50% Growth in Smartphone Market in 2011

The worldwide smartphone market is growing. And fast.

According to the latest projections by the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the global smartphone market is expected to grow 49.2% in 2011.

The growth will be driven by an ever-widening pool of consumers and enterprise users turning in their feature phones for more sophisticated smartphones.

The IDC’s research finds that smartphone vendors will likely ship more than 450 million smartphones in 2011 compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010.

“Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC. “Last year’s high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from what we saw in 2010.”

The smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market.

With regard to which smartphone maker will most likely come out on top, IDC says it’s Android.

“Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing into the number 2 position in 2010,” says Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

“For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party. This year will see a coronation party as these same vendors broaden and deepen their portfolios to reach more customers, particularly first-time smartphone users.”

-Michael, Mobile Marketing Watch

Small Business Opportunities magazine launches redesigned website!

New York, NY: March 22 2011: The leading national newsstand publication on entrepreneurship, Small Business Opportunities, launched a newly designed website today, announced the Associate Publisher Arlene Jaffee.

“We have had an online presence since 2000 to help startup entrepreneurs find resources and ideas to open their first businesses. Our web visitors, who already operate small businesses, have told us that our online how-to columns and interviews with successful business owners have helped them to fine-tune their strategies and marketing plans during these tough times,” said Jaffee.

Small Business Opportunities (SBO) and its sister publications, Start Your Own Business and Get Rich At Home have been how-to resource mainstays since 1988 with the launch of SBO.

“Small business owners have had a tough time weathering this up-and-down economy. And, for many of the millions of Americans who lost their jobs in the past two years, there are still too few viable employment options. Interest in starting a business has never been more popular than it is right now. We wanted to revamp our site to make it even more user-friendly and content rich to assist them in the process.

“Our objective has always been to demystify entrepreneurship for our readers and our new www.sbomag.com site contains more resources, tips, links, trends, and information on franchise and business opportunities than ever before,” said Jaffee.

“The newly designed website provides our advertisers with even more opportunity to reach their target audience–consumers who are looking to purchase biz opps, as well as find information on tech products, web strategies, books, how-to manuals and turnkey packages,” added the Associate Publisher.

The site is determined to offer maximum amounts of information in minimal quick bites, with a wide variety of resources to direct visitors to organizations and companies where they can find additional information. The site is more interactive, and offers daily and weekly updates on trends, trade shows, new products and services of interest to entrepreneurs. “We will also be able to incorporate stories and features to reach our rapidly expanding global audience,” said Jaffee.

Visitors who sign up for the SBO newsletter can win free current bestselling business books to be awarded on a weekly basis. The magazine is also tweeting @sbomag on twitter and you can ‘Like’ SBO on facebook at smallbusinessopportunities.

“More than ever, small business is still the backbone of our economy. We are honored to be a part of the process,” said Jaffee.

Small Business Opportunities, Start Your Own Business, and Get Rich At Home are published by Harris Publications. The consumer magazines are national in the United States, Canada and Australia and are also sold in 40 countries via English-language bookstores and on newsstands in major hotels and airports.

How to put context into mobile with digital signage

EDITOR'S NOTE: The bank in our metro area has video screens, presumably for the entertainment of those standing in line, right? Not necessarily so. Use the App4Ads Directory-Style mobile web app to create a community-oriented coupon club. Get advertisers to post inside your app while you create a brand and get all the local merchants and consumers on board! Inquire with the bank manager for contact information regarding their digital signage.

OR, try Plan B: Use AdKing.com's BizApp Creator to build individual apps for each of your advertisers. Create a short piece for each one, including coupon info, benefits, SMS text optin details, etc. Clips could be run like an ad, interspersed with other programming.

The explosion of consumer-centric mobile innovation is demanding a new focus on mobile context.

Mobile context is defined as the match between a consumer’s given physical environment – a venue such as a store, hotel or restaurant – and the optimal mobile experience – mobile application, ad campaign or commercial transaction – for that environment.

Before a mobile context can be established, a venue’s patrons or guests must first be made aware that one or more mobile experiences exist for the given environment.

Once the awareness is established, the consumer must then be educated on the scope of the mobile experience as well as the value of the experience.

[In addition to digital signage,] there are several techniques for creating a context such as 2D bar codes or SMS campaigns.

Sign’s on the wall
Digital signage is described as a system for centrally managing the delivery of digital messages to electronic displays installed within venues or environments for the purpose of influencing of educating, entertaining and influencing viewer behavior.

Millions of digital signage screens are in use worldwide and thousands more deployed daily. Few, however, are being used to create a mobile context.

Mobile app developers, carriers and mobile advertisers can use digital signage to set mobile context, help venues create a more engaging experience for their patrons and guests and increase their awareness and dependence on a given mobile experience.

