A new report published yesterday by the UN indicates that 67% of the world’s population, or two-thirds total, are mobile subscribers- far outweighing Online access.

67% of the world’s population represents around 4.6B people, up from only 1B in 2002, indicating staggering continued growth.  In developing nations, however, the uptake is even more substantial with 57% of the total population in these nations being mobile subscribers, even though other technologies are scarce.

To compile the report, the UN tallied mobile phone, land-line telephone and internet usage in 159 countries, which ranged from the most advanced European nations to the least developed nations in sub-Saharan Africa.  The report also found that Internet use has grown, but at a much slower pace.  It’s no secret that mobile devices are replacing computers in many parts of the world, and that a large majority of Web usage is attributed to mobile.

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I’ve always been intrigued with the concept of proximity marketing, but a perceived lack of interest in the U.S has made any news or advancements in the technology all but lost in the shuffle.  To me the concept provides a unique and inexpensive opportunity for marketers, but there has to be underlying factors prohibiting its advancement, but what are they?

With increased interest surrounding mobile marketing, it’s interesting that proximity marketing has been largely looked over, though both concepts are fundamentally different.  While there’s really no definition that exists which separates the two, the easiest way to distinguish proximity marketing from mobile marketing is simply the concept of localized content. Potential advertising audiences must enter a “localized” area such as a grocery store or a shopping center in order to receive the advertisement with proximity marketing, while mobile marketing doesn’t require such an attribute.

Education of marketers in the U.S is one prohibiting factor in my mind, with almost no news coming out regarding the technology, even though numerous companies exist on U.S soil that provide proximity marketing solutions.  Marketers are already bombarded with so-called new-age marketing channels, and adding one more to the mix will confuse the masses even more than they already are.  Still, proximity marketing offers something even mobile marketing in large part can’t provide; being extremely inexpensive and very easy to integrate.

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A new survey conducted by ABI research found that in most developed areas of the world, person-to-person mobile payments aren’t of much interest to consumers.

The survey, conducted in November 2009 in seven countries on three continents, found consistently low levels of interest in making person-to-person payments via the mobile phone.  The survey polled subscribers, equally divided by gender, in Germany, France, the UK, the US, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.  In all, about 200 respondents participated from each country.

The overall results showed that only 16% of Western Europeans surveyed considered themselves “extremely” or “very” interested in mobile P2P payments, while in the United States, the percentage was only 9%.  Consumers in the three Asia Pacific countries showed much greater interest, however, at 34% overall.  “It’s tough to make a convincing case for mobile P2P in most developed markets,” explained senior analyst Mark Beccue.  ”We believe it will have minimum impact in these markets because some forms of electronic P2P such as PayPal have operated there for several years with relatively low market penetration; and because these markets boast extensive ATM and banking networks, giving consumers easy access to cash to conveniently conduct P2P transactions.”

In developing markets, however, the results would be far different, says Beccue.  “In parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America which generally lack good tools for convenient P2P transactions other than face-to-face, mobile payment methods will be huge.”

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There’s been many attempts by many companies to solve the problems facing mobile barcodes, and the many aspects limiting its mainstream existence, but Neustar has made key progress with its announcement of a Mobile Barcode Clearinghouse service to finally solve interoperability issues with the concept.

During Mobile World Congress, the company debuted its mobile barcode clearinghouse services alongside a unique 2D barcode campaign in cooperation with Visa.  With its new clearinghouse services, Neustar aims to provide a method for companies that produce and distribute barcode readers to interoperate with other companies who create barcode campaigns.  The link between the two have been missing, and is a primary limiting factor to mobile barcodes seeing mainstream adoption.

This coordinated approach allows each of the participants to benefit from the efforts of the others, including participation from barcode leaders NeoMedia, 3GVision, Mobile Data Systems, and Mobile Discovery, who are all using the Neustar clearinghouse.  The clearinghouse is open to other industry players who wish to benefit from the mass market and scale that can be achieved through an open, interoperable approach.

This is a key progress point for mobile barcodes.  In the past, when a company wanted to introduce mobile barcodes (or any aspect of which), they basically had to start from the ground up.  The result was a fragmented marketplace filled with varying barcode technologies (2D, QR, JagTag, etc.) along with varying barcode readers.  In the end, consumers have never been presented with a standardized, easy-to-use mechanism for mobile barcodes.  Neustar’s new clearinghouse service is setting the stage to bring this to reality.

