Mobile Content Still Gathering Steam

Talk continues to dominate mobile usage—for now.

As forecasts with big numbers catch marketers’ eyes, hard data reminds us that in many ways, mobile content is still finding its foothold. Most mobile phone users in the US are sticking with the basics for now, according to data released in October 2008 by Accenture.

According to the survey, fielded in December 2007, nearly 80% of respondents did not use their mobile device for gaming, 84% did not use mobile e-mail and 88% did not watch mobile videos.

While 12% of respondents said that mobile e-mail usage took up 1 to 4 hours per week, 4% said it occupied 5 or more hours weekly. For mobile video, those numbers fell to 9% and 3%, respectively.

In addition, there was a notable difference in mobile content use between Generation Y and their parents—those considered baby boomers or older. More than one-quarter of respondents ages 18 to 24 used their mobile phones for voice calls only, a dramatic difference from the 69% of those ages 45 and older who did so.

“These survey results point to important missed business opportunities in the mobile handset and social networking arenas,” said Accenture’s Kumu Puri, in a statement. “Clearly, many consumers are not widely embracing higher-end mobile phone applications.”

As smartphones start to branch out from the enterprise market and make inroads with consumers (think iPhone and Google’s G1), eMarketer believes that mobile content will begin to gain traction. The US market for mobile games is projected to grow from $344 million in 2007 to $1.15 billion in 2012, while spending on mobile music will surpass $4 billion in 2012, from just under $1 billion last year.

Riding the Perfect Storm of Mobile Marketing

A flurry of new studies and product releases last week seems to point to one thing: we're about to enter the perfect storm for mobile marketing. And it's time to think about how mobile marketing is different and how we can fit it into our increasingly complicated campaigns.

And while you may feel like you've heard this before well things are different now. The technology's become fairly mature. People are used to texting and mobile e-mail. Devices work a heck of a lot better, and today's mobile devices now come tricked out with GPS, Wi-Fi, cameras, and a host of other features that the old four-function flip phones of yore could only dream of.

People are changing their use of mobile technology, too. Fully 17 percent of households are ditching their landlines for mobile phones, and Nielsen Mobile predicts that the number could jump to 20 percent by year's end. While it's not a big surprise to anyone that teens are leading the mobile revolution, I was amused by a recent Harris Interactive study which found that nearly 60 percent of teens credited their mobile phone for improving their lives and that four out of five teens carry mobile devices (a 40 percent jump from 2004). In fact, the devices have become so much a part of their lives that the same study found that 42 percent of teens could text blindfolded!

While the mobile Web and mobile marketing in general have had their share of overhyped moments and jump-the-gun promises in the past 10 years, there's no question now that if you're a marketer, you'd better be paying attention. And once you start paying attention, you'd better start thinking differently.

Source: clickz.com

Text Messages Drive Mobile Data Growth

Medium demands savvy use by marketers

Mobile data service revenues in the US rose to $14.8 billion for the first half of 2008, according to the CTIA. That was up 40% over the first half of 2007, when data revenues reached $10.5 billion. Mobile data now accounts for one-fifth of all mobile revenues.

"More and more people are using wireless devices to access the Internet, take photos, get directions, watch videos, download music and send text messages," said Steve Largent, CEO of the CTIA, in a statement.

Do Ads Fit with Mobile User-Generated Content?

Once, long, long ago, advertisers only had to worry what was on the facing page.

YouTube educated the mass market about authoring and sharing user-generated content (UGC), and now advertisers are catching on, too.

Clearly, mobile UGC spending is growing. But advertisers still face challenges in reaching consumers in highly personalized—and often unpredictable—UGC settings. Nevertheless, smart marketers are beginning to address the distinct mobile UGC environment through contests, branded tools and other forms of digital collateral that add value to consumers' creative and distribution efforts.

Can User-Generated Content Generate Revenue?

In the US, eMarketer projects that the number of user-generated content creators will rise from 77 million in 2007 to 108 million in 2012. The content is being read, seen and heard, too. The number of consumers of user-generated content will increase from 94 million in 2007 to 130 million in 2012.

Mobile to Hit $1 Trillion in 2008, Says Portio Research

A new report from Portio Research confidently predicts that the worldwide mobile industry will be worth USD 1 trillion by the close of 2008.

Mobile phone sales to grow by 8.42% a year to 2011 - study

The world mobile terminal market is forecast to grow by 8.42 percent per year to 1.43 billion units in 2011 from 1.14 billion units in 2007 and 987 million a year earlier, according to Idate. The lower growth (versus 15 percent in 2007) is attributed to the mobile market becoming increasingly saturated in the middle-class population in emerging markets.