TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

AdBoard refreshed and renewed in 2012, new board tests new bylaws

A FEW years shy of 40, the Advertising Board of the Philippines (AdBoard), one of the country’s biggest trade organizations, starts 2012 with a timely reinvention. The advertising landscape is changing fast. Marketing, media, communications and other similar professions are now inextricably in the business model. Staring AdBoard in the face was a decades-old, yawning gap between itself and the industry it was tasked to represent and whose rights it had sworn to uphold.

Consumers Increasingly Marry Mobile Devices With TV

Smartphones, tablets, and TV make good companions, according to various reports released in April 2012. Data from a GfK Knowledge Networks survey indicates that 52% of minutes spent with tablets, and the same percentage with smartphones, are shared with TV viewing. Per aForrester Research report, 85% of tablet owners use their tablets while watching TV. And survey findings from QuickPlay [download page] indicate that 91% of tablet owners have watched a TV program or full-length motive on their tablet, while 57% of mobile subscribers overall are interested in a multiscreen video service.

2012 March Madness Was Very Mobile: Study

To marketers, mobile is a channel for their promotions and branding messages. But no consumers ever pick up their smartphones and go looking for ads; they’re hunting for content, and the marketing trick is to wrap the message around that content. So it’s interesting that the latest report from Millennial Media focuses on how mobile fans used their devices to view the big event of last month, the NCAA basketball championships.

Mobile marketing in growth path

With digital becoming the ‘fashionable’ medium over the past couple of years, marketers are now looking at exploring the various avenues it presents. With the growing acceptance of new technologies, many new possibilites for marketing and ways to reach the TG have emerged. The mobile has gone from being the traditional third screen to the first screen for many, especially the youngsters.

Video, Social Boost US Mobile Content Consumption

One-third of US population will use social networking and video on mobile devices by 2016. With smartphone users expected to make up over half of US mobile users by next year, content consumption on mobile devices is also on the rise, including video viewing and social networking.

iPad Found Accounting for 89% of Mobile Shopping Revenue

The iPad accounts for nearly two-thirds of all mobile shopping sessions, and an impressive 89% of all mobile shopping revenue, says RichRelevance in April 2012 study results. With mobile’s share of total retail climbing to 4.6% in March 2012 (from 1.9% in April 2011), this means that the iPad now accounts for more than 4% of total retail revenue. Meanwhile, other iOS devices make up 4% of the mobile revenue share, with other mobiles holding the remaining 7%. The study found that all mobiles combined now account for 9% of total online shopping sessions.

Luxury retailers adapt to mobile age

A study conducted earlier this year by The Luxury Institute showed that 60% of high net worth individuals own smartphones, and of those, 67% used them to shop. 80% had downloaded an app.

Study: TV + Mobile = Results

Brands, if you’re looking for more bang from your video buck, look to mobile. That is the key takeaway from a new report out from Nielsen and AdColony. Through the study research found that combining television advertising with mobile helped to improve brand favorability and recall as well as purchase intent metrics.

Gartner: Worldwide PC Shipments Grow 1.9 Percent in Q1 2012

According to preliminary results by Gartner Inc., worldwide PC shipments totaled 89 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 1.9% increase from the first quarter of 2011, when shipments reached 87.3 million units. These results exceed Gartner’s earlier projections of a 1.2% decline for the quarter. ”The results were mixed depending on the region, as we saw the EMEA region perform better than expected, while Asia/Pacific performed below expectations, in part because of slow growth in India and China,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “While the PC industry has high expectations for strong growth in the emerging markets,…

Global mobile health market worth $8B by 2018

A recent report from Global Data pegged the global mHealth market as having a $500 million value in 2010 that will top $8 billion by 2018. The research firm argues that the rise of mobile health has been partially encouraged by the global financial crisis, which led to a focus on finding cost efficiencies in the system in addition to improved outcomes and quality of care.

Mobile vs. Desktop: Which has a better say in terms of local search?

Mobile is predicted to outpace the desktop in 2015 in terms of local search – could it be of local intent or of mobile money – according to a recent study from BIA/Kelsey.  The mobile search is expected to generate 27.8 billion more queries than desktop search by 2016.

