Google becomes world's largest mobile ad network: the vital implications

The Federal Trade Commission has approved Google’s proposed $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob, stating the deal is unlikely to harm competition. What does this mean for the mobile advertising landscape?

The FTC said on Friday, May 21 that although the combination of the two leading mobile advertising networks raised serious antitrust issues, the agency’s concerns were overshadowed by Apple’s recent move to roll out a competing mobile ad network. Additionally, there are several firms that have initiatives in place to better compete against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, and have strong incentive to facilitate competition in the space.

“As a result of Apple’s entry [into the market], AdMob’s success to date on the iPhone platform is unlikely to be an accurate predictor of AdMob’s competitive significance going forward, whether AdMob is owned by Google or not,” the FTC said in a statement to the press.

“Though we have determined not to take action today, the Commission will continue to monitor the mobile marketplace to ensure a competitive environment and to protect the interests of consumers,” the FTC said.

The deal has several implications for the mobile advertising ecosystem. Among them:

Apple has competition – No doubt Apple CEO Steve Jobs and his top team will be locked in meetings this week to figure out their next strategy to thwart Google's progress in mobile. The approval is good news for advertisers and ad agencies. Apple needs a strong competitor in mobile – now more than ever.

Validation – This deal is further validation that mobile marketing is real, that the results are measurable and have considerable value and that mobile should be a factor, if not a central pillar, in any brand marketing strategy going forward.

More brands to enter mobile – With the newfound validation of the mobile industry, expect an influx of major brands to the mobile bandwagon.

Mobile CRM – With more mobile marketing activity in the near future, expect brands and agencies to finally understand that the channel can be used as part of a CRM strategy. Expect more list building and coupon campaigns.

Multichannel is here – With the explosion of mobile activity, siloed campaigns are a thing of the past. Already, consumers’ dependence on mobile has changed them forever. They want to be spoken to via the channels in which they spend the most time. These channels – mobile, social media and online – are going to be thrown in to the marketing mix, finally and with respectable budgets.

Growth of Android – Along with a mobile advertising advantage, Google gets a significant amount of clickstream data and transaction records in and around iPhone applications from the acquisition. Expect Google to use all of this to grow Android.

More choice for brands and marketers – This acquisition, as well as the Quattro/Apple deal, are giving advertisers and publishers more choice in the fast-growing area of mobile advertising. The deal will bring new innovation and competition to mobile advertising and will lead to more effective tools for creating, serving and analyzing emerging mobile ad formats.

Mobile advertising will grow - Gartner projects that the worldwide revenue for mobile advertising will be $13.5 billion in 2013, up from around $500 million in 2008. Up until now, Google has focused mainly on search advertising, but this deal signals that it has its sights set on display advertising on mobile.

Relevancy – With all the data that Google is getting, ad relevancy will become its specialty. Users will see more relevant ads and ultimately get access to more free or low-cost ad-supported content and applications, improving their mobile experience.

-Giselle Tsirulnik

The Smartphone is the fastest growing segment in mobile devices

Editor's Note: This article dates back to Nov 13, 2009 but is very relevant to our on-the-go world and the mobile marketing ecosystem.

Smartphone continues to be the fastest growing segment in the mobile device space as the slowdown phase in the handheld segment seems to be over, says Gartner. As per the firm’s data, smartphone sales surpassed 41 million units, a 12.8% increase from the same period last year.

“Smartphones continued to represent the fastest-growing segment of the mobile-devices market and we remain confident about the potential for smartphones in...2010,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner.

Apple’s worldwide smartphone share reached 17% as iPhone sales totaled 7 million units in the third quarter of 2009 following the continued rollout of the iPhone 3GS in new countries.

Eric Schmidt on Google’s “mobile first” attitude

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt talked on-stage about the company’s future [April 12th] at Google’s Atmosphere conference for chief information officers. In addition to fielding some general questions about Google’s plans, its strengths, and its weaknesses, Schmidt also talked about the idea that Google now approaches its products with a “mobile first” attitude, as he put it at the Mobile World Congress in February.

Speaking at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., where the Atmosphere conference takes place, Schmidt said:

What’s really important right now is to get the mobile architecture right. Mobile will ultimately be the way you provision most of your services. The way I like to put it is, the answer should always be mobile first. You should always put your best team and your best app on your mobile app.

Schmidt also offered some thoughts about what defines Google as it grows and moves into new product areas. People may think of Google as a search company, but Schmidt argued that it’s an “information” company. Later, when asked about how Google’s business model evolves as it reveals new products, he said, “We’re basically in the advertising and enterprise software business.”

