Growing faster than some experts expected, Google’s display advertising business is on pace to surpass Facebook’s by next year, according to eMarketer. In 2013, eMarketer anticipates that Google’s U.S. display revenues will grow 45.3% to $3.68 billion, while Facebook’s will grow 27.6% to $3.29 billion. David Hallerman, principal analyst at eMarketer, attributes Google’s astonishing success to a thriving mobile display business, YouTube’s expanding role as a venue for premium display inventory, and strong growth from the company’s DoubleClick ad network. “The strength of Google’s existing relationships with search advertisers has also been a tremendous help for the company’s display business,” according to Hallerman. At the same time, eMarketer revised its figures for Facebook downward slightly after the company’s S-1 filling revealed a slower-than-expected growth rate for 2011, particularly in the fourth quarter. Last year, net U.S. display ad revenues at Google hit $1.71 billion, while Facebook raked in $1.73 billion -- helping the social network beat out Yahoo as the top seller of display advertising online. This year, domestic display revenue growth at Facebook and Google will be nearly identical -- around 48% year-over-year -- with Facebook expected to earn $2.58 billion in revenue, compared to Google’s $2.54 billion, eMarketer predicts. In 2011, the overall U.S. display ad market -- including Web video, sponsorships, rich media and banner ads -- grew 25.2% to $12.4 billion in 2011, eMarketer estimates -- and will increase to $15.39 billion in 2012. Facebook’s share of U.S. display ad market revenues grew to 14% in 2011 -- up from 11.5% in 2010. This year, Facebook’s share is expected to grow to 16.8%. Google’s share of U.S. display ad revenues is expected to reach 16.5% in 2012 -- up from 13.8% in 2011, and 12.1% in 2010, when the company closed its deal to purchase mobile advertising company AdMob. Sure to worry some marketers, Google and Facebook are pulling away from other contenders in the display advertising business. Representing immense power, Google and Facebook’s combined display ad revenues will account for 33.3% of total display ad spending in 2012, eMarketer predicts -- rising to 38.8% in 2014. Conversely, Yahoo will see its share of the U.S. display market fall to 9.1% this year -- from 10.8% in 2011. That’s a far cry from 2008, when Yahoo’s share peaked at 18.4%, eMarketer notes. Also, Marketer expects Microsoft's share of display revenues to shrink to 4.4%, this year from 4.5% in 2011, while AOL’s share will fall to 4% in 2012 -- from 4.3% last year.
Twitter's international focus grew Thursday with the appointment of two former Google execs. Shailesh Rao will serve as Twitter's vice president of international revenue, while Stephen McIntyre will support international expansion of Twitter's self-serve ad platform, which it plans to roll out in the U.S. next month. The plan is to grow ad revenue with the self-serve platform through promoted tweets and promoted accounts. eMarketer estimates that Twitter's global ad revenue should reach $540 million by 2014. Advertising revenue at Twitter grew 213% to $139.5 million in 2011 -- up from $45 million in 2010, according to the data firm, which estimates the social site will bring in another $259.9 million this year. Rao, former Google VP of media and platforms across Asia-Pacific, will set up Twitter's direct sales teams. Throughout his career, he supported YouTube, Google Display Network, DoubleClick Ad Exchange, and the mobile display business, including AdMob. McIntyre will support Twitter's self-service ad platform from Dublin -- a role similar to his position at Google for the past seven years in Ireland. The goal to get small businesses worldwide on its self-serve marketing platform and achieve the same influences as Google's AdWords and AdSense. Twitter will compete with Facebook globally. Facebook's worldwide ad revenue should exceed $5 billion this year to reach nearly $8 billion by 2014 -- more than double its 2011 revenue, eMarketer estimates. Growth will continue, although at a slower pace, dipping significantly in 2013 and 2014 to 32.8% and 13.7%. In the U.S., Facebook will garner $2.58 billion this year, contributing 51% of its total worldwide revenue. That’s down from 55% in 2011. It will drop further to 49% in 2013 and 2014 as international markets begin to contribute a larger share of ad revenue. This year, Facebook will account for 6.5% of all online ad revenues in the U.S., up from 5.4% in 2011. Its share will rise to 7.1% in 2013 and 2014, according to eMarketer.
