Monthly Archives: March 2010

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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Consumers Seek Mobile Promotion Input

Input Makes Mobile Promotions More Acceptable. Marketers who send consumers mobile promotions such as coupons and discounts have a significant amount of built-in resistance to overcome, writes MarketingCharts. The percentage of consumers who say they are fine with getting promotions slightly declined from 13% in December 2008 to 11% in February 2010. However, the percentage of consumers completely opposed to mobile promotions also declined in that time period, from 31% to 26%.

Mobile Marketing Association Launches Canadian Council

During CTIA Wireless 2010 held this week in Las Vegas, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) (www.mmaglobal.com) today announced the formal launch of its MMA Canada Council.  The launch reflects the latest in the MMA’s efforts to establish regional presence with local focus across the globe.  MMA Canada is led by Michael O’Farrell, Country Manager for the MMA, along with Canadian council co-chairs Ross Buchanan, Director, Digital & Relationship Marketing at MolsonCoors and Andrew Osmak, SVP, Business Development & New Ventures at LavaLife.

India & China to lead global telecom sector capex spend to over $ 224 bn by 2015

The demand for mobile services particularly in the developing markets such as Indian and China will fuel the capex of mobile service providers across the globe to scale over $ 224.5 billion by the year 2015, says a new research from market research firm, The Insight Research Corp.

Mobile Increasingly Important for Small Biz

One-fifth of small businesses “could not survive” without mobile. Mobile and wireless technologies such as smartphones, Wi-Fi hotspots and laptop data cards are becoming more important for small-business owners, according to the “Small Business Technology Poll” from AT&T. More than one-fifth of respondents said they could not be in business at all without wireless technologies, and a further 43% claimed it would be a major challenge. That makes mobile and wireless critical for about two-thirds of small businesses.

Travelers Love the Mobile Web, study

Once upon a time, you had to bring travel guides, maps and paper tickets on every trip. Today, you can just take your smartphone and get access to all of this information without having to lug a couple of books and magazines around with you. Today, according to a new study by analytics firm Compete, 38% of smartphone users conduct travel research on their devices and 28% use their phones to book at least some of their trips and travel activities.

Brands urged to spend more on mobile websites

Brands have been urged to invest more of their mobile marketing budgets in creating an internet site designed specifically for handset owners. Although advertisers are frequently becoming happier to spend money on mobile marketing, industry commentator Kunur Patel claimed they are often missing out on potential customers by focusing on creating apps.

BRIC Mobile Giants Begin to Mature

The BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China share large areas and populations, fast-growing economies and rapidly expanding technology markets. Mobile communications have surged in recent years as a cost-effective means of connecting consumers spread across great geographic expanses.

Internet mobile marketing set to boom by 2012

Internet mobile marketing is growing, especially in the platforms of the iPhone and Android platforms. In fact, reports say that the emerging market will account form more than a quarter of revenue from mobile apps by 2012. The report also forecasted that mobile app downloads are set to rise for over 50 billion within the next two years. Revenue from these downloads are forecasted to increase by 62 percent.

AT&T Global Messaging 50 plan drops international SMS costs

Today AT&T announced its new Global Messaging 50 package. The $10 per month subscription lets you send 50 text, IM, picture, or video messages from more than 90 countries. The service, clearly not for messaging addicts, charges $0.40 cents for every sent message past the allocated 50. That’s a $.10 savings over the typical $.50 international message cost, or $1.30 for MMS texts. The service kicks off on March 20th.

Mobile Web users increase to 69.9M: Study

The number of mobile Web users increased by 4 percent to 69.6 million in the United States in January, according to Millennial Media’s SMART report. The increase is up from 67 million users and Millennial Media’s unique audience reach increased by 6.88 percent in January, from 54.3 million to 58.1 million unique users month over month to an 83 percent reach of the mobile Web. In addition, there was a third-party study conducted on the growth of mobile fundraising and its audience’s demographic.

