A new study from TNS identifies location-based services (LBS) as the function mobile users worldwide are most interested in using on their devices. As part of its annual Mobile Life study, the media research firm found almost a fifth (19%) of the world’s 6 billion mobile users are already using LBS, with many of the non-users (62%) aspiring to do so in the future. Being able to navigate via maps and GPS on mobile devices is the main reason people want location services. But the study indicated growing interest in more diverse activities, including being able to check-in to places through platforms like Foursquare of Facebook Places. Some 13% of mobile users take advantage of such offerings, up 50% from 2011. In that vein, one in eight shared their location in exchange for a deal or special offer. Among non-LBS users who already get some type of mobile voucher, or would like to, a third were very receptive to the prospect of receiving deals when near a store they like. One in five mobile users (21%) said they found mobile advertising interesting if it is offering them a deal near their current location. Among more common LBS activities, more than a quarter (26%) are using LBS to find restaurants and entertainment venues, 22% to find friends nearby, 19% to check public transportation schedules and 8% to book a taxi. A Pew Research Center study released last September found 28% of American adults use mobile and social-location based services. It found 28% of cell owners use their phones to get directions but only 5% used check-in services like Foursquare. That proportion increased to 12% when looking just at smartphone users. The TNS study estimated smartphone penetration in North America at 46%, well above the global average of 30%. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) was on par with North America, at 46%, followed by developed Asia (42%), China (39%), Latin America (32%) Europe (31%), emerging Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (both 21%), and emerging Asia (21%). In relation to smartphone ownership, the research showed LBS use differs widely by region. In the technology-saturated markets of developed Asia, for example, 36% use location services to find restaurants and entertainment options nearby, while in China, only 17% do so. “These regional variations highlight the importance of having a targeted strategy when it comes to location-based marketing,” noted James Fergusson, head of the digital and technology practice at TNS. With pre-paid, low-cost smartphones now selling for $100 globally, he expects smartphone adoption to rise sharply, opening the door to more people using LBS and other mobile data services. That in turn, stands to benefit marketers. “Across markets, smartphones greatly enhance mobile’s influence over consumers’ interactions with brands, and particularly over their purchase decisions,” according to the study. The TNS findings were based on interviews with 48,000 people in 58 countries.
Google's latest: Google Drive, a place in the cloud where consumers and marketers can share stuff. It allows users to search by keyword and filter by file type. The technology can recognize text in scanned documents using optical character recognition technology, as well as image recognition, so users can search on photos dragged and dropped into the Drive. Think of a mainframe server connected to dump terminals. Only the mainframe is the smartphone, tablet or desktop; the server, the cloud. Marketers don't need to know anything about Windows DOS to work in Google Docs, which the company built into Drive. Google Docs on the Drive allows people to collaborate on projects in real-time in documents, spreadsheets and presentations. It could become a difficult sell to marketers and agencies. Some refuse to use DoubleClick because they don't want Google to see conversion data. "It's more likely that consumers will use Google's storage service. I doubt there will be an advertising play here because of the privacy concerns," said Kenshoo CMO Aaron Goldman. "As with most Google products, you have to ask yourself how much data you're comfortable sharing with Google." Marketers can get started with 5GB of storage for free, enough to store a handful of high-res photos. Upgrade to 25GB for $2.49 per month, 100GB for $4.99 per month or one terabyte for $49.99 per month. With an upgrade to a paid account, the Gmail account storage also expands to 25GB.