Traditional metrics to measure searches don't work well with tools like Google Instant and Yahoo Search Direct, or with emerging technologies like voice and gesture. Until now, the industry has relied on data firms like comScore, but Shashi Seth, senior vice president of search products at Yahoo, believes the problem represents deeper issues and the responsibility should be with execs at the largest engines. "People at Yahoo, Google and Microsoft need to come together and share opinions on new metrics," he said. Advancements in search and marketing technologies point to inadequacies in long-established methods to accurately measure query volume. Yahoo has begun to test the ability to start a query on one device and continue it on another. For example, searching for a local restaurant on a desktop PC, finding a location and saving the search to continue it on a mobile device, such as iPad or smartphone. Signing into a Yahoo ID account allows the engine to connect searches on smartphones to tablets, desktops and laptops. Searchers will not only benefit from being able to save queries and continue them on another device, but advertisers will have an option to target ads across devices. Seth said Yahoo could release the tool within the next few months. Both Microsoft and Google have been working to personalize searches by integrating screens and ad targeting across platforms when signed in through a Google account or a Windows Live ID account. "Searches have been sliced and measured based on overall clicks, but not by the individual users or history," Seth said. You can imagine how social signals and interest graphs have begun to improve pushing out information." Seth said crossing screens creates a huge data problem, but search engines are good at analyzing tons of data in short periods of time. Data also becomes an issue for image search -- another challenge Yahoo continues to address. The company is working on a feature supported by recognition software that lets consumers look for similar items and drills down to specific criteria on queries. For example, a search for a lookalike Manolo Blahnik shoe at a cost of less than $200. Image matching and recognition means the algorithms must remove the colors and the curves of the shoes, and reduce the photo to a mathematical equation. The technology must be able to search large amounts of data and return results in milliseconds, either a typed query of voice search. New search features and tools that provide answers, rather than links, produce ample data. So Yahoo has begun to build a content index, instead of Web index, for every HTML page that exists. It connects information in a way that search engines have not done before. "It's been a large undertaking, but should solve pretty deep problems when finding exact answers to questions," Seth said. "We're doubling the size of the index yearly."
Full-year data released by mobile ad network Millennial Media underscores how dramatically Android expanded in 2011 -- at the expense of Apple’s iOS platform. Android impressions increased more than 500% on the network, propelling the Google mobile operating system from 33% to 47% share of all impressions. At the same time, iOS impressions dropped from 41% to 30% last year. BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion held fairly steady during 2011, dropping to 16% from 18% share of impressions. The Millennial findings roughly parallel the most recent comScore data on overall U.S. market share for the top smartphone platforms. It showed that Android had 47.3%; iOS, 29.6%; and BlackBerry, 16% as of December. Apple, however, remained easily the top manufacturer on the Millennial network, while the iPhone was the leading handset model. Apple devices accounted for 26% of impressions last year, unchanged from 2010. The big gainer last year was HTC, which nearly doubled its market share to 14% and pushed past RIM to rank as the No. 3 manufacturer behind Apple and Samsung. The iPhone’s market share over 2011 dropped only slightly to about 15% -- still well ahead of its nearest rival, the BlackBerry Curve, at almost 6%. Both Samsung and HTC had four phones in the top 20 on Millennial’s network, highlighting the dramatic growth both enjoyed in 2011 on the strength of Android device sales. Reflecting the spread of smartphones and tablets, the proportion of touchscreen devices used on the network increased from 46% to 57%. The share of smartphones themselves grew from 55% to 68%, with feature phones as a result falling from 31% to 17%. Driven mainly by iPad sales, the share of other connected devices rose to 15% from 14%. Looking at mobile applications, Millennial found gaming titles were the most popular in 2011, followed by music and entertainment, social networking, communications, and news apps. News as an app category moved up to the No. 5 slot from No. 8 last year.