Hong Kong’s 34th international film festival goes mobile with TheTMSway

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The largest and most popular award-giving body for films in ASIA, the Hong Kong International Film Festival is using mobile, in association with TheTMSway, to connect with all the film fanatics across the region as it celebrates this year’s 34th festive recognition of quality films, film makers, and talents.

The 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) is partnering with Asia’s leading mobile technology provider, TheTMSway Ltd, in mobilizing the country’s reputable 17-day festival. This mobile service includes the presentation of more than 70 trailers and offers to follow the latest news in real time via the HKIFF Twitter feed.

TheTMSway has built the HKIFF’s official mobile portal aimed to propose various event features filled with informative and non-stop entertainment. The service is accessible by all Mobile users via mobile internet browsers (TMS proposes an automatic content optimization for more than 5000 phone models). Fans can watch on direct streaming and /or download the movie trailers of this year’s film entries and nominated finalists. The mobile portal also features news articles of film screenings and daily activities of the HKIFF in which mobile users can access and read on.

Worldwide Mobile subscribers and movie fans can access to the mobile portal and bookmark it, log on at TMSsearch.com using an Internet mobile phone, and enter the shortcode: HKIFF 2010. Movie goers can also go to the Hong Kong International Film Festival’s website, and click on the mobile portal’s banner to receive the direct link to the HKIFF mobile portal (a service powered by TheTMSway) via a free SMS message alert.

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Read on related story:

HK International Film Festival launches mobile portal (by Anita Davis/Media Asia)

Double-digit growth seen for US and Europe online retail

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Mobile is seen one of the efficient channels to leverage growth for online retail in US and European regions.

A recent study from Forrester Research said that online retail in the regions will experience significant growth over the next 5 years. An estimated 10% compound annual growth rate is expected for US online retail – thatmobile5’s reaching to almost $250 billion by 2014; while Western Europe is expected to higher its rate margin at 11%.

For small businesses to get motivated, Forrester report suggested that businesses must take adjustments between the online and offline channels now that consumers have desires on those spaces, otherwise, it causes some risks of losing sales.

Forrester said a multi-channel strategy is a response to consumer’s desire to hop between offline and online worlds to maximize that growth, now that consumers, report said, are seen to increasing mobile and social behavior. Read more

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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Juniper: Mobile Marketing Retail Market to Hit $12B by 2014

Mobile coupons will dominate the mobile retail market in the early stages of its growth spurt, according to a new Mobile Marketing and Retail Strategies Report by Juniper Research. The report finds that one-to-one marketing allied with the rapid proliferation of smartphones will lead the growth of the entire mobile retail market to $12 billion by 2014. The mobile retail sector — which includes mobile coupon redemption values, smart poster fees and advertising spending in Juniper’s definition — will, however, see mobile advertising exceed coupon redemption values by 2013.

Direct marketers must embrace mobile marketing: DMA panelist

NEW YORK – As more consumers use their smartphones for communication, social networking and shopping, companies must optimize their Web site for mobile. The “Why Direct Marketers Must Embrace the Mobile Marketing Opportunity” panel at DMA Mobile Marketing Day 2010, hosted by Mobile Marketer and the Direct Marketing Association, was moderated by Mobile Marketer editor in chief Mickey Alam Khan. Mobile has proven to be an effective marketing channel across various sectors, and direct marketers ignore that fact at their peril.

Where are the legal minefields in mobile marketing?

NEW YORK – A panel of lawyers discussed important issues for every mobile marketer during the “Legal Dos and Don’ts” panel at Mobile Marketing Day, hosted last week by Mobile Marketer and the Direct Marketing Association. The panel featured Reed Smith lawyer Adam Snukal and Lustigman Firm principal attorney Andy Lustigman, as well as Siteminis chief operating officer Steve Timpson. Mobile Marketer’s Mickey Alam Khan moderated.

Invest in mobile marketing ‘to drive future sales’

Small businesses have been advised to invest in their mobile marketing infrastructure now in order to drive sales in the future. Global retail and property analyst and consultant Michael Baker explained that mobile marketing is one of a number of new technologies which firms can use to lure prospective customers. In an article for the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Baker said that promotions such as SMS marketing can be highly targeted, meaning that businesses are able to select the demographic that they wish to reach.

