International Digital Marketing

top announcements google i/o

Equipped with a Red Bull and a bowl full of popcorns, I had a chance to watch the three-hour-long Google I/O keynote yesterday. The event I wait with excitement every year was full of quite interesting announcements – or should I say “improvements” – especially in Google’s key areas of business for consumers and developers.

Unstoppable Android & Android Studio – Google I/O 2013

The keynote started with interesting news about Google’s Android OS, with company stating there had been 900 million activations of Android devices. Great.

Now to the best part: Google announced a new tool for developers called ”Android studio”, which provides more options for Android devs to play with, making the process faster and more productive. It surely looks great and I have to say I’m excited about the beta tester, localization and tracking possibilities. Can’t wait to use it myself!

Google Conversational Voice Search – Google I/O 2013

I’m not sure if this is “end of search as we know it” as it already exists on Android phones, but it is surely very interesting addition to a desktop search. The company announced in Google I/O 2013 that the conversation-like voice search is now moving from Android mobiles also to users’ computers through Chrome, giving people a new search experience where no typing is required.

Don’t be deceived – this is not like Apple’s Siri. It is much better. Why? The real power behind this search function is not in the voice recognition technology itself, but in Google’s data backend and what it knows about you. Apple might have a similar technology, but Google simply knows much more about you -  especially if are signed in to Google and Google+. This gives you a truly personal and relevant “conversation” experience (which can be sometimes scarily accurate…)

It will be interesting to see whether Google will add option “voice search” in their AdWords target options.

Google Photo – Google I/O 2013

Google is also improving its photo services in Android and Chrome with a cool feature allowing it to automatically create a photo album from hundreds of images uploaded to your photo cloud storage. Google picks the best photos based on aesthetic and image quality, landmark locations, friends and family members recognition, and it even checks whether people are smiling or not! It also disqualifies duplicates, blurry and under/overexposed images.

Social Media: Improved Google+ – Google I/O 2013

Whether you like Google+ or not, its new look and feel is eye-catching. I personally think the way posts are presented is more clear, more attractive and reading and posting in the platform is much more user-friendly.  The new dynamic display does not only allow you to have up to three columns, but you can choose whether you want to show your content in 1,2 or 3 columns. One to watch, as Facebook is moving to a sales focused format in their platform alienating especially younger generation. Watch out Facebook – Google Plus is finally starting to look sexy!

Mixing Social and Search?

Google also introduced a new feature called ‘Related Hashtag’, which allows Google to automatically add its own hashtags to your posts based on the text within your post. What comes to images, by using a new feature called “Image analysis” Google is able to analyze your image and decide whether there is any recognisable content in it. And then add an hashtag such as #Rome. Quite #cool.

If it is too much for your privacy conscious brand / mind, you can opt out for one post or all of them quite easily.

And of course …

… robots fighting with light sabers. How could anyone possibly not like that?

In action: http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/15/willow-garage-pr2/

Back in 2010 I looked at the mobile market dynamics and OS market share statistics in the US and Europe, as all marketers talked about was Apple, iPhone apps and Apple’s products. In reality, was it all about Apple? Not really.

In those days Android had started eating slowly, but steadily iOS market share, and Symbian OS was still dominating Europe.  2010 seems like a long time ago – things have really changed.

Last year was full of lawsuits, clever advertising, product launches, failed mapping headlines, and a whole lot of drama between Google, Samsung and Apple. But … is it really all about Samsung and Apple?

Samsung vs. Apple – a clever PR stunt?

In 2012 Samsung established a very strong position as an Android developer fighting against Apple and received strong support from the Android community … and from a part of the media as well. But is this battle really that strong or did these two companies take advantage of the tension between Apple and Android fans to fuel the fire and get their names out there? Looking back at the big amount of Samsung vs. Apple law suits and the cocky “apology” to Samsung by Apple, it is possible. And if they did, it worked: for a month or two all media and people talked about was Samsung / Google vs. Apple. You had to make a stand – either you were Android fan or an Apple fanboy. It was all or nothing. All nicely timed with iPhone 5 launch as well as Galaxy launches.

Samsung became almost a symbol of fight against overly-confident Apple, but there are much more great Android developers out there including ASUS (creator of the highly successful Google Nexus 7 and Nexus 4), HTC, Sony, etc. But did anyone talked about them in Google vs. Apple battle? Not really.

So what is really happening behind the scenes?