Worldwide global tablet sales will reach 232 million units in 2016, up from 64 million units in 2011, per a new report. The Tablet Technology and Markets report from Futuresource Consulting estimates a 200% increase for consumer use across the United States and Western Europe during the next two years. Consumers bought about 52 million tablets in 2011 across the two regions, and the market continues on track to exceed 153 million units in 2013 -- the majority being sold into the United States. Tablet sales will rise, but what about use? U.S. consumers using a tablet at least once monthly will reach 75.6 million in 2013 -- up from 13 million in 2010, according to eMarketer. The research firm estimates iPad users will account for 53.9 million in 2013, up from 11.5 million in 2010. While Apple appears to maintain the dominance since the iPad launch, Android-powered devices from Samsung, Amazon and Asus continue to gain traction and increase in popularity. Apple released earnings on Wednesday, nearly doubling profit on iPhone and iPad sales. Profits, overall, rose 94% for the fiscal second quarter, compared with the year-ago quarter. Apple CEO Tim Cook said iPad sales exceeded 12 million in the March quarter. Futuresource believes tablets have cannibalized the demand for netbooks, but consumers still see the device as an addition to conventional PCs or Macs, rather than a replacement. Consumer sales dominated the overall market in 2011, accounting for more than 90% of tablet shipments. Consumers have also begun to download more apps on tablets. Tablets accounted for 10% of total mobile app downloads in 2011. Development and availability of apps across multiple platforms are expected to double in 2016. Tablet owners are also more likely to pay for apps -- especially in the U.S., according to a "Living with Digital" report from Futuresource. Tablets are unlikely to displace large-screen TV sets, but Futuresource estimated the hardware will drive the growth of full-length online video downloads, with key applications allowing content to be played out from one screen to another, providing higher-quality mobile viewing. Tablets will also contribute to the rise in ebooks. Annual trade for digital book sales is forecast to achieve significant growth, with digital downloads in the U.S. expected to account for almost 70% of book sales by 2016 -- a substantial rise from 20% in 2011. Similar progression is expected in the U.K., with digital sales reaching almost 40% share.
Despite investor concerns, Apple beat analyst expectations for revenue and profits in the first three months of 2012 on continued strong sales of iPhones and iPads. The tech giant reported a net profit of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 a share, on revenue of $39.2 billion for its fiscal second quarter ending March 31. Wall Street analysts had forecast a profit of $9.99 per share on revenue of $36.7 billion. Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones during the quarter, less than the 37 million in the prior quarter but well ahead of analyst expectations of about 30 million. The total was also up 88% from sales in the year-earlier period. The 11.8 million iPad sold in the quarter was in range of the roughly 12 million anticipated and up 151% from a year ago. Apple only released the latest version of its tablet computer in March, so its fiscal second quarter doesn’t reflect a full three-month period of sales. “We’re thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter,” stated Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year, you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.” Questions over whether Apple would meet expected sales targets were raised earlier in the day when AT&T reporting a steep decline in iPhone activations in the fourth quarter. It activated 4.3 million, down from 7.6 million in the year-ending holiday season. But Apple’s iPhone and iPad sales were likely buoyed by the international market, which accounted for nearly two-thirds (64%) of quarterly revenue.
When Facebook acquired Instagram earlier this month for $1 billion or so, the social network was capturing one of the fastest-growing mobile media phenoms since "Angry Birds." According to a report on the growth of the photo-sharing app from Distimo, Instagram’s rise to prominence has involved staggering growth rates. But it has not proven to be every region’s cup of tea. Distimo reports that daily downloads of the app have increased tenfold since launch, from about 10,000 a day to 100,000 for some days in April 2012. In just the last year, March 2011 to March 2012, downloads of the app have increased sevenfold. But its viral power has actually gone up even higher. In the same period, the shares of Instagram images on Twitter went up 12x. At least for the time being, the trajectory of usage among those downloaders appears to be up. If anything, usage is accelerating significantly just this year. When indexed together, the rate of increase in Instagram Twitter posts since May 2011 tracks closely to the growth of overall downloads. But beginning in February 2012, the number of Twitter posts from the app has risen well above the rate of downloads. When Instagram announced that it had more than 10 million users, Distimo tracked that for the first time more than 200,000 images were posted to Twitter from the photo app in a single day. Adoption of Instagram can be region-specific. In the U.S. iPhone market, it took only one day from the app’s release for it to become the top-ranking app in the Photography section. In Korea, it took 187 days, France 82 days, and China 58 days. For most non-U.S. nations, however, Instagram’s dominance of the photo section took less than a month from the time it was released into that market. While Instagram has only been in the Android/Google Play market for a matter of weeks, it has risen to top app rank in only 10 days in the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada and Italy. While listed in the Photography category in iTunes, the company has categorized Instagram as a social networking app in the Google markets. The full Distimo report on Instagram as well as the apps that now use its APIs, is available online.