According to the report, mobile search is gaining traction because it affects consumers who are deeper in the purchase funnel, added with the handsets not treated as the main way of looking up information while consumers are on the go.

Consumers using mobile search have the tendency to look for instant information and capable of embracing into quick decisions, which according to the report, can be offer large implications to brands and marketers. The mobile local search has raked in 19.7 billion queries in year 2011 compared to the 54.9 billion queries acquired via desktop local search.  The gap between the two channels is expected to end in 2015 when mobile search queries will total 85.9 billion with desktop accounting for 84 billion.

As far as mobile money is concerned, the report revealed that the mobile is predicted to have a whopping 164% compound annual growth rate in local search revenue between 2011 and 2016; while the desktop will have to account 12.1%.

According to BIA/Kelsey, the study is a proof for marketers that mobile is capable of playing a crucial part of local search and is an essential marketing piece to any search marketing strategy. And while mobile devices are getting more sophisticated, location-based marketing is starting to play an increasing role on how consumers access to information while on the go.

As Senior analyst of BIA/Kelsey said, marketers cannot afford to ignore mobile anymore.

Mobile marks a record on Internet Ad Revenue, Mobile Ads the future

The 2011 report on Internet Ad Revenue marks the year of mobile with impressive growth, said the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The research revealed the mobile listed for the first time as a standalone category for good reason. Accordingly, the growth in mobile advertising was the fastest of all IAB’s category, up 149% to $1.6 billion in year 2011; and recently, it’s accounting to 5% of all internet ad revenue compared to email (1%), sponsorship and rich media (same at 4%), while search is the largest category at 46.5%.

The IAB stressed that due to the proliferation of tablets and Smartphones, the tremendous growth in mobile will continue as said screens become more crucial to marketing mix.

Meanwhile, the PwC US said that by combining some of the best features of the Internet, together with portability and location-based technology, mobile advertising allows marketers to deliver in timely, targeted, relevant, and local advertisements never been possible before. Hence, it is expected that strong growth continues coming with mobile advertising.

In a separate report by Jana, the mobile ads in some emerging markets are seen to be the future. The report has revealed an impressive penetration of mobile ads in four emerging markets, like China, India, Indonesia, and Brazil taking the leads to make up two-fifths of the global GDP; while China is viewed to shape a billion dollar mobile advertising market in the next four years.

According to the report, the world has 5.3 billion mobile subscribers, which means 77% of the world’s population uses phone. The majority of those users — 3.8 billion or 73% of the group — live in emerging economies. Yet mobile advertising dollars spent around the world do not begin to compete with traditional platforms or Internet ads.

Robust mobile ad spend in Spain, local mobile ad revenues up in the US

The mobile ad spending in Spain is projected to break the €100 million ($138.8 million) barrier in 2012 after a climb to 67.4% in 2011 to €63.6 million ($88.3 million); and it maintains the levels of growth till year 2013, according to March 2012 report by MMA Spain and Accenture.

Accordingly, the telecom and internet industry in Spain is tied to mobile and has developed the most sophisticated mobile marketing plans to propelling the said market. The Mobile World Congress, in which Spain is a host country yearly, is another advantageous factor viewed to has contributed marketers’ taking of advantage to mobile’s ubiquity in the region.

Meanwhile, in the US market, a report revealed growth to $5.01 billion in 2016 in the region’s mobile local revenues from $784 million of last year. The report covers the local segment of overall U.S. mobile ad revenues, which include search, display, SMS, and video ads.

Search is reported the fastest and biggest driver of overall growth in mobile advertising in the region. One factor viewed is due to mobile web growth where search is central, as opposed to apps. Another factor seen leading to growth in search, as compared to other formats, is directly related to mobile user’s behavior due to pull based intent-driven nature.

Digital and Mobile channels continue attracting global marketing spend

The digital and mobile channels are reported to experience growth in terms of marketing spend, according to Warc’s Global Marketing Index (GMI), climbing to scores of 78.79 and 71.2, respectively. The press, on other hand, still acquired an increase to 36.1 from last month’s 33.5, even if experiencing the largest reduction in terms of expenditure. The radio industry improved slightly to 39.6 from 42.3; while TV and out-of-home to 48.8 from 48, respectively.