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BIA/Kelsey published its US Local Media Annual Forecast (2009-2014) today detailing some interesting findings and predictions when it comes to local marketing and advertising in the US.  The overall message being that spending is increasingly being focused towards local advertising, as well as a continued shift towards digital media and primarily mobile.

Generally speaking, BIA/Kelsey predicts the US local advertising market to reach $144.9 billion in 2014, representing a modest compound annual growth rate of 2.2 percent from 2009.  A closer look at the forecast period reveals, following a significant contraction in 2009, local media spending is expected to be slow through 2011, with meaningful recovery beginning in 2012.  The group also forecasts spending on traditional media to decline from $115 billion in 2009 to $108.2 billion in 2014.  During the same period, however, spending on online/interactive/mobile media is projected to grow from $15.2 billion to $36.7 billion.

The interesting take-away from the forecast is the revelation that 55 percent of all ad spending is with local media, defined as “spending by small and medium-sized businesses and national advertisers or regional advertisers making local buys.”  In 2009, total U.S. ad spending was $235.6 billion.  Of that, the group estimates $130.2 billion was spent on local ad buys, with $105.4 billion attributed to national advertising.

This is interesting because as the shift to digital/interactive marketing mediums continues, so too does the interest in local advertising, likely fueled by much better targeting and relevancy potential over older, legacy forms of marketing.  This is a prime example of why mobile is increasingly becoming the channel of choice for forward-thinking brands wanting to get more bang for their buck.

Visa, not to be left out in the largest mobile conference around, utilized 2D barcodes to create a unique mobile sweepstakes campaign to attendees of this year’s Mobile World Congress.

Partnering with Neustar, the company initiated a call-to-action by way of encouraging attendees to download a barcode reader, as well as giving each attendee a faux Visa gift card as part of their welcome packets.  The Visa cards were equipped with 2D barcodes on the back, and attendees were encouraged to scan the code each day to enter a “Check Your Balance” sweepstakes to win 50 euros.

As part of the promotion, attendees were asked to answer a question testing their creativity, with the most creative answers winning a Visa gift card every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.  Questions like; “Answer the simple question: More people go with Visa. Where would you like to go with your Visa card? Simple, but an effective way to engage the group-aspect of the event.

“Visa recognizes the power of these mobile bar codes,” said Diane Strahan, vice president of mobile services at Neustar. “A barcode is a call-to-action—it’s saying scan me, snap a picture of me, and brands love it because it’s a call-to-action that takes you straight up the marketing value chain.  A barcode encourages consumers to take action, and Visa likes it because it can take you all the way to commerce.  Barcodes can take consumers from awareness, interest and desire to action, from a payments and mobile money transfer perspective.”

Even with Visa’s use of 2D barcodes, there still wasn’t much interest in mobile barcoding technology at this year’s MWC.  No major announcements were made in terms of the technology, and the concept didn’t seem to be as present as I thought it would, especially given the international dominance of the showcase providers and companies.  Even so, Visa’s campaign was innovative, unique and surely successful.  I wish we could see more campaigns like this from major brands.

With Google being criticized over trying to take over the wireless industry with its broad initiatives, the company seems to be shifting focus away from re-writing the rules, and instead is working within the mobile supply chain to make its voice heard without stepping on any toes.

This is the message detailed in a new report from iSuppli entitled, “Google: The Elephant in the Wireless Room”.  In it, a strategy is chronicled that could help Google remain successful in its bid to transform the wireless industry from its traditional voice-subscription model to one supported by broadband-based mobile advertising revenue.

Like much of the rest of the mobile value chain, Google is seeking to uncover new user behavior patterns and to drive social networking services through the promotion of cloud storage and computing, mobile advertising, and a variety of location-based services. All of the free Google offerings are driving toward this goal, and has the intention to strengthen the mobile industry, not dominate it.

“During the past three years, Google has continually targeted the mobile communications industry with a series of initiatives,” said Dr. Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst at iSuppli. “From offering free Wi-Fi services, to developing a free and powerful open operating system for smart phones — Android — to offering free maps and turn-by-turn navigation services, to introducing a Google branded phone — the Nexus One — the Internet search giant is revolutionizing the mobile value chain in an attempt to unlock new value and to expand an industry desperately searching for the next inflection point.”

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