Constantly changing mobile market dynamics

1.5 billion handsets were shipped in 2012, a 2% increase compared to 2011. 700 million of the handsets were Smartphones, yet even if the global smartphone shipments increased by 490,5 million units (43%), the saturation in Western Europe and North America impacted the slower growth.

Samsung, Apple and Nokia were named the top three vendors with Samsung shipping 30% of the handsets in 2012. Company’s Smartphone sales were mainly fueled by its record sales of the popular Galaxy models (396.5 million) yet the total handsets it sold were 400 million. Apple shipped 135.8 million iPhone units (19%) strengthening its position in North America, but the company failed to reach developing markets such as Africa as well as certain European countries. Meanwhile Nokia’s market share dropped in 2012, but the launch of Asha and Lumia 920 / 800 had a positive impact in Q4 2012 with 86.3 million units sold, in which smartphone accounted for 15.9 million units composed of 9.3 million Ashas, 4.4 million Lumias and 2.2 million Symbian smartphones. Chinese handset manufacturer ZTE settled for fourth place.

Mobile OS market share in 2012

According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Android has shown strong growth in Europe and Australia in 2012 and is holding now 61.1% of the EU5 and 55,8% of Australian market share. The growth has been significant in Britain, France and Spain in the EU5, but increase has been slow in Italy and its market share has decreased – surprisingly – in the USA. What comes to other markets, in Brazil Android increased its market share to 47.1% and in Mexico to  37.3%.

What comes to iOS, despite iPhone 5 and iPad mini launch, iOS market share in the EU5 has increased only 0.2%. The biggest growth in EU5 happened in Italy and France, yet the iOS market share decreased 1.7% in the UK and Spain. The US market share increased 6.3%, while Australian market share shrunk 3,4%.

In Europe Windows Phone’s market share has more than doubled to 5.4%. The strongest market in EU5 for Windows phone is Italy with 13.9% of the market share (11.1% increase from 2011) and Britain with 5.9% market share (up from 2.2% in 2011). However, the growth has been slower in other EU5 countries, Asia and the US. In Brazil the market share has jumped up to 12.2% and to 2.7% in Mexico.

Symbian OS, Bada and Blackberry’s RIM have suffered the market changes most in developed countries.

Mobile market in 2013

Apple seems to be struggling with a falling market share – and shares. The launch of the iPhone 5 in 2012 was a disappointment for many, and especially Apple’s infamous maps have created headlines. iPad mini launch was also the first time when Apple moved from innovator to a follower by comparing openly iPad mini with Google Nexus 7 in the official press conference. Is launching a new model so rarely Apple’s strategy to make the products more special? Or is there perhaps nothing new to publish?

Anyhow, Apple has still a very strong ecosystem and it has done a brilliant job on introducing Apple products in all aspects of user’s life from home stereos and in-car assets to music and apps. Once you have bought Apple related things during years it is very difficult to switch to another Smartphone / tablet. That being said, Apple has made “switching” to other OS a bit easier with the introduction of the new cable, which means the things you bought for your previous iPhone are not compatible with iPhone 5 or any other new model Apple launches.

There has also  been a lot of speculation whether Nokia made the right choice of choosing Windows phone OS instead of Android. Maybe it did. If Nokia would have picked Android as an OS, what would differentiate it from other Android developers in Samsung’s shadow? It will be fascinating to see whether Windows phone platform keeps growing strongly. Other interesting game changers to watch in 2013 are Blackberry 10, and Linux / Ubuntu based devices.

Android is going strong, but we might see a change from a role as a market challenger to a leadership defending OS. And the OS with the biggest market share tend to get challenged by the smaller OS – just what happened to Symbian and Apple. As mobile market is changing so rapidly, it could be possible that in two years time Apple has become a dinosaur, Android / Google the bad guy and Windows phone the new trendy platform … and the fighter of justice.

“Google and Apple are doing more and more things together. We have similar goals, similar competitors.”

Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Google (2007)

I’ve been enjoying the last few months, as finally the market dynamics are changing and there is a lot of interesting things happening in the mobile space. It is quite fascinating to watch the war between Google and Apple, with lawsuits, new Smartphones and unexpected news. The war has become so huge, that it has awakened the interest even in the non-tech audience – Google vs. Apple makes headlines.