In global perspective, the report revealed that budget growth among global marketers have increased to 51.5 in March, which passed the threshold score of 50 for the first time since Warc’s tracking via GMI, as compared to February’s 49.3.

The report revealed respondents in the Americas as the most positive in spite of its drop from 62.9 to 59.7; while Asia Pacific climbed from 56 to 57.9, and Europe continued rising from 52 to 55 respectively.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Making the most of mobile

Mobile is the new billboard. It is a present, local and sleek high definition screen resting comfortably in our bags or back pockets. While some rightly claim that it is the most personally connected device in history, others cite that as many as 70% of us sleep within inches of them. In Australia, where smartphone penetration sits around 50%, there are now more mobile phones in circulation than people.

Mobile adspend soars 157% as FMCG and retail brands follow consumers

Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Procter & Gamble and Unilever are understood to have boosted investment in mobile advertising, in an effort to reach what internet analytics company comScore claims are the 58% of Britons accessing content via apps or the mobile internet each month. According to annual figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), UK adspend on mobile media – including search, display and video – surged 157% year on year to a total of £203.2m in 2011.

Mobile Video Viewership Gaining in Australia

According to Nielsen’s February 2012 “Australian Multi-Screen Report,” smartphones and tablets were present in 49% and 10% of households, respectively, in Australia in Q4 2011 Drilling deeper into the data, Nielsen found that time spent watching mobile video grew from 35 minutes in Q1 2011 to 1 hour and 20 minutes in Q4 2011. The company also reported that Australia’s mobile video audience was heavily concentrated among males and in the 18-to-34 age bracket, a stat that may be even more important for marketing decision-makers than average time spent watching mobile video.

Asian Pacific telecom operator switching and routing revenue to grow by 9.7% in 2012

In terms of revenues in Asia-Pacific, the edge router segment is leading the way, reaching $4.2 billion in 2017, while the core router segment will touch $1.6 billion and the IP/Ethernet router segment will reach $1.4 billion. The edge router plays a key role in carrier networks as the control point for delivering subscriber services.

Mobile Internet Uptake on the Rise in France

Browsing the internet remained the most popular advanced content activity among mobile phone owners, with 24% of them doing so in 2011, vs. 15% in 2010 and 13% in 2009. In addition, reading email (19%), downloading applications (17%) and watching TV (8%) all nearly doubled in adoption rates over 2010, according to the report.

Smartphones drive Thai Q4 mobile phone market

For the final three months of 2011, the mobile phone market in Thailand grows 6 percent quarter-on-quarter, achieving an “impressive” 20 percent yearly growth, says IDC. In a report Thursday, the research firm noted that smartphones were the “driving force” behind Thailand’s mobile phone market. Smartphone shipments grew 66 percent sequentially to make up almost one-fourth of the total mobile phone market in the fourth quarter of 2011, it added.

PLDT mobile units boast 65-M subscriber base

THE wireless units of telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) now have a combined subscriber base of 65 million, a growth of 1.3 million new users from end-2011 figure of 63.7 million. Of this number 50 million came from Smart Communications Inc., Talk ’N Txt and Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprises Inc. (CURE). The remaining 15 million subscribers came from Sun Cellular, the mobile brand of Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel), which is PLDT’s latest acquisition.

Report: Consumers more likely to engage with mobile ads

Consumers are significantly more likely to click through a search ad on a smartphone or tablet than they would on a desktop computer, said Matt Lawson, VP of marketing and partnerships at Marin Software, a provider of paid search management services. Consequently, Marin Software’s study “State of Mobile Search Advertising in the US 2012” anticipates 25% of Google’s US paid search clicks will come from smartphones and tablets by December 2012. Mobile smart devices constituted only 5% of paid search clicks in January of this year, said Lawson, describing the projected increase of paid search clicks by the end of 2012 as “explosive adoption.”

