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

US Mobile Market: Mobile Ad Spending to reach $2.61 billion in 2012

The rapid growth of mobile marketing spend in the US is projected to reach up to 80% this year 2012, an equivalent to $2.61 billion, according to eMarketer report. A notable figure of last year disclosed the impressive rise of mobile ad spending at $1.45 billion compared from the $769.6 million in 2010.

Two of the major contributing factors that led such an explosive growth are played by Google and Apple; with the former’s mobile search business and heightened interest in display inventory for both smartphones and tablets, and the latter’s widespread adoption of iPhones amounting to global sales of 37.04 million units in the last quarter of 2011.

“As mobile devices become a remote control for our lives, the more indispensable they become; the more they’re being used for search, to browse the web and use applications, and the more that drives up impressions and overall activity,” eMarketer’s Analyst Noah Elkin said.

Mobile search and display will account a growth this year, to include spending on banner and rich-media ads; and video to rise. However, SMS, MMS, and P2P messaging are seen to drop at 12.2% from 19.6%.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Mobile’s use in TV ads to increase in frequency in 2012

With mobile slated to become a bigger part of television watching in 2012, brands and marketers need to think of new ways to incorporate marketing into on-air broadcasts. So what can consumers expect in mobile TV for the coming year? According to experts, mobile calls-to-action will play an increased role in both advertising and programming in 2012. Additionally, new technologies such as augmented reality will play an important part in TV.

Globe most popular in Philippines—Yahoo! Survey

“Accessing the Internet on mobile is rapidly growing across Southeast Asia. By and large we see similar trends across the region in terms of use and access at home, the young demography, affordable handsets and bite-sized prepaid data plans all driving mobile Internet growth,” said David Jeffs, head of Insights for Yahoo! Southeast Asia. “As more Filipinos access the Web via mobile, this will allow telecom companies achieve economies of scale and bring down tariffs, in turn adding further stimulus to mobile Internet growth.”

Mobile Search Trends in Asia Pacific [Study]

Google, Ipsos and the Mobile Marketing Association conducted a large-scale study called Our Mobile Planet in 2011 by asking 30,000 people in 30 countries how they use their smartphones to gain insights about mobile users and their behavior. Here’s a look at mobile search data for 10 of the Asia Pacific countries from the study: Australia, urban China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

Coupons Influence Majority of Consumers’ CPG Brand Decisions

Coupons from home heavily influenced brand choice for 55% of consumers in Q4 2011, unchanged from the previous quarter, but representing a 15% rise from 48% in Q1, according to a survey released in January 2012 by SymphonyIRI. Use of newspaper circulars from home proved influential to almost half of consumers, up 14% from 43% in Q1, while use of in-store circulars also gained steam over the course of the year, cited by 44% of consumers as a brand decision influencer in Q4, compared to 36% in Q1. Shopper loyalty card discounts proved influential to 42% of consumers, ahead of signs or displays in the store (30%).

Mobile Shopping Satisfaction Positively Impacts Other Channels

Satisfied mobile customers report being 40% more likely than dissatisfied mobile customers to consider the same company when purchasing from other channels such as a traditional website or store (88% vs. 63%), according to [download page] January 2012 analysis from ForeSee.

Revenue from mobile coupons and vouchers to reach $9bn

Digital coupons represent the fastest growing segment of the coupon industry, and accounted for 10% of all coupons redeemed in 2010, up from 1% in 2006. The market for online coupons is expected to reach $5 billion in 2011, with mobile accounting for just 15% of the overall digital market. However, in a recently published study, ARCchart expects mobile’s share of the digital coupon market to steadily grow over the coming years, generating revenues of $9 billion by 2016.

Africa’s telcos shine

The mobile industry in Africa contributes US$56billion to the regional economy, equivalent to 3.5% of total Gross Domestic Product, and employs some five million people on the continent, says the GSMA Africa Mobile Observatory report. The mobile industry in Africa is booming. With over 620 million mobile connections as of September 2011, Africa has overtaken Latin America to become the second-largest mobile market in the world after Asia, the maiden report on the continent said

Engagement essential for mobile marketing

In Jumptap’s report, users of Google’s Android devices saw twice as many Jumptap mobile ads as did users of Apple’s iOS devices because of Android’s greater market share, but Apple users were more engaged with the ads. What is the marketer takeaway?

