbers for the airports reached 283.5 million last year. Highlights of the survey's findings include:
- 73% would like to use mobile boarding passes, with 17% already having done so.
- Almost a quarter (23%) have used Bluetooth connections at an airport.
- Around a third (33%) use mobiles to check in - 36% for business and first class passengers.
- Over 50% of business and first class receive SMS text messages for alerts.
- Four out of five do not want to receive information about shopping deals at airports, although passengers at Abu Dhabi (34%), Beijing (32%) and Mumbai (30%) do.
- 75% of smartphone users would connect to a free wifi network at an airport and are generally looking to access trip-related information.
- The most popular activity when connected at the airport is information on flights (77%), security (50%), departure gate walking times (40%), directions (21%) and airport parking (21%).
(tnooz - talking travel tech, October 2011)
Three of every five US smartphone owners age 13 and older accessed social networking or blog destinations on their mobile devices for the three-month average period ending June 2011, according to comScore. The number of US smartphone users who ever access social networking or blog destinations on their mobiles (both browser and app) has grown 72% in the past year to reach an audience of 47.8 million visitors.
In addition, those users accessing social network or blogs almost daily meanwhile nearly doubled, growing 90% to 28.1 million smartphone users. comScore data indicates social networking is one of the most popular mobile activities in the US.
In Europe, which includes the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain for this comScore analysis, mobile social networking usage displayed similar trends to the US, with two of every five smartphone owners accessing these sites during the month. More than 35.7 million smartphone owners in Europe accessed social networking or blog destinations on their mobile in June, an increase of 80% from the previous year. Daily usage surged as well, with 17.9 million smartphone users accessing social sites on their device almost daily in Europe, climbing 94% from June 2010.
comScore analysis indicates Facebook and Twitter are among the largest social networking sites globally, and both brands have developed a growing mobile audience as well. Slightly more than half of US smartphone owners (50.9%) and 31.7% of European smartphone owners accessed Facebook on their device in June 2011. Meanwhile, Twitter reached 12.5% of the smartphone audience in the US and 7.4% of the European smartphone audience.
About 7 in 10 (69%) US smartphone and tablet users check social network status updates on their mobile device, making it the most popular mobile social networking activity, according to September 2011 data from Prosper Mobile Insights. Viewing photos closely follows in popularity (66%).
Other mobile social networking activities performed by more than half of mobile users include updating status (53%) and sending emails (51%), while 49% post photos taken on their smartphone/tablet. Only 26.5% go to retailer pages to find deals while shopping, and 15% don't access social media sites on their mobile device.
(Marketing Charts, September 2011)
61% of online travel companies surveyed in a recent global EyeforTravel poll do not have a mobile friendly website; while 71% do not have a mobile app.
Jeremy Copp, VP Mobile Europe, comScore, a speaker at the EyeforTravel Summit event in May 2011, shared that in the EU5 countries (France, Germany, Spain, UK, Italy), 11.3 million consumers accessed travel services via mobile in February 2011 alone. Travel application access grew by 52% year-on-year.
Out of the EU5, 36% of mobile market now use apps or their mobile browser. Interestingly, Spain is leading the way in terms of smartphone adoption (adopting at a higher rate than even the US) but EyeforTravel found that French travel companies were the heaviest investors in mobile followed by Germany.
Mobile is only going to continue to grow. The rapid development of social networking sites and the consequent need to be constantly connected is fuelling mobile growth. Japan's social networking site ‘Mixi' shows how social networking trends can encourage mobile access and overtake desktop access. 84% of their page views are now via mobile (report by Morgan Stanley as cited by Dave Scheine, Director of European Operations, Yelp).
Many travel companies don't want to hear that they need to invest money into yet another distribution and marketing channel but quite simply, if your customer is searching for travel information online and your site is not optimised for mobile or you don't have an app then chances are they will find your competitors first. (aboutourism, July 2011)
Internet usage via mobile is quickly becoming as important as internet usage via PC among those who own smartphones, according to research from Google and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) conducted during the first half of 2011 in several countries around the world.
In the US, the survey found, 58% of smartphone owners had used their phone to go online every day during the week before polling, vs. 78% who said the same of their PC. When asked about usage the day before polling, 53% said they used the mobile internet multiple times, compared with 67% who said the same of their PC.
Daily social networking activities show an even smaller spread between mobile and PC usage. In the US, there was only a 9 percentage point gap between the two.
Smartphone users in selected countries who us online or mobile social networks at least once a day, Q2 2011 (% of respondents):
- US: 58% online / 49% mobile
- France: 56% / 41%
- UK: 54% / 46%
- Germany: 46% / 29%
- Japan: 34% / 35%
Compared to social networking, which has truly taken off as a major mobile activity, online video usage on smartphones is still low. But frequent viewing rates are becoming comparable to those for the desktop web. Two in 10 smartphone users in the US said they watched mobile video every day, compared with 34% who watched each day on their computer.
The vast majority of smartphone users surveyed around the world said they planned to increase usage of the mobile internet in the next year, including 91% of US respondents, suggesting the rates of these and other mobile content activities will continue to rise.
The survey found that 31% of US internet users had a smartphone. eMarketer estimates that 31% of US mobile users will have a smartphone by the end of this year, rising to 43% by 2015. (eMarketer, June 2011)
Smartphone adoption continues to spread across the globe at various rates, according to comScore. Canada's smartphone penetration reached 32.8% in March 2011, marginally higher than that of the US. The UK led all reportable markets in smartphone penetration at 40.8%, followed by Spain (40.2%) and Italy (38.3%).
Smartphone penetration across global markets, March 2011 (Total mobile subscribers, Age 13+):
- UK: 40.8% of mobile subscribers
- Spain: 40.2%
- Italy: 38.3%
- Canada: 32.8%
- US: 32.2%
- France: 31.4%
- Germany: 28.3%
- Japan: 9.7%
(comScore, June 2011)
Mobile users, especially smartphone users, have been warming up to the check-in over the past year, according to comScore. But services like Facebook Places and foursquare are not the only location-based tools consumers want.
In Q1 2011, mobile Wi-Fi hotspot provider JiWire found that nearly half the users of its hotspots would be interested in checking in, up from 27% just the previous quarter. Services that would help them find store locations or other points of interest were even more popular, and interest had grown.
Mobile Wi-Fi users had also increased their appetites for location-aware reviews, ways to connect with others and tools to check product inventory nearby. Overall, the proportion of respondents not interested in any kind of location-based services dropped by nearly half, from 22% to 12%.
Location-based services that are of most interest to mobile Wi-Fi users in North America, Q1 2011 (as % of respondents):
- Store locations: 57% (up from 42% in Q4 2010)
- Points of interest: 51% (42%)
- Checking-in: 49% (27%)
- Sales/promos/coupons: 27% (26%)
- Reviews: 35% (21%)
- Connect with others: 33% (12%)
- Product inventory: 21% (10%)
- Other: 1% (3%)
- None: 12% (22%)
One barrier to adoption of location-based services has been privacy concerns, which are heating up throughout the mobile space. Majorities of both male (52%) and female (59%) app downloaders told Nielsen in April that they were worried about privacy. Women were 7% points more likely to be concerned. Nielsen also found privacy was an issue that cut across age groups, though the oldest users were most worried.
Still, the growing interest in both check-ins and other location-based services suggests some users at least are becoming more comfortable with sharing information about where they are via mobile. As marketers and developers continue to educate mobile users about the risks and rewards of sharing data, they should note that services other than the check-in may be more enticing to many consumers. (eMarketer, June 2011)
The number of internet connected devices is set to explode in the next four years to over 15 billion (twice the world's population) by 2015, according to Cisco's fifth annual forecast of upcoming trends. Cisco predicts the proliferation of tablets, mobile phones, connected appliances and other smart machines will drive this growth.
The company said consumer video will continue to dominate internet traffic. It predicts that by 2015, 1 million minutes of video will be watched online every second.
