A new survey conducted by Luth Research on behalf of the MMA found that 17% of adults in the US utilize mobile banking, with usage growing to 22% by next year.  Mobile commerce in general is a hot topic at the moment, and consumer interest in the technology is growing rapidly.

The survey gathered input from more than 1,000 US-based adult consumers, a sample large enough to provide a statistically accurate snapshot of the entire US adult population, and found that 92% of respondents said they own a cell phone and 19 percent of that subset currently do banking with their phone- an amount equivalent to 17 percent of all US adult consumers.

How users interact with mobile banking came as surprise, with the survey revealing that most utilize a mobile Web browser (11%), followed by SMS (8%) and mobile apps (5.5%).  While most, including myself, think mobile apps would be the most common channel to access mobile banking, it’s the mobile browser that’s still on top.  Over the next year, however, SMS mobile banking usage is estimated to remain flat, while mobile-Web-based banking is expected to rise to 14%, followed by mobile apps at 8.5%.

From a marketing standpoint, having users gain interest in mobile banking — and becoming comfortable with the idea — means more opportunities for mobile commerce-oriented and transactional-based marketing techniques.  “The data provides clear evidence that mobile is becoming a viable platform for banking,” said Jacqueline Rosales, evp of business development and client service at Luth Research.  “The task at hand for marketers in mobile banking is to migrate consumers from engaging in primarily informational services such as checking account balances to using transaction oriented services.”

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The targeting methods associated with mobile advertising are efficient at best, but a new partnership promises to up the ante significantly.

Mobclix, a mobile-ad exchange, has partnered with Nielsen to integrate its immense amount of ad-targeting data within it’s platform to provide mobile advertisers a targeting capacity like never before.  Nielsen’s proprietary “PRIZM,” and “ConneXions” consumer targeting methods will be available to Mobclix to then resell to mobile ad networks and publishers.

Nielsen’s PRIZM is built around a database that segments markets by lifestyle and consumer behavior based on data collected via cookies, while ConneXions delegates consumers into 53 different demographic categories.  Under the new partnership, these targeting capabilities — once only available for Online and traditional advertisers and publishers — will be available for mobile ad-buyers as well.

With Mobclix having the capability to resell Nielsen’s data, it will now be possible to serve varying mobile ads to 150 different consumer audience segments.  “The need to have precise marketing within mobile marketing strategies has become critical for survival,” Mobclix co-founder Krishna Subramanian said in a statement regarding the partnership.  “The enhanced precision enables advertisers and ad networks to produce greater advertising ROI and gives mobile publishers higher CPMs from premium ad buys.”

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We recently received a heads-up regarding an interesting use-case for SMS outside the traditional lines of marketing, proving that thinking outside the box can produce unique results.

Safelincs, a UK-based fire-safety product supplier, recently teamed with TextMagic to utilize the latter’s rich set of APIs to integrate SMS into a free reminder service focused on smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.  Users can sign up on Safelincs’ website to be reminded to change batteries, test their alarms and so on.

“As well as being a profit-making business, Safelincs is also strongly ethical,” the company said in a statement.  ”We have a real commitment to saving people’s lives through fire safety.  We support the UK Government’s “Fire Kills” campaign, and do a great deal to keep people aware and informed of fire safety issues.”

Safelincs integrated SMS into their website to allow users the chance to quickly fill out a simple form with their mobile number and the type(s) of reminders they’d like to utilize, while TextMagic’s APIs handle the work behind the scenes- connecting to the company’s SMS gateway to facilitate the messaging.

While it’s simple in nature, it’s an excellent application for SMS outside more traditional means.  We’ve recently seen a lot of interest in SMS-based reminder services, with its simplicity and simple integration making a lot of sense for a growing number of savvy service-providers, businesses, etc.

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Motally, a mobile analytics startup, released an interesting report yesterday indicating that the US leads the world in terms of creating mobile sites with a substantial global audience — 80% of which, to be exact.

Specifically speaking, 80% of US-based mobile sites receive traffic from three of the seven major regions of the world — North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania — with 72% of US-based mobile apps reaching an audience in four or more regions.

More generally speaking, 53% of sites and 41% of apps in Motally’s study drew visitors from all seven regions — not just one or two clicks, but significant traffic — signaling the benefit for mobile app and site developers who can reach a significant worldwide audience by utilizing a rather simple medium.  “Any investment should at least consider a global audience,” Motally indicated in its report.  “Mobile is an effective global platform.”