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Mobile Marketing Association Forum New York, Announced for June 11-13, 2012

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today opened registration for The MMA Forum New York: The Mobile Experience, the premier North American Forum event of 2012. Held June 11-13 at The Roosevelt Hotel, the event is a convenient opportunity for journalists, analysts and bloggers to learn from and network with leaders from across the mobile ecosystem, including:

Hotel Industry Poised for 2012 Growth

58% of global hotel accommodation owners and managers worldwide believe their business will be either a lot more profitable (13%) or a little more profitable (45%) this year, according to [pdf] results from a TripAdvisor survey released in February 2012. Data from the TripAdvisor “2012 Industry Index” indicates that 47% of global hotel accommodation owners and managers worldwide, and 61% in the US, plan to offer a program using mobile devices (such as mobile applications, special offers, and booking on mobile devices) this year.

Global mobile penetration reaches 85pc

Global mobile penetration reached 85 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 and mobile subscriptions totaled around 6 billion, said an Ericsson report. Though there are now around 6 billion mobile subscriptions, this figure equates to around 4.1 billion subscribers, since many subscribers have several subscriptions, said an interim update to the Traffic and Market Data Report published in November 2011 by Ericsson.

Mobile Ad Spending in Italy May Pass $1 Billion in 2015

According to a November 2011 release from UK research and go-to-market agency FirstPartner, mobile ad spending in Italy will more than double in 2012 to €261.7 million ($363.5 million), up from €125.5 million ($174.3 million) in 2011. Total mobile ad spending is expected to hit €904.3 million ($1.26 billion) in 2015.

Mobilizing The Masses: In Asia, Wireless Grows Up

Mobile advertising grows up as marketing spend multiplies. Although smartphone penetration is growing in Asia, mobile advertising still lags behind TV advertising. While this won’t change, I do expect brands and agencies to double down on their spend in mobile this year. As marketers see smartphone penetration growing broadly enough to deliver scale for campaigns, they will see that mobile provides the reach necessary to increase ROI.

Smartphone Sales Up 47% in Q4 to 149 Million Units

Nokia led the handset market overall by shipping 111.7 million units in the final quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. However, Samsung Mobile narrowed its gap with Nokia by shipping 92.7 million handsets overall, including strong sales of 34 million smartphones. Apple was third in the handset market on the strength of its iPhone alone.

Bridging the consumers and marketers

The future looks bright, too – the estimates indicate that Asia will become the world’s biggest market by 2020, with over 11 billion total connected devices, of which 5.6 billion will be mobile. Asia will have a 47 per cent market share, by far the biggest share of the global market. Compare this to Europe, which will only have 19.1 per cent, while North America has 9.4 per cent of the global market, according to projections

China’s Mobile Internet Industry to See Rapid Growth & Overall Consolidation

Investment pattern: Enterprise investment is active, while direct government investment is rarely seen. In China, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises are the major investors of the mobile Internet industry, while the government only funds a number of state projects initiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology. In the first half of 2011 alone, there were as many as 31 disclosed investment deals in mobile Internet, among which 24 had a total disclosed value of $318 million.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Why mobile TV is the linchpin for advertising success

For broadcasters and networks, mobile is becoming a necessary part of their distribution channels to meet the needs of consumers who want television content to be available on multiple platforms. Here lies the opportunity for brand advertisers. With the increase in networks and broadcasters looking to mobile to give users additional bits of content and live streaming, marketers also have an opportunity to target mobile campaigns in new, non-traditional ways. The new slew of mobile initiatives also has implications for cable providers looking to lock consumers into TV services across multiple screens.

Mobile Device Users Highly Connected With Entertainment Ads

Two-thirds of smartphone users and 58% of iPad users have interacted with entertainment ads on their mobile devices, according to [pdf] a survey released in February 2012 by Greystripe. Among the types of ads they engage with, these respondents appear most intrigued by mobile video ads, with 56% of smartphone users and 45% of iPad users citing this type, ahead of images with movie information (29% and 22%, respectively). And of those intrigued by video, a large proportion have watched movie trailers on their device (58% and 67% of smartphone and iPad users, respectively).

