Posts tagged Nokia
Going Places? You’ll need a map…
Sep 27th
The introduction of Facebook Places to the UK adds a new dimension to mobile marketing, with users of the world’s largest social network being able to post recommendations – and criticisms – of suppliers and destinations. Bruce Townsend, of ecommerce software specialist, Actinic, compares who’s who of mapping in the online world.
Mobile search has been growing for some time. With GPS now widely available on phones, more and more are location-related – currently around a third, according to Google. On our family holiday this year, when a mobile phone charger broke, we used mobile search to locate a supplier and find a replacement. Searches for restaurants and homes for sale are popular.
So, I thought it would be useful to cover the main sites where a business needs to be listed in order to appear in mobile and social search results.
This is the big one. Almost 90% of UK searches go through Google. Google Maps entries also feature in the main Google results for geographical searches, eg ‘pizza delivery birmingham’.
Nokia phones are the most popular in the world, and their Ovi Maps application now offers free satnav for life. Nokia lags behind in Europe and North America, but it’s new Symbian 3 operating system promises to breathe new life into the old dog.
Microsoft’s search engine lags behind Google in percentage terms, but its alliance with Yahoo! will more than double its market share. In desktop search and on Windows mobile devices, it’s still a force to consider.
Foursquare is the leader in geosocial networking, with numerous shops, restaurants and tourist destinations listed. It pioneered concepts such as the ‘Swarm’, where many users log in together at one place. It’s here that marketers are learning how to use this medium commercially.
Facebook added Places in response to Foursquare’s success. Although new and undeveloped, it promises a similar facility for Facebooks’s massive 400 million user base.
All of these sites are free and easy to sign up for. If footfall matters to you, you’d be crazy not to.
Symbian wins half of the Western European smartphone market
Sep 15th
The Symbian platform holds 54.4% of the Western European smartphone market, according to the latest comScore data.
But — surprisingly — despite Symbian’s continued growth in number of smartphone subscribers, its market share has fallen as growth in the Apple OS and Android (Google) platforms has surged in the past year.
Apple’s iPhone 4 alone sold out instantly upon its debut and Google’s Android seems to be racing ahead due to the growing popularity of its OS.
Google’s Android platform is challenging Symbian for the top spot and plans to overtake the incumbent by 2014, says Gartner.
By contrast, Nokia’s portfolio is very weak at the very high end at the moment, while its Ovi Store is not competitive against the might of Apple’s iTunes App Store – with its more than 250,000 apps – or even the smaller but fast growing Android Market.
Nokia’s high end strategy is also effectively on hold, while MeeGo and the Symbian 4 OS continue to be developed.
Meanwhile, smartphone adoption in the EU5 (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy) has grown 41% in the past year to 60.8 million subscribers.
Currently, more than one out of every two smartphones is a Nokia manufactured device, although Nokia accounted for more than two out of every three smartphones a year ago.
Jeremy Copp, European VP Mobile at comScore, said, “Nokia is still the clear leader in the European smartphone market and as the eagerly anticipated N8 launches, all eyes are on Nokia.
“While Nokia has made great strides with offerings such as the Ovi Store and Symbian 3, the pressure is on to reclaim valuable market share. By innovating and bringing new phones to market for a wide variety of audiences, Nokia’s future is not predicated on the success of one handset alone.”
Why Apple is winning the smartphone war while Nokia plays catch-up
Apr 30th
Smartphone owners of handset brands including Apple, BlackBerry and HTC are more likely to stick with the same brand when purchasing a new handset, according to new research from YouGov, but why are these devices so special?
Apple owners have the highest level of loyalty with 81% of users expected to buy the brand again. In contrast, LG, a traditional handset brand, comes bottom of the pile with only 10% of users saying that they would buy the brand again.
Remember back in the 90s, and even at the start of the millennium, when you swore you’d never use anything other than a Nokia because of its simplicity and easy usability? Now Nokia is being dubbed out of date.
Traditional mobile phone brands, such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG, do not fair well when it comes to loyalty and according to YouGov, and need to update their features in order to stay in the mobile handset game.
Russell Feldman, research manager in YouGov’s Technology and Telecoms team, says that the traditional phone brands have a battle on two fronts. “Firstly, the number of smartphone owners is growing at a very fast rate and the transitional gold rush to this new technology means traditional handset brands face tough competition from new and exciting brands. Read the rest of this entry »
Android crashes the smartphone party – will it push Apple out?
Dec 17th
Android is quickly gaining in the popularity stakes, but can it even come close to the success of Apple’s iPhone?
Consumer awareness of Google’s Android is growing rapidly, due in large part to the Verizon Droid ad campaign in the US.