Verizon is targeting what it calls “trend-setting young professionals” who live in apartments and condominiums in four major markets via a hyperlocal FiOS campaign. This demographic place a premium on technology to get ahead at work, while staying connected with friends, according to the company. The multimedia effort was tested in a metro-Washington D.C. pilot last fall and is now being rolled out in the New York, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. Many of the hyperlocal campaign elements used during the pilot -- including immersive digital advertising combined with social media engagement, plus a concentrated presence of out-of-home advertising and local events with prospective customers -- will be repeated in the broader campaign. Gyms, restaurants, bars, movie theatres, malls and transit centers are target venues. In Washington, Verizon introduced the “FiOS 50,” a first-of-its-kind for Verizon list of the 50 hottest, hippest, must visit places to go in the D.C. Metro area. Participants received exclusive FiOS offers when they linked to www.verizon.com and special discounts when they mention FiOS at the FiOS50 hot spots. Participants who passed the FiOS 50 link onto family and friends also were rewarded. Most 25- to 39-year-olds who make up a significant portion of multidwelling unit tenants are major users of social media and the Internet and spend as much as 14 hours online per week, said Pedro Correa, vice president of Verizon Enhanced Communities, a unit within Verizon focused on marketing the company's FiOS voice, high-speed Internet and TV services to tenants and property managers of multidwelling unit properties. "Some people think they have to live in a single family home to get the very best broadband and video entertainment services, but that's not true," he said in a release. To assist young professionals in finding MDUs with FiOS, Verizon has created a region-specific microsite at www.musthavefios.com that shows the MDUs where FiOS is available in metro New York, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. (The rest of the country is directed to the main Verizon FiOS website as they attempt to go to the URL.) Verizon FiOS are available to more than 2 million multifamily units, and growing in parts of 12 states, and the District of Columbia. About half of all Verizon's FiOS lines opened for sale this year will be in apartments and condos. The trial campaign in the Washington metro revealed that the trendsetting, "techknowledgeables" bear some unique attributes, according to Verizon research. Forty-five percent are more likely than the average adult to consider the Internet as their primary source of entertainment and 78% have seen a movie in the past six months.
Verizon's planned alliance with three cable companies will undermine competition and harm consumers, advocacy groups argue in petitions filed with the Federal Communications Commission. Public Knowledge, New American Foundation Open Technology Initiative and Writers Guild of America, West, and other groups are asking the FCC to block the companies from following through with their plans. The deal, announced in December and awaiting regulatory approval, calls for Verizon to pay $3.6 billion to license spectrum from Comcast, Time Warner and BrightHouse Networks. The agreement also provides for Verizon and the cable companies to market each other's services. Verizon and Comcast are already co-marketing their services in Seattle, Portland and the San Francisco area. They are offering a quadruple-play deal that allows consumers who sign up for Comcast's Xfinity TV bundle and Verizon's mobile phone service to receive a $300 prepaid Visa debit card. Critics argue that the arrangement will prove anti-competitive, especially given that Verizon recently stopped expanding its high-speed FiOS network. "To 'supersize' Verizon Wireless with additional spectrum from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, BrightHouse, and Cox so that the largest wireless operator can better promote the services of the largest incumbent cable operators directly undermines the pro-competitive policies of the 1996 Act and is thus contrary to the public interest," Public Knowledge and other watchdogs argue in a joint petition. "Even charitably interpreted, the joint agreements provide a mechanism for future collusion on pricing, building out, coverage, and other market control methods." The advocacy groups also warn that Verizon and the cable companies "would have an incentive to develop handset technology that can easily hand off calls between their respective networks, but not between others." They add that the companies would "have the means and motivation to develop proprietary standards for the delivery of video over broadband, inhibiting the development of independent online video providers and putting their competitors at a disadvantage." The advocacy group Free Press argued in a separate petition that the deal will result in Verizon controlling more than 33% of all mobile broadband spectrum and will give Verizon and AT&T a combined 60% share. "Not only will these transactions doom the wireless market to permanent duopoly status, but their associated joint cartelization agreements will further tilt the wireline market towards a cable monopoly, forever ending any hope of wireless-wireline or cable-telco competition." T-Mobile also weighed in against the deal. "Allowing Verizon Wireless to continue to aggregate spectrum unchecked would necessarily preclude access to this spectrum by smaller competitors that will use it more quickly, intensively, and efficiently than Verizon Wireless," T-Mobile argues. "The acquisition effectively will limit the bandwidth available for the deployment of LTE by competitors of Verizon Wireless."