Going mobile: Tips to turn an ad into a sale

You have built an eye-catching mobile ad, and your target user has clicked on it. Everything is going according to plan. But what happens next? If the process quickly devolves into something unusable, the customer will move on. It is no secret that there is an exponential growth in mobile shopping. Nearly 73 million mobile users ages 14 and up will browse or research products and services on their phones in 2012, according to a study by eMarketer. Businesses would be wise to consider the entire end-to-end experience from clicking on an ad to completing a sale.

Total Revenues in Germany’s Mobile Multimedia Market to rise to $2.78 billion in 2016

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e6bc7a/4q_2011_germany_mo) has announced the addition of IE Market Research Corp.’s new report “4Q.2011 Germany Mobile Entertainment Market Forecast, 2008 – 2016: Total Revenues in Germany’s Mobile Multimedia Market to rise to $2.78 billion in 2016″ to their offering. Germany Mobile Entertainment Market Forecast provides a comprehensive forecast of country-specific mobile entertainment usage among consumers. We provide quarterly historical (2008 – 2011) data and annual forecasts (2012 – 2016) for Mobile Music (Total Users, Retail Revenues

Global Telecom Services Market to Reach US$1.8 Trillion by 2015, According to New Report

The world telecom services industry is back on the growth trajectory buoyed by resurgent demand from Asian economies, renewed infrastructure development, and the rising demand for next generation services. The orientation of the industry is shifting from fixed-line to mobile networks, and from conventional voice services to data based and value added services.

Analytics, mobility expected to shape SE Asia firms in 2012

The total expenditure for major Southeast Asia markets is forecasted to hit $49.8 billion in 2012. This translates to a YoY growth of 5 percent. Mobile data will lead the pack with a predicted 11 percent growth. Singapore and Thailand are forecasted to experience the biggest increase in mobile data usage with 16.9 percent and 15.5 percent YoY growth. Across Southeast Asia, fixed data and wireless voice are expected to perform strongly at 9.9 percent and 2.1 percent respectively. On the other hand, IDC expects fixed-line voice to decline by 2.6 percent.

MMA rolls out new services to help marketers standardize mobile advertising

The Mobile Marketing Association has made additions to its mobile advertising packages aimed to make it easier for marketers to buy, sell and create mobile ad campaigns. The additions are part of the second version of the MMA Universal Mobile Ad Package. After researching impressions from the second quarter of 2011, six mobile ad units will be the standard for mobile marketers.

Mobile Advertising Grows More than Expected

Marketers have increasingly been spending more on mobile and with good success. A 2011 IAB study, “Marketer Perspectives on Mobile Advertising, showed 63 percent of marketers in retail, travel, financial services and other industries increased their mobile marketing spend over the past two years, Not only that, 29 percent of those marketers reported an increase of over 50 percent in mobile.

Achieving brand success in the mobile space

In this exclusive feature Fabrizio Caruso, managing director, Asia-Pacific, Out There Media gives a roadmap to businesses on how to get maximum leverage out of their mobile marketing strategies. Rise of the mobile phone. Mobile phone has come a long way since the first generation analogue cellular phones were introduced in the early 80’s. The evolution of first generation cellular networks to GSM networks and advanced mobile 3G technologies, to WIMAX and LTE has paved way for the development of smaller and sleek hand-held devices that we now use.

Globe’s 2011 mobile phone subscribers up 13% to 30M

Mobile phone subscribers of Globe Telecom grew 13 percent to over 30 million in 2011, from 26.5 million a year earlier, its president and CEO Ernest Cu said in a press briefing Monday. “Despite tough competition, our growth momentum is quite strong in total acquisition of subscribers and total revenues, and we sustained it in all market segments,” Cu said. Globe’s subscriber base as of end-2011is less than half of rivals’ combined 65 million subscribers — Smart and Sun Cellular — of Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co. Last year, Globe’s revenues rose 9% to P67.8 billion from the P62 billion a year earlier owing to high service revenues from mobile and broadband.

