Posts tagged smartphone
How to be a digital ninja in 2012
Jan 16th
Looking to bolster your digital capabilities in 2012? There’s only one device you’ll need, and finally it is your mobile.
We’ve published many a headline over the years to the effect of “Is this the year of mobile?”
While we’ve all waited eagerly – knowing the broad capabilities our pocket devices hold – we have been disappointed year and year again.
But finally, it seems like 2012 is it for mobile.
And we’ve not waited because there hasn’t been cool stuff on mobile until now, we’ve just all been so caught up with devices that have come since mobile.
You have to remember that mobile is an old platform – reinvigorated perhaps by replacing ‘mobile’ with ‘smart’. The year of the smartphone has dawned.
Why?
Our insistent need to be socially connected at all times. But not only is social growing, content is.
Facebook currently boasts 800 million users worldwide. Of those, 350 million are using Facebook mobile – sharing news clips, photos and blogs.
We’ve said content is King before, but this will ring true more than ever in 2012 as internet users shy away from simple status updates.
Branded apps are also on the rise as smartphone take up steadily increases and the naysayers of the iPhone, HTC, iPads and other smart devices join the life of the living.
Brands have been trying to get into the pockets of consumers for years, but there has always been a challenge for some to do it in an organic, fun and engaging way.
So with the huge growth in online shopping outside of eBay, there’s never been a better time.
With this, brands will also become more creative when it come to geo-location platforms and there will be a smoother, more complete social integration.
I had never quite realised how much my phone could do until I was given an iPhone 4 recently. But it wasn’t until after my laptop and iPad were stolen in a break and enter until I realised I could actually do everything I wanted and needed to do from my phone – my iPhone 4.
I think others are starting to notice also…especially brands and marketers.
I can’t even catch public transport with checking the app to see how long I have to wait, go to dinner without checking out Yelp or start my morning without checking the latest specials on ASOS.
It’s an increasingly digitally mobile world.
How technology is giving marketers superpowers
May 31st
There are quite a few headlines around this morning saying ‘are gadgets stealing our humanity?’ Sounds a little sensational if you ask me – but are smartphones really making us less smart?
Some argue that smartphones free up our brain memory for more creative tasks. Noted.
But technology pundits and social researchers ponder whether society’s relentless march towards information overload is stealing rather than augmenting our humanity.
During a talk at the TEDxSydney conference at the weekend in Australia, Professor David Chalmers, director of the Centre for Consciousness at the Australian National University, argued that gadgets, particularly smartphones, had “become part of our minds”.
He said just as we use technology such as prosthetics, canes, cars and bikes to extend our bodies, devices like the iPhone extended our minds.
Chalmers reckons, “In some sense the iPhone is literally becoming part of your mind … the iPhone’s memory is basically my memory.”
Prominent technology writer Nicholas Carr has in the past suggested that it was Google that was “actually making us smarter” and “turning us into superheroes of the mind”.
Chalmers said, “Technology is gradually giving us these super powers, turning us into cognitive super geniuses.”
But while smartphones and other gadgets increasingly become part of our daily life, they are leading us to an age of information overload.
We’ve got to the point where the demands of our devices exceed our ability to always meet them.
And while the internet has enormous benefits in delivering incredible amounts of information at great speed, it’s also distracting us from an interruption-rich environment and discouraging sustained attention and the ability to think deeply and creatively about one topic only.
So while technology and constant connectivity offers us the promise of never being bored again it has given advertisers direct access to our pockets, memory and wallets.
In the future, technology will know who we are, what we like, and what we do. The products and brands that we are normally searching for will find us instead – powered by marketing.
Microsoft goes in for battle with Apple – this time it may win
Oct 12th
Microsoft has finally entered a new era with the launch of its very own smartphone. The tech giant has already swayed Apple fan-boy Stephen Fry, but are its efforts enough to not only recruit ‘fans’ but keep its market share?
The software giant has launched its new Windows Phone 7 ahead of the busy Christmas period as its attempts to take on giants Apple, Google and RIM.
To help its plight, Microsoft’s launch was given the voice of reason by former Twinings brand ambassador and vocal Apple fan Stephen Fry (his powers on the Twitterverse are invaluable).
The nerdy brand has launched a total of nine new handsets that will be available in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Australia. With more than 60 mobile operators in over 30 countries worldwide committed to bringing Windows Phones to market, “the millions of people around the world looking for a phone that plays as hard as it works will have a variety of phones from leading device-makers to choose from,” said Microsoft.
Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, added: “Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience — one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’ format.”
While that may be true – Microsoft is still one of the best performing technology brand sin the world with over 90% of computer users utilising its software – there’s still that issue of ‘sexy’ sells. And let’s face it, Apple wins that competition hands down.
Microsoft has collaborated with Dell, HTC, LG and Samsung, and from mobile operators including América Móvil, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, Telstra, TELUS, Three, T-Mobile USA and UK and Vodafone.
It’s hard to see how they can fail with so much back-up. But only half the battle is over.
Microsoft has a way to go in topping Apple’s iPhone offering as well as beatng down snide remarks that its touch screen phones are simply ‘copycats’.
But in Microsoft’s words, it’s taking on Apple all guns blazing: “Windows Phone 7 breaks the current smartphone convention to help people quickly and easily find and consume data, information and services from the Web and applications. The new phones are distinguished by unique design and integrated experiences built from Microsoft’s deep portfolio such as Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Office Mobile, Zune, Windows Live, Bing and more.
“The customisable Start screen with Live Tiles is a personal experience, showing people their own content. The Live Tiles come to life with real-time updates from the Web such as news, appointments or the status of friends. New Live Tiles can be easily created from whatever content a consumer wants, such as applications, websites and music.”
Basically, its main selling point is that if you’ve ever used Windows Microsoft or Internet Explorer, the Windows Phone 7 will be pretty easy for you to get used and find your way around.
It should also entice Xbox fans with its games offering and those who use Windows Office will be pleased at the usability and sync capabilities.
So if you’re a PC users, you’ll love the Window Phone 7 – but if you’re a Mac user, you’ll love the iPhone. Two very split markets, one though, Microsoft actually has market share. Let the battle begin.
Putting your brand in the right hands
Aug 11th
By Mat Diss, Co-Founder, bemoko
Back in 2008, IBM released survey results which suggested more than 50% of people would gladly substitute their PC web for mobile web. The reasoning behind this is pretty straightforward, because it enables the consumer to make a choice as to when and where they connect, whether in private, out and about, and when inspired by other influencers.
There’s clearly a strong wish from consumers to embrace the mobile internet, but sadly the reality, even now in today’s smartphone led world is that getting ‘online’ can be a pretty awful experience. And that’s not good for marketing your brand.
You’ll know what I mean if you have tried to call up a site only to have to squint to read the text, or suffered badly pixellated text when you pinch and zoom in. Ever visited a site with a store locator or a login? Smartphones are usually GPS enabled, they know where and who you are! And if you hit a site with Flash, well that effectively triples the page download time, if it works at all.
So why can’t sites be instantly clear and navigable on the mobile screen? Why can’t images be delivered in the right size and resolution for the screen’s capability? Crucially why can’t content be personalised for me without having to ask? Here’s the thing, they can – but only if brands take time to put some thought into the creation of their mobile website. Given that the branded website is one of the most powerful marketing tools in your arsenal it beggars belief that the mobile opportunity is so often misunderstood, or worse still overlooked.
Here then, are five simple steps you need to consider when marketing on mobile:
1. Discover – Ways of finding a site can come from social media, SMS, QR code stickers, mobile email, search, promotions and the oldest of marketing options – posters and signs.
2. Engage – seize the opportunity to engage with your consumer, keep the site social, conversational, make it relevant, and reward your visitors
3. Trust – Your brand is in their hand, so it needs to look and feel right. According to a recent survey by Monotype, “86% of survey respondents in the UK would not trust a communication from a source they often use, if the details were sent in an unfamiliar font.” The user experience must be perfect, and it must present a level of quality equal to the brand. You realistically have one shot at hooking your consumer, so you need to make it count.
4. Measure – Analytics are your friend, they can identify good performance, root out the bad, and provide crucial feedback that lets you improve your site. And that’s important because you must…
5. Repeat – by delivering a social, valuable service the consumer will want to return, and in the best case scenario will become your brand ambassador and take your site viral.
One day we’ll just call it the web, whether we are desk surfing, or hopping online wherever we are. Right now the mobile web offers huge potential to extend marketing campaigns. We can finally drive functional content onto devices wherever you are, with the right branded look and feel that ensures a warm familiarity, and so deliver long term engagement with the customer.