In its annual “Mobile Future In Focus” report, comScore highlights the mainstreaming of smartphones, the emergence of tablets as a viable fourth screen and the growing integration of mobile into consumer lifestyles. The Web research firm reported that mobile media use -- defined as browsing the mobile Web, accessing applications, or downloading content -- has surpassed the 50% level in many markets. The growth of app use outpaced mobile browsers last year, but both ended up with the same level of adoption: about 47.5% of mobile owners used both formats. Health ranked as the fastest-growing mobile media category in the U.S., followed by retail and other commerce-related categories, such as electronic payments and auction sites. The most popular apps for the iPhone included YouTube, Google Maps, Facebook, Yahoo Weather and Pandora. Google apps were featured more heavily among Android users’ favorites, including Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps, Facebook and Google News and Weather. When it comes to mobile shopping, comScore found that more than half of U.S. smartphone owners used their phone to research products while inside a store last year. (Mobile retail data released by Nielsen Wednesday estimated that 38% are doing in-store research.) By year’s end, nearly 1 in 5 smartphone users scanned product barcodes and almost 1 in 8 compared prices. Social networking has also spread to smartphones. More than 64 million smartphone users accessed social networking sites or blogs on their phones at least once in December; more than half are doing so every day. People most often read posts from friends. But comScore said more than half of those who are social networking via mobile are reading posts from brands, organizations and events. The findings also underscore how quickly tablets are gaining traction. In less than two years, mobile users have snapped up 40 million tablets -- a threshold that it took smartphones seven years to reach. That translates to almost 15% of U.S. mobile users owning a tablet at the end of 2011. A Pew survey released last month had a somewhat higher estimate, finding that tablet ownership among U.S. adults nearly doubled to 19% over the holidays.
JPMorgan Chase has made an undisclosed investment in mobile payments service GoPago, whose app enables users to pay for goods and services at local stores. GoPago (formerly Pago Mobile) rolled out its app -- available on the iPhone and Android and BlackBerry devices -- last August with more than 50 participating merchants in Mountain View, Calif., where it’s based. Consumers can use the app to order and purchase items at local restaurants and businesses including Quiznos, KFC and Baskin Robbins. Users can also get special deals from retailers via the free app. On the merchant side, business owners use an iPad to receive incoming orders, accept payments and track customer loyalty. GoPago says businesses benefit by being able to easily set up mobile storefronts and gain a stream of data and analytics to help them better target special offers to drive sales. “We are here to help local businesses modernize while maintaining their intimate customer experience,” said founder and CEO Leo Rocco, in a statement. For its part, Chase is placing a bet in the emerging mobile wallet space. Through the deal, Chase customers will have access to exclusive offers and discounts in the GoPago app from the bank’s merchant partners. Later in the year, Chase business customers will have the opportunity to create a free mobile storefront through GoPago. Chase will also be the exclusive financial services marketing partner of the company.