Cisco's Visual Networking Index also estimated that at the same time more than 40% of the world's projected population will be online, a total of nearly 3 billion people. The networking giant forecast that by 2015 internet traffic will reach 966 exabytes a year. An exabyte is equal to one quintillion bytes. In 2004, global monthly internet traffic passed one exabyte for the first time. (BBC article, June 2011)
The travel industry's love affair with apps is waning, according to findings from EyeForTravel's "Travel Distribution & Marketing Barometer". The industry is investing more in mobile websites than Apps.
The findings show that only 8% of the big travel companies (those spending between US$51 to US$100 million on marketing) do not have a mobile site whilst 25% do not have a mobile application.
Interestingly those that have invested in these channels report a similar success across both apps and mobile web with 42% seeing an increase in traffic from both apps and the mobile website. This would suggest it's the higher costs related to app building that is slowing investment.
The cost of mobile marketing seems to be hindering the smaller travel companies. Over 67% of travel companies with a marketing budget of less than US$400K are not yet tracking and recording traffic and bookings from mobile browsing or apps. With lastminute.com reporting a 400% growth in mobile browsing in 2010, tracking is obviously key. (eyefortravel, April 2011)
The number of consumers accessing travel information via mobile devices when on holiday has doubled in the last year, according to a global survey of 1,700 people carried out by Frommers.
52% of respondents said that they were most likely to access travel information on their mobile devices when travelling, compared to 27% in 2010. Respondents aged between 18 and 34 are the biggest advocates, with 72% of this age group accessing mobile travel content on holiday, compared to only 48% in 2010.
The survey also revealed the top six types of mobile travel content that consumers want when on holiday. The most important function is seeing points of interest like attractions, restaurants and shops on a map (57%), followed by key phrases in local languages (55%), local offers (51%), itineraries and walking tours (50%), local etiquette and customs (49%) and tipping and currency converters (45%). Interestingly, the 18-34 age bracket expressed an increased interest in accessing information related to local etiquette and customs and it ranked as the third most important type of content for this age group.
In terms of influencing holiday decision making, the survey revealed that user reviews on travel websites and travel guidebooks are equally important with 81% of consumers considering them very influential. Editorial content on travel websites came in a close second with 80%. Social media has become more notably more important in holiday decision making, with 36% of respondents considering online social networks as influential, compared to 22% in 2010. This indicates that using social media as a means of planning travel will be increasingly important to businesses.
Businesses should also look to engage with holidaymakers via social networks when they return home as over half (51%) of all respondents indicated they are likely to post a hotel review online, and over one third of all respondents would post travel photos(38%) or share travel experiences on Facebook (33%).
The survey revealed that travellers are increasingly more reliant on digital content in all phases of the travel cycle, considering many types of information as influential to their decision making than in prior surveys. The most common time to look for destination information online continues to be before deciding where to go (93%), however, over 77% now look for destination information online when booking accommodation and flights, compared to less than 48% in 2010. There have also been significant rises in demand for destination content after booking but before leaving, while on holiday and after returning.
When planning a holiday consumers ranked "description destinations" and "special offers and deals" as the most important travel content, with 88% each. At the booking stage, "maps of destinations" (83%), is the most important closely followed by airport transportation information and city or resort guides (81% each). After booking but before travelling consumers rated weather as the most important information (85%), followed by attractions, events and maps (84% each).
Despite this increased demand, consumers continue to encounter many negative experiences on travel websites. The most common problems are confusing websites, poor site navigation and insufficient destination information, with 58% each. This suggests that by addressing these common complaints, businesses could benefit from opportunities to engage successfully with consumers before, during and after their holiday. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, May 2011)
Google says it is already seeing 19% of all hotel queries in search being conducted on mobile devices, supporting the idea that mobile is now more important than ever in travel marketing.
The stat also backs recent data from eMarketer which suggested the number of US consumers, for example, using a mobile to research travel products will climb from 19.7 million in 2010 to 29.7 million by next year.
Google, of course, has a vested interest in persuading hoteliers to throw part of their marketing budget into mobile search as well as existing desktop web PPC advertising. But despite the ulterior motive, such data is pretty compelling and travel companies are being urged to consider mobile in the same way as perhaps they interact with consumers on the web-based journey. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, May 2011)
Over 2 billion people worldwide will own at least one smartphone by 2015, with unit sales growing over 175% from 2010, according to Parks Associates' forecasts.
Hardware and software innovations, such as dual-facing camera-supported video chat and app-enabled content consumption, will continue to drive this market through the down economy.
Parks Associates indicates that smartphone shipments jumped 70% in 2010, with approximately 500 million users. (PARKS ASSOCIATES, May 2011)
Mobile user populations in Brazil, Russia, India and China have stabilized, and growth is now focused on the mobile internet and mobile ad spending. Overall spending levels in India, Russia and Brazil are still low, but the Chinese market will see over $700 billion in mobile ad spending next year. By 2015, eMarketer predicts, advertisers in China will spend nearly $1.4 billion on mobile.
Mobile ad spending in BRIC area, by country, 2015:
- China: $1,389.3 million, up from $101.0 million in 2009
- India: $247.0 million, up from $20.8 million
- Brazil: $175.2 million, up from $6.1 million
- Russia: $100.0 million, up from $6.0 million
eMarketer's estimates of mobile ad spending include display, search and messaging-based formats and are based on a meta-analysis of data from several firms as well as overall trends in advertising and mobile markets.
Spending growth this year will be highest in Brazil and China, where it will more than double. Between 2012 and 2015, eMarketer expects strong, double-digit annual growth in all four countries. Growth rates will start to taper off as these markets mature.
Ad spending in BRIC is following either already high or fast-growing mobile internet usage in those countries:
- In China: eMarketer estimates nearly half of mobile phone users, or 371.2 million people, will use the mobile web at least monthly by the end of 2011. By 2015, over 600 million mobile users in China will be mobile internet users, making China by far the largest single-country market for the mobile web.
- In Russia: mobile web penetration will go from 29% of mobile users this year to 36% by 2015.
- Growth in India and Brazil will be more dramatic. Triple-digit growth in mobile web users in India will end this year, but penetration will rise from 12% in 2011 to 34% by 2015. In Brazil, 11% of mobile phone users will be online this year, rising to one in four by 2015.
(eMarketer, April 2011)
A greater number of US and European (EU5) mobile users accessed online content through Web browsers on their mobile devices than through applications in the final three months of 2010, according to data from comScore. In addition, mobile Web use is growing faster than application use, the measurement firm estimated.
Thirty-six percent of US mobile users and 29% of Europeans (EU5) browsed the mobile Web in the three months ending December 2010, while application access reached 34% of Americans and 28% of Europeans respectively.
Compared with the same period in 2009, application access grew by 8% in the US and 7% in Europe. Meanwhile, browser use grew at a faster pace, increasing by 9% and 8%, respectively.
Percentage of browser and application users (3 months average ending December 2010:
- Used browser: 36% of US mobile users / 29% of European (EU5) mobile users
- Used application (except native games): 34% / 28%
(ClickZ, February 2011)
Comparisons of the growth of the US smartphone install base and EU5 smartphone install base during 2010 show the US making gains, according to "the 2010 Mobile Year in Review" report by comScore.
Smartphone installed base by subscribers (3 months average ending December 2010):
- US: 63,228,000
- EU5: 71,651,000
- Italy: 16,678,000
- UK: 16,620,000
- Germany: 14,026,000
- Spain: 13,157,000
- France: 12,170,000
The report indicates that the US had a smartphone install base of about 63.2 million in December 2010, compared to about 72.6 million in the EU5 nations of Italy, UK, Germany, Spain and France. While the combined EU5 nations have a smartphone install base about 15% larger than that in the US, comScore data indicates the EU5 base was 25% larger in December 2009. In addition, 47% of US mobile subscribers use mobile media, compared to 35% of EU5 mobile subscribers.
Smartphone adoption grew considerably in the US and EU5 markets during 2010. Spain has the highest rate of smartphone adoption of all six markets, 37.6%, up about 38% from 27.3% in December 2009. Spain surpassed 2009 leader Italy in November 2010. The UK had the fastest year-over-year growth of the six markets, increasing about 63% from 21% to 34.3% and taking third place. The US came in fourth with a 27% adoption rate, up about 61% from 16.8% the prior year and in fourth place ahead of Germany and France.