2010 brings “both hope and anxiety” for LatAm telecoms market

Whilst Latin America’s telecoms industry suffered from the economic breakdown of last year, the industry’s move into the IT space was a trend that solidified in many of the region’s most important markets, according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan. The region’s pay-TV market is described as still holding promise, and whilst IPTV did not become a reality due to regulatory restrictions, video-on-demand services made “great advances”, according to the report, which adds that 2010 brings both hope and anxiety for the sector.

Mobile’s Near Future: The Impact on Business

Our mobile phones have become so tethered to our everyday lives that soon they’ll become more important than our wallets. In fact, a recent multi-country poll conducted by market research firm Synovate found that 25 percent of people would rather lose their wallets than their cell phones. These small, portable devices allow us to do virtually everything: communicate, shop, bank, access information, watch videos, listen to music, play video games, take photos, and stay organized and on schedule.

Mobile commerce to grow to $119bn by 2015: report

From the billions of mobile subscribers around the world to the more than one billion apps that have been downloaded via Apple’s App Store, mobile is legitimately big. According to ABI Research, mobile is going to get a lot bigger in the ecommerce market. The research firm is predicting that in 2015, $119bn worth of goods and services will be purchased via a mobile phone.

Mobile Users Want Personalized Services

It’s no secret that mobile phone users have graduated from simple voice and text usage of their devices. eMarketer estimates more than 650 million people worldwide, or 13.4% of mobile subscribers, use the Web via a mobile device at least monthly in 2010. According to a Tellabs survey conducted by The Nielsen Company, two-thirds of mobile users around the globe are interested in “smart” services that would feed them information based on personal preferences, location, time of day and social setting.

SMS enhances CRM/loyalty programs: Mobile Marketing Day panel

NEW YORK – Panelists at Mobile Marketing Day, cohosted by the DMA and Mobile Marketer, discussed how to build an opted-in SMS database that ties in with other channels such as email and direct mail. The panel was moderated by Mobile Marketer’s Mickey Alam Khan and covered how to use keywords and short codes to drive traffic to stores and Web sites.

Research and Markets: A Comprehensive Report on Australia’s Mobile Data, M-Commerce and M-Payment Industries

Relative to Asian markets, especially in Japan and South Korea, Australia has a small m-commerce industry. The key elements of effective mobile commerce are mobile payments and mobile advertising. The period over 2009 and 2010 is critical for the development of a larger m-commerce market. No widely adopted standard for mobile payments has been developed in Australia to date.

B2B mobile marketing spend to reach $106M in 2014, study

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Mobile marketing has become one of the hottest news hitting across Asia-Pacific, America, and Europe. In fact, some regions like Latin America, Africa (Nigeria), and Canada are expected to embracing the trend to better serve their business industry players. Australia is most likely to adapt mobile advertising, M-commerce, and M-payment granted that some issues from its telephony infrastructure  are  addressed and settled.

Recently, mobile marketing again enters the hot spot with the huge possibility of business-to-business (B2B) players to increase its spending, in which according to Forrester Research’s latest study, it has to quadruple its mobile marketing spending over the next 5 years, rising to $106 million by 2014 – a high rise from last year’s $26 million.

According to Forrester’s New York-based analyst, Michael Greene, mobile marketing can be as much about building deeper relationships with existing customers as it is about attracting new ones. Furthermore, mobile can also be a useful channel for company’s sales force, saying that the channel’s greatest strength is as an engagement tool. In reaching customers, if generating sales is a fantastic goal, Forrester said the mobile channel can help that along. Read more

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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Report: Global Mobile Advertising Market to Reach $18.5 Billion by 2015

Mobile advertising market is at variable maturity levels in different regions, but is expected to grow at a faster rate as compared to other advertising formats such as Internet, print, direct mail, and television. With the introduction of new forms of mobile advertising such as display advertising, mobile Internet advertising, and search, the marketers have greater opportunities than ever to reach more targeted customers.