MARKETING NEWS BITES: Apple’s iPad sales figures, Facebook investigated and smartphone shipments up 50%
May 3rd
A round up of news from around the web:
Checks with 50 Apple retail stores have led one prominent analyst to predict Apple sold about 300,000 iPad 3G units, including pre orders, over the device’s first weekend of sales. Apple Insider
Days after Facebook launched its “Open Graph Platform” that extends the social net’s web across third-party sites, it got a surprise rebuke from New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who wrote a letter asking the Federal Trade Commission to develop guidelines for how Facebookers’ information can be used. Facebook says it is currently listening and responding to the concerns. AdAge
The global smartphone market has seen its best quarter for the first time in almost three years, according to Strategy Analytics. Global smartphone shipments jumped by a gigantic 50% to 54 million in Q1 from 36 million in the year-ago period. Smartphones accounted for 18% of all smartphones shipped. paidContent
And lastly, ITV is eyeing a £20m advertising boost from the football World Cup this summer. The broadcaster will report on Friday that advertising on ITV1 in June, when the tournament kicks off, is expected to be 15%-20% up on last year. Depending on England’s progression in the tournament and a late rush of money, experts say ITV1’s income could end up 25% higher than last June. The Times
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 »
Protect and survive? Now it’s text and survive.
Apr 21st
The phrase ‘Protect and Survive’ that fronted the public information series on civil defence produced by the British government during the late 1970s and early 1980s is being given a new spin.
Mobile developments now mean the rallying call is ‘Text and Survive’ on the back of a new MobileAlert system being introduced in Israel.
It will be used to back up 20th Century air-raid sirens and loud speaker announcements.
Developed by eVigilo the service is set to go live in early 2100 and is being managed by the Defence Ministry with the assistance of the National Emergency Authority.
It’s not a development that is being taken half-heartedly with nearly £35 million being assigned to the project.
MobileAlert will be plugged into the existing network of warning radars that monitor Israel’s borders for rocket attacks, ttrack the flightpaths of incoming rockets, and – estimating the point of impact - trigger alarm sirens in the area.
The hope is that MobileAlert will be more accurate, using GPS to send messages to all phones in the area predicted to be hit.
Of course, the warning window depends on where the missiles are fired from – mere seconds if from the Gaza Strip, but minutes if from, say, Iran.
But it could make all the difference between making to it to a shelter – or not.
“The siren sound component is the primary life saving tool within the alert array. The cellular alert system is being currently evaluated to become the central element in this array.” said Israel’s Deputy Defence Minister, Matan Vilnai.
Race is on for publishers large and small to get mobile
Mar 23rd
Think publishing. Think revenue generation. Think multi-platform. Or your future might look pretty bleak.
Going mobile is nothing new to publishers. After all, how many years has WAP been around, never mind the smart phone.
But the planned launch of the iPad and it’s potential to revolutionise media and publishing is encouraging on those publishers to take action.
The reasons are simple. Going digital – and mobile – opens up the door on alternative revenue steams.
It’s something we’ve touched on a few times, most recently with the launch of Skimkits, but as tech advances, so do the opportunties.
However while major publishers may have had the budget and resources to make the digital leap, it’s not been so easy for smaller players such as bloggers.
A new development may be set to change all that. A new tool has been released that allows publishers to create and monetise a mobile version of their website, turning RSS feeds and web pages into mobile pages.
The best news is that Mobilizer, as developed by BuzzCity, is a free service, with no hosting fees, and free publisher support.
It allows publishers to start earning mobile display advertising revenue with a payout of up to 65 per cent of total ad revenues. Publishers are able to choose the type of adverts that will appear on their mobile website as well as the number of ads and their position.
“It is common knowledge that consumer behaviour is shifting. Reading habits evolved from print-based media to web-based media and now mobile media is really coming in to play,” explains KF Lai, CEO of BuzzCity.
“It is vital that publishers are making their content readily available on the mobile. Many have invested in apps for the iPhone but this will only serve a small section of the market.”
In addition, publishers receive a unique QR code to display on their website, newspaper or magazine.
Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL.
The simple act of reading may never be the same again…
How to target men using fashionable technology
Feb 23rd
What’s the best way to market the latest technology? Make it look fashionable of course.
The excitement of Apple’s new iPad set many hearts a-flutter. Financially, it is predicted to be another Apple money spinner.
Industry analysts Gartner Research expect the iPad to inject rocket fuel into the sleepy tablet PC market once it actually goes on sale at the end of March, boosting tablet sales from 1 to 9 million by the end of the year.
But how many so-called gadget fans are really in it for the technology? Are some more concerned with image over function, perhaps ageing Baby Boomers wanting trendy gadgets to stave off looking middle aged?
