Value conscious consumers are using smart phones for making price-comparisons with QR-bar code reader apps driving ABI Research’s mobile transactions projection for 2010 to double in the U.S. potentially reaching $2.4 billion.
Trend Spotters watched as consumers purchased items in brick & mortar stores using their web-enabled handsets to scan product bar codes for comparison shopping.
Rapid uptake of Mercatur and Boku are making it possible to conduct smart phone transactions with purchases posted directly to the subscriber’s phone carrier.
This too has seen, as mobile payments are the best option for online purchases under $20 or so, and this way of shopping is especially suitable for those consumers—often young gamers—without credit cards.
All of these trends led to ABI’s prediction that mobile transactions will reach $119 billion globally in 2015 which doesn’t take into account the impact that companies like GTX Corp’s location aware GPS marketing will influence merchants and shoppers.
3G Smart Phones, Location Based Services, Mobile Phones
February 22nd, 2010
As GTXCorp launches Version1.3 of its GPS tracking iLOCi2, smart phone app, we become increasingly aware of the growing size of our respective personal networks and the need to know their location in addition to their proximity to each other contact in real time. This version of the app doubles the number of contacts that can be LOCi’d from eight to sixteen with the next release expected to be unlimited.
Early proof of this growing need to know where – is evidenced by the recent launches of Crowd Sourcing intelligent networking platforms; Jigsaw, Spigit, Crowdcast, Jive and Bright Idea that are based on the input of a group’s intelligence, their multiple personal locations and the ability to extrapolate ideas and actions with the aid of unique algorithms.
Crowd Sourcing in its most mundane application is presently used to describe traffic jams by anonymously stripping location data from multiple cell phones carried by drivers on highways. In its more intelligent applications, contacts are linked by their intellectual contributions and knowledge bases. When these apps achieve a level of ubiquity… the iPhone and iPod touch are available in 77 countries… the iLOCi2 app is available in 52 countries… the potential for collaborative intelligence should produce amazing results.
3G Smart Phones, APP Store, Global Positioning Systems, Location Based Services, Mobile Phones
October 16th, 2009
July 23rd, 2009 | by Stan Schroeder
– AdMob’s June 2009 Mobile Metrics report, which you can download here [PDF link] breaks down the iPhone share by country. The United States leads with 50.2%, followed by Germany (7.3%), France (6.8%), United Kingdom (6.4%), and Canada (3.1%). –
This are the first data-lytics of iPhone distribution by country. The iPhone and the App Store have created a ubiquitous international marketing and distribution network that will connect user, developer and merchant seamlessly. More>>
APP Store, Mobile Phones, Social Networking
August 29th, 2009
Android and iPhone users download approximately 10 new apps a month, while iPod touch owners download an average of 18 per month.
More than 90 percent of Android and iPhone OS users browse and search for apps directly on their mobile device instead of their computer
Upgrading from the lite version was the top reason given when users were asked what drives them to purchase a paid app
iPhone and iPod touch users are twice as likely to purchase paid apps than Android users.
Users who regularly download paid apps spend approximately $9 on an average of five paid downloads per month
MORE>>>
APP Store, Mobile Phones
August 28th, 2009
By JENNA WORTHAM – NYT July 28, 2009 — Google might power the world’s most popular search engine, but its clout goes only so far. When it comes to getting one of its applications onto the iPhone, it seems Google has to wait in line for Apple’s approval like everyone else — and face the risk of rejection. In recent weeks, Apple turned down two applications that Google had submitted for review in hopes that they would be added to the company’s App Store, highlighting the increasingly complex relationship between the two companies. NYT Complete Article>>
3G Smart Phones, APP Store, Mobile Phones
July 30th, 2009
by Kristina Knight
Advertising, overall, will not fare as well as it is expected to fall by 7%.
SMS text messages continue to lead in mobile marketing with 66% of marketers saying they use SMS to reach consumers. Mobile Websites are quickly catching up (53% are using mobile sites) and mobile email campaigns (33%). One benefit of the mobile campaign is that marketers are learning how to attach a ‘use now’ coupon to an email message so that consumers are more likely to go to a brick-and-mortar store or visit a website to use the coupon.