Further, of those American consumers in the market for a smartphone, 17% are considering the purchase of an android-supported device in next three months, compared to 20% indicating they plan to purchase an iPhone.
Last week on UTalkMarketing, we revealed that the new Android handset is expected to become more popular than Apple’s iPhone, according to exclusive research from OneNewsPage.com.
Asked, ‘Will the new version of Android beat the iPhone?’, 77% of readers said yes, while just 23% disagreed.
The statistics show that despite Apple’s growing popularity, it might finally be losing its luster as new competition enters the market.
Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile, said, “With handsets on multiple carriers, from multiple manufacturers, and numerous Android device models expected to be in the U.S. market by January, the Android platform is rapidly shaking up the smartphone market.
“While the iPhone continues to set the bar with its App Store and passionate user base, and RIM remains the leader among the business set, Android is clearly gaining momentum among developers and consumers.”
Although Android’s share of the smartphone market is relatively small, it has quickly doubled in the past year to 3.5% in October 2009.
Understanding the mobile media behaviour of Android users highlights why operators and media companies might embrace the platform and fuel its growth.
An analysis of mobile media consumption on smartphones revealed that users of both Apple and Android-supported devices were more likely to engage with mobile media than an average smartphone user.
Users of the Apple iPhone were most likely to consume mobile media, with 94% of users doing so in September 2009, while 92% of Android device users, predominantly T-Mobile G1 users, engaged in mobile media activities – 12% higher than an average smartphone user.
Apple and Android users are equally likely to engage with news via their browser and nearly identical in their mobile application engagement, according to comScore.
Email was the only major activity in which iPhone users (87% were far more likely to participate than Android users (63%).
Overall, Android users will behave more like iPhone users than other smartphone users giving some hope to Google and its endeavor into the mobile market next year. However, it is more bad news for BalckBerry and Nokia, which have already suffered declines this year following the launch of Apple’s 3G iPhone.
The question now is, is there room in the market for all four devices, or will older player be squeezed out?
Google’s Android platform has continued to gain awareness and has sparked interest this week by announcing a Google handset in the testing phases, but to be rolled out next year.
In August 2009, just 22% of mobile users had heard of the Android, while in November 2009 this figure had reached 37%, largely prompted by an advertising push launched in September. The comScore study found that not only is general awareness increasing about Android, but intent to purchase an Android-supported device is also increasing among mobile phone users.
When mobile users were asked in November which phone they planned to buy in the next three months, 17% said they planned to purchase an Android-supported device compared to 20% of respondents who said they planned to purchase an iPhone.
Has the iPhone lost its lustre?
Technology is a fickle market these days. Consumers have little loyalty and a very ‘gadget’ driven, keen to try out new devices and technologies – out with the old and in with the new is the attitude. We want the latest, up-to-date, ‘wow’ technology and we’re even more willing to ‘give it a go’. And with a brand name such as Google behind it, it’s no surprise the Android is participating success.
However, 21% of consumers are still planning to purchase an iPhone in the next three months. Remember, Apple is untouchable. For now.
Google’s Nexus One marks a new era for search giant
Dec 14th
Can Google crack the handset market too?
Google has been forced to confirm that it is currently testing out its own branded mobile handsets after rumours surfaced on the internet over weekend. A rare but strategic move for Google…can it possibly pay off though?
Dubbed the ‘Nexus One’ and made by smartphone maker HTC, the phone will run on the search giant’s Android operating system and will be sold online, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal.
Looks like Google is desperately trying to cling to its market share and internet monopoly as in the past few months, the search engine giant has announced a number of new products as competition from tech giant Microsoft heats up.
But, can Google be everything to everyone?
It’s one thing to be a leader in search – an area where Google has established itself as one of the most enterprising, innovative and ‘cool’ brands of the decade. But will consumers follow the brand through to its new endeavors?
There is no doubt that Apple’s iPhone will have little competition over the next year or so. It’s virtually pushed Nokia out of the market as its profits and sales dipped dramatically this year. Even BalckBerry is suffering declines as consumers are wooed to Apple by its ‘wow’ factor.
However, Google’s Android phones have won attention in the mobile industry lately, with Motorola and Sony Ericsson choosing to launch it with their new top models.
But perhaps Google isn’t after ‘world domination’ with this new venture. Analysts have said that the company is aiming to gain access to valuable consumer data that can be used to sell ads at premium prices. So perhaps Google is just going that one step further to confirm it is still the King of search engine marketing.
Producing its own phone would be seen as competing with its partners and would represent a rare venture by Google. By the time January comes around (when the launch is predicted) we’ll have a much clearer explanation as to why Google has chosen to go down this route. For now though, it seems like the giant is just looking to stay ahead – by any means possible.
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