Apple heading for a Google-free mobile

Back in the days Google and Apple worked on various projects together, but ever since Google’s Android started eating Apple’s market share, the relationship between the two got ugly. Now, prior to the new iPhone launch, Apple announced that iOS 6 will not include YouTube or Google Maps. This is a big shift in dynamics as iPhone has had three of its important functions from Google since the iPhone launch in 2007: maps, search and YouTube. There are also rumors that Apple is considering removing Google as default search, as it is said to cost Apple 1 billion dollars per year in shared advertising revenues. In China, the company is already using local search engine Baidu instead of Google – if Apple decides to change Google to Bing or Yahoo in other markets they will be attacking Google’s core business.

This may go in two ways: either Google will pick up the game and improve its Maps and YouTube user experience in apps, or these two will focus on different ways to make other company’s life miserable.

Apple vs. Android Lawsuits

After winning a 1 billion lawsuit against Android-powered Samsung, Apple has decided to ask the court to include other Samsung hardware, such as the Galaxy S III, Verizon Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 10.1 into its complaint against the Galaxy Nexus. Meanwhile, Google-owned and Android-powered Motorola has filed a lawsuit against Apple, stating that all Apple products in the U.S.(except iPod and iPod Nano) infringe upon seven patents, including location reminders, email notifications, video playback and Siri. If Motorola is as successful as Apple against Samsung, all Apple products might be blocked in the US market. Irony.

The question is: what do the users gain from this? While it might be good that manufacturers are forced to think beyond Apple and offer more innovative and different designs, it is a pity that the focus has shifted from developing ground-breaking products to lawsuits. While competition should be fair, the battles should happen in the market – not in the court rooms. Maybe it was the months Apple spent talking to the lawyers, that delayed the new iPhone launch?

Apple vs. Android – perfect occasion for Nokia?

If Apple and Android continue the lawsuit war blocking each other’s mobile devices in different markets and forget what is best for the users, consumers may move to another system. In fact, Nokia is launching a new Windows phone 8 on the 5^th of September 2012, prior to the new iPhone launch. As both Nokia and Microsoft have a lot in stake, they will invest millions to make it huge.

Nokia has had a rough path lately, but hopefully the Windows phone 8 system will be more flexible making it easier for the developers to create apps, and shaking power dynamics between the OS. Nokia should definitely not be ruled out, as the conflict and lawsuits between Apple, Google and Android manufacturers may be a perfect occasion for Nokia to get back in the game. Who knows? In the end, even Apple’s Siri said, that Nokia Lumia 900 is “the best Smartphone ever”.

“It sees us”,

Samsung representative, Galaxy S III London Launch

Samsung’s new Galaxy S III is smart … very smart. The mobile manufacturer unveiled last week in London the highly expected addition to its Galaxy S family, after creating a lot of hype around its launch. Even if the launch event itself was not as impressive as Nokia’s Lumia’s, the new Smartphone makes iPhone look a bit “old school”. Maybe the iPhone5 launch is so delayed, because Apple needs to reinvent phone’s features after each Android launch to seem innovative? Who knows…

Very Smart Mobile Technology

Besides its big screen size and 720p resolution, Samsung Galaxy III is differentiating itself from the competition with eye tracking capabilities. The technology called Smart Stay allows the front facing camera to monitor your eyes and know when you are looking at it. This allows the mobile not to “sleep” from inactivity if you are watching a film or reading an e-book, for example.

Other interesting smart feature called Direct Call is well adapted for real life. For example, if you are sending a SMS to someone, but decide it is actually simpler to give him a call, you can move the phone next to your ear to make a phone call to that number. With the Beam sharing function, that combines NFC technology with Wi-Fi Direct, you are able to share movies and music with other phones by simply tapping them. You can also throw content to TVs, as well as make the TVs mirror what is on your Smartphone screen.

The mobile device uses ‘S Voice,’ an advanced natural language user interface, to listen and responds to your words. You are able to use it to command the phone with only your voice to snooze, play songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organise your schedules, or take a photo. It is to be seen whether it understands the Scottish accent better than iPhone’s Siri.

Samsung Galaxy S III Launching First in Europe

Samsung announced that it will launch the 3G version of the Galaxy S III end of this month, and 4G version is arriving later this summer. Surprisingly the manufacturer has decided to launch first in Europe on 29^th May, before launching in the North America in June. There has also been rumours that the phone would be launched before the USA also in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Interesting choice. One of the reasons might be the objective to strengthen Samsung presence in the other continents as it has a strong presence already in the USA.

