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Winning The Next Wave Of The Internet: Mobile (Inc.)
Mobile technologies and applications are changing all the rules. Take these three risks to keep your business safe:
- Create an app that facilitates a process your potential customers want to do easier.
- Don't just create an app that has links back to your website. Offer a service or value your customers would appreciate.
- Don't make an app designed only for what you want to sell. Make it designed for what and how the customer wants to buy.
No matter what business you are in, mobile and apps are changing all the rules. They will reduce the impact of your regular website and may one day replace it completely. They will change the way you run your business, market it, and manage it, and present many new challenges. However, they'll also create very lucrative opportunities for entrepreneurs that embrace them.
Who Will Be Disrupted By The Rise Of The Mobile Internet? (Project Disco)
For the sake of the optimized experience on mobile devices, users forgo the general-purpose browser. Fast beats flexible. What does this mean for the traditional Internet giants? They are not guaranteed a seat at the table in the future. The troubles and travails of traditional Internet companies trying to figure out revenue generating strategies for the mobile market were illustrated in third quarter earnings. What does this mean for disruptive innovation? Paradigm shifts in technology tend to shake up markets and incumbents struggle to remain relevant, as these examples illustrate:
- IBM misjudged the the PC (client-server) revolution
- Microsoft was late to catch on to the importance of the Internet (amongst other things)
- Intel focused on computers and servers to cede the emerging mobile market
- Even Apple, back in the day, was quickly sidelined by Microsoft and flirted with bankruptcy
Although it is currently unclear who will be king of the next technology paradigm, if the history of disruptive innovation tells us anything, the mobile landscape will look a lot different than the traditional Internet.
B2B Marketers Can't Ignore Mobile Any Longer (Marketing Land)
Mobile search and mobile marketing are just as relevant to B2B marketers, if not more so. This is not intuitive, as mobile search is associated more with a need-it-now or local mindset. However, when you consider the evidence, you might agree that mobile search and mobile marketing should be a priority for B2B marketers today, and not sometime in the distant future. For example B2B buyers:
- Have smartphones and use them
- Search for B2B keywords
- Buy B2B goods on mobile devices
It’s a new era in B2B marketing. You're not marketing to the old guy who can barely use a computer. B2B marketers who want to reach business executives can’t afford to ignore mobile marketing any longer.
Only 5% Of Search Advertisers Follow Mobile Best Practices (Search Engine Land)
Separating PC and mobile campaigns is only happening in about 5% of cases according to a study from Wordstream. Wordstream founder and CTO Larry Kim looked at the company’s trove of data and determined that 55% of paid-search campaigns target mobile devices. Given that inclusion in mobile paid search results is Google’s default setting, Kim says this means "Just under half of advertisers opt out of mobile search in their campaign settings." Kim also said that "less than 5 percent" of advertisers use phone extensions in mobile search campaigns. Do you know what one of the top two things a mobile user wants to do?
Thus the failure to utilize phone extensions is a missed opportunity. And bad mobile experiences harm brands.
Nearly Half Of Yelp's Searches Come From Mobile (VentureBeat)
Almost half of Yelp’s searches are now coming from mobile devices, the company announced yesterday in its third quarter 2012 earnings report. More than 8 million people are using Yelp’s mobile apps on their phones and tablets, with 45% of searches coming from mobile. In the company’s last quarterly report, 7.2 million people were accessing the service via mobile devices, increasing its mobile user base by about a million in a quarter. Yelp’s integration with iOS 6 via Siri and Apple Maps surely has bumped usage of its service. And with more than 200 million people using iOS 6, we’d almost expect more people to be learning about and using Yelp. Clearly mobile will remain a top priority for the company.
Google Wallet Expands To Mobile Web (TechCrunch)
Google Wallet now supports mobile e-commerce websites which have adopted Google Wallet as a checkout option. This is an area that’s still a major pain point for many online retailers. All too often, checkout functionality on mobile isn’t optimized for the small screen, or sometimes, the pages themselves are mobile-friendly in terms of their design, but the checkout process still steps users through so many form fields that the process becomes time-consuming and cumbersome for small keyboards and touchscreens. Google says that currently, 97% of mobile shoppers abandon their carts for this very reason. On sites supporting Google Wallet, users can click the "Buy with Google Wallet" button, login to their Google account, and complete the order.
Apple's Share Of Mobile Traffic Soars With iPhone 5 Introduction (Chitika via TechCrunch)
Apple’s share of mobile web traffic rose 5.96% between September and October, thanks no doubt to the introduction of the iPhone 5 and the 4th generation iPod touch. Apple controls 65.38% of the traffic on Chitka's advertising network.
Share dropped pretty evenly among other manufacturers, though Samsung gave up the most ground. Apple had previously lost share in September, going from 65.03% to 59.42% of all traffic measured. Going forward, Chitika predicts that Google will come on strong with additional gains now that the Nexus 7 updated devices and Nexus 10 are going out into the wild.
Three-Fourths Of Smartphones Shipped In The Third Quarter Ran Android (IDC via Android Central)
IDC notes that Android shipments for the third quarter broke over the 100 million mark for the first time, totaling 136 million. That accounts for 75% share of total smartphone shipments for the quarter, up substantially from 57.6% (71 million total) this time last year. Apple's iOS is trailing with just 14.9% of shipments (26.9 million total). To put that into perspective, the report notes that the number of Android phones shipped this quarter is larger than the total number of smartphones sold in all of 2007, the year Android was released.
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