Want to Revolutionize Advertising? There’s an App for That.

EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS NOT DATED BUT PROBABLY GOES BACK TO LAST FALL. When Steve Jobs announced that Apple has sold 30 million iPhones worldwide, Madison Avenue’s ears must have been ringing. [Total iPhones Sold Worldwide as of April 2010: 50 million.]

Just as Apple’s game-changing phone upended the way we use mobile — giving us powerful pocket computers for emailing, Web surfing, and Twittering our every move — it’s now upending the world of advertising.

Take a look at the iPhone app store, which now contains 75,000 choices (and counting). [EDITOR'S NOTE: As of April 8, 2010, there are at least 185,000 third-party applications officially available on the App Store, with over 4 billion total downloads.] A new brand seems to emerge with every refresh of the screen. What was once a funky garage where techheads dropped their latest gizmos is now a mash up of supermarkets, auto dealerships, and strip malls. Right this way on aisles A through G, you’ll find Audi, Coke, Gap, and Gillette. Further along it’s IBM, Kraft Foods, Nestle, and Target. All of them pioneers in a growing marketplace.

In the past six months or so, chief marketing officers have been walking into meetings with ad giants like OgilvyOne Worldwide and not just listening to pitches on building apps, but insisting on hearing about them.

The reason is largely personal. “Marketing officers now go home, pull out their iPhones and check out new music with Shazam or cruise the Internet while sitting on the couch,” says Brian Fetherstonhaugh, chairman and CEO of OgilvyOne, the interactive unit of Ogilvy & Mather. “It’s making this medium relevant in their hands, hearts, and minds.”

While spending in the U.S. ad industry shrank 15 percent in the first half of this year [2009], mobile — from text alerts and banner ads to Web sponsorship and apps — was on the rise. Globally, it’s expected to grow from a slim $913 million this year to as much as $13.3 billion in 2013, as mobile phone users continue migrating to smart phones and flat-rate data plans come down in price, according to research firm Gartner.

For the uninitiated, apps are software applications like those that we all use on our computers, except they’re designed for smart phones. A couple of quick taps on the screen, for example, and your iPhone can create a personalized radio station or turn into a GPS device that guides you to the top-rated wine bar in the neighborhood.

The appeal of apps is obvious to anyone with an iPhone, or even one of the runner-up smart phones. Most of the popular smart phones – RIM’s Blackberry, Google’s Androids, and Nokia’s—are linked with apps stores, or will be soon. Microsoft says it plans to roll out its app store this fall. Unlike text or visual ads, which fight for your attention, apps offer a rich and welcome experience. Even better, they are the experience.

The Live Event App
When IBM wanted to impress tennis fans at [last] year’s US Open in New York, it made an app for that. Big Blue, the longtime chief sponsor and score tabulator for the tournament, uses the Open to foster its image as a cutting-edge innovator that can find solutions — in the argot of its marketing — for a smarter planet.

IBM’s US Open app
Its app gave fans a virtual front-row seat, and plenty more. IBM pushed out real-time scores, player stats, and its radar-gun readings, which measured, among other things, Andy Roddick’s 145-mph serve. Add to that live radio broadcasts, video feeds, and Twitter dispatches from the likes of Roddick and pre-meltdown Serena Williams, and suddenly last year’s mobile phone seemed like a wooden tennis racket.

The execs at IBM were ecstatic. About 100,000 fans downloaded its free app in the first few days it was available. For a live-event promotion, that’s a big success. But the folks at IBM say the numbers aren’t even the point. Rather, they’re looking at the power of the medium and the new possibilities it offers.

“Five years ago we were doing Web sites on mobile phones that were very text based and not popular at all,” says John Kent, the program manager for IBM’s sponsorship marketing team. “Apps deliver form and function, and users stay on them.”

The Goofy Brand-Builder App
TV ads have long incorporated humor to create a playful or hip image around a brand, and marketers are using apps to do the same thing.

Steve Jobs...accomplished something he did not intend: Not only is the iPhone creating an entirely new form of advertising, but it could become the device that actually makes the long-maligned banner ad useful, at least on cell phones.

-Kevin Gray

ESPN Goes Local In Mobile

EDITOR'S NOTE: LOCAL MARKETING IS NOT TO BE IGNORED! FOCUS ON YOUR LOCAL MARKET AND GIVE YOUR AREA MERCHANTS WHAT THEY NEED - FOUR WAYS TO INTERACT WITH THEIR CONSUMERS! CHECK ADKING.COM FOR UPDATES!