Mobile marketing tipped for further growth in 2010

Adoption of mobile marketing is set to expand significantly over the next 12 months as consumers become more reliant on their handsets. TMCnet correspondent Calvin Azuri, citing a report carried out by E-mailvision, said that the continued growth of the channel will see it become one of the main drivers of email marketing in 2010.

Asia Pacific handset sales up 7%, says Gartner

The mobile marketing potential of Asia Pacific has been highlighted by Gartner in a new study which reveals that handset sales surged in 2009. Analysts at the research firm reported that handset sales in the region bucked the global trend by increasing to 483.5 million last year, up by 6.7 per cent from the 2008 figure of 453.1 million.

Mobile internet revenues ‘will boost south-east Asian telecoms market’

Money generated from mobile internet browsing will help the south-east Asian telecoms market perform strongly this year, IDC has forecast. The research firm predicted that the region’s mobile operators and infrastructure will generate revenues of $36.1 billion (£23.2 billion) in 2010, an increase of eight per cent from its performance in 2009.

Top Brands and Industry Pioneers from Around the Globe to Gather in Singapore for the 2010 Mobile Marketing Association Forum Asia

Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is pleased to announce the return of the MMA Forum Asia to Singapore on April 13 to 15, 2010 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront, Singapore. The theme of this year’s forum is “Now and Next”, a chance for participants to analyse and review the year just past as well as forecast what is to come. This year’s Forum will bring together over 250 participants from all over the globe, uniting members of the mobile marketing eco-system including regulators, brands, agencies, content aggregators, carriers, device manufacturers, technology developers and other major players in the mobile marketing industry. The focus is squarely on brands and agencies, and the event is open to members and non-members alike.

Demand for Mobile Financial Services Grows

While mobile coupon and mobile commerce usage may not have grown as quickly as many marketers hoped, Americans appear to be eagerly adopting mobile banking. The “Mobile Money Study” by Data Innovation found that a strong majority of US smartphone users (68.7%) had accessed banking or other financial services on their mobile phone in the past three months.

67% Of The World’s Population Are Mobile Subscribers

A new report published yesterday by the UN indicates that 67% of the world’s population, or two-thirds total, are mobile subscribers- far outweighing Online access. 67% of the world’s population represents around 4.6B people, up from only 1B in 2002, indicating staggering continued growth.  In developing nations, however, the uptake is even more substantial with 57% of the total population in these nations being mobile subscribers, even though other technologies are scarce.

Embedded Mobile Traffic Rapidly Grows

Mobile data traffic from embedded computing devices is increasing so rapidly that if current trends continue, the total number of bytes sent each month in 2014 will equal the total equivalent traffic measured in 2008, according to ABI Research. ABI Research estimates that nearly 7,900 petabytes of data will be sent from embedded computing devices in 2014. This traffic originates from laptops, netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) that are equipped “out of the box” with cellular or mobile broadband modems. Laptops and netbooks will account for about 90% of the traffic, with the contribution from MIDs and media tablets remaining fairly small.

Apple stings HTC with patent lawsuit

Apple said it sued rival smartphone maker HTC for infringing on 20 of its patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The company said it filed the action concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission and U.S. District Court in Delaware.

Asians becoming more adept in using mobile and online technologies

ASIAN consumers are becoming more open to digital and mobile advertising and online commerce, says Universal McCann (Malaysia) chief executive officer Prashant Kumar. “Countries like South Korea and Japan have mobile technologies that’s a generation ahead of western markets. In fact, youth in Japan are called ‘Oyayubizoku’,” he tells StarBizWeek.

Asia leads travel industry recovery; emerging markets look positive

In 2010 nascent trends such as the use of online marketing, the adoption of digital applications and mobile technology are expected to take root as travel players discover the benefits that these can bring to their businesses. “Asia’s huge potential for growth and its relatively younger travel industry mean that travel players in this region are strategically well placed to capitalise on the new realm of opportunities as the economy steps into a recovery phase,” Bailey concluded.