Mobile Insights is a new daily newsletter from BI Intelligence delivered first thing every morning exclusively to BI Intelligence subscribers. Sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today.
Nobody "Goes Online" Anymore, Because They Are Always Connected (Forrester via All Things Digital)
Forrester surveyed Internet users and found that they say they spend fewer hours per week online than they did a year ago. Wait, what?
The drop is more about perception than reality, because many people are virtually always online these days. "Despite the fact that they always have connected devices and are always online, they don’t really realize they’re online," said Forrester analyst Gina Sverdlov. "They’re using Google Maps or checking in on Facebook, but that’s not considered online because it has become such a part of everyday life." Why talk or think about "going online" when you’re already there? What we actually do is generally more important than the words we use to describe it. But the fact that these labels are trailing behind is another indicator of the significance of these shifts.
3 Tips For Better Mobile Email Marketing (Jeff Bullas)
Enter Pete, your typical smartphone user. Pete is a thirty-something male who purchased an iPhone last October. He uses it frequently to change his Facebook status, upload vacation pictures, tweet witty opinions, check the weather, browse YouTube videos, text his friends, and check his email. All while he drops off dry cleaning, picks up a latte, walks to the office, and eats a burrito for lunch. Your message in Pete’s inbox has a lot of competitors for his undivided attention. Here is what you need to know to play it well:
- Pete will read your pre-header
- Your email is under Pete's thumb
- Pete is probably on the go
By reaching Pete with your mobile email marketing campaign, you can possibly reach his friends too. But only if you play the game.
Are Mobile Websites A Fad Or Should Businesses Invest In Them? (myhosting)
Mobile websites represent a trend in internet access which is fueled by the rising speed of wireless internet access and the increasing capabilities of smartphones. The purpose of a mobile website is to provide fast facts to customers on the go. The International Advertising Bureau has found that 61% of customers who visit a website that isn’t mobile-friendly will leave the site to visit a competitor. This fact alone makes the cost of setting up a mobile website seem minuscule. However it’s important to see the broader picture. By the end of 2012, projections suggest there will be more internet-connected mobile devices than people. Additionally, mobile devices will provide access to more than half of the world‘s internet users by 2015. This means that investing in a mobile website now will payoff for years to come.
The Mobile Takeover: 1 Billion Smartphones In Use (Strategy Analytics)
According to Strategy Analytics, the number of smartphones in use worldwide surpassed the 1 billion-unit mark for the first time ever in the third quarter of 2012. It has taken 16 years for the smartphone industry to reach this historic milestone. By the third quarter last year, it was estimated there were 708 million smartphones in use worldwide. The company estimates that 1 in 7 of the world’s population owned a smartphone in this latest quarter. That said, smartphone penetration is still relatively low. Most of the world does not yet own a smartphone and there remains huge scope for future growth, particularly in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa. The first billion smartphones in use worldwide took 16 years to reach, but they forecast the next billion to be achieved in less than three years, by 2015.
Mobile Is Complex, But It's No Space Jump (Marketing)
Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the edge of outer space has been a massive media coup for sponsors. Back here on planet earth, as a marketer, you need not go to those lengths to get consumers engaged with your brand. That said, it’s imperative that companies tackle the complexities of mobile head on. Sure, mobile is a complex environment fragmented by multiple operating systems and literally thousands of devices. But the consumer shift to mobile is real. Mobile has enormous consequences for your brand. The future of your brand equity rests with how well you adapt for the mobile environment. Mobile commerce is growing and the habit of using a mobile phone to aid a purchase decision is becoming commonplace. Remember, mobile is not just an extension of desktop. As a brand marketer, if you’re displaying a shrunken down version of your main website for mobile users, you’re not on top of the mobile game.
Tablets Widen Lead Over Smartphones On Ad Click Costs (BI Intelligence)
Advertisers compete fiercely for tablet users, who are believed to be relatively receptive to ads, and have been bidding up CPCs, especially at peak shopping times like back-to-school and the holidays. Smartphones get seasonal bumps too, but increasingly tablets are racing further ahead. Performics, a marketing company that is part of the Publicis Groupe, predicts tablet paid search CPCs will catch up to desktop CPCs before year-end 2012, and that smartphone ads will continue to lag. The reason? As more advertisers design mobile ad campaigns around specific devices, the competitive bidding for click values also has become disaggregated, to the detriment of smartphones.
The chart above shows tablet and smartphone paid search CPCs as a percentage of desktop CPCs. In August 2012, smartphones commanded CPCs that were 51% of those on desktops, tablets 88%.
iPhone Driving Nearly Half Of Smartphone Web Traffic (Chitika via CNet)
Online advertising network Chitika determined that nearly half of all web traffic via smartphones is generated by the various versions of the iPhone. The iPhone 5 alone creates 3% of the total smartphone usage, while older versions of the device make about 43%. Android, collectively, makes up 51%. By comparison, Samsung devices make up 17% of traffic, with the Galaxy S3, generating 2% of total smartphone Web usage.
The iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 alone already surpass the web traffic from all BlackBerry users, which totals 2%. Windows Phone users, meanwhile, make up only 1% of online usage.
Nearly 20% Of New Facebook Fans Come From Mobile (AllFacebook)
Facebook’s mobile user base is growing, but how quickly? New statistics from social analytics firm PageLever show that 19% of new Facebook fans in August came from mobile, compared with only 5% in May.
Facebook, largely because of the grand increase of people accessing the site from their smartphones, has had a renewed focus on mobile. In the past, the company had a core mobile team. Now, each department within the social network has mobile duties. The site wants to ensure that users have a quality experience whether they check Facebook on an iPhone, a BlackBerry, or an Android device.
Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