Smartphone users skew younger in the US than in the more developed EU5 smartphone market. The US has higher percentages of smartphone users in the 18-to-24 bracket (16.7% compared to 14.5%) and 25-to-34 bracket (27.2% compared to 23.6% percent). Meanwhile, in EU5, those 55 and older represent 18.1% of the smartphone market, compared to 12.6% in the US. It should also be noted that in the US, the fastest-growing age segments in 2010 were 13-to-17-year-olds (up 86% to 4.3 million) and 55 and older (up 78% to 8 million). In Europe, the fastest growth came from 13-to-17-year-olds (up 66% to 4.6 million users) and 18-to-24-year-olds (up 54% to 10.5 million users).
In December 2010, nearly 47% of mobile subscribers in the US were mobile media users (browsed the mobile web, accessed applications, downloaded content or accessed the mobile internet via SMS), up about 17% from the previous year, according to other report data. comScore says the growth in mobile media usage is largely attributable to the growth in smartphone adoption, 3G/4G device ownership and the increasing ubiquity of unlimited data plans, all of which facilitate the consumption of mobile media. (Marketing Charts, February 2011)
Mobile phones have become an indispensable accessory for young Brazilians. Brazil ranks second behind Italy among the markets where multiple SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards are used among those aged 15-24, according to a Nielsen study conducted in nine countries (US, Germany, Spain, Italy, U.K., Brazil, Russia, China, India).
SIM is a portable memory chip that makes it easy to switch to a new mobile phone by simply sliding the SIM out of the old phone and into the new one. Ever since SIM cards started being used in place of the CDMA technology (Code Division Multiple Access), they became part of the new norm for young Brazilians.
Multiple SIM usage, Age 15-24, Quarter 1, 2010:
- Italy: 29%
- Brazil: 22%
- Russia: 21%
- Germany: 20%
- UK: 16%
- Spain: 16%
- India: 15%
- China: 14%
With only 40% of young Brazilian consumers taking advantage of advance data services such as mobile internet, instant messaging, email, ring tone, game or screen saver downloads, mobile service providers have an opportunity to expand usage of these services. In fact, only between five and seven percent of young Brazilians use any of these advanced data options currently.
Chinese youth lead the way ahead of the US for advanced data usage, with mobile internet the most popular among 73% and 48% respectively.
Advanced data users, Age 15-24, Quarter 1 2010:
- China: 84%
- US: 83%
- Russia: 71%
- UK: 68%
- Italy: 62%
- Spain: 58%
- Germany: 47%
- Brazil: 40%
- India: 13%
(The Nielsen Company, February 2011)
Here are some of Forrester's key mobile trends for 2011:
- The mobile-social-local category will explode but generate little revenue. Social location services will attract growing audiences but face continuing privacy issues because of the difficulty engaging with customers in contexts that are innately personal and intimate. Many geo-targeted mobile campaigns will launch that won't lead to meaningful revenue in 2011.
- 2011 will be the year of the "dumb" smartphone. Lower prices will drive mainstream adoption of smartphones - but new users are likely to be less engaged and active than iPhone or Android early adopters. But even the newer crop of smartphone users will consume more mobile media than ever before and show incremental usage of mobile data.
- Mobile marketing spend will top $1 billion. Advertisers will finally earmark dedicated resources to mobile and find quantifiable ROI through a medium that can generate real leads, drive foot traffic, and sell products and services. Smartphone adoption will drive more activity usually associated with the PC, such as hotel booking, product research, trading stocks and finding nearby restaurants.
- Mobile will connect consumers with the physical world. 2011 is finally the year that NFC (Near Field Communication) begins to matter, as the market shifts from the trial stage where NFC technology is in place. Other technologies like QR codes and augmented reality (AR) apps will prompt users to hold their smartphones up to products and other objects around them. These features will remain niche but provide a springboard for brands willing to experiment.
- 4G will remain mostly hype. 4G technology will have little impact in 2011, with few LTE devices available before year end. It's taken almost seven years for half of mobile users in the U.S. and Europe to get on 3G networks, according to Forrester.
- Casual gaming will lead content charge. Here's where "Angry Birds" comes in. The casual games market will continue to boom in 2011 and Forrester expects new business models based on subscriptions, micro-payments, and in-app billing to expand from gaming to categories including news and music.
Forrester closes its report by advising companies to "ignore the technology hype" because technologies like LTE, NFC and mobile AR are disruptive but will take years to emerge. It further points out that many companies embraced apps without considering that consumers will quickly toss them aside if they don't provide any real value.
Half of travel firms believe the value of mobile websites have yet to be realised but 70% expect to make more revenue from mobile in the next 12 months, according to Travolution research.
Travolution conducted a trade and consumer survey in November 2010 through research partner eDigitalResearch for the next edition of Travolution dedicated to apps. Of the 470 travel organisations that responded only 17% had a smartphone app and a similar proportion said they had a mobile enabled website. And of those with mobile sites 43% said they had the same functionality as their conventional sites. Among those with apps 44% said they include destination guides.
Firms that had apps and mobile websites said they were most often developed in-house.
Apple's App Store reached a landmark 10 billion downloads in January 2011, further underlining the lead of the iPhone-maker in mobile online software battle. Apple launched the mobile application store for the iPhone back in mid-2008 and it proved to be an instant hit, driving sales of the smartphone and helping reshape the way mobile content was delivered.
The iPhone app store offers more than 300,000 programs, and there are also more than 40,000 apps available for the iPad.
Its closest rival is privately-held GetJar, which sells software for all platforms, and reached one billion downloads in June 2010. Google's Android Market and Nokia's Ovi Store are among other larger mobile online stores. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, January 2011)
There will be a significant consumer and enterprise shift away from the desktop and laptop PC in favour of mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and netbooks in 2011, according to a new white paper from Deloitte entitled "Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions 2011?. The white paper forecasts that out of $815 million which will be spent globally on PC- and non-PC computing devices, $375 million (46%) will be spent on smartphones.
The second- and third-largest revenue drivers will still be traditional laptops ($200 million, 24.5%) and desktops ($150 million, 18%). However, the remaining $90 million will consist of tablets ($50 million, 6%) and netbooks ($40 million, 5%). This means a combined 57% of 2011 computing device sales will consist of non-PC devices.
Deloitte estimates the current worldwide PC install base at more than 1.5 billion units, and PC device sales are expected to increase 15% year-over-year in 2011. By the end of 2011, Deloitte projects mobile devices will represent about 25% of the global computing device install base.
In one sign of rising mobile devices being used for functions once handled by PCs, during November 2010, the number of visitors to web-based email sites declined 6% compared to the previous year, while email engagement declined at an even greater rate, according to new comScore MobiLens data. However, during the same time period, the number of users accessing email via their mobile devices grew by 36%. (Marketing Charts, January 2011)
Out of eight countries examined, Italy leads in smartphone penetration among the age group 15-24, with 47% of young people in this age group owning a smartphone, compared to 31% of adults over 25, according to a study from The Nielsen Company entitled "Mobile Youth Around the World". Smartphone penetration among European youth averages 28% in the countries surveyed, while penetration among older adults in Europe is 27%.
Global smartphone vs. Feature phone usage, Age group 15-24, January-June 2010:
- India: 90% feature phone / 10% smartphone
- Russia: 75% / 25%
- China: 71% / 29%
- Germany: 71% / 29%
- US: 67% / 33%
- UK: 64% / 36%
- Spain: 62% / 38%
- Italy: 53% / 47%
All countries tend to skew male in smartphone adoption with one notable exception; the US, where 55% of smartphone users age 15-24 are female. In the overall US smartphone population, 55% were male. India had the most severe gender imbalance for smartphone use among subscribers 15-24 (80% male).