According to IDC, the global sales for mobile devices (feature and Smartphones) increased 11.1% in 2011 compared with 2010 with Nokia leading with 27%, Samsung with 21.3%, Apple with 6%, and LG with 5.7% of the global mobile market share. The top device manufacturer by market penetration rather than sales is Nokia in Western Europe, Samsung in the US and Sharp in Japan.

What comes to only smartphones, according to IDC, also smartphone sales showed strong growth worldwide in 2011 the global sales growing 31.8% in 2011 compared with 2010, and Smartphones represented 31.8% of all handsets shipped. Samsung leads the way with 19.1% market share, Apple follows closely with 19%, Nokia is third with 15.7%, RIM with 10.9%, and HTC is fourth with 8.9%

Samsung Galaxy S III to conquer Europe?

It is an interesting phone with interesting features, but it does not seem world changing. It seems more like a refreshed version of their already successful model. However, as the company is planning pop-up stores across Europe to give customers the possibility to play with the Galaxy S III, I am hoping to see a stream of American tech tourists arriving to Europe to get it – just like we used to travel to the USA to get an iPhone.

And yes, I will be happy to go and play with the Galaxy S III as well.

With more than 425 million monthly active users utilizing Facebook mobile products in December 2011 only, the social networking platform is finally focusing on mobile and tablets in 2012. Wise decision, since not only Smartphone market is increasing, but according to a research by BI Intelligence global tablet sales will reach 500 million units per year by 2015 – exceeding the number of PCs currently sold per year (~360 million).

Facebook has mentioned that as part of its mobile monetisation strategy it will start using “sponsored stories” in mobile users news feed. But is that really all?

Facebook – more than a simple platform

Until now Facebook has been focusing on normal web strategy and constant updates that seem to make its users’ life more difficult. But hate Facebook or not, the social network is becoming much more than just a platform. Facebook is on its way to become its own Internet portal by using Facebook IDs as an online passport to various products and services hosted on its own developer platform.

Facebook’s inter-connected business model has worked well and the company has created its own successful ecosystem. The social network has made great progress especially with social gaming, and its close relationship with Zynga (FarmVille, Mafia Wars) has been very beneficial for both.  F-commerce is also blooming with companies trying to get more touchable return on their social media investment and Facebook has even launched its own online virtual currency called Facebook credits. They allow Facebook developers to offer in-app purchases with Facebook cutting 30% of the revenue. A similar model Apple uses in its App store.

Facebook mobile monetisation strategy

Now there is the problem. Facebook needs to establish a proper mobile monetisation strategy, yet the native app store model is very restrictive. For example, Apple takes off 30% revenue of the apps sold, and insists on maintaining control of the iOS payments process. This means that Facebook cannot take advantage of ‘in-apps payments’: a revenue generated by its current ecosystem.

What comes to f-commerce, according to a study by Shopatron, most of the tablet owners find shopping with the tablet engaging, and the conversion rate from tablets is much higher than conversion rate from mobiles or even PCs. If Facebook wants to expand its F-commerce business, it needs to offer companies a way to create a tablet optimized social shopping experience, and lure them away from iPad apps.

Will Facebook abandon App store?

Probably not. The social network is not likely to ditch the existing native apps, because they already have a large user base and work well with the different OS. However, Facebook has a team (so called Project Spartan) playing with HTML5 technology, which is a coding language that allows companies to develop one mobile / tablet app that is suitable for any device or operating system. According to a research firm Strategy Analytics, 1 billion HTML5 compatible phones are to be shipped in 2013(up from 336 million in 2011), which brings interesting possibilities.

If the company starts creating its own apps without registration fees and payment restrictions, it is free to monetise via Facebook Credit and in-apps payments. Quite a significant move, since if Facebook starts developing HTML5 apps many companies and its partners are likely to follow. Which certainly will not make Apple happy.

We will see. There are many other possibilities for Facebook in mobile space, such as augmented reality with facial recognition, and the company also needs to consider very well whether it is worth making another powerful enemy, especially when iPad3 is coming up. If Facebook starts competing with Apple’s App store, their relationship status is likely to become “complicated”.

Ever dreamed of an app that works in all devices and operating systems? Creating a mobile app requires investment and resources, but with increasing number of players in the mobile space, app development has become even more complicated and expensive. Instead of one iPhone app, you need to decide whether you will also develop the same app for other operating systems, such as fragmented Android and emerging Windows OS.