Once the message is displayed on the signage...venue patrons will then know about the mobile experience, understand [its] value...and know how to engage with the mobile experience. The mobile context will be set.

Important to Note:

>>Effective digital signage messages lend themselves to be easily understood in less than 15 seconds.

>>When designing a message for a digital signage display, one should strive to keep the old adage in mind that a picture is worth a thousand words.

>>The goal is for your message to be graphical that your value proposition can be easily understood without a lot of text or supporting audio.

>>The mobile message must play at a time that the desired audience will be present and receptive.

-Steve Gurley, Mobile Commerce Daily

P.S. The local sports bar has TONS of screens, and some of them dedicated to their very own products - spanning anywhere from buses to the NFL's Miami Dolphins home games to their special edition desserts for two. Next time I am there I should ask why they don't have their own app yet, a natural pairing with promotion on their digital signage. -SGD

An outlook for mobile couponing in today's market

EDITOR'S NOTE: Granted, some of the ideas in this article are not commonplace yet, what you can take away from this article is that Mobile Coupons are hip and hot! They are perfectly suited to mobile applications and both the BizApp Creator and the App4Ads offer built-in alert pages for convenient updating. Visit AdKing.com for more details.

Mobile couponing is one of the hot areas in mobile commerce today.

Indeed, mobile couponing is “the fastest growing and most obvious mobile marketing application,” according to Borrell Associates, with mobile coupon spending expected to grow at a rapid cumulative average growth rate of nearly 78 percent.

A recent study by Gartner also showed that mobile couponing was one of the top activities of consumers who use mobile devices for shopping planned on doing.

Specifically, retailers who will succeed with mobile couponing are those who approach it differently. Some ways to approach mobile couponing differently could be to:

Make mobile coupons available on your mobile Web site...the reason why you will want to do so is that you will reach a wider audience with the mobile Web, particularly as a richer experience evolves on smartphones.

Also, many retailers today already offer coupons through their traditional Web site, so extending coupons to the mobile Web is a no-brainer.

Create mobile coupons that are store specific
As mobile Web sites and apps are able to use the mobile device’s GPS, being able to deliver location- or store-specific coupons to the mobile consumer will become a reality.

The benefits are enormous. Not only will shoppers be able to understand what deals they can find in that particular store, but retailers will be able to promote and sell excess inventory in a particular store, increasing effective inventory management.

Personalize mobile coupons
Making coupons relevant to the preferences, time and location will help not only personalize coupons, but make them more likely to convert customers.

For instance, target coupons based on past purchasing behavior or selected preferences for when consumers sign up for coupon alerts.

A consumer who likes men’s clothing would rather only receive coupons for those products, as opposed to women’s clothing that would not interested him.

Allow for consumer opt-in alerts other than SMS
Most mobile coupons are currently issued via SMS. Provide alternative mechanisms for notifications, such as email or RSS.

Let consumers opt-in for notifications that work best for them.

Integrate coupons into the core mobile shopping experience
Make mobile coupons and offers an integral part of the consumer mobile experience.

Allowing consumers to browse which coupons are available are a great place to start, but tying them to part of the overall mobile shopping experience will maximize effectiveness.

For example, when a consumer scans a bar code on a product in-store, searches a product, browses to a product page or undertakes another activity on the mobile storefront, serve up relevant coupons tied to the product for which she is looking.

Provide coupons through location-based services
Location-based services offer a huge opportunity for retailers, particularly when mobile coupons and offers are tied to the experience.

While consumer adoption of LBS is still low – about 4 percent, according to a November 2010 study by the Pew Internet & American Life project – the consumers who are bothering to check into your location are invested consumers. In other words, they really want to do business with you, otherwise, why bother checking in?

Gap has done a great job tapping this opportunity by tying offers to Foursquare check-ins, and Starbucks has done the same for mayorships.

As LBS evolves beyond check-ins and mayorship rewards, and allows for quality of experience to highlight best places to shop, additional opportunities will arise for coupons and offers through LBS.

Offer coupons through other channels
One of the major challenges for consumer use of coupons is actually finding coupons.

Making them available through your mobile Web site or native app is a great place to start, but should not limited there.

Distribute them through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and via blogging efforts, but also through coupon aggregators such as Yowza, 8Coupons, Zavers, Coupon Sherpa and Cellfire. Find the one that makes sense for your brand and increase the reach.

-Gary Lombardo,

94% of consumers would make a mobile payment if secure

EDITOR'S NOTE: Both AdKing.com Mobile Web App systems - the BizApp Creator and the App4Ads - allow for links to mobile payment sites such as those provided by PayPal and other mcommerce sites. Encourage your advertising clients to accept payments by mobile, thus creating another revenue stream!