Smartphone users, breakdown by gender, Age group 15-24, January-June 2010:
- India: 80% male
- Germany: 66%
- Italy: 62%
- China: 61%
- Spain: 61%
- Russia: 57%
- UK: 53%
- US: 45%
At 70%, young Chinese advanced data users have a significantly higher mobile internet usage rate than the rest of the world. The US comes in a distant second with 48% usage among mobile subscribers age 15-24.
Rates of young mobile internet usage are extremely low in Brazil (5%) and India (4%). Among European youth, those in the UK are more likely to use mobile internet (46%), with 20% or more usage than other European countries including Russia (39%) and Italy (24%). US youth are the clear global leaders in mobile email usage (39%), more than doubling the next-highest rate of mobile email use (Russia, 19%). This may reflect more sophisticated wireless networks and frequent texting usage in other parts of the world. Chinese youth also lead in mobile ringtone downloads and IM, and tie with Russian youth for mobile screensaver downloads.
Price was the most common consideration in selecting a mobile phone for young people in almost all surveyed countries, although Nielsen data indicates that is true among other age groups, too. Youth aged 15 to 24 put price as the first purchase driver, with the exception of Russian youth, 21% of whom placed design/style first.
Personal payment for mobile charges increases as teens move into young adulthood. Across the countries surveyed, personal payment increases on average 30% once mobile users exit their teen years. Germany and Brazil are tied for the highest percentage of teens who say they pay their own bill, while Italy has the lowest. The US has the lowest rate of personal payment among ages 20-24, with only 45% of youth in that age bracket paying for their own service.
US mobile phone owners age 13-17 send and receive an average of 3,705 texts per month, according to other recent data from The Nielsen Company. This is more than double the next-highest average number of texts sent and received in average month, 1,707, performed by 18-to-24-year-olds. (Marketing Charts, January 2011)
The usage of mobile phones has become ubiquitous in our daily lives. In developed regions every individual has a mobile phone and its penetration is drastically increasing in developing countries.
The Japanese mobile users were the most connected of the three markets (Japan, US and Europe) researched by comScore in October 2010. Japanese users topping the list of connected media usage, browser usage and application usage. SMS services are still popular in European regions, However, if one looks at the mobile usage of Japanese users this functionality will be extinct in the near future. Majority of Japanese users use their mobile phones to send emails.
4.7% of mobile users in the US have accessed travel service from their mobile, compared to 4.1% in Europe and 3.3% in Japan.
Mobile behaviours by percent of total mobile audience, 7 October 2010:
- Used connected media: 75.2% in Japan / 43.7% in the US / 38.5% in Europe
- Used browser: 59.3% / 34.0% / 25.8%
- Used application: 42.3% / 31.1% / 24.9%
- Sent text message to another phone: 40.1% / 66.8% / 81.7%
- Used major instant messaging service: 3.3% / 17.2% / 12.6%
- Used email (work or personal): 54.0% / 27.9% / 18.8%
- Accessed social networking site or blog: 17.0% / 21.3% / 14.7%
- Listened to music on mobile phone: 12.5% / 13.9% / 24.2%
- Took photos: 63.0% / 50.6% / 56.8%
- Captured video: 15.4% / 19.2% / 25.8%
- Watched TV and/or video on mobile phone: 22.0% / 4.8% / 5.4%
- Played games: 16.3% / 22.5% / 24.1%
- Accessed bank accounts: 8.0% / 9.4% / 7.1%
- Accessed financial news or stock quotes: 16.1% / 10.0% / 7.2%
- Accessed online retail: 7.2% / 5.5% / 4.1%
- Accessed classifieds: 4.2% / 6.6% / 4.2%
- Accessed travel service: 3.3% / 4.7% / 4.1%
- Accessed maps: 15.7% / 16.0% / 10.8%
- Accessed traffic reports: 2.6% / 8.2% / 5.9%
- Accessed weather: 34.1% / 22.3% / 13.7%
Looking at the social networks used, Facebook leads in the US and Europe, while Mixi leads in Japan. Twitter is doing a great job in Japan and Facebook and YouTube need to step up their game in order to conquer the Japanese market.
Top four mobile social media brands:
- Japan: 1. Mixi 2. Gree 3. Twitter 4. Mobage Town
- US: 1. Facebook 2. MySpace 3. YouTube 4. Twitter
- Europe: 1. Facebook 2. YouTube 3. MSN / Bing / W.Live 4. Twitter
(Social Times - Your Social Media Source, January 2011)
Although applications deliver the best experience today, they are costly to develop and require specialist skills to build and manage. HTML 5 could take over in the near future, providing many of the advantages of applications such as offline access of websites and geo-location services, according to experts at the "Does Mobile Matter" session at the World Travel Market.
Mobile applications are a ‘short-term bet', according to a mobile expert speaking at the Does Mobile Matter? Session. Giving his top 10 tips for mobile, CX Partners Managing Director Giles Colbourne claimed mobile would become the centre of all businesses and advised companies to think about mobile first and build out from there. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, November 2010)
While mobile search overall has increased four-fold in the past year, according to Google, searches for travel-related terms have jumped 12 times and hotel-specific terms are up 30 times in the same period. Moreover, those travelers are booking differently than those doing so from a desktop, and are often choosing places to stay on the eve of their trip or once they have reached their destination.
Whether 2010 finally shapes up to be the year for mobile, it already has a huge head start in one sector: travel. As a result, marketers with apps are raking in profits.
The mobile-search traveler is likely to be on business. More than 60% of surveyed business travelers make reservations or bookings via mobile vs. nearly 40% of personal travelers, according to Google research. Car-rental service Avis says travelers with corporate accounts and BlackBerry devices have had a big hand in its 100% growth in mobile web reservations year over year. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, December 2010)
Patently Apple first introduced us to Apple's future iTravel App in April 2010. In July, Apple followed up with two new iTravel services relating to Airline and hotel services. Today, Apple's next iTravel direction takes us to the cruise line industry.
Apple knows that researching and putting together a cruise itinerary could be a daunting experience for consumers. Trying to figure out where to go, what excursions and/or off-shore activities to take or sifting through an endless list of cruise line services, could be intimidating.
Planning a cruise with Apple's iTravel for cruise lines will greatly simplify that process from pre-cruise to post-cruise. Apple's future iTravel app will take advantage of NFC and location based technologies to enhance your cruise line experience with such services as social networking, interactive ship maps, the ability to purchase onboard tickets to shows or restaurants and even to act as a universal remote to control in-cabin electronics and climate control.
Apple's latest patent even surprises with a very strong hint of providing a future iPhone with a pico projector so as to possibly enhance your travel experience by being able to show off your excursion iMovies to an audience. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, December 2010)
Consumers do consider apps a must, according to an October 2010 survey from interface design agency EffectiveUI conducted by Harris Interactive. More than three-quarters of mobile app users said they expected all brand name companies to have a mobile application, and nearly as many said they expected the app to be easier to use than the company's website.
But the survey also highlighted the danger of developing an app for its own sake. Almost 7 in 10 app users said their perception of a brand would be negatively affected if it had an app that wasn't useful or helpful. And many apps appear to fall into this category; 38% of respondents said they were not satisfied with most apps from their favourite brands.
An earlier survey from Adobe found most mobile device users preferred using browsers to apps for a variety of functions, despite the assumption among marketers and industry experts that apps provide a better user experience. These users may also have been unimpressed with many of the apps they had tried.
Marketers must keep ease of use and also utility in mind when designing apps. The application must be a natural fit for the brand and offer a genuine value to users, or they could be actively turned off from the brand. (eMarketer, November 2010)
October 2010 saw a surge of 134% in mobile web usage, compared to last year. Global mobile data traffic surged in October 2010 at the fastest rate in seven months, raising the prospect of new orders for the makers of telecoms equipment.
The largest mobile internet browser firm, Opera, said that global data traffic through its browser rose 15% in October 2010 from September 2010, and surged 134% from a year ago. The mobile internet market has boomed since the introduction of Apple's iPhone in 2007 and a raft of other smartphones hitting the market.