2010 is shaping up to be the year of local in all things mobile.

It's a reality that neatly falls in line with forecasts from research firm Borrel, which state that location-based mobile spending will hit $4 billion in 2015.

Helping mobile marketers find new outlets in local markets, the big boys in mobile content are not only getting wind of the importance of all things local in mobile, they are jumping head first into these thriving territories.

Case in point: ESPN. The iconic sports brand is launch five local-based sports news and info iPhone and iPod touch applications. The markets targeted include Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas, and Boston. According to ESPN, the free, ad-supported local apps will deliver timely, pertinent content related to everything from regional sports news to local writers and sports columnists.

Tossed into the mix, of course, will be an assortment of bells and whistles, including the obligatory national headlines, real-time scoreboards, and all the schedules worth caring about.

ESPN, however, is not blindly delving into local markets. Ahead of the new launch of localized applications, ESPNs websites in the aforementioned targeted cities already attract upwards of three and one-half million visitors per month.

Mobile Phone Sales Grew 17% During Q1, Smartphones Sales Grow Nearly 50%

EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS GROWING MARKET OF SMARTPHONES IS AN ESSENTIAL TREND FOR MOBILE MARKETERS. OUR NEW LAUNCH WILL HAVE YOU PERFECTLY POISED TO OFFER ADVERTISING TO THIS MARKET SEGMENT. CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR DETAILS, ADKING.COM. Mobile phone sales continue to rise at substantial rates, according to new research by Gartner, with Smartphone sales exploding during the first quarter of 2010.

Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 314.7 million units during Q1 2010, representing a 17% increase from the same period in 2009, while smarpthone sales reached 54.3 million units, representing an increase of 48.7 % from the first quarter of 2009. Not surprisingly, among the most successful vendors were those that controlled an integrated set of operating system (OS), hardware and services- or in other words Apples iPhone OS and the Android platform.

Gartner attributes much of the growth in the mobile devices market to double-digit growth of smartphone sales in mature markets, helped by wider product availability as well as mass market price tags.

In the smartphone OS market, Android and Apple were the winners in the first quarter of 2010, with Android moving to the No. 4 position displacing Microsoft Windows Mobile for the first time. Both Android and Apple were the only two OS vendors among the top five to increase market share year-on-year, and while Symbian remained in the No. 1 position, it continued to lose as Nokia remains weak in the high-end portfolio.

In the first quarter of 2010, smartphone sales to end users saw their strongest year-on-year increase since 2006, continued Milanesi. This quarter saw RIM, a pure smartphone player, make its debut in the top five mobile devices manufacturers, and saw Apple increase its market share by 1.2 percentage points. Android's momentum continued into the first quarter of 2010, particularly in North America, where sales of Android-based phones increased 707 per cent year-on-year.

-Mobile Marketing Watch

SMS is key to a well-rounded app strategy

EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS IS A TERRIFIC ARTICLE ABOUT THE RELEVANCE OF SMS TEXT MESSAGE MARKETING. BUT WHAT IF YOU COULD KICK IT UP A NOTCH, AND INTEGRATE FOUR WAYS TO REACH OUT TO CONSUMERS ALL IN ONE PLACE? WATCH THE ADKING.COM WEBSITE THIS WEEKEND FOR AN EXCITING NEW LAUNCH!

SMS is providing opportunities for businesses of all kinds to both extend their reach to the mobile phone, as well as move consumers from one mobile channel to another.

When well implemented, SMS reminds customers about what is important to them, no matter where they are or what they are doing. It is key to a well-rounded application strategy.

“SMS allows developers to take their product off individual platforms and sites, and bring their product to any consumer with a cell phone and a text plan,” said Kirsten McMullen, director of marketing at 4Info, San Francisco. “This creates tons of opportunity for game developers, publishers, app designers and even brands to connect with consumers, wherever they may be.

“It also allows developers to diversify their product to reach an expanded audience and mitigate any risk associated with one particular site or platform,” she said.

Much of the mobile industry is wondering what the future of advertising on Apple devices will look like. This trend has one mobile channel that holds all the pieces together – text messaging.

The simplicity of the technology, along with its reach (SMS is available in nearly 100 percent of the 288 million mobile phones in the United States and 5 billion mobile phones around the world), makes it the obvious choice to be the “middleman” of mobile outreach and commerce.