In 2009, mobile marketing is expected to reach $1.7 billion; by 2010, it is expected to reach $2.16 billion. Currently mobile accounts for less than 2% of most marketer budgets.
With more consumers logging on to the mobile web, marketers are following and so are mobile ad platforms. The MMA is not the only group touting the fast growth of mobile revenue. Forrester Research reports that the interactive ad spend will top $50 billion by 2014; mobile marketing efforts are going to be a big part of that increase. In fact, social and mobile efforts are expected to be the two biggest reasons for interactive spending to explode over the next five years.
MMA: Mobile to jump 25% in 2009
The economy may still be in trouble, but mobile marketers are betting on the relatively new medium to help them beat the selling doldrums. According to a new forecast from the Mobile Marketing Association, mobile marketing will increase by 26% this year.
3G Smart Phones, Global Positioning Systems, Location Based Services, Mobile Phones, Social Networking
June 21st, 2009
GIGAMON:
With Apple having shown the way, suddenly everyone is showing a renewed interest in location-based services, said Ted Morgan, Skyhook founder and CEO.
“Thanks to the popularity of iPhone, we are seeing more and more apps using geo-data,” Morgan pointed out. For instance, game developers are using geolocation data to build location-based leader boards. “The iPhone has unleashed location-based creativity,” he said. Last year, I pointed out that “in order for LBS to be on mobile phones, we need applications, which is where I believe the iPhone plays a vital role. Its large screen and built-in GPS (and now its 3G speeds) enable and encourage truly interesting LBS applications.”
- Last year, there were only a few dozen apps that incorporated location-based data. This year that number has grown to 2,000 apps. Next year there will be five times as many apps that utilize location-based data.
- There are nearly 200 million geolocation queries on Skyhook’s system. In comparison, Google is searched more than a billion times a day.
Those numbers should be enough for LBS skeptics to take a fresh look at location-based services. ABI Research predicts that location-based services will be a $13 billion business by 2013 vs. $515 million in 2008. Morgan says that the next big location push is going to come from the netbooks and adds, “Most laptop and netbook makers are building location-functionality into their devices.” Next up — non-computing devices such as WiFi-enabled cameras.
This opportunity hasn’t gone unnoticed, attracting more attention and competition to Skyhook. And there is no one bigger than Google.
3G Smart Phones, APP Store, Global Positioning Systems, Location Based Services, Mobile Phones, Social Networking
June 20th, 2009
TechCrunch by Erick Schonfeld on June 1, 2009
When you look at sales of the iPhone or Blackberry as a percentage of total cell phone sales, they are still a tiny smidgen of the one billion phones estimated to be sold this year. But when you look at what really matters—their share of revenues or operating profits—the picture looks a lot different. Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff calculated the share of operating profits going to each major mobile handset manufacturer and came up with the eye-opening chart above. It shows Apple (pink) and RIM (turquoise) increasingly taking a disproportionate share of industry profits, mostly at the expense of Nokia’s diminishing handset operating profits (blue).
In a note, Modoff writes: “Increasingly, the smartphone vendors are claiming more of the industry’s profit dollars even as the pool of profitability stabilizes or shrinks.” Thanks to the success of the highly-profitable iPhone, Apple’s share of industry operating profits went from 3 percent in 2007 to 20 percent in 2008 and will grow again to an estimated 31 percent in 2009. RIM, maker of the Blackberry, is doing even better, increasing its estimated share of industry profits from 8 percent (2007) to 19 percent (2008) to 35 percent (2009). So adding those two together, Apple and RIM are expected to account for an incredible 66 percent of industry profits this year.
As a follow on from CIO Magazine…
It is predicted that the number of mobile social networkers will reach 800 million worldwide by 2012. Companies are reaping the benefits from mobile CRM, field service and sales force automation processes with the latest Research In Motion (RIM) offerings. Research in Motion has gained nearly 3% after a pair of analysts boosted price estimates for the Blackberry maker. Thomas Weisel raised its forecast to $92 per share from $85 and RBC Capital Markets upped its outlook price to $100 per share from $90.
Is it any wonder that Obama did not want to give up his Blackberry…
3G Smart Phones, Global Positioning Systems, Location Based Services, Mobile Phones, Social Networking
June 16th, 2009
