Those of us who consider ourselves cutting bleeding edge mobile enthusiasts need to remember that much of the population is still playing catch-up with the technology.

Justin told us yesterday how “marketers are overestimating what average everyday consumers know about the smartphones they use,” and that the industry needs to “educate consumers on the potential of new-age smartphones and other devices,” lest their campaigns fall on deaf ears. Yet it seems that consumers, or at least “prosumers,” are more savvy than their employers about high-end technologies like smartphones–to the detriment of corporate workplaces, according to the report titled The Consumerization of IT, conducted by International Data Corp and sponsored by Unisys Corporation.

Continue Reading

I’m a huge fan of the augmented reality (AR) concept and the potential it provides.  With devices becoming more powerful and the technology in place to make it a reality, AR is at the forefront of mobile possibilities.

A shining example of which is a new startup called “Tagwhat,” which made its public debut today to offer what’s its calling “a new augmented reality (AR) experience that fuses the very best of mobile, augmented reality, and location-based social networking services for everyday use and appeal.”

At it’s core, Tagwhat is a fully functional social network, layered on top of the physical world and accessed by “tags” through an innovative augmented reality experience.  By simply holding up the camera view of a mobile device (iPhone or Android), geo-contextual tags from pre-selected friends and community members become visible.

Continue Reading

A new report published recently by comScore indicates a steep decline in consumer brand-loyalty over the past two years, leading the way for emerging concepts such as mobile marketing and mobile social concepts like that of Foursquare to pick up the slack.

The comScore study evaluated the change in brand loyalty within a number of consumer goods categories, including health & beauty aids, OTC medications, apparel, food, household products and housewares. As the economic downturn has continued, the percentage of shoppers who typically buy the brands they want most has steadily declined across the categories examined.  In March 2010, for example, less than 50 percent of shoppers reported purchasing the brand they want most.

For most categories, the drop in likelihood to shop for the brand wanted most is not restricted to buying other brands on sale.  Rather, a sizeable percentage of the change in shopping approach is being driven by a decision to convert to less expensive brands to save money.

Continue Reading

Advertisers are lining up to become a part of Foursquare’s developing mobile-ad business, the only problem is that the startup is having trouble keeping up with the demand.

Even Foursquare itself is surprised the service has caught on as quickly as it has, and the inherent growing pains of a fast moving startup are beginning to take hold.  The ecosystem that’s evolving around the service is growing by leaps and bounds, and advertisers have seized on the model as a way to serve up location-based ads and special offers, without annoying mobile users.

Upon launching its “Local Business Dashboard,” which allows local businesses to sign-up and launch offers and promotions to take full advantage of the potential, Foursquare has been bombarded with local businesses wanting a piece of the pie.

“Foursquare’s funnel is overflowing now.  They’ve got so many people that want to work with them that they can’t handle it all,” said Michael Schneider, vice president at ad agency Allen & Gerritsen Inc.  “We’re kind of stuck with the vanilla experience of go to the site and fill out a form.”

Continue Reading

With today’s announcement of the iPhone “4G” and the latest buzz surrounding 4G wireless technologies such as LTE, WiMax and many others, a prominent buzz word at the moment is, well…4G.

As such, an interesting executive commentary was published today by Ned Taleb, CEO and co-founder of Nexius, a company that offers numerous carrier-grade solutions to prominent operators such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon and many others.  In other words, 4G is a big deal for him, his company and his clients.  Below is the commentary in its entirety, it’s a pretty interesting perspective.

“….The first quarter of 2010 has just come to an end and a colleague at Nexius recently asked me what seems to be the hot topic with our operator customers and the technology press and analysts this year. My simple answer: 4G.

From Apple previewing the 4th generation of its revolutionary iPhone today to operators racing to launch their 4th generation networks, 4G is the marketing term of the moment.

At CTIA Wireless in March, I saw 4G news everywhere. Every major US wireless operator spoke about their 4G plans at the show:

Continue Reading

Though mobile apps seem to be all the rage at the moment, it’s suggested that it may be reaching a tipping point in terms of saturation, allowing other mobile communication, and primarily SMS, to remain the solid choice for mobile marketing dollars.

An article posted on AdWeek today makes a strong case against mobile apps, citing several reasons why the excitement surrounding the concept may be a little premature and why SMS remains the clear leader in terms of mobile marketing spend.  ”Don’t get me wrong.  Mobile apps can be a great way to engage in the right context, but the reason that text continues to be the dominant force in mobile marketing is simply reach and usage,” the author explains.

The logic is hard to argue with; nearly every cellphone in the U.S. is capable of text messaging and because it’s used for regular personal communication, it’s always top of mind in terms of general daily use.  By comparison, only 18 percent of all phones in the U.S. are smartphones.  Further, Juniper Research forecasts that smartphones worldwide will account for just 23 percent of all new handsets sold per annum by 2013, hardly representing the mass market for general consumer goods and services.

Mobile apps are dominated by the iPhone, with most development going toward its platform, which only represents 4% of the entire mobile market.  With such a frenzy for mobile apps, competition is rampant with very few avenues to distribute, apart from Apple’s App Store which has the most competition of all.  Because of it, the mobile app market is beginning to be saturated.  SMS, on the other hand, has none of these limiting attributes.

“Strategy Analytics confirmed that only four to six mobile apps are used on a consistent basis. Brands need to be aware that there’s intense competition for share of the mobile phone desktop,” the article explains.  ”It stands to reason that consumers are not going to continue to download and use an unlimited number of mobile applications, and there are many questions over whether we have reached the saturation point already.”

Though it may come as no surprise, a new study out of Europe proves the mobile Web is indeed more popular than reading newspapers, magazines and just about anything else.

The study, sponsored by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA), studied mobile Web usage across 15 European markets to see how consumers are “extending the ways in which they enjoy and engage with the internet and its growing influence on everyday lives.”

The study found that on average, 71 million Europeans use the internet on their mobile each week – for an average time of almost one hour every day – averaging 6.4 hours per week of total browsing.  This compares with an average of just 4.8 hours reading a newspaper or 4.1 hours reading magazines.  This increase is largely being driven by the younger generations with 24% of 16-24 year olds and 21% of 25-34 year olds already using the mobile Web and spending on average 7.2 and 6.6 hours respectively each week.

Though the study focused on Europe, it no doubt mirrors a worldwide appetite for mobile Web usage, acting as a key driver in the decline of printed publications, for good reason.

“Better devices and connectivity as well as enhanced consumer motivation all started coming together in 2009 to improve and extend the overall  Online experience, explained Alison Fennah, Executive Director of the EIAA.  ”As a result, the internet is now being consumed across PC, laptop, mobile and gaming devices, providing 24-7 access to digital information and entertainment.  This presents a compelling case for brands to explore and incorporate a growing number of complementary interactive platforms into the marketing mix.”