It’s Time to Go Mobile – A Guide for Mobile Campaign Success

Mobile advertising is coming of age. With the gradual introduction of sophisticated new technologies, marketers are beginning to track results and manage mobile metrics in ways similar to those used online. Opportunities abound for creating new channels of profitability when based on measurability and accountability. Understanding the unique potential and the proven power of the mobile platform – as well as its limitations, can improve performance and allow mobile advertising to become a significant layer in the marketing mix. These opportunities are not being lost on global marketers. Many are already active in the mobile marketing arena, and many more have either developed, or are currently planning, a mobile strategy.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

What the ad industry learnt from 2011 and how they foresee 2012

Years come and go but each year leaves behind its own learnings. 2011 was no different. Ad industry leaders share the lessons that they learnt and how they foresee the shape of things in 2012. Whenever a year draws to a close, it is not just about a new beginning but also about retrospection. The idea is to assess what could have been done differently, gather one’s forces anew and make a fresh…

How prepared is your advertising agency for 2012?

December has been a month of conversations, trying to make sense of the year ahead for advertising, media, digital and PR agencies. As the stock market gets hammered, as the anti-corruption movement ebbs and flows, and as the government is semi-paralysed, what will 2012 hold for all? In a nutshell, it’s not going to be an easy year – but there are still those who will gain and those who will hold their own. Here’s the year ahead, in

Analytics: The brains behind mobile marketing success

Mobile analytics in action. Look at a retailer such as Dick’s Sporting Goods that wants to drive in-store traffic and promote new merchandise. Knowing that someone works just a few blocks away and is headed out for his lunch break allows a carrier to deliver relevant messaging directly to the device, marrying mobile data that it has with point-of-sale data that the store has on a customer’s brand preferences.

Pre-Roll, Mobile Top Video Ad Formats for 2012

Online video has reached critical mass among US internet viewers. eMarketer predicts 169 million people, or 71% of US internet users, will be watching online video each month by the end of 2012. Such a healthy, sizeable audience can’t help but capture advertiser attention. eMarketer estimates US online video ad spending (not all of which is placed against video) will enjoy an aggressive 40% year-over-year increase from 2011, topping $3.1 billion in 2012.

2012 Forecast: Mobile Marketing

Having been involved in the mobile and advertising industries for over two decades, I can say with confidence that 2011 was a banner year for the discipline. Over the past year, consumers have proven that the mobile phone has become an integral part of the shopping experience. This is creating a number of exciting new opportunities for marketers to reach consumers at multiple touchpoints throughout the buying process.

Advertising legend MAURICE SAATCHI celebrates the joy of simple ideas that changed the world

The ideas that have changed our lives most are often the simplest. Simple ideas enter the brain more quickly and stay there longer.  Winston Churchill was a great believer in simplicity. He liked to quote a letter by French mathematician Blaise Pascal that started: ‘I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.’ He knew that to achieve simplicity is very hard.

Mobile carriers: Five predictions for 2012

The biggest news for 2011 in this sector was AT&T’s $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile. And when the deal was announced in March, AT&T seemed confident it could make it happen. So confident in fact, that it agreed to one of the biggest break-up fees ever. But as we all now know, regulators didn’t like AT&T’s plan and put a kibosh on its plans.

Samsung dominates mobile phone market

Samsung accounted for 25.6 percent of U.S. mobile handsets for three months ending November 11, according to research by ComScore. This translates into a slight market share increase of 0.3 percent. Apple came in fourth place behind LG and Motorola with 11.2 percent market share, though it gained the most market share over the period, increasing by 1.4 percent.

Mobile Marketing’s Crystal Ball: Predicting Trends for 2012

The past year has been a big one for smartphones and other mobile devices. In addition to achieving widespread adoption among U.S. consumers, the tools have transformed the way people shop, get information and interact with friends, family and brands. In a column for Search Engine Land, Matt Lawson predicts that mobile will undergo even more changes and developments in 2012. Mobile marketing is becoming a bigger focus in many ad agencies and is taking up a larger proportion of overall advertising budgets, yet it also creates many challenges for those in the industry, he notes.

ComScore: Android, iOS combine for 75% of U.S. smartphone market

Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS extended their dominance over the U.S. mobile market in November 2011 and now power a combined 75.6 percent of all smartphones nationwide according to new data published by digital research firm comScore.

Six Steps To Mobile Search Marketing Success

ADOTAS – Tablet and smart phone devices have forever changed the search marketing landscape, as the year of mobile has finally happened. Tablet sales were up 260 percent year-on-year during the first three quarters of 2011, according to PC World magazine, while IDC projected sales of more than 63 million tablets, including the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble’s Nook, in the fourth quarter. This technology shift is altering consumer search behavior and requires a different approach to marketing.

Nigeria to become dominant in Africa’s mobile payment market

With the commencement of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) cashless project, Nigeria is set to become a dominant player in Africa’s emerging mobile payments market, analysts have said. According to the industry analysts, about 20 million Nigerians are expected to be embraced into the formal banking system via mobile money over the next three years. In November, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) had disclosed that 40 million mobile money users currently exist in Africa.