The Blackberry, iPhone and Nokia browsers all have 16 to 18% market shares. (ITPRO FIT FOR BUSINESS, November 2010)
Mobile internet is demonstrating unprecedented early stage growth, with adoption rate growing faster than desktop internet did, according to Morgan Stanley. Apple is currently leading the charge.
Subscribers to various technologies at the 11th Quarter after launch:
- Mobile internet (iPhone + iTouch - launched June 2007): around 86 million
- Mobile internet (NTT docomo I-mode - launched 6/99): around 31 million
- Desktop Internet (Netscape - launched 12/94): around 18 million
- Desktop internet (AOL - v2.0 launched 9/94): around 8 million
Estimated number of days to reach 1 million units sold:
- Nintendo Wii: 13
- Nintendo DS: 15
- iPad: 28
- iPhone: 74
- Netbooks: 180
- BlackBerry: 300+
- iPod: 360+
Morgan Stanley indicates that 3G is key to the success of mobile internet and that 2010 is estimated to be the mainstream inflection point when 3G penetration rate will reach the 20% mark.
Global 3G+ subscribers and penetration rate, 2007 - 2014:
- 2007: 273 million (8% penetration rate)
- 2008: 430 million (11%)
- 2009: 688 million (15%)
- 2010: 1,055 million (21%)
- 2011: 1,503 million (27%)
- 2012: 1,928 million (33%)
- 1013: 2,348 million (38%)
- 2014: 2,776 million (43%)
USA has surpassed Japan as country with most 3G users in the first quarter of 2009. USA has become the global leader in mobile users and innovation.
3G users in Japan vs USA, 2003-2009:
- 2003: 3million (Japan) / nil (USA)
- 2004: 16 million / 2 million
- 2005: 36 million / 8 million
- 2006: 57 million / 21 million
- 2007: 74 million / 54 million
- 2008: 87 million / 82 million
- 2009: 99 million / 123 million
(Morgan Stanley Internet Trends Presentation at CM Summit - New York City on SlideShare, June 2010)
Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones in the third quarter of 2010, up 91% year-on-year and 67.86% quarter-on-quarter. The figure puts the total number of iPhones sold since launch at 73.72 million. The company sold 4.19 million iPads during the same period. (telecoms.com, October 2010)
Smartphone use accounts for 65% of all mobile cellular traffic worldwide, despite smartphone penetration running at just 13%, according to Informa Telecoms & Media. Usage is set to increase exponentially over the next five years, with average traffic per smartphone user increasing by 700% by 2015.
Smartphone users across the globe currently average 85MB of traffic per month, with Apple's iPhone proving the handset on which most traffic is generated. Devices running the Android OS sit behind the iPhone in terms of traffic generation, and the Google-backed OS will not overtake Apple in this metric, Informa said, because Android will be deployed across low-, mid- and high-user segments.
The traffic disparity between smartphone and non-smartphone is most pronounced in North America, where 86% of mobile data traffic is currently generated by smartphone users, according to Malik Kamal-Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. Average traffic per user (ATPU) for smartphones is set to hit 776MB/month by 2015.
Growth in Western Europe will also be impressive, hitting 736MB/month in 2015, up from less than 44MB/month in 2009. The highest use will remain in the advanced markets of Japan and South Korea, which currently average 199MB/month and 271MB/month. (Telecoms.com, November 2010)
A cross-market analysis of mobile activities in Japan, the U.S. and Europe revealed significant differences among consumers by geography, according to a study by comScore. Mobile users in Japan were the "most connected" of the three markets, with more than 75% using connected media (browsed, accessed applications or downloaded content) in June 2010, compared to 43.7% in the US and 38.5% in Europe.
Japanese mobile users also displayed the strongest usage of both applications and browsers with 59.3% of the entire mobile population accessing their browsers in June and 42.3% accessing applications. Comparatively 34.0% of mobile users in the US and 25.8% in Europe used their mobile browsers, with 31.1% in the US and 24.9% in Europe accessing applications.
Messaging methods also varied with Europeans displaying the strongest use of text messaging with 81.7% sending a text message in June, compared to 66.8% in the US and just 40.1% in Japan. Japanese users exhibited the highest reach in the email category at 54%, while consumers in the US were most likely to use instant messaging services on their mobile (17.2%).
Social networking/blogs reached the greatest percentage of mobile users in the US at 21.3%, followed by Japan at 17.0% and Europe at 14.7%. Japanese users were most likely to capture photos (63.0%) and watch TV/video (22.0%) on their mobiles, while Europeans were most likely to listen to music (24.2%) and play games (24.1%).
A demographic analysis of mobile media users across markets showed that mobile media consumption was more balanced across age segments in Japan when compared to the US and Europe. In the US, 25-34 year olds were 44% more likely to access mobile media than an average mobile user, with 18-24 year olds 39% more likely. In Europe, 18-24 year olds represented the most-connected segment, 54% more likely to be mobile media users, while persons age 25-34 were 35% more likely.
The US and Europe also showed greater gender disparity among mobile media audiences. Females were 9% less likely to be mobile media users in the US, while females in Europe were 16% less likely.
Across markets, local and global brands showed varying levels of adoption by mobile audiences. In all three markets, the top mobile social media brand mirrored the top PC-based social networking brand with Facebook leading in the US and Europe and Mixi leading in Japan. Local brands Gree and Mobage Town were the 2nd and 4th most accessed social networking brands in Japan. Twitter was the only brand to be ranked in the top four in all markets. (comScore, October 2010)
Mobile technology is being adopted by the corporate travel industry in four key ways: mobile itinerary management, security and safety on the road, mobile commerce, and automating and expediting the travel process, according to a whitepaper by BCD Travel "Changing the DNA of Managed Travel: Using Social and Mobile to Enhance Productivity, Morale and the Bottom Line".
Thanks to the growth in the usage of smart-phones and the Social Web, today's workforce has developed new habits and expectations around interactive information-sharing, mobility, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration. These expectations are changing the way they see, and move through, the landscape of managed travel.
The white paper argues that, properly deployed, social Web and mobile technology can help keep travellers informed and aware, offer newly personalized corporate travel experiences and feed vital information into the corporation's program management framework and processes. (Travel Industry Wire, September 2010)
Availability of free Wi-Fi does influence venue choice with nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated that free Wi-Fi influences their choice of venue, according to In-Stat's Wi-Fi Hotspot research. An additional 31% indicated that free access may influence their choice, and just 5% said that it would have no influence over venue choice.
Some of the research findings include:
- Worldwide annual hotspot connects, or sessions, will reach over 2 billion by the end of 2010 with annual hotspot connects anticipated to grow to over 11 billion by 2014.
- Asia/Pacific will have about a quarter of the worldwide hotspot venues over the forecast period.
- By 2012, handhelds are anticipated to account for half of hotspot connects.
- The total worldwide hotspot market size will swell to 319,200 venues by year-end.
(TravelDailyNews, October 2010)
According to Google, it is a matter of when, not if, mobile devices will overtake the desktop as the web access point of choice for users. Therefore, the trend that will have the greatest impact on the travel business is the astronomical rise in the use of smart phones.
The combination of sophisticated mobile devices coupled with location based applications, the possibility of offline navigation with no roaming fees, augmented reality and more of such developments mean the world of travel planning and buying continues to evolve.
Even as it seems there is plenty to do considering the latest technology and gadgets-related developments, it is also emphasised that gadgets or distribution technology do not make that much difference in terms of total travel spend worldwide.
However, a business' performance can be impacted by changes in technology. A simple example is the decline of the brick and mortar travel agencies after the web developed. Now, does that mean if a business does not have a native iPad application, it's doomed to fail? Doubtful. And on the other hand, if a business spends too much time on the latest/greatest gadget, it could seriously mis-direct resources. It is an interesting dilemma: How much attention / money should one spend on emerging technology? Unfortunately, there are no obvious answers and mistakes can be grievous down the road due to path-dependent development.
Significantly, travel-related mobile activities such as viewing maps, getting directions, researching local activities and travel products have gained steam faster than transactions to date. However, the growth opportunity in the mobile market as a source of travel-related transactions is far too big to be ignored and is gaining serious momentum.