This is interesting to me given the fact that the US has always been lagging in terms of mobile technology when compared to other parts of the world.  With new-age media and mobile marketing and advertising channels emerging, it’s clear that the US has been a major player in advancing these technologies.  It also indicates the extreme potential mobile provides in reaching a target audience, whether that audience is your local community or the entire world.

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Smaato, a mobile-ad optimization startup, has released its latest “Mobile Advertising Metrics Report” for January, in which it compares leading mobile OSs and their ad-based click-through rates, among other unique metrics.

Last month’s report indicated that Symbian was the top mobile OS in terms of click-throughs, with Apple a close second, and Android in third place, but this month’s report paints a rather different picture.  Based on an average index of 100, January’s metrics show Android’s click-through rate was 163, up from just 65 in December.

Apple’s click-through rate dropped slightly from 119 in December to 104 for January, while Symbian remained the leader overall with 173.  Android has already bumped Apple from its #2 spot, and is only 10 shy of Symbian, showing just how far Android has come in a short period of time.

New to the report this month was a unique metric defining the average response time from ad-networks worldwide, or fill rates to be more specific, which stood at 256 milliseconds (MS).  Out of the 16 networks compared, the fastest time was 43 milliseconds, compared to the slowest, which stood at a lagging 887 milliseconds.

The biggest take-away of the report is obviously the progress Android is making in the mobile-ad scene.  Smaato attributes much of its growth to the influx of Android devices hitting the market quickly, such as the high-profile Nexus One and Motorola Droid, as well as the numerous operator-branded handsets that emerge everyday it seems.

It’s interesting to note that Smaato’s metrics are based upon 35 mobile ad networks and over 4 billion ad requests served in the Smaato Network of more than 2,300 registered mobile publishers, so while it’s definitely interesting metrics to build-on, the data is slightly skewed by not taking into account the entire ecosystem.  Still, it’s clear that Android is moving up the ranks quickly, but Apple’s intended integration of Quattro will change things substantially.

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Being the secretive enterprise they are, Apple has never been one to tell the world what their plans are.  Tradition rings true with their purposed intentions with Quattro Wireless and their inevitable entry into the mobile advertising space.

A subtle message graced a page on Apple’s iPhone developer website as an “App Store Tip,” saying “If you build your application with features based on a user’s location, make sure these features provide beneficial information,” begins the so-called tip.  ”If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.”

In other words, Apple is more-or-less banning location-based mobile advertising in its iPhone apps- at least if those ads are coming from a third-party ad-network.  Looking at the bigger picture, Apple is obviously readying itself to integrate Quattro Wireless into its iPhone strategy.  Quietly taking the feature away from developers by way of a simple “App Store Tip,” means bigger plans are in the works.

It only makes sense that Apple will utilize it’s new “mobile advertising division” (A.K.A Quattro Wireless) to provide the only option for iPhone developers to monetize their apps via in-app location-oriented advertising.  By doing so, Apple could potentially lock-out all other competing mobile ad-networks (such as Google-owned AdMob) and have a lock on the largest mobile app ecosystem in existence.

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JagTag, a mobile barcode startup that’s gaining traction in the US, has announced that it’s added T-Mobile and Sprint to the list of wireless operators who carry its solution, meaning together with AT&T, Verizon and Alltell, it’s now available to nearly 90% of US wireless subscribers.

JagTag is making progress in its attempt to bring mobile barcodes, a technology that’s caught on in other parts of the world, but remains a novelty in the US, mainstream.  To do so, it’s eliminated most of the barriers keeping US consumers away from the concept- mainly device limitation by way of requiring a barcode reader, which JagTag doesn’t utilize.

JagTag requires no downloads or special mobile apps to read barcodes, instead it uses MMS, which is universally available to almost all wireless subscribers.  Though it takes more time to read a barcode, it eliminates several steps required for consumers to enjoy the interaction barcodes provide.  You simply snap a photo of the barcode, MMS it to JagTag, and you’re instantly returned results based on the data stored in the code.  All the “heavy-lifting,” so-to-speak is done server-side, making the consumer experience effortless.

The only problem with JagTag, as GoMoNews has pointed out, is that utilizing MMS can be a costly practice for some subscribers without the appropriate data and messaging plans.  SMS is bundled with almost every wireless plan, but MMS remains a “premium” service and can cost a subscriber up to $.20 and beyond per message.

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