Mobile marketing and advertising budgets to increase in 2012

This year 2012, mobile advertising/marketing spend is largely seen to increase in the US market, according to Digital Marketer managing editor. One big factor that leads to said prediction is the rising sales of Smartphones in the region, giving a perfect indicator for advertisers to double up their efforts in reaching to the public consumers. In fact, according to recent Nielsen’s report, there are about 43% of Americans having Smartphones with them.

Last year’s overall sales volume on Smartphone reached up to $5 billion; and while it sounds a huge number, Digital Marketer said it represents only to an equivalent of 2% of the total online ecommerce market. Had it been lesser than that of 2% being on Smartphone, it could never have been an attractive market for advertisers.

According to Digital Marketer, a pragmatic approach to mobile marketing has been wise up until now, and that all signs are pointing directly to increases in mobile marketing and advertising budgets. Last year’s 0.9% of advertising dollars went to mobile marketing spent will be expected to improve at a bigger percentage for this year.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Why Local Will Dominate Mobile Ad Spend

The biggest question I’ve received in the wake of a recent mobile advertising forecast, is why locally targeted ads will be so dominant. Specifically, BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Mobile Local Ad Revenue Forecast projects overall mobile ad spending to grow from $690 million last year to $4.86 billion in 2015 — steep but not surprising.

OZ Mobile Phone Market Set To Grow 127%

The Australian mobile services market will grow from around 29 million subscriptions this year to more than 35 million by June 2015, according to new research from Telsyte. A rise in bring-your-own-devices (BYOD) plans, along with SIMs covering multiple consumer devices and some 3 million machine-to-machine (M2M) mobile subscriptions will take Australia’s mobile services skyward, the market research firm forecasts. Australia already has one of the highest population-penetration rates of mobile handsets in the world and the total services in operation (SIOs) will grow from a population-penetration of 127 per cent in 2011 to almost 150 per cent in 2015 according to Telsyte’s Australian Mobile Services Market Study 2011-2015.

Nigerian brands begin journey on mobile marketing

Notwithstanding that Nigeria is the largest and fastest growing mobile market in Africa, with over 90 million mobile subscribers, marketers are yet to tap into the opportunity this platform presents. The question therefore is why brands should shy away from a huge marketing opportunity to grow profits, market share and sustain success in the market place. This challenge, according to mobile marketing experts is not far from lack of education of how the system operates and how to measure the results.

Research and Markets: 3Q11 Philippines Mobile Operator Forecast, 2011 – 2015: The Philippines to have 102 Million Connections in 2015 with 1 Company Taking 49% Market Share

Mobile Operator Forecast on the Philippines provides over 50 operational and financial metrics for the Philippines wireless market and is one of the best forecasts in the industry. We provide five-year forecasts at the operator level going out to 2015. We also provide quarterly historical and forecast data starting in 1Q2003 and ending in 2Q2013. Operators covered for the Philippines include: Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) (Smart Communications, Inc.), Globe Telecom, Inc., Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. (Sun Cellular), Next Mobile Inc., and Extelcom (Express Telecommunication Co., Inc.). Our Mobile Operator Forecasts are updated quarterly and are available for one-time delivery or through regular updates.

Android, Samsung Maintain Top Mobile Market Spots

Android remained the top mobile phone platform in October, and even gained a few points. It looks like most of its growth came from RIM, the mobile market’s favorite whipping boy. Samsung also continued to be the largest U.S. phone maker, enjoying and contributing to the success of Google’s Android platform.

Mobile Banking Will Surpass 140m Users in Latin America by 2015

Pyramid Research estimates that around 18m users in Latin America use financial services from their mobile devices and that this number may rise to more than 140m by 2015, according to Jose Magana, Senior Analyst at Pyramid Research who discussed trends in mobile banking in a live webinar produced by TeleSemana recently.

Mobile ad spending soars with smartphones

Smartphones like the iPhone and Blackberry now dominate the soaring mobile advertising market as Australians reportedly become increasingly comfortable receiving ads on their mobile devices.

NZ climbs up mobile internet rankings

Greater market competition and availability of cheaper Smartphones has helped push New Zealand up mobile broadband rankings, says an analyst. New Zealand has climbed from 16th to 12th in the OECD in terms of wireless broadband penetration, based on rankings released this month. According to the organisation New Zealand has 53 mobile broadband or data subscriptions for every 100 people.

Mobile market competition reaching `cut-throat’ levels, says analyst

TORONTO – Nadir Mohamed, chief executive of Rogers Communications Inc., said Tuesday there has been no let up of the competitive intensity within the $18-billion mobile market, comments foreshadowing perhaps further erosion in the financial performance of the country’s largest wireless operator. Led by double-digit declines in mobile voice revenues, Rogers has experienced successive quarterly drops in the average monthly amount the company collects per user, or ARPU – the metric used by analysts and investors to gauge how well a carrier is doing.