Google believes that as smartphones with full webkit browsers continue to grow, more and more users will be able to access the web and search with Google from their mobile devices. The company wants to enable users to search as easily on their phones as they do on the desktop; keep in mind that searches on mobile phones are generally incremental to desktop searches as users often search with their phone when they are away from a desktop - on the road, away for the weekend. At the same time, Google acknowledges that search on the mobile device is special, however, in that there are unique characteristics of the phone that let us expand the ways users can search.
Overall, it is clear that travel planning and booking will happen anytime, anywhere - even up to the last minute. Also, travellers will draw upon the advice and influence of their social graph throughout the travel life cycle - and can immediately broadcast reviews and other insights back to their social graph whenever they want. Finally, with location-aware services out there, everyone (including businesses) will make their communications more relevant, based on where the traveller is physically located, at any given point in time. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, October 2010)
As of August 2010, travellers have downloaded Hilton-brand apps 340,000 times. Revenue generated from room bookings across Hilton's brands via the mobile apps soared 200% in May vs. May 2009. Hilton expects customers will book "well over" 100,000 room nights via mobile apps in 2010.
The surge that Hilton Worldwide has seen this year in its iPhone application downloads and mobile room bookings surprises even Chuck Sullivan, the company's senior vice president of global online services.
Part of what's driven the surge in app use since Hilton launched its first apps has been the rollout of 3G networks. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, September 2010)
Microsoft released a new version of its Bing app for the iPhone and iPod touch and it incorporates Bing Travel features for the first time. When mobile users click on Travel, they can conduct flight searches and also view the estimated price for alternative airports and dates.
Consumers can utilize Bing Travel's predictive technology to see recommendations on whether they should "buy now" or wait, and they also can see displays of top deals from their local airports.
Consumers can also view a flight status feature to see if their flights are on time.
Separately, Bing upgraded the app's mapping features, giving more prominence to information about traffic, business listings and neighborhood labels. The feature also enables users to switch between map and list views. (tnooz - talking travel tech, September 2010)
The most recent Apple iTravel patent reveals that in addition to making room reservations, travellers could also make requests about temperature, lighting, the types of food or beverages to have available, etc. Then, the iPhone could act as a room key and as a remote control for things like A/V devices.
The initial iTravel patent detailed an application that could connect to various airlines or transportation services, and book or retrieve reservations for flights, hotels, car rentals, etc., all from the device. Check-in/Baggage Claim data and identity information could also be accessed in the app to make boarding and retrieving or checking luggage that much easier.
The most recent iTravel patent reveals that in addition to making and retrieving reservations, the iTravel app could actually communicate with equipment on airplanes and add a layer of personalization to travel.
The iTravel app could also connect directly to hotel services like dry cleaning, room service and the hotel spa, and make it easy to reserve tables at nearby restaurants, book cabs or get suggestions for local entertainment. Finally, the app could be used to pay your bill, request transportation, use reward programs and also keep track of receipts. (Tourismexchange.com, August 2010)
The threshold of 5 billion mobile phone subscribers will be exceeded this year for the first time. By the end of the year, the 4.5 billion figure will have increased by 12 per cent to 5.1 billion. Of these, 800 million persons are already using the fast UMTS mobile communications standard; an increase of 37 per cent. In 2011, there will already be more than one billion UMTS subscribers.
The number of mobile phone subscribers has doubled in the past five years. This figure is expected to rise by 10 percent to 5.6 billion in 2011. The growth in developing and emerging countries is especially strong. According to the most recent data from the UN agency International Telecommunication Union (ITU), more than half the homes in these countries, even in rural areas, have a mobile phone connection. Landlines are rarely found or not at all. In the EU the number of mobile phone subscribers is expected to rise to around 650 million by the end of 2010. This is a growth of almost 3 per cent compared to the previous year. Nearly a third of these now use UMTS. Germany has the most mobile phone contracts in the EU: around 111 million by the end of 2010. Germany is followed by Italy (87 million), Great Britain (81 million), France (62 million) and Spain (57 million). By comparison: There are an anticipated 220 million in Russia and 287 million in the USA.
The use of mobile communications is increasing far more in Asia and South America than in Europe and North America. In China, the number of mobile phone subscribers has risen by almost 13 percent this year to around 844 million. This figure is expected to grow by one-tenth within the next year to 930 million. In India, the number of subscriptions will go up by 30 per cent to 680 million. In Brazil, there will be 193 million connections by the end of the year; a growth of 11 percent. Japan is technically very advanced: 96 percent of all mobile communications users already use UMTS. (eito.com, August 2010)
A greater portion of Chinese mobile subscribers are accessing the internet via mobile devices than users in the US, according to a report from The Nielsen Company. Research conducted by the measurement firm also suggested more Chinese users download mobile applications and make use of mobile instant messaging services than their US counterparts.
Although mobile devices are only just reaching widespread penetration in China, Nielsen found 38% of mobile subscribers there claim to access online content on a monthly basis, compared with just 27% of subscribers in the US. In addition, 20% of users in China claim to download mobile apps and 23% use mobile instant messaging products, compared with 18% and 16% of US users, respectively.
China also surpassed the US in terms of text message usage, with 86% of users there using SMS services compared with 64% of US subscribers. Two areas in which the US continues to outpace China in terms of adoption, however, are location-based services and e-mail.
Nielsen's research was based on face-to-face surveys with 4,946 consumers age 15 and up in 19 cities around China. The interviews were conducted in March 2010.
(Clickz.com, August 2010)
Whether tourists are backpacking in Bali or camel trekking across the Sahara, the Postcards app captures their image on iPhone and android smartphones, sending it to the folks back home by conventional post.
In the recent two-month test-phase, 18,000 holidaymakers sent unique ‘DIY' postcards using the free app - which can be accessed from both Android and iPhone platforms.
Already one of the Apple website's top 30 apps in their ‘free stuff' travel section, the free ‘Postcards' download lets users take a photo or upload from their library and input text to family and friends. It costs UK£1.49 to send first class postcards anywhere in the world, processed via PayPal.
The worldwide postcards are sent to a printing firm in Dorset via file transfer protocol (FTP) at 4pm every day. They are then run off using state-of-the-art Xerox printers and collected for dispatch by Royal Mail at 5.15pm the same day.
(Travelmole, July 2010)
Business travellers ranked adjusting travel plans, making dinner reservations and checking into hotels as three of the top four "must-have" mobile applications, according to a recent survey from Omni Hotels & Resorts. The survey, which asked about mobile and social application preferences and usage, found that access to these tools were an integral part of time management on the road. Beyond taking care of travel matters, the survey also revealed that business travellers utilized mobile and social applications to take care of personal items, explore the local area and connect virtually with friends and family.
Checking the latest sports scores, updating Facebook, looking for the nearest coffee spot and tweeting were also highly rated in the recent survey. In addition, 61% of all business travellers were burning the midnight oil online - not on business from the day - but rather managing their personal lives remotely.
The younger business traveller was even more focused on finding personal balance. Nearly one third of younger business travellers, ages 25 to 34, were more likely to order perks that make their hotel stay more comfortable; over 40% tweet about their travels and 65% enjoy updating Facebook to let everyone know where they are.
Business travellers, who are inclined to order services from a hotel on a mobile device or computer, prefer things which will help travel go more smoothly. When asked which types of services they would order using their mobile device or computer, almost six in 10 business travellers said they would request a car service to the airport, while 48% said they would order anything that would allow them to multitask while on a business trip.
When asked what hotel Wi-Fi is used for at night other than work, 61% of business travellers said they randomly surf the web, while others use the time to catch up with life outside of work. Also in the survey, 49% of business travellers pay bills online and 34% Skype or chat with their family at home.
A sizeable number, 40% of business travellers, check Facebook or other social networking Web site(s) on hotel Wi-Fi and 34% of travellers say they update their Facebook status.