“Apps are the hot trend of the moment, but only 17 percent [needs documentation] of phones are smartphones,” she said. “How do you reach the other 83 percent of cell-phone owning, passionate game players?

“You can reach everybody through SMS.”

What is interesting to Alex Hall, chief operating officer of Tigerspike, New York, is that SMS is still growing as a technology in conjunction with application growth and mobile site browsing.

Full conversations are increasingly taking place by SMS with IM style behavior being adopted, and it is not uncommon to be sending hundreds in a day.

“From a mobile app perspective, I see the use of SMS as a great alerts and sharing tool,” Mr. Hall said. “It’s also a great tool for sending ‘on the scene’ information to news broadcasters, due to the reach.

“Arguably the very sight of people using their mobile in such a manner will introduce new users as well, as a result of the more public locations in which the engagement will be taking place.”

SMS can complement a mobile application strategy through interactivity that only SMS can provide.

In addition, SMS provides the opportunity to build a mobile database to market to again in the future...

A good example of SMS being used in tandem to a publisher's mobile application strategy would be to place a call-to-action on traditional media or on a publisher's Web site that allows the user to text-in, and receive a link to a mobile version of the same content found in a mobile application.

This extends the reach exponentially to those who do not have devices capable of downloading mobile applications, for example.

The universal accessibility of SMS, combined with the ability to provide information in real-time, creates opportunities for publishers/developers to connect with their audiences.

Publishers/developers can use SMS to:

•Reach consumers/players who do not have a smartphone
•Reach consumers/players who have not played recently
•Keep consumers/players engaged in the game
•Acquire consumers/players who did not even know a specific game existed
•Retain consumers/players
•Monetize their interactions through incentivized offer paths

“A limited number of messages can produce significant ROI, and combined with a nearly 100 percent open rate for opted-in messaging, it provides a means to build brand awareness, two-way communication and interactivity that are unmatched by any other mobile channel,” Mr. Reitzin said. “A mobile strategy simply can't be deemed ‘well rounded’ without including SMS.

“SMS can be used to distribute similar mobile content found in mobile apps to a wider audience, while giving that audience a choice in how a publisher's content is consumed on the go,” he said. “SMS can be used to provide timely information that can be ‘pushed’ to the user as opposed to relying on the user to open the app and ‘pull’ the content themselves.

“In addition, using SMS provides the ability to utilize carrier-based billing for premium content revenue opportunities, which is a convenience for consumers over other forms that may defer them from a purchase.”

SMS is key to having a 360-degree mobile strategy. A 360-degree mobile strategy means creating opportunities for mobile interaction, whenever the consumer wants it and wherever he or she may be.

Ubiquity of SMS
With billions of SMS messages sent every month in this country alone, it has become the most effective and cost efficient mechanism to communicate and market.

Virtually all handsets are capable of sending and receiving SMS messages. It is simple to use and is universally available. For these reasons, it provides the key to unlocking all other mobile media.

Ringtones, video, applications and purchases can all be pushed through SMS.

“You can take this one step further,” Ms. McMullen said. “Want to talk to someone? More and more frequently, you touch base with friends by sending them an SMS – in some demographics, SMS usage exceeds call volume.

“The phone has become less a method for making phone calls, and increasingly a device for sending messages, playing games and getting information,” she said.

As a marketing vehicle SMS is critical for user acquisition, retention and monetization.

By surrounding the user with opportunities to connect, any SMS can lead to multiple interactions over SMS or other mobile channels.

Offline calls to action (signs, POS display, packaging) featuring an SMS action are universally acceptable.

An invitation to text a keyword to a short code is a welcome diversion when waiting in line at a retail store, and the content received in return is relevant to your interests.

Mobile Web banners can lead to WAP sites that offer SMS alerts. Or an SMS ad can bring the consumer to the WAP site.

A brand might be featured in a display ad within an application; with a click the user can receive a coupon via SMS.

“Regardless, each of these examples is all about using SMS - stopping what consumer is doing, so they can attend to an activity they would prefer to do,” she said. “SMS provides the most cost effective and simple mechanism that complements any publisher app strategy.”

Including SMS as part of application marketing is critical.

“SMS can be integrated into the mechanism for consumers to discover and download a mobile app by placing calls-to-action in traditional media, for example, or introducing premium content capabilities through SMS-based billing solutions,” Mr. Reitzin said.

“If you're a news organization or a magazine, for example, you can also offer additional real-time news and article updates that's only available through SMS, and that also helps build ones mobile database,” he said.