More people looking to find something are using their mobile phones to do it. As mobile handset market share evolves, the focus continues to be on finding who does what with which platform. In some countries -- including many in South America -- feature phones are more the norm due to various economic and technical issues, while in China some companies target only iPhone and iPad users as a self-selecting, affluent demographic. Meanwhile, the demographic of the U.S. mobile market is clearly moving in the direction of smartphone -- passing the 50 percent mark, depending on the research source. Android and iPhone clearly rule that space. And with one of the key assets of mobile being location, it begs the question of who is searching the most -- and from which platform. Along comes research from Chitika Insights, the research arm of the online ad network and data analytics firm Chitika, analyzing search patterns based on mobile platform. They found that Apple users as a whole search more than others. For example, the researchers determined that more than half (54%) of iOS Web traffic is devoted to search, compared to a little more than a third (36%) of the Internet average. Mobile searches via Android also were higher than the average Web search -- at 43 percent -- but lower than Apple’s 54 percent. It only seems logical that searches from smartphones would more likely be location-based rather than general desktop-based searches, which is exactly what the researchers found. Realistically speaking, someone searching from a phone is looking to find something specific based on where they are and what they’re doing at the time, such as looking for a restaurant or a certain nearby product or service. For local searches by mobile operating system, Apple led with more than a third (36%) of searches with Android at a little more than a quarter (28%). The new search findings are consistent with previous Chitika Insights studies that showed the click-through rates on iOS were slightly higher than those on Android phones. The company measured hundreds of millions of mobile ad impressions in its network for a week in early April. They also measured iPads against iPhones and found a higher click-through rate on iPads. As many would argue, click-through rate is hardly a definitive measure of success, but it is yet one more indicator of platform usage and consumer behavior. And when it comes to new iPads, the research showed that geographic location in the U.S. is a factor. Chitika’s data showed a correlation between the states with high median income and a high share of new iPad traffic. The top five states with the highest share of new iPad traffic were California, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington D.C. and Washington State. Not so coincidentally, those states also fall into the category of high median income levels, based on U.S. Census Bureau data. Another way to look at the results is that the coastal states have a higher rate of new iPad adoption -- which surprised the researchers, according to a company spokesman. Various pieces of research are starting to point to some directions of behaviors, whether by click-through, geographic device location or shopping behaviors. For example, recent projections from BIA/Kelsey indicate that mobile local search will pass desktop search in just a few years, likely leading to a rise in locally based ad spending. Mobile buying patterns also can be factored in, with mobile shoppers spending on average $104 per orders, according to RichRelevance, as earlier reported. The marketing opportunity is to continue to move with the consumer, who will be more engaged in more places.
