Top Trends in Mobile

• Mobile is now even bigger than desktop use, and data/video usage exceeds voice calls.
• 80% of the U.S. population will have a mobile phone by 2010.
• 35% of American adults are using their mobile devices for wireless Internet access.
• The average iPhone user only spends 45% of his on-device time making voice calls
• Video accounts for 69% of mobile data traffic.
• Access to the web and applications via mobile is growing and will soon be universal.
• Smartphone usage of both browser and applications has increased more than 110% in the last year.
• By 2011, 99% of mobile phones will be data-capable devices – at minimum they can do basics like sending and receiving SMS text messages.
• The growth rate of iPhone use is 10 times faster than the growth rate of AOL was.
• In 2012, shipments of Smartphones will exceed shipments of PCs.
• Even now, 40% of iPhone/iTouch users access the Internet more on their mobile devices than on their desktops.

The speed of mobile adoption growth is far outpacing that of prior technologies, and using mobile to access data and to make transactions is nearing the tipping point. Mobile will soon be the primary digital means that consumers use to interact with brands, friends, retailers and other businesses.

“Mobile” includes voice, data, and video – basically any type of consumer or business content that can now be communicated via the Internet. Businesses must think about how to channel all types of content through mobile.

Any Digital Transaction is Possible Via Mobile . Users seek information, manage personal finances, interact with others and shop.

Mobile Shopping Goes Beyond Transactions – It Influences Purchase Decisions
Consumers are not only making purchases on mobile devices, but reading reviews, checking store inventories and comparing competitor prices before making a purchase.
Google’s new “local inventory checks” allows users to conduct a mobile search for a product and then determine if a store nearby has it in stock. Applications such as the PayPal Mobile iPhone app make mobile shopping even easier. This app was downloaded more than one million times in just three weeks.

Mobile Users are Interested in Coupons, As Well As a Range of Promotional Communications ad via SMS when passing a retailer with a promotion barcode on smartphone that is scanned at store ad related to search conducted on mobile browser offers that can be saved and pursued at leisure offers synched to individual schedule movie theater offers/promotions
Consumers are not only making purchases on mobile devices, but reading reviews, checking store inventories and checking competitor prices before making a purchase.

Mobile is not just a channel for businesses to push out information. As “search” is the top mobile activity, consumers are seeking content and tools relevant to their needs. Companies must position their brands and mobile offerings so they can easily be found via search and are aligned with consumer expectations.

Online transactions go beyond making purchases. Consumers are using mobile for the entire purchase process: searching for products, reading reviews and comparing prices, locating items in stores and checking inventories, and, ultimately making purchases. As well, consumers are checking bank accounts, points levels, schedules, etc. Companies need to enable the entire business process via mobile, from branding to communications to transactions , not just individual pieces of the process.

At the same time, some basic mobile offerings are very compelling to consumers, including coupons and promotional codes . Kicking off a mobile presence with coupons can start a mobile relationship with customers that can grow as the business’s mobile offering expands.

AppMobi, an open source mobile application platform which allows web developers to develop mobile apps for all platforms, will make app development more accessible and inexpensive.

Suggestions for both native and web-based applications include: Make the application useful . Weather and map applications are the most popular because they are functional. Developing an application with on-going utility (i.e., checking account status, timely informational updates) will create stickiness. Make the content relevant As always, engaging and relevant content encourages customers to return to see what’s new. Make it social . Building applications to connect people (i.e., sharing product reviews, building connections through mutual interests) will make them stickier. Promote it . Use mobile media to drive awareness of the app, and build in a viral element to spread the word. Optimize it for multiple devices . While the iPhone is the top device for applications, small tweaks can make the app more user-friendly on other devices. Make it fun . The application should offer something above and beyond what the user can find on the website to give them a reason to download it.

Mobile Users are Social

• Access to and engagement with social networking tools via mobile is exploding.
• 31% of smartphone users have accessed social networks via mobile browser, up from 23% in 2009.
• 14.5 million mobile users downloaded a social networking application to their mobile device as of April 2010, up 240% from the prior year.
• Of Facebook’s 500m+ users, 100 million access Facebook through their mobile devices.
• Mobile phone users are far more likely to use Twitter (25%) than those who access the internet solely from wired connections (8%).
• Consumers Who Use Mobile Social Networks are Demographically Favorable
• Those who use social networks via mobile are more active and more affluent.
• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are two times more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
• 80% of those who use mobile social networks are between the ages of 18 and 43 – only 58% of those who use social networks online fall in this age range.
• While they skew young, 39% of mobile social network users earn $100K or more.

Because mobile social network users are more active on social networks and more affluent , they are a group worth targeting and building a relationship with.
For years, people have used their mobile devices to connect with others by voice and text message, and connecting through mobile social networks is an extension of that behavior. The benefit for businesses is the ability to leverage these social networks for real-time, localized and viral communications/promotions .
For example, a consumer in a store may see new product; post a question about the product on Facebook or Twitter; then, a friend may send her a mobile coupon on the spot to encourage her to try the new product.