-Giselle Tsirulnik

82% Of Brands Plan To Boost Mobile Budgets Over Next 12 Months

According to a new study by MediaPosts Center For Media Research and digital research firm InsightExpress, 82% of brands, agencies and other companies plan to boost mobile ad budgets over the next 12 months.

For starters, here's the quick facts; four in 10 plan to increase spending by up to 30% and three in 10 by 31% or more in the next year. Fifteen percent expect no change and, surprisingly, another 3% plan to actually cut mobile ad spend. Half of mobile ad dollars currently come from Online budgets, 35% from cross-platform buys, 27% from funds specifically earmarked for mobile and 8% from TV budgets.

What's interesting is that ad-spend for mobile is still derived from other ad-based budgets, even though its projected that 43% of mobile spending in the future will come from designated mobile budgets as the industry evolves and matures.

With so much press and enthusiasm surrounding mobile apps, the study found that utilizing branded mobile applications are the most intriguing aspect of mobile advertising, with agencies, brands, publishers, technology vendors and retailers alike all indicating enthusiasm toward the concept.

Another data point that struck me as surprising was the fact that nearly 50% of respondents indicated a strong desire for mobile video as a primary advantage of mobile advertising, followed closely by mobile coupons at 39%- which was also cited as being the most effective in terms of ROI.

-Mobile Marketing Watch

Android now the No. 2 smartphone OS

Buoyed by strong consumer interest in devices like the Motorola Droid, Google's Android mobile operating system now represents 28 percent of smartphone unit sales in the U.S.--behind only Research In Motion's BlackBerry (36 percent) and moving past Apple's iPhone (21 percent)--according to new data issued by market research firm NPD Group. Carrier distribution and promotion are critical to Android's growth, NPD said: "In order to compete with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer beyond RIM devices to now include all of their smartphones," said NPD executive director of industry analysis Ross Rubin in a prepared statement.

AT&T accounted for 32 percent of all U.S. smartphone sales in Q1, followed by Verizon Wireless at 30 percent, T-Mobile USA at 17 percent and Sprint at 15 percent. NPD credits the continued popularity of messaging phones and smartphones for boosting the price of mobile devices despite an overall drop in the number of handsets purchased during the first quarter: The average U.S. selling price for all mobile phones reached $88 in Q1, up 5 percent year-over-year, while unit prices slipped to $151, down 3 percentage points compared to the previous year. "Carriers continue to offer attractive pricing for devices, but will need to present other data-plan options to attract more customers in the future," Rubin said.

-Jason Ankeny

Why brands must have a 360-degree mobile Web strategy

A 360-degree mobile Web strategy spans far beyond just a mobile-optimized site and means that brands need to tie mobile to their traditional marketing.

For example, email campaigns are generating a lot of conversion traffic for sites. Including a URL to a mobile site will factor in mobile email users and provide them with a better experience than just throwing them onto a wired Web site on their device.

“We have found that the No. 1 source of conversion traffic is email,” said Jason Taylor, vice president of mobile products at Usablenet, New York. “It is very important that clients leverage that in mobile.

“We make sure that our clients route mobile users to the mobile version of the click-though URL for the best possible experience,” he said. “That is very important, as a large number of people are getting their emails on their mobile phones.

“So when they click they need to go on the mobile version of the page that is being marketed in the email campaign. Tracking this action is important to the client.”

Search engine optimization – being ranked first by Google and Yahoo – is another top source of conversion traffic.

It is important that a site recognize whether a consumer is coming from a mobile phone or the wired Web when clicking on the search result. Serving up a wired Web site to a mobile user is not the best possible experience.

Affiliate programs also serve as a large source of conversion traffic. However, it depends on the type of brand. Retail and travel companies are really the largest users of affiliate marketing.

"Extending a Web site’s business rules should be a prominent part of a mobile Web strategy,” Mr. Taylor said. “Most people want to start a new mobile strategy using SMS.

“We tell them that a complete mobile Web strategy means tying in your traditional mediums with your mobile strategy,” he said.

According to Ran Farmer, managing director of Netbiscuits, Washington, it is important that brands identify the mobile use cases of their content or service and design mobile solutions accordingly.

Understand mobile devices – smaller form factors, touch screens, voice and location capabilities – as well as mobile user scenarios – places, times and situations other than at the office or at home.

Set up a mobile Web site first to give users immediate access to brand content and services from any Web-enabled mobile device worldwide.

Go 360-degree mobile and add applications into the mix as their platforms show relevance in the stats that mobile Web portals generate.