According to a new study from Time Inc. titled "A Biometric Day in the Life" shows how the proliferation of digital devices and platforms would affect the media consumption habits of consumers who grew up with mobile technology as part of their everyday lives ("Digital Natives,") versus those who first learned about mobile technology in their adult lives ("Digital Immigrants"). Digital Natives switch their attention between media platforms (i.e. TVs, magazines, tablets, smartphones or channels within platforms) 27 times per hour, about every other minute! Because Digital Natives spend more time using multiple media platforms simultaneously, their emotional engagement with content is constrained. They experience fewer highs and lows of emotional response and as a result. Digital Natives more frequently use media to regulate their mood; as soon as they grow tired or bored, they turn their attention to something new. At home, Digital Natives take their devices from room to room with them (65% vs. 41% for Digital Immigrants), rarely more than an arm's length away from their smartphones making switching platforms even easier. 54% of Digital Natives say "I prefer texting people rather than talking to them" compared with 28% of Digital immigrants, a significant indicator of how marketers and content creators need to communicate with them, says the report. One major implication of these findings is that Digital Immigrants are intuitively linear, they want to see a beginning, middle, and end to stories. For Natives, stories still need a beginning, middle and end, but they will accept it in any order. Digital Natives are subconsciously switching between platforms and can pick up different pieces of a story from different mediums in any order. Dr. Carl Marci, CEO and Chief Scientist, Innerscope Research, observed that "This study strongly suggests... patterns of visual attention and emotional consequences of modern media consumption... rewiring the brains of a generation of Americans... storytellers and marketers in this digital age will... face an increasingly complex environment with a higher bar for engaging an audience of consumers... “ Betsy Frank, Chief Research & Insights Officer for Time Inc., concludes "... to keep Digital Natives engaged, content creators and marketers need to think differently... grabbing them... is essential, as is content they can snack on... offering multiple access points to every story." And, Marketing Profs, reporting on the study, found that Natives divide their time equally between digital (49%) and non-digital media (51%), whereas Immigrants spend most of their time with non-digital media (68%). Digital Natives spend more time than Immigrants engaging with social media and text messaging:
In five years, what search engine will become your default, and what industry vertical will eventually benefit most from ads integrated with voice search? These and other questions for executives at agencies, platform providers and brands during the search feud game at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit on Monday led by Kenshoo CMO Aaron Goldman, provide insight into the mindset of search engine marketers (SEMs). Search contestants broke into two groups -- Agency Anarchy, and Misc. Mayhem -- answering questions in a Family Feud style related to a survey of about 100 SEMs that Goldman ran prior to the conference. The teams: Alan Osetek, president at Resolution Media; Stephanie Ridley, SVP, search director, Starcom MediaVest Group; and David Rifkin, vice president of search at Atrinsic, pulled for the Agency Anarchy team. Craig Macdonald, senior director at Microsoft Advertising; Jen Brady, founder and CEO at Fred & Associates; and Ryan Bruss, manager of search engine marketing at All Star Directories supported the Misc. Mayhem team. The team played three rounds. The winner could tell Goldman to rap on any topic of their choosing. And while Search Feud appeared to be entertaining, the real value came from the survey data and both teams' ability -- or lack thereof -- to pinpoint the trends. When asked "Why do you use search engines?," forty-six survey participants said to find things/stuff, followed by 22, information/research/answers; 10, deals/shopping; 7, businesses/locations; and 5, navigation/lazy. Most people participating in the survey -- 43% --rely on desktops or PCs to search for content, followed by 29, laptops/notebooks; 14, mobile phones; 8, PC/mobile, 8; and 5, tablets. In five years, what default search engine will you use? Some 77 survey participants said some type of platform from Google; followed by 9, Facebook; 6, not sure/don't know/not created; 3, Google/Yahoo/Bing Merger; and 3, Bing. Bonus-round questions ranged from what type of device people would search from in the future to the vertical that will most benefit from voice search. The first bonus round asked: In five years, what device will you search from the most? Sixty-nine survey participants said phone; 11, tablet; 7, not created yet; 5, mined from a chip in the brain; and 2, PC/desktop. In the second bonus round, survey participants were asked to name a voice-activated mobile application. Thirty-four said Siri; followed by 28, don't know; 15, Google; 6, Dragon Diction; and 1, Meow Meow Fun Games. When asked what company will profit the most from voice search, forty-seven said Google; 25, Apple; 3, AT&T/Telecom; and 1, Resolution Media, Kenshoo, Jingle, MSFT, GM/Auto, Local. What industry vertical would benefit the most from ads integrated with voice search? Forty-six said Retail/Restaurants/Local; followed by 37, Travel; 11, Entertainment/Music; 3, Banking; and 2, Automotive. And if you could pick any living person to be the voice of a search engine, who would it be? Nineteen survey participants said Morgan Freeman; followed by 18, James Earl Jones; 6, Allstate guy/Dennis Haysbert, 2, Alec Baldwin; 2, Alan Rickman; 2, Tim Allen; and 1, Bobcat Goldthwaite.