It’s no secret that 18- to-34-year-olds continue to redefine media consumption; new Nielsen research explains why. Along with NM Incite, Nielsen found this demo -- christened “Generation C” -- is taking their personal connections to new levels, devices, and experiences. The latest U.S. Census reports that consumers 18-34 make up 23% of the U.S. population, yet they represent a particularly large portion of consumers watching online video -- 27% -- visiting social networking/blog sites -- 27% -- owning tablets -- 33% -- and using a smartphone -- 39%. With an array of online video content to choose from, consumers increased their monthly online video time in the third quarter of 2011 by 7% from the same period last year. During October 2011, YouTube was the top destination for online video content, accounting for nearly half -- 45% -- of Americans’ total streaming time, while social networks/blogs garnered the most Internet time overall. The majority of mobile phone time was consumed by app usage, with social networking apps -- accounting for the nearly 6% of mobile time. Consumers are increasingly multitasking across various screens. Fifty-seven percent of smartphone and tablet owners checked email while watching a TV program -- their top activity -- while 44% visited a social networking site. Advertisers that are worried consumers might miss their message should note that 19% of smartphone and tablet owners searched for product information, and 16% looked up coupons or deals while the television was on. While nearly all social media users -- 97% -- access social networking sites from their computers, NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey company, found that females are more likely than men to read social media content from their eReaders, while men are more likely than women to access their social content from an Internet-enabled TV or gaming console. Also of note, by the end of 2011, NM Incite tracked over 181 million blogs around the world -- up from 36 million in 2006. Three of the top 10 social networks in the U.S. during October of 2011 were true blogs -- Blogger, WordPress.com and Tumblr -- with a combined 80 million unique visitors. Among the top social networks, Tumblr has shown the strongest growth in visitors, more than doubling its audience from last year. Mobile, meanwhile, is transforming into a powerful commerce tool, facilitating consumer transactions and access to real-time information and deals. Twenty-nine percent of smartphone owners use their phone for shopping-related activities and more than half of mobile users are repeat visitors to daily deal sites. The Groupon app is the 10th most popular app on the iOS platform and ranks 22nd on Android devices. Finally, Nielsen warns that home entertainment landscape is becoming increasingly complex as consumers are presented with a greater variety of ways to consume content, especially with the addition of digital streaming and movie downloads via the Web.
While the Amazon Android Appstore has been online since the middle of last year, in recent months the introduction of the Amazon Kindle Fire has lit up activity. According to app tracker Distimo, downloads of the top 100 items from the Amazon app market increased by 14x in December compared to two months earlier. In fact, while some recent reports suggest that Amazon is planning a 10-inch tablet because the 7-inch model didn’t sell quite as well as expected, it is clear that the Fire has had a demonstrable effect on the Android ecosystem already. In much of the early 2000s, Apple’s iPod success had the ancillary effect of acquainting users with Apple design, operating systems and ways of doing things. I wonder if the Kindle Fire is Amazon’s iPod, in that it attracts new and existing Android owners to its app store and ultimately gets them used to Amazon’s pretty seamless cross-platform commerce engine. This is good news not only for Amazon, but for the entire Android app economy. Distimo found that 42 of 110 paid apps it tracked in both Android’s own Marketplace and Amazon’s store were selling more in Amazon’s. In fact, Amazon was responsible for 28% of the income for those apps. Most of the top-selling paid apps in Amazon’s store are fairly common across smartphone markets, including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Plant vs. Zombies. Amazon’s remarkable and quick-won strength in the Android ecosystem speaks not only to the volume of Kindle Fires that are likely in the market, but also to the power of frictionless purchase. Kindle Fire enjoys much the same seamless integrated microtransaction system as Apple’s. Since all Kindle owners have accounts with Amazon, purchasing any app is a one-tap transaction. Amazon’s select library of apps also tends to favor paid models. For the last seven months of 2011, Distimo tracked about 63%-65% of apps in the Amazon store using an upfront paid model, while the Android Marketplace has about 32%. Half of the apps in the Amazon Appstore are also available in the Google Android Marketplace, and Amazon is catching up to the massive volume of new apps in Google’s store. While 368,985 apps are in the Google-hosted library, Amazon’s is at 26,826 as of January. But new apps are being added to Amazon’s store at 4.7X the rate of new apps to Google’s. For developers, Amazon may well be offering them a model more attractive than in Google’s store. The bookseller is providing seamless purchase, a less cluttered app environment (for now) and smart merchandising. The Kindle Fire owner (smartphone owners, too) is offering a promotional offer of a paid app for free each day. The company is also leveraging the remainder of its recommendation engine system to surface apps. In my standard Amazon Web view from the desktop, for instance, the recommendations now weave into the mix apps based on my prior purchases. I tap a 1-click buy button and the app just shows up in my device. One has to wonder how many Kindle owners who also happen to have Android smartphones might be prompted to use the Amazon appstore for their phones as well. Amazon is rumored to be working on its own branded phones. Having a well-stocked store of apps that also attract developers who see the revenue potential here is a step in the right direction. The Fire, along with the app and video markets Amazon built for them, could be an iPod-like entryway for consumers into Bezosland.