“Connect and integrate your other distribution and communication channels with your mobile solutions to secure a seamless experience,” Mr. Farmer said. “Take advantage of the unique user-generated content opportunities that mobile offers, including video, voice and location.”

Companies should not rely only on applications for their mobile strategy. Additionally, screen-scraping should not be relied on for setting up a mobile Web site.

“Do not misunderstand mobile to be the little brother of the PC Web,” Mr. Farmer said. “Mobile will very soon be much bigger than the PC Web.”

Mobile advertising is becoming a major driver of mobile Web site traffic, with brands like Ford and Lexus using mobile ads to get consumers to their mobile Web site destinations.

But for a true 360-degree strategy for mobile Web advertising, banners need to appear both in applications and on sites.

Mobile-specific creative is key since it is a different platform and users are in a different mind frame than when they are in front of their PCs.

“I think it is important to address the entire mobile ecosystem,” said Tom Foran, chief revenue officer of Crisp Wireless, New York. “That means looking at the mobile application and the mobile Web world and also looking at tablets like the iPad and smartphone devices.

“Make mobile a part of every campaign and drive people to your site that way,” he said. “Look at it as the way to make it relevant to the mobile consumer.”

Mr. Foran stressed that mobile is not just about applications, although that is what many brands seem to think.

There is a growing trend that is moving mobile advertising away from the mobile microsite.

A lot of brands are now letting the ad unit do the work.

“There is a lot more that the ad unit itself can do in terms of user engagement,” Mr. Foran said.

“A lot of functionality can be built into the ad, which allows the brand to not have to tear consumers out of their viewing experience on the mobile Web,” he said. “They engage the user and respect the users’ content experience.”

A mobile strategy should thread through all avenues of marketing that are existing already within a company and should not be a separate entity, according to Marci Troutman, CEO of Siteminis, Atlanta.

Mobile becomes an additional marketing channel threading though and linking to all existing channels, i.e., store signage, electronic media, print media, Internet and store associate training.

Ms. Troutman said that key components to a 360-degree mobile Web strategy include:

– A clear and concise SMS/email campaign strategy with links through to a functional, brand-friendly mobile site that will be able to engage the customers in an action at the point of contact;

– An application strategy with a hybrid mobile Web functional site allowing the customer to transact within the application while staying in the application and using the functionality of the more robust, transactional mobile Web that is essential to gaining customers through the SMS/email campaign strategies;

– Using a proper URL for security, safety and ease of use for the customer without concern.

“Companies should not treat mobile as an added ‘extra’ of their Internet strategy,” Ms. Troutman said. “The mobile Web should be thought of the same way as the PC Internet, not static, but just as important, with continual updates, coupons, deals and through-put to an action for sales.

“The mobile strategy is a real-time marketing and sales avenue that customers are using now and should be treated as such,” she said.

Siteminis’ clients are interested in affiliate marketing via mobile.

“It depends on your mobile strategy, and yes, it does differ by sector,” Ms. Troutman said. “For example, clients are interested in potential affiliate marketing on mobile, and the use of affiliates will be better determined as mobile site density grows.”

-Giselle Tsirulnik

Cell Phone Usage Stats Are In, Apple & HTC Arent Even In Top 5

In a report published today by comScore, the top five mobile OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) for mobile subscribers age 13+ were unveiled, with Apple and HTC nowhere in sight. Interestingly, feature phones still dominate the landscape.

In the 3 month average ending in March, 234 million Americans age 13 and older were mobile subscribers, with device manufacturer Samsung ranking as the top OEM at a 21.9percent share of U.S. mobile subscribers, inching out Motorola by a fraction of a percent. LG (21.8 percent share) ranked closely behind them, with RIM (8.3 percent share) and Nokia (8.3 percent share) rounding out the top five.

In terms of mobile operator share, Verizon still proves number one with 31.1% market share, followed by AT&T at 25.2%, though Verizon lost market share compared to Q1 2009 while AT&T showed a slight gain.

In terms of mobile content, SMS still reigns with 63.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers using text messaging on their mobile device, up 0.6 percentage points versus three months prior. Browsers were used by 30.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.6 percentage points), while subscribers who used downloaded applications made up 28.6 percent of the mobile audience (up 2.6 percentage points).

Access of social networking sites or blogs continued to increase, posting gains of 2.8 percentage points to 18.7 percent of mobile subscribers, showing the most improvement over any other type of mobile content.

-Mobile Marketing Watch