...There is a high level of interest from consumers in making mobile payments, [however] security concerns are the largest barrier to market growth and consumer adoption, according to a report by Mobio Identity Systems Inc.

If security concerns can be eradicated, the mobile commerce market may finally reach its long-anticipated exponential growth, per Mobio. The key finding of the report is that 94 percent of consumers would make a mobile payment if they knew it was secure.

“This indicates an overwhelming interest in the mcommerce market from a consumer perspective and, as industry leaders, we are excited to see this,” said Mark Binns, chief marketing officer of Mobio Identity Systems, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

“The most surprising finding was that 51 percent consumers say they have made a mobile payment within the past three months, and 82 percent see themselves making them within the next year,” he said.

“This implies consumer usage growth of over 30 percent within the next year.”

History of mobile commerce
Mobile commerce was first trialed in Finland in 1997 when Coca-Cola released mobile-enabled vending machines that accepted payment via SMS. In 1998, the first sale of digital content was made with the release of commercial downloadable ringtones.

By 2000, mobile-commerce services spread rapidly with the introduction of mobile payments and purchases all over the world: mobile parking payments in Norway, train ticket purchases in Austria and airline ticket purchases in Japan.

The hype around mobile commerce was huge in early 2000.

Industry professionals predicted that the m-payment market would rise from almost nothing to over $55 billion by 2006.

Another study by Strategy Analytics reported in 2001 that by 2006, mobile commerce revenues would be $230 billion.

Despite the hype and predictions, the mobile commerce market did not grow very fast at all.

In 2009, it was reported that revenues were $68.7 billion and, again, expected to rise exponentially to $633.4 billion by 2014.

Mobio’s study examined the question: What has been holding this market, and the consumers, back? Its survey asking consumers what they thought about mobile payments was distributed to the general North American population, and 1,085 people responded, which makes the findings statistically significant to plus or minus 3 percent, 19 times out of 20.

Advice for brands, retailers and merchants
The mcommerce market has been on the verge of exponential growth for some time now.

With technology becoming an essential part of everyday consumer-brand interactions, Mr. Binns said Mobio feels that the future for mobile payments has finally arrived. [Or at the very least, Mobio feels they have been waiting long enough!]

Mobile payments will continue to become increasingly commonplace, so a strategy to integrate this technology is necessary for those brands who want to stay relevant in the consumer mind-space going forward, per Mobio.

“So, we advise brands and retailers to get involved now – being a leader in the space will have significant returns a short timeframe,” Mr. Binns said. “Organizations who want to participate in the mcommerce market should carefully research the options available.

...“Consumers need to feel a high level of trust towards the brands they are interacting with in the mobile space.

“Brands should identify those elements that make their mobile payment secure and be able to explain to their customers how their information is safe.”

- Dan Butcher, Mobile Commerce Daily

Marketers Rally for Japan Relief Efforts

Scores of marketers and organizations have announced relief efforts to help the hundreds of thousands of survivors of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan last week who have been displaced, with no home or city to return to.

According to Japan's Foreign Affairs Ministry, more than 90 countries and regions and six international organizations have extended offers of assistance. In a rush of solidarity, marketers have linked up with organizations like the Red Cross...here's a roundup of companies offering relief efforts to Japan. EDITOR'S NOTE: WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON TEXTING AND SOCIAL MEDIA.

Red Cross rehashes texting effort
Like its effort after the Haiti earthquake last year, the Red Cross has again turned to text messages as a way to raise funds. The group quickly began promoting the use of its existing short code, 90999, and keyword, REDCROSS, as a means for donating $10 to relief efforts in Japan. A spokeswoman said the group decided not to create a new keyword for Japan donations, as it did to aid Haiti, because the public is already familiar with the existing REDCROSS keyword. The Haiti keyword, established in the hours following that disaster, attracted more than $32 million in donations in less than two months.

Monday's promoted Twitter trend, #HelpJapan, was donated by Twitter itself....according to a Red Cross spokeswoman, Twitter reached out to offer the promoted trend.

Among other contributors to the Red Cross...Apple has set up a page in its iTunes store that allows users to contribute via a page to the Red Cross in amounts between $5 and $200.

Group-buying site LivingSocial has teamed up with GlobalGiving.org for a donation campaign. The 24 million members who peruse LivingSocial's sites for deals will now also see a simple web banner directing them to Global Giving, which is working with Save the Children and the International Medical Corps to provide on-the-ground support in Japan.

Zynga has created an in-game donation drive, whereby players of "FarmVille," "CityVille" and some of its other social games can plant special crops; players will be charged via credit card and proceeds will go directly to the Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children's Emergency Fund.

-Maureen Morrison, AdAge Global