Globe sees mobile data to drive growth

GLOBE Telecom Inc. is banking on the growth of its mobile data business to sustain momentum in the months ahead amid tight competition and shrinking wallet of subscribers. The cellular firm said on Tuesday that it continues to open up its mobile data services to a wider market with the launch of the widest range of mobile internet plans available for every need or lifestyle. The Ayala-controlled telecom firm offers bundled plans such as PowerSurf and SuperSurf which offer mobile browsing packages.

Indonesia’s Mobile Phone Shipments Jump 68 Percent in Q3

Mobile phone shipments in Indonesia experienced significant growth in the third quarter of 2011 according to a report released by International Data Corporation on Wednesday. IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile report showed that Indonesian phone shipments surpassed 12 million units in the third quarter, greater than the 10 million shipments made in second quarter. Third quarter growth represented a year-over-year growth of 68 percent.

Dubai company banking on profitable boom in mobile ads

A Dubai company has launched a mobile advertising network in response to what it claims is “huge demand” for marketing via smartphones. Plus7, which has been launched by the digital company Clique Media, hopes to cash in on a global mobile advertising industry worth an estimated US$2 billion (Dh7.34bn). Ashwin Salian, a co-founder of Clique, said the platform would “connect advertisers and publishers”. He added that he envisaged “huge demand” for mobile advertising in the region.

TMSfactory.com opens a self-service opportunity for local business to create, manage, and monetize mobile offers

HONG KONG — TheTMSway announces today the release of an updated version of TMS Factory, the world’s one stop Mobile Marketing & Commerce shop for local business. After having provided self-service tools for mobile marketing, TMS now provides local merchants with solutions to create and sell deals on mobile.

After a first period of enthusiasm for daily (or group) deals in the mobile marketing sector, there has been a growing backlash against the model and the companies who are driving such offers. Some consumers are considering them as a form of ‘email spamming’ while some merchants are finding the process to be more akin to robbery than good business. High commission fees, branding concerns, and absence of analytics are just a few factors affecting local retailers and national brands to draw back from third-party platforms. TMS Factory aspires to address these concerns by enabling local businesses to create, monetize, and manage/control promotional and m-commerce campaigns.

TMS factory has built a simple and secured platform that offers local business owners the ability to easily create a mobile site (by completing simple template forms) with the “must have” tools for social commerce. This service is automatically optimized through different mobile operating systems, and enables consumers to land directly on a page with offers linked to an instant payment solution. The merchants can also provide consumers with different tools to localize venues on a map, to make reviews, to share the deal with friends via social media or to contact the local business via simple ‘click to call’ button.

Further, the platform provides merchants the ability to track conversion rates and measure the success of their deals through comprehensive analytics of campaign’s performance, level of engagement with consumers, demographic profiles, and recommendations. The TMS Factory user will take advantage of a “free set up” as TMS will only take a fee on successful transactions.

“Our goal is to help local businesses adopt into a technical-free mobile initiative where their focus will be managing and optimizing their campaigns. We provide them with ‘user-friendly’ tools to take control of all their needs in their mobile campaigns”, says Frederick Saurat, co-founder of TheTMSway.

TMS factory also provides a new and easy way to access directly to a mobile offer via a simple TMS code, (a new generation of free intelligent shortcodes associated to a new mobile search engine of code ‘TMS search’) which reduces the time of browsing at a mobile site and shortens long URL addresses (Example: TMS code: BURGER 1021 vs. http://www.burgerking.com.co/our_special_offer/coupon).

“Our recent tests done with TV broadcasters in Asia have shown an impressive result in terms of consumer adoption and inspired us more in our objective of making TMS become a new, and post SMS, standard to bring excitement in the new generation of phones,” adds Mr. Saurat.

“We are working already with major brands and media agencies to transform traditional media ad campaigns into real time ‘interactive touch points’ using TMS to bridge consumers; and now, with this new M-Commerce platform, we can propose to our clients to associate a ‘real time and personalized mobile deal’ to certain of their offline campaigns. At same time, consumers using TMS will be able to discover a new product, buy it at a privileged price, and recommend it to friends”, says Jonathan Ellis, CEO of TheTMSway.

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About TheTMSway

TheTMSway (www.thetmsway.com) is a Hong Kong based company that provides a platform for marketing and commerce in the internet post PC world, where consumers can be accessed at anytime and from anywhere using the mobiles and tablets as a “bridge” for interactions.

About TMSfactory

TMSfactory (www.tmsfactory.com) is a platform for self-service creation, management, and monetization of mobile contents/offers for merchants and local businesses. The platform is Telco-free, has an automatic optimization through all mobile operating system, and can be used and localized in different countries.