Just over half - 55% - of the business travellers surveyed said they never tweet while on a business trip, and only 11% said they tweet often. Among those who said they would tweet during a hotel stay, positive experiences, such as free room upgrades (70%) and free Wi-Fi (62%) were more likely to incent a tweet than negative ones. The survey found an overbooked hotel to be the one negative that would likely put guests in a tweeting mood.
A total of 200 business travellers completed the online survey conducted from March 29-31 by KRC Research. To qualify, business travellers had to be at least 22 years old, travel overnight for business purposes at least six times a year, spend approximately $150 or more per night on a hotel room, not including taxes, and carry and/or use a personal communication device (PDA, Blackberry, iPhone, Google Android smartphone or other device) while travelling on business.
(Tourism Exchange Company, July 2010)
A Cisco Systems study predicts smartphones ownership level worldwide, by region and country, predicting that 17% of mobile handsets worldwide by 2014 will be smartphone, up from 9% in 2009.
Smartphone penetration worldwide, by region and country, 2009 and 2014 (% of total mobile handsets):
North America: 32% in 2009 / 54% by 2014
- US: 32% / 55%
- Canada: 30% / 50%
Western Europe: 25% / 49%
- Italy: 36% / 67%
- Germany: 17% / 33%
- France: 16% / 33%
- UK: 17% / 32%
- Rest of Western Europe: 31% / 64%
Asia-Pacific: 8% / 16%
- South Korea: 14% / 30%
- China: 10% / 21%
- India: 4% / 12%
- Rest of Asia-Pacific: 8% / 12%
Central and Eastern Europe: 6% / 16%
- Russia: 6% / 17%
- Rest of Central and Eastern Europe: 5% / 16%
Japan: 4% / 8%
Middle East and Africa: 3% / 7%
- South Africa: 1% / 4%
- Rest of Middle East and Africa: 3% / 7%
Latin America: 1% / 3%
- Mexico: 3% / 12%
- Brazil: 1% / 2%
- Rest of Latin America: 1% / 2%
(eMarketer, June 2010)
Google has launched a new feature for mobile search that helps users on Android-powered devices and iPhones find and download mobile apps. Google highlighted that with tens of thousands of apps available for both Android and iPhone phone, there are plenty of options to choose from when the users are looking for new apps. (eyefortravel, June 2010)
Much has been made of the new device, but a first look at the iPhone 4 gives little indication as to what travellers will get from it. This is because visually it doesn't actually look drastically different - slighter squarer edges, metallic design, but very little else.
For travellers there isn't a single new feature on the handset that's a killer piece of functionality, such as the introduction of the widely talked about iTravel function - but there are enough new tools to suggest that as a suite of improvements it improves massively on the existing iPhone model when it comes to travel-related functionality.
But perhaps the most important element of the upgrade is the multi-tasking functionality. Until now iPhones have been limited to single use for different services - a frustrating bar on its functionality, especially for those using apps or instant messaging systems such as Skype. The iPhone 4 will allow multiple tasks to be carried out at the same time such as email and the camera, calendar and currency converter. And arguably the most useful service for the traveller, GPS tracking, will run constantly (if required) so users do not need to restart an app or piece of functionality each time they fire it up.
With so many travel-related apps dependent on the GPS connection but often causing irritation to users as they seemingly start again when opened, this could be seen as a major step forward for the handset. (tnooz - talking travel tech, June 2010)
Google has unveiled a new online app store for its Chrome browser consumers to purchase games, in a move to give the search giant a central role in the next generation of web media and entertainment.
The Chrome Web Store, which Google said will be available soon, will make it easy for web surfers to find web applications and purchase them with one click. The store will be accessible through Google's Chrome web browser, which the company said now has 70 million users, up from 30 million in June 2009.
The idea of aggregating a range of free and paid applications at an online store for downloading by consumers has been widely popularized by Apple's 'App Store' for the iPhone. Google's mobile operating system Android and Research In Motion's BlackBerry and others also now have their own app stores.
Google also announced a new format for web video that it said will be open-source and royalty free. The new video format, dubbed webm, is based on technology that Google acquired through its $120 million purchase of On2 Technologies earlier this year.
Google is also widely expected to unveil a television-internet product in collaboration with Intel and Sony. (ITPRO FIT FOR BUSINESS, May 2010)
A mobile contactless payment solution, designed to enable iPhone users to make contactless transactions, such as Visa mobile payments, by simply waving the iPhone in front of a contactless payment terminal, has been launched. The solution, In2Pay, has been introduced by DeviceFidelity.
The solution combines DeviceFidelity's In2Pay microSD technology with a specially designed, patent-pending protective case that adds mobile contactless capability and works with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G. By placing a removable In2Pay microSD into the protective case, iPhone users can take advantage of In2Pay's secure contactless capabilities where contactless transactions are offered. They range from buying goods in retail stores and at unattended kiosks, to transit ticketing, and even securely accessing buildings and computers networks.
Trials are scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2010. (eyefortravel, May 2010)
Apple has filed a patent for a travel app called iTravel that books flights, hotels and car reservations, as well as providing ticketless check-in using Near Field Communications (NFC), a short-range wireless technology.
Apple has already indicated its interest in the ticketing space by filing a patent for "Concert Ticket +", an event ticketing system linked to iTunes. But this is the first indication that the company is actively looking to target the travel vertical.
The patent suggests that, as well as buying travel products, travellers will be able to use the app to pass through airline check-in and security without paper tickets or even a passport. The app could be used to wirelessly check in the traveller at the ticket counter, and using a combination of fingerprint or retina scan, identify them to airline and security personnel. The app with also allow travellers to check themselves in at the boarding gate and help them find their RFID-tagged luggage at the other end.
iPhones don't currently have in-built NFC capabilities, but the technology is already widely used in Japan for mobile ticketing and payments. There are rumours that the next 4G iPhone will include NFC, and the filing of the iTravel patent certainly suggests the thinking at Apple is rapidly moving in this direction.
With rumours of a purchase of ITA Software, a vertical play into travel from Apple's arch rival Google is also looking more likely than ever. (EyeForTravel, April 2010)
The demand for smartphones is creating a demographic shift among users, who will exceed 1 billion worldwide by 2014, stimulating demand for more entry-level models that offer mainstream solutions such as mobile email and social networking applications, according to Parks Associates' Smartphone: King of Convergence.
This new report includes consumer data from Parks Associates' primary study Mobile Convergence: Platforms, Applications, and Services. This consumer survey finds only 30% of current smartphone users are the stereotypical young and tech-savvy aficionados.
The other user segments exhibit more mainstream demographic attributes and more divergent usage patterns. One such segment, dubbed "pragmatists," consists of budget-conscious, middle-aged users who prefer mobile email service over Internet access. Another group is keen on the smartphone's communication features, ranging from mobile Internet to social network access. (Parks Associates, March 2010)
US based OpenWays launched an application for smartphones (embedded or mobile web-based) that allows travellers to check-in remotely, bypass the front desk and open the door to their room by simply pressing a "key" icon on their mobile device.
Those traveling with an iPhone, BlackBerry, NOKIA, Android-based or other Windows-based mobile cell phone can securely obtain an encrypted room key in "full data mode" - as long as they are staying at a hotel that enables the OpenWays mobile key service.
The OpenWays solution was introduced in November 2009 as a way to enable any of the 4 billion cell phones in the world to receive a dematerialized key via an encrypted acoustic tone to bypass the front desk and access door locks. This ubiquitous solution uses the principle of Crypto Acoustic Credential (CACTM) and text messaging (SMS) to very securely deliver a key to the right user anywhere in the world. The solution is compatible with the major electronic-locking systems and access-control systems. The acoustic key produced is unique, and thanks to OpenWays patents-pending solutions, a fraudulent recording of the key will be made inefficient to open a door. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, March 2010)
More than 650 million people worldwide (or 13.4% of mobile subscribers) use the Web via a mobile device at least monthly in 2010, according to eMarketer.
Two-thirds of mobile users around the globe are interested in "smart" services that would feed them information based on personal preferences, location, time of day and social setting, according to a Tellabs survey conducted by The Nielsen Company.