Memo to: Mark Zuckerberg From: Alexandre Mars, CEO of Phonevalley and Head of Mobile of Publicis Groupe Re: Mobile Advertising – Bring It! Mark, I wanted to draw attention to the fact that you are the king of mocial (mobile/social as I call it). Next to weather and things like catapulted avians, in terms of share of consumer attention on mobile devices, you absolutely rule. Just take a look at your 10-K filing. You’ve got 425 million active monthly mobile users as of December ’11 (note: that is not the number of people who have ever downloaded the app, but an active user number, which is what advertisers really care about). Mobile devices basically enable and enhance people wanting to share information via Facebook. I personally can’t watch TV without my phone in my hands. And if I’m like a whole lot of consumers, I am also reacting to TV ads with my phone and telling my friends about things from marketers that capture my attention. Wow, you actually are making one-way media interactive. Powerful stuff. But what’s wrong with this picture? There are no ads to monetize all that focused, engaged consumer attention. And despite the fact that your character in "The Social Network" constantly said no to ads, you are now driving the largest volume of impressions in wired display and have disrupted that ecosystem entirely, leaving Yahoo and Microsoft, our former reach leaders, to scramble for new ways to connect with mass audiences. And yes, despite the cut of virtual goods sold, you admitted in your 10-K that 85% of your current revenue is related to advertising. I’m writing to encourage you to just turn them on. Yes, consumers may be a bit alarmed at the change, but just like with any other media, they tend to become accepting over time. Did turning on ads on the web version of Facebook kill your traffic? Hardly. I know that according to sources like Ad Age, you are considering inserted sponsored posts into consumer’s feeds. But what’s wrong with a good and basic banner unit? I want to draw your special attention to what you will get if you add an ad to each page of Facebook content that you do not get from the wired web: 1. Unparalleled reach: of those millions globally who access Facebook on a regular basis. Mobile has long been derided as too fragmented for marketers. With one ad unit, you solve that problem. 2. Focused attention and likely higher recall: there is one ad per page of content and thus no clutter, and that ad is in line of site (unlike the wired web, there are no ads “below the fold”). There is a true association of the ad with that content. Marketers are going to love this. 3. The ad unit may be a simple banner at the top or bottom of content, but it can open up to so much more. We’ve made great strides with rich media and several companies now have the capability of creating engaging full-screen ad executions that run across mobile web, app and phone platforms. You are the unifying force because you provide unparalleled scale. Regardless of phone or modality, people just love Facebook. It’s a part of their lives. Marketers want to reach consumers through their passion points. Take away their Facebook one day and you will see passion -- a negative sort -- expressed. 4. No potential privacy intrusive concerns about the matching of data from people’s profiles with the ads. We don’t have persistent cookies in mobile. You run decent ads; you frequency cap them. You can target them by IP for basic location relevance or if the consumer has turned on location from within the app, you get even greater location precision. The ads will likely deliver on both direct-response and brand metrics as we know how focused people are when they check their Facebook stream; after all, it’s content they created that is tailored to their interests. But what will consumers say, you ask? Yes, it may take some getting used to -- but time and time again, consumers have voted for ad support over paying for content. (For proof of this, see the current trends in app store payment supported by app analyst company Distimo. As more and more apps are released, the pressure on pricing is downward and more apps are choosing ad support or freemium models.) If you want to be really smart, you give consumers a choice: they get an ad-supported version or they pay a one-time fee for download of the app. In all the research that Publicis’s VivaKi division has done with consumers and interactive advertising through an initiative called The Pool, the more consumers are given a choice, the higher the recall and favorability they extend to the brands involved. Let’s say they choose ad support and you sell a one day takeover of all U.S. inventory to an advertiser like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart gets unparalleled reach and the ad makes the explicit connection that your Facebook activity for the day is brought to you by. Yes, Mark -- it’s a bold step to embrace advertising in mobile. But it’s the right move. And something tells me that you’re going to make a lot of money out of this. The advice is free, just friend me back some time. I promise not to post any cat pictures.
