Mobile Phone Usage Levels Out, Smartphone Penetration Continues

Posted by: Matthew Bick // April 11th, 2012

While mobile phone usage has “plateaued,” according to eMarketer, smartphone usage continues to grow in the United States.  According to eMarketer’s research, “The number of US mobile phone users will increase at a compound annual rate of just 1.8% between 2011 and 2016.”  However, “eMarketer estimates the number of US consumers with a smartphone will more than double from 93.1 million at the end of 2011 to 192.4 million by 2016, when 58.5% of the total US population will have a smartphone.”

Among the interesting insights that can be gleaned from this information, it would appear that mobile advertising could see growth down the road.  With smartphone usage potentially doubling in just a few years, many more devices will be reachable through mobile ad spending.

@MatthewBick

Read More 0

Smartphones Used to Compare Prices More Than Conduct Transactions

Posted by: Neil James // April 13th, 2011

Smartphones Used to Compare Prices More Than Conduct Transactions

Perhaps you’ve done some shopping at Target and you’ve seen a nearby shopper typing what appeared to be a small novella on their iPhone. If you work at Target, you may wonder whether that person is buying your goods from Amazon or another online retailer. Just what are they doing? A new article from eMarketer, Top Mobile Shopping Activities of US Smartphone Users, has the answer. According to eMarketer, two-thirds of those who use their smartphones while shopping do so to conduct price comparisons. Finding nearby store locations was the next most frequent activity. Less than one in five reported making a purchase was the reason for their in-store smartphone usage.

@NeilAndrewJames

Read More 1

Smartphones Supplementing, Not Replacing, Traditional Media

Posted by: Neil James // April 5th, 2011

Smartphones Supplementing Not Replacing Traditional Media

Despite Steve Jobs’ hopeful dreams, the launch of the iPad and iPhone did not coincide with the demise of traditional media publishers – newspapers and television. Although newspapers have certainly taken a hit, they haven’t become extinct, and television viewership has actually increased! Why? David Zax explores this topic in an article for Fast Company, Smartphones May Not Threaten Old Media. According to Zax, consumption of content via smartphones did not come at the expense of content consumed via traditional means – rather, it came at the expense of “interstitial spaces.” Zax states that even with the advent of mobile technologies, newspapers still belong to the morning, desktops belong to the workday and television programming belongs to the evening hour. By virtue of their intrinsically wireless nature, mobile content fills the gaps, giving us news when we’re riding the bus from one stage of the day to the next.

@NeilAndrewJames

Image Credit – The Phoenix

Read More 0

One in Five Mobile Users Access Mobile Internet Daily

Posted by: Neil James // March 8th, 2011

One in Five Mobile Users Access Mobile Internet Daily

Should you be segmenting your digital marketing strategies for to accommodate both mobile and traditional traffic? After all, that seems like a lot of work, and this mobile Internet think is still in the early adopter stage, right? Maybe not. As chronicled in a new article for eMarketer, new research from YouGov on behalf of Antenna Software finds that 20 percent of US mobile phone users use the mobile Internet at least daily, with males under 45 being the most frequent users! Thirty-two percent of respondents reported going online via mobile at least weekly. What’s standing in the way of even higher numbers? Over one-third of respondents identified the small size of mobile screens as a deterrent to going online via mobile, while half of those ages 18 to 24 expressed annoyance with websites incompatible with their mobile browser.

@NeilAndrewJames

Read More 0

Consumers Want Information, Not Sizzle, From Mobile Marketing

Posted by: Neil James // March 1st, 2011

Consumers Want Information Not Sizzle From Mobile Marketing

Want a surefire way to aggravate your target market? Do a bad job mobile marketing. A recent Ad Age/Ipsos survey found that mobile ads were more likely to be disliked than ads in any other medium. Mobile users share highly personal bonds with their cell phone and are grossly intolerant of intrusive messaging. It should come as no surprise that a new survey from Yahoo and Nielsen, as reported in a new article for eMarketer, being informative and relevant to personal interests were by far the most important components of mobile marketing across all categories. In contrast, survey respondents identified graphics and multimedia as the least important features of mobile advertising.

@NeilAndrewJames

Read More 1

Smartphone Adoption to Double In Next Four Years

Posted by: Neil James // February 25th, 2011

Smartphone Adoption To Double In Next Four Years

Most cell phones in America are feature phones – phones capable of primarily calling, texting and not much more. Smartphones, otherwise known as the Droid, the iPhone, the Blackberry, and all the other ones you see commercials for, are gaining traction fast. And it stands to reason given the downward trends in both data plans and the devices themselves. Mobile marketers should be prepared to take advantage of these advanced technologies as a new study by eMarketer, chronicled by Noah Elkin in the article The Future of Smart Mobile Devices, is predicted to see smartphone ownership rise from 60 million Americans this year to 110 million in 2014! In addition, eMarketer reports that time spent with mobile devices among consumers (up 28 percent in 2010) is rising faster than time spent with print, television, radio and digital!

@NeilAndrewJames

Read More 0