Global Phone Market Maintains Popularity Despite Low Demand for Feature Phones

The worldwide mobile phone industry grew 6.1% during the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11). The feature phone market declined faster than anticipated and dragged the market growth down to its lowest point in over two years. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 427.4 million units in 4Q11, compared to 402.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 6.1% growth rate was higher than the IDC’s forecast of 4.4% for the quarter, but weaker than the 9.3% growth in 3Q11. “The mobile phone market exhibited unusually low growth last quarter, which shows it is not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Local Mobile Advertising To Reach $24 Billion In 2016

Local and mobile have always been linked as a natural pairing, but the promise of that alliance has often outstripped actual ad spending. In a keynote presentation at MediaPost’s Mobile Summit Friday, local media guru Gordon Borrell said local mobile advertising was set for steep growth as dollars increasingly flow to mobile devices. In particular, ad budgets earmarked for the desktop Web will shift to mobile in the next five years, propelling U.S. local mobile ad revenue to shoot up from about $2 billion this year to about $24 billion by 2016.

Agencies Say Spot TV Top Ad Medium of Choice in Q4 ‘11

The top medium of choice for clients in Q4 2011 was spot TV (broadcast and cable), reported by 51% of agencies, according to a survey released in January 2012 by STRATA. Digital was second, cited by 31% of agencies, down 9% from Q3, followed by spot radio (8%). Spot TV (broadcast) continues to be an area of interest, with 28% of those surveyed …Agencies reported mobile advertising during Q4 2011 was up 39%, with the iPhone continuing to be the top choice, cited by 83%.

IMMAP appoints new board directors

MANILA, Philippines – The Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) recently appointed its executive officers and board directors for 2012. The induction of IMMAP’s new directors was led by Tourism  Secretary Mon Jimenez. Manny Fernando, president and CEO of Inquirer Group’s subsidiary MyMegamobile, was named as the IMMAP president. IMMAP is now on its sixth year representing the digital marketing industry.

Mobile marketing poised to grow in Indonesia

The growing mobile penetration in Indonesia coupled with remarkable improvements in mobile technology brings a new opportunity for marketers in the country to attract consumer attention. Mobile marketing is the new area for both marketers and solution providers to grow into. To address the potential and challenges of mobile marketing in Indonesia, Pacific Conferences is organising a two day conference on “Mobile Marketing” that will be held on 23 – 24 February.

Retailers See E-Commerce as Main Digital Platform Across Channels

The vast majority (89%) of retailers with comparable store/channel sales growth of over 4% (”winners”) agree that their e-commerce platform will ultimately serve as the central point of all digital activity across channels, and 94% agree that the future of online commerce lies more with cross-channel or merged channel capabilities, according to [download page] a report released in January 2012 by RSR Research. Those with comparable store/channel sales growth of less than 4% (”laggards”) also agree, but to a lesser extent: 62% see their e-commerce platform as ultimately becoming their digital platform across all channels, and 70% agree that the future of online lies more with cross-channel.

National TV Sports Ad Spend Up 6% in ‘11

National TV sports generated $10.9 billion in advertising expenditure last year, representing 6% growth from $10.3 billion the year prior, according to a Nielsen report released in January 2012. Measuring ad spend during sporting events on network and cable TV from Q4 2010 through Q3 2011, Nielsen found that cable has an increasing share of those ad dollars, growing 37.3% year-over-year. The increase in TV ad spend mirrors a similar increase in the amount of live TV sports

Android Surprises with 39% Share of Tablet Shipments in Q4 2011

Apple may be the dominant headline stealer in the realm of tablet computers, but today Android is taking center stage. Based on the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global tablet shipments reached 27 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. As a result, Android claimed a record 39 percent global share. Pinochio

Worldwide Mobile Phone Market Maintains Its Growth Trajectory in the Fourth Quarter

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 6.1% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11), as the feature phone market declined faster than anticipated, dragging market growth down to its lowest point in over two years. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 427.4 million units in 4Q11 compared to 402.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 6.1% year-over-year growth was higher than IDC’s forecast of 4.4% for the quarter, but weaker than the 9.3% growth in 3Q11.