Jim Kruger, digital and social media manager at Buick, told OMMA Tablet Revolution conference attendees Thursday that tablets give brands the opportunity to reach a whole new generation of tech-savvy buyers and early adopters of technology. He said the carmaker continues to see Web site traffic from tablets rise about 23% sequentially. Some of that traffic comes from three casual games designed, in part, by digital agency Digitas to educate consumers about fuel-saving benefits of Buick technology. In fact, the Buick Fuel Efficiency games were downloaded 8,500 times in the first three weeks -- some of those from Facebook. Overall, worldwide mobile PC shipments grew 12% sequentially, and 44% year-on-year, reaching 88 million units in Q4 2011, according to NPD DisplaySearch. The data firm attributes the growth to strong demand for tablets. Growth of tablet shipments rose 42% sequentially and 210% year-on-year, reaching 31.7 million units in Q4 2011. When Buick relaunched the Moment of Truth campaign, Kruger said more than 70% of all views come from tablets. It's interesting to see the demographics that Buick attempts to hit. According to Nielsen and NM Insite, 42% of tablet owners use them daily while watching TV. Of those who use a tablet when watching TV, 57% check email, 44% surf the Web for unrelated information, and 44% visit social networking sites. About 53% are males, 60% are Caucasian, 17% are Hispanic, 12% are African-American, and the remainder are Asian. About 33% are between the ages of 18 and 34. Apple's 26.6% worldwide share in Q4 2011, largely the result of its dominant position in tablets, propelled the Cupertino, Calif. company to nearly three times the shipments of Hewlett-Packard. The other brands -- Dell, Acer Group and Lenovo -- in the top five market share rankings relied almost exclusively on notebook PC shipments to establish their positions. In the tablet PC market, Apple continued to show strong growth across all regions, capturing 59.1% share in Q4 2011. Newcomers Amazon, and Barnes and Noble took the No. 2 and No. 5 spots with 16.7% and 3.5% share, respectively. Both brands focused on North America in their market entries. Samsung improved in all its key markets -- particularly Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA), helping it to reach .67% market share, according to NPD DisplaySearch.
Forrester’s Melissa Parrish told OMMA Tablet attendees that a good way of thinking about the difference between tablets and phones is “mobile vs. untethered.” “Mobile to me is the mobile phone, and the smartphone,” Parrish said, adding that people use those sorts of mobile experiences differently, citing an example of searching for a hotel room on a phone, which is much more or an immediate, mission-specific function, like booking a room immediately. “A tablet is untethered,” she said, adding that they are more suitable for richer content experiences that might not be quite as on-the-go. Joule’s Mark Silber said he liked Parrish’s mobile/untethered framework for thinking about smartphones vs. tablets, and also shared a personal observation about a difference in mobile phone user behavior. “Whenever there is a disagreement with anyone, don’t you almost immediately take out your phone to get the answer,” Silver said. In other words, it’s the Final Word App.