People have long been predicting the 'arrival' of mobile as a force in media and advertising. There have been a range of false dawns but a number of signs are indicating that mobile is (finally) here.
There are now 56,000 iPhone Apps (+ new rival App stores from Palm, Nokia and Blackberry), an increased propensity to use mobile for social networking (free Twitter SMS updates, 30m+ Facebook users through mobile etc), publishers optimising their sites for mobile (eg Telegraph, NYT etc) and expanding use of mobile technology like AR and QR codes.
Recent research highlights the changing consumer perceptions / uses of mobile:
AdMob / ComScore 'user media consumption patterns' of iPhone and iPod Touch users
AdMob found that Apple's iPhone is also having an impact on internet browsing from PCs, with 43 per cent of users accessing the web from their iPhone more regularly than from their computer.
The Forrester report was based on a survey size of 14,000 taken across 7 European countries and surveyed all mobile handsets, not just Smart Phones. Forrester found that mobile internet usage from all handsets is taking off across Europe, with 24 per cent of consumers regularly accessing the web from their mobile, up from 20 per cent a year ago (
Mobile Marketing Magazine.)
Report author
Thomas Husson explains: "Apple is only the tip of the iceberg, as drivers are now in place for mass-market uptake of the mobile Internet in Europe. The expansion of Internet brands, smarter phones, and high-speed networks are enabling compelling user experiences that, coupled with all-you-can-eat data plans, are unleashing usage."
3) CCS Insight ran a survey of more than 1,000 adults between 16 and 35 years old aimed at gaining more insight into the mobile Internet habits of this age group.
Key themes to emerge from the report are:
o Mobile Internet use is growing at a phenomenal rate; social networking is driving that growth with a third of young adults regularly accessing Facebook and Twitter from their mobiles
o Men are twice as likely as women to access the Internet through their mobile phone
o Young adults expect mobile content – especially music and videos – to be free
o BBC iPlayer is the service people would most like to see on their phones
Paolo Pescatore, report author is quoted: "Forget music downloads and video – social networking is what people want."
4) Lightspeed Research on 'How We Use Our Mobile Phones'Lightspeed looked at a number of areas and asked respondents about both current mobile usage and desires for future functions (research subsequently reprised by EMarketer - eg
here and
here.)
For the UK market, internet browsing was recorded as 9% daily usage and 22% weekly. There are also some interesting figures around video - 15% take video once a week and 5% of users making a video call once a week.
The responses to the question about future functionality were interesting too - in all regions a satellite navigation system was the top choice, with 49% of French, 44% of German, 43% of British and 38% of American respondents choosing that option.
Continued growth in mobile internet usage, particularly as the 'Smart Phone' sector increases whilst other handsets come with Smart Phone-esque features as standard. There will also be further growth in the App market as the Apple Store continues to grow and competitors like Nokia's Ovi store start to scale.
Furthermore, some (like
Thomas Husson) are arguing that location based services will be the next big thing in mobile - Thomas writes "If consumer product strategists manage to build a compelling user experience and reassure consumers about privacy and pricing issues, location as a service will become obsolete — and will instead become a core enabler of mobile activities." The Lightspeed Research above also points in this direction. However, whilst LBS (location based services) will continue to develop and consumers will continue to use mobile for social networking, my feeling is that mobile video is the big development area.
All-you-can eat mobile data tariffs are allowing mobile users to use their phones to create, upload and watch video on the go. Services like
Qik ,
Twiddeo and
TwitVid are enabling mobile video to be easily shared whilst Facebook and YouTube are improving mobile upload functionality.
Indeed,
TechCrunch are reporting that YouTube have seen direct mobile uploads increase by 1700% in 6 months with the number of mobile uploads increasing by 400% in the 6 days after the launch of the iPhone 3GS. Couple this to consumer desire for mobile viewing opportunities (like the mobile iPlayer identified in the CCS Insight research above) and I think the pieces are in place to see mobile video really take off - fundamentally changing the mobile landscape as it does.
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