Majority of Super Bowl Viewers Say TV Ads are Entertainment

73% of Super Bowl viewers say they look at Super Bowl TV commercials as entertainment, by far the leading opinion cited by respondents to an NRF survey conducted by BIGinsight, released in January 2012. The proportion of viewers who say that advertisers should save their money and pass the savings on to them (18.5%) is roughly matched by those who say the ads make them aware of advertiser brands (16.9%). Similarly, although 8.9% complain that the commercials…

Colombia’s mobile internet connections to hit 19 million

Colombia will have 19 million mobile internet connections by 2015, the equivalent of almost one for every two people in the country, reported Colombian weekly Portafolio. The projection is the result of a study released by GSMA, a global organization of mobile phone operators and equipment manufacturers. The report estimates that within three years Latin America will have over 305 million mobile internet connections, mainly laptops, tablet computers and smart phones.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Global Mobile Entertainment Market Revenues to Rise to $53.9 billion in 2016, a CAGR of 6.3%, According to New Research

“We think that the global mobile entertainment market will see significant growth over the next five years. Globally, we are expecting mobile entertainment revenue to rise from $39.6 billion in 2011 to $53.9 billion in 2016. Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2012 to 2016 will be 6.3%,” said Nizar Assanie, Vice President (Research) at IEMR. “Among different categories of mobile entertainment, we expect that Mobile Music will see the biggest growth in revenues over the next five years. We forecast that global mobile music revenues will increase from $9 billion in 2011 to $18 billion in 2016.”

Mobile-Ad Spending Projected to Reach $2.61B in 2012

Mobile-ad spending in the U.S. is rising at a much faster clip than previously forecast and is projected to grow 80% this year, to $2.61 billion. A new report by eMarketer estimates that mobile-ad spending reached $1.45 billion in 2011, up from $769.6 million in 2010, and that Google is getting more than half of the pie. The numbers are a significant upward revision from a previous projection that mobile would reach $1.8 billion this year, up from $1.2 billion in 2011.

Why 2012 Is the Year of Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising is coming of age. In many ways, it has been driven by the sheer force of the consumer’s insatiable appetite for all things mobile. More to the point, mobile is becoming a substantially more capable vehicle for driving brand awareness, affinity and purchases. Advertisers see this pattern taking shape, but there is still a disconnect between the avid mobile consumer and potential advertising dollars. This is caused by several factors…

Venture capital investment in mobile marketing and advertising skyrocketed in 2011: report

Venture capital investments in mobile marketing and advertising grew from $128 million in 2010 to $592 million in 2011, according to a new report from research investment bank Rutberg & Co. Investment levels in mobile commerce and payments companies was also up significantly, growing from $276 million to $558 million during the same period.

Mobile is a must-have for agencies in 2012

Many agencies failed to integrate mobile in a meaningful way in 2011, missing an important opportunity to organically build mobile practices. As a result, this year many will be scrambling to react to the growing demand for mobile services from brands which have seen a significant increase in mobile traffic. The growth in mobile penetration and use means agencies and brands can reach more consumers than ever before via mobile and use mobile to marketer an ever-growing array of products and services.

Nokia tops smartphone sales in India: Report

NEW DELHI: Total mobile handset shipments in India touched nearly 166 million units during the first eleven months of the 2011 calendar year, with Finnish handset maker Nokia accounting for a 30.7 per cent slice of the market, according to a CyberMedia Research report. The overall shipments included 14.4 million feature phones and 1.07 million smartphones, according to the India Monthly Mobile Handsets Market Review for November, 2011, released today by CyberMedia Research.

New Study Reveals 51% Growth in Californians Using Mobile Devices to Access Internet Within the Last Three Years

The number of Californians using their mobile device to access the Internet has significantly increased by 51 percent, to nearly 17.6 million people, in the last three years, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic Economic Research (CSER). Of California mobile users surveyed in the first quarter of 2011, 71.3 percent are accessing the Internet or apps using their mobile device. “In just three years, California has experienced a pronounced shift in how we use mobile devices. Just a short time ago, mobile devices were primarily used for phone conversations