A survey of over 500 users by global news website OneNewsPage asked if some gadgets such as iPhones and Playstations look inappropriate in the hands of older consumers.
It’s worth noting that most who took part in OneNewsPage’s survey were strongly into their technology.
Forty four per cent of respondents claimed they ‘always’ buy the latest gadgets as soon as they go on sale.
But it was a close contest on the question of age. Fifty two per cent agreed that keeping up with latest gadgets is a sign of desperation, while 48% disagreed.
Over half (55%) felt gadgets were like clothes, and consumers needed to buy the right ones for their age.
Indeed, 63% felt that once a person turns 40, no gadget is ever going to make them look ‘cool’.
The survey found that 44% agreed with the statement that people over 40 on a Playstation was “plain wrong”. And 40% felt similarly about the over 40s using iPhones.
Meanwhile, research from Microsoft Advertising has laid bare the depth of British men’s love affair with technology.
The report, entitled ‘PFM Unplugged’, reveals that the UK’s Pre-Family Men (PFM) – young males who have completed their education but not yet started a family – are heavily engaged in technology and always online.
PFM are interacting with technology in some way during every waking hour (anyone who has a boyfriend knows that). They are the first generation to have grown up with the internet, and with the majority (99%) claiming to go online either every day or nearly every day and half using their mobile phones to do so.
The research shows that they are increasingly reliant on the Internet for entertainment, information and communication, with 80% going so far as to state that they would be lost without it.
In fact, the internet is the technology 57% of PFM are most attached to, closely followed by mobile phones (49%) and TV (46%).
PFM are apparently never ‘doing nothing’, and even downtime is filled by some activity, more often than not facilitated by technology. It’s also often also the first thing they think about when they wake up with a quarter of PFM admitting to checking their email and 18% looking at social networking sites on their mobile phone before they get out of bed in the morning.
Despite the popularity of social networks and the perception that traditional social email is dying, email remains the most valued online tool amongst PFM, with 52% of respondents rating it above all others (compared with 25% for search and 12% for social networking sites) and 87% stating their use of email had stayed the same or increased over the last year. 94% use email at least once per day, compared with 60% that go on to a social network.
Technology is fuelling the blurring of work and play as modes of behaviour overlap. While 43% of the men surveyed admitted occasionally browsing the internet during afternoons at work, PFM is also checking his work email in the evenings, on his way to and from work and before he gets out of bed in the morning.
Online video content is an important source of entertainment for PFM and it’s no longer just limited to short clips- 73% of PFMs will watch video-on-demand (VOD) at least once a week with nearly half watching full length TV programs. Catching up on TV shows they’ve missed and watching archive shows were the main drivers to viewing online and the majority (59%) viewed on a laptop.
The ‘PFM Unplugged’ report from Microsoft Advertising also provides advertisers with a series of recommendations on how they may reach and engage with PFM based on the insights uncovered in the research. You can download it here.
Too sexy for Apple?
Feb 22nd
Believe it or not but Apple has finally got something wrong, upsetting customers – and no, I’m not talking about the iPad.
Apple has begun enforcing stricter policies around apps available from its app store in a move that could see some apps removed entirely.
While the tech giant has so far only removed adult-themed apps, some games have also been removed.
Techcrunch reports that no more applications with “overtly sexual content” will be allowed, however, the criteria in which apps on the Apple store will be measured remain unclear.
The policy is expected to alarm some developers, and like other attempts to censor internet content, could see some apps banned for no reason at all – or at least in a case of misunderstanding (think of how in India you can’t look up ‘sex discrimination laws’ because the search term ‘sex’ is banned.
The news has already prompted many scathing opinions and blog posts on Mac enthusiasts sites such as cultofmac.com and 9to5mac.com. Blog posts on the sites are warning developers to make sure they don’t feature any “sexy women in apps” deeming the bans “ridiculous”.
The pulling of apps is in response to what is being dubbed as “sexy apps”, which also includes porn.
The move comes at a rather convenient time, with many touting that the clean-up attempt is to ready the market for its iPad, which is due to hit stores next month.
The iPad is expected to be popular with schools – carrying textbooks.
It seems that no medium is safe from censorship these days. And it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For years, the internet has known no or little inhibitions – there were no clear boundaries and anything and everything was available for download. We called it freedom. And until the internet giants got on board with censoring content available through their sites, there was no way to apply any laws on the world wide web as it isn’t confined to any one jurisdiction.
But the question is now, how much power should these ‘internet giants’ have over what content can and can’t be seen – and furthermore, what is too “sexy”?
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