A business can also use their Facebook or Twitter presence as a timely way to present information, deals and coupons to consumers to access while out and about.

• Gender and age influence how people use mobile devices.
• 79% of men use their mobile phones to simply "escape” compared with only 61% of women.
• 82% of seniors use their mobile phones for information and learning.
• 17% of “ultra-affluent” (HHI $200K+) frequently engage in m-commerce compared with 7% of “affluent” (HHI $150K+).
• Almost one-third (31%) of 10 year olds have mobile phones. (see chart)
• Also, young people (under 18) are more inclined to use SMS messaging (texting) than older mobile users.
• 44% of youths shop with their mobile phones.
• One-third of American teens send over 100 text per day and many send as many as 3,000 a week.
• Forty percent of mobile users take advantage of geolocation features. Over one-half (53%) will share their location for more relevant advertising, 38% are more likely to engage with a locally-relevant ad, 65% are more likely to buy if they can find retailers locally and 63% will provide location information for relevant content.
• Most (94%) of U.S. mobile sites are getting at least some traffic from non-U.S. sources.
• Slightly more than one-quarter (27%) are getting at least one-half of their mobile

Location-based targeting is the a critical distinction that makes mobile communications more powerful than other channels. Knowing where a mobile user is - whether if be in a store, with friends, at a restaurant or at the office - can help businesses know which content is most relevant to deliver to the consumer at that moment.
For example, some “shopping-list” applications will allow a user to build a store list; then, the mobile app can identify when the mobile user is near the store and send a coupon or special offer at that time.

Ensure that location-based mobile tools have high utility and privacy . Consumers are more comfortable sharing their location when they see a tangible benefit to providing their location information – so give them a reason to do so.

Collect data on where the company’s mobile users are coming from. Offering applications or mobile media in multiple languages or with local nuances may be worthwhile if a substantial number of users are from outside the U.S.

• The mobile payments market is expected to quadruple by 2014, reaching $630 billion in value, which equates to 5% of total e-commerce sales.
• North American mobile commerce sales alone will top $750 million this year.
• The mobile gaming market will top $800 million this year including downloads and ad revenues.
• 13% of mobile users have made a mobile purchase.
• PayPal saw a 650% increase in mobile payments on Black Friday in 2008 vs. 2009.
• The amount that consumers are willing to spend varies by type of handset (see chart) .
• Fifty-two percent of smartphone users have acted on advertisements within applications.
• SMS is a top activity among mobile users, particularly youth.
• Almost two-thirds of mobile users sent a text message in March 2010. Texting grew one percentage point during the prior 3 months, which is just slightly lower than the growth of other mobile activities.
• Adults 18+ send an average of 10 text messages per day; teenage girls send 100 texts per day.
• The Red Cross’ “Text Haiti” campaign for earthquake relief efforts raised $4m in the first 48 hours, and over $32m in the first month.

Mobile creates infinite business- and revenue-generating opportunities by taking advantage of a hybrid of traditional and digital marketing and communications channels. Mobile provides business value through branding, generating awareness and purchase intent, driving viral conversations and generating sales. Mobile also leverages traditionally offline marketing and communications tactics by enabling mobile couponin, point-of-sale content and promotions, in-store inventory information, etc. The payoff comes from building a prolonged engagement with the consumer that leads to improved perception, advertising engagement and ultimately sales. Businesses should not be concerned with generating sales from downloading applications, but by the role apps play in generating sales . As is true with web-based TV services such as Hulu, mobile users are willing to watch ads in exchange for services such as content and applications . This suggests an opportunity for companies to generate revenue from the on-the-go audience without evoking frustration or negative feelings about the brand. SMS is still an effective revenue-generating channel , especially among young mobile users and for specific initiatives. There are 5 billion texts sent daily in the U.S. vs 310 million Google searches daily. There is an opportunity to communicate with customers the way they communicate 80% of US multichannel retailers had no m-commerce capabilities. 42% of retailers who do not have a mobile presence plan to launch one within the next two years. Only 12% of the top 500 internet retailers have sites optimized for mobile phones and only 7% have downloadable mobile applications.

Even companies who are dabbling in mobile do not have a solid mobile strategy. Two-thirds of companies with a mobile presence do not have a formal mobile strategy or are only in the very early stages of developing one.

While marketers have embraced social media as part of their email campaigns, they are not taking advantage of offering mobile-optimized messages for customers.
63% of marketers are not tracking whether their email subscribers are viewing messages on mobile devices.

About two-thirds of marketers are integrating social media into email campaigns, compared with only 25% who are integrating mobile into email marketing by offering mobile-optimized messages.

Developing a website optimized for mobile browsing is a simple first start . For example, a mobile website might have categories most relevant to mobile customers (i.e., store locators, links to product inventories and contact information) on the first page.
Implications