Mobile users expect these services from a variety of providers, including mobile operators, other internet application providers, and a combination of many sources. Consumers placed significant trust in their mobile carriers in terms of protecting the information needed to provide smart services, and overall selected carriers more often than any other group as the "most appropriate" provider of services.
Consumers' expectations regarding smart location-based services closely mirrored their desires in other areas, such as news, media and entertainment content, where less than one-half named mobile carriers as the best source of information, followed by other Web providers and a combination.
When it came to shopping services, however, there was a notable difference: Mobile carriers dropped somewhat in importance, and advertisers became a much more prominent source of information.
US marketers have already begun experimenting with exactly this type of smart shopping service. "Geo-fencing" provides personalized marketing messages to shoppers based on their location or proximity to a marketer's store. 1020 Placecast, for example, piloted a ShopAlerts program that was embraced by mobile users:
- 60% said the location-triggered messages were "cool" and "innovative."
- 79% claimed to be more likely to visit a store.
- 65% made a purchase.
- 73% were likely to use the service again.
(eMarketer, March 2010)
Mobile is at least somewhat important to the strategy of more than ¾ of marketers in North America, according to a January 2010 survey by R2integrated. But barriers to mobile campaigns remain.
The greatest obstacle, the survey found, was difficulty in developing the business case for mobile campaigns, followed by inability to measure ROI and a lack of a mobile component to the strategic marketing road map.
Barriers to using a mobile marketing campaign according to marketing professionals in North America, January 2010 (% of respondents):
- I do not know how to develop the business case: 32.2%
- Not enough analytics to measure ROI: 28.9%
- Mobile is not on our strategic road map: 28.9%
- I do not think my audience is mobile yet: 21.7%
Asked what the most critical area of improvement was in mobile, 43% of respondents said quantifying ROI as the top response.
Respondents said the main goals of their mobile campaigns were raising company awareness and generating leads. To that end, marketers were most likely to measure their success by an increase in customers or sales.
Methods used to measure success of mobile campaigns according to marketing professionals in North America, January 2010 (% of respondents):
- Increase in customers: 48.7%
- Increase in sales: 38.5%
- Increase in company visibility: 34.0%
- Increase in mobile subscribers: 24.4%
- Increase in market share: 14.7%
It appears that 2010 will be a year of experimentation and education on mobile marketing as marketers struggle to come to terms with its practicality and ROI, according to R2integrated. This shouldn't suggest that marketers ought to table their mobile marketing plans, but that they should pay considerable attention to how they can connect the dots back to driving revenue.
Most respondents reported that they would spend less than 15% of their budgets over the next year on mobile, though about one-quarter would spend between 15% and 30%. More than half were focused on mobile Website development, while 40% used apps for their campaigns.
The marketers surveyed considered iPhone and BlackBerry the most important platform for mobile development. Consumers may be arming up to Android, but only 7% of respondents to the R2integrated survey thought it was "very important." (eMarketer, February 2010)
Pageonce released its TripTracker and TripTracker Pro apps for iPhone and iPod touch that essentially puts all critical travel documents in one place and assists users through every stage of their journey.
The application imports travel itineraries for hands-off travel management. To get started, travellers download the app and enter their account information for airlines and hotels once. From then on, anytime a user travels, his itineraries and travel details will automatically appear on his iPhone or iPod touch.
TripTracker is the only app on the Appstore that automatically pushes real-time travel details to iPhone, removing the inconvenience of adding it manually or sending e-mail commands to a third party provider.
TripTracker features 10 essential travel tools. Users can track, among other options: Live flights worldwide; Hotel confirmation numbers, check in/out dates, phone numbers and maps to hotel; Future flight and hotel itineraries; One click full itineraries at a glance. Car rentals will be added soon, according to the company. (TravelMole, January 2010)
Most smartphone owners use mobile apps, and they constitute a thriving market that will lead to explosive growth in application store revenues, according to Gartner. More than 4.5 billion mobile applications will be downloaded worldwide in 2010, bringing in some $6.8 billion to app stores. More than 8 in 10 applications downloaded in 2010, however, will be free.
Mobbile application stores downloads and revenues worldwide, 2009, 2010 & 2013:
- 2009: 2,516,000 downloads / $4,237.80 million
- 2010: 4,507,000 / $6,770.40 million
- 2013: 21,646,000 / $29,479.30 million
Both total downloads and revenues are set to more than quadruple by 2013, Gartner predicts. The proportion of apps downloaded that are free will also increase in the same period, by 5% points.
Free mobile application downloads worldwide (% of total):
- 2010: 82%
- 2013: 87%
Estimates of app store revenues and downloads range widely. Tech researcher Ovum predicted in November 2009 that worldwide app store revenues would reach only $5.7 billion in 2014. In December 2009, ABI Research projected only 5 billion mobile app downloads by 2014. And Screen Digest forecasts 4.4 billion app downloads from the Apple store alone in 2010.
For the US market, Yankee Group predicts 1.4 billion app downloads, bringing in $573 million in revenues. The researcher expects revenues to increase to more than $4.2 billion in 2013, when US consumers will download nearly 7 billion apps. (eMarketer, January 2010)
Apple has unveiled their latest must have gadget, the iPad. It's a tablet, or a slate, or at least it fits into that form factor category. But in terms of functionality it falls into one of these new niches that the portable computing or MID (mobile internet device) sector seems to keep spawning.
The iPad looks and feels much like a big iPhone, albeit one with a 9.7" LED display. It will be available with either wifi or wifi and 3G connectivity, but it doesn't support cellular voice. It seems to attack the burgeoning e-reader space, dominated by the likes of Amazon's Kindle, and the forthcoming Android-based devices that offer more features and functionality, yet it doesn't support multitasking, at least not with third party apps.
Apple will open up a new section in the App Store to cater to the iPad, although the device is also able to use 140,000 existing iPhone and iPod Touch applications. However, some have noted that once some of these apps scale up to the available resolution of the iPad (1024 by 768 pixels at 132 pixels per inch) they look a bit like the blocky graphics of the Commodore 64.
Taking the e-reader market head on, the iPad will feature an iBooks app that allows users to browse, purchase and download e-books to read on the device. The screen isn't up to the same standards as electronic ink, but that's because it's being pitched as a jack of all trades when teamed with the iWork suite of office tools, Safari browser (with the same lack of support for Flash and Java that the iPhone suffers from), email client, and photo, video and music player apps.
The wifi only model will start shipping in late March 2010, while the wifi and 3G models will be available in April. (telecoms.com, January 2010)
More than half of internet users worldwide made a mobile device part of their shopping activities in December 2009, according to a Motorola report.
Generation Y respondents came out ahead on every measure of mobile shopping activity that Motorola studied, while boomers lagged behind. In some cases, the usage gap was significant. Gen Y users, for example, were 6.5 times as likely as baby boomers to have gotten coupons or special offers via mobile. And crucially, they were more than three times as likely to have made a mobile purchase over the past two weeks.
Internet users worldwide who have used a mobile phone for in-store shopping activities, by generation, December 2009 (% of respondents):
- Generation Y: 64.0%
- Generation X: 50.1%
- Baby boomers: 33.2%
- TOTAL: 51.4%
Mobile shopping habits differed just as greatly by region, with North America coming in last by almost every measure. Users in Asia-Pacific were enthusiastic adopters; nearly 8 in 10 reported some mobile shopping activity, and 23% had made a mobile purchase.
Usage of mobile phone for shopping-related activities* by internet users worldwide, by region, December 2009 (% of respondents):
- Asia-Pacific: 78.0%
- Europe: 49.4%
- Latin America: 62.4%
- North America: 45.1%
- Worldwide: 51.4%
Latin America was also a source of above-average mobile shopping activity, though users there did not approach those in Asia-Pacific for advanced actions such as mobile couponing and mobile purchases.
An October 2009 study from the IBM Institute for Business Value reached similar conclusions. Internet users surveyed in India, China and Brazil reported a significantly greater willingness to shop via mobile phones than respondents in the US, UK and Canada. (eMarketer, January 2010)
Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 16:34