But there is hope. HTML5.

New technology with increasing potential

According to Michael Mullany, VP of marketing and products at Sencha, already 95% of the functionality of native apps is being delivered by HTML5, and the new technology will emerge competitive on just about every level within two years. Meanwhile, research firm Strategy Analytics forecasts 1 billion HTML5 compatible phones to be shipped in 2013 (up from 336 million in 2011), which has provoked interest among big players such as Facebook and Google.

In addition, Financial Times surprised the market last year by withdrawing FT iPhone app completely from App store, and creating its own HTML5 app instead. Within only few months FT managed to migrate 1 million of its mobile users from its native mobile app to the browser-based version. Currently 20% of total page views and 15% of new B2C subscriptions are coming directly from mobile and tablet devices. Quite impressive.

What is an HTML5 app?

HTML5, also called “the flash killer”, means a fifth generation of coding language that is used to create web pages. It gets to bypass phone’s hidden components that in the past have forced developers to create a specific app for each OS. This means that instead of creating various versions of the apps for different OS and devices (iPhone OS, Android, Windows…), by using HTML5 companies are able to develop one mobile / tablet app that is suitable for any device or operating system.

HTML5 app benefits and challenges

Main benefits: cost savings and accessibility. Besides huge savings on mobile / tablet app development costs, you are not restricted by terms and conditions and do not require anyone’s permission to distribute an HTML5 app. It means that there is no 30% cut of app revenue, which happens with apps sold via native platforms. HTML5 apps are also searchable by search engines such as Google, which expands their reach beyond native app stores such as Apple’s App store and Google’s Android market.

Main web and mobile browsers support HTML5 and most of its features are able to run on low-powered devices such as smartphones and tablets. However, even if HTML5 has been improving fast there are still some limitations such as speed, access to certain phone features such as Bluetooth, and inability to handle the intensity of graphics performance for maps and fast-moving games as well as native app. What also is required for HTML5 to really kick off is an effective distribution channel for the HTML5 apps, user feedback system, and simple and secure payment channel. In general, quality of the apps may also not be up to same standard if there is no central quality control.

Should our business invest in native or HTML5 apps?

If the aim is to develop a graphic fast-moving game or location-based app using maps – maybe not. If the aim is to develop an engaging mobile app that does not require necessarily fast internet connection, HTML5 apps can make life less complicated. Instead of a long process of creating, testing and approving many versions of the native app for different operation systems, company can concentrate on one mobile app that is suitable for most of the devices. This allows us to invest more time and resources in something more important, such as building a proper mobile strategy, instead of running around like headless chickens focusing on small details instead of the big picture.

To be honest. If we have a possibility to produce something that most of the people can access while making considerable time and cost savings – shouldn’t we?

It took a while, but Facebook has finally – at least officially – identified mobile as “critical to maintaining user growth and engagement over the long term.” The global social media platform acknowledged that users are moving from PCs towards mobile Facebook access, and admitted that “if we are unable to successfully implement monetisation strategies for our mobile users, our revenue and financial results may be negatively affected.”

 Growing International mobile advertising market

 According to experts, global mobile advertising market is experiencing an annual growth rate of 64% and is expected to reach 17.6 billion US dollars by 2015. This might be the main reason, instead of the user engagement, why the social networking company is so interested in mobile market. In fact, Facebook’s biggest revenue channel is advertising, generating 85% of sales in 2011. To put it in perspective, Facebook’s revenue accounted for 3.71 billion US dollars in 2011.

Surprisingly, Facebook is not currently generating profit directly through the Facebook mobile products and it has not been advertising via mobile. The social media company revealed that this is going to change and that they “may have potential future monetisation opportunities such as the inclusion of sponsored stories in users’ mobile News Feeds.” I am not sure how the Facebook users are going to react, but users’ reaction seems to be one of platform’s smallest concerns, especially taking in account the recent changes, privacy issues and the polemic regarding the timeline.

 Global Facebook mobile usage

 But how many users are currently accessing Facebook via mobile? According to Facebook, more than 425 million monthly active users (MAU) were utilizing its mobile products in December 2011. This has great significance since in total the platform has 845 million monthly active users and it seems unbelievable that the social networking company has not realized until now the potential mobile marketing has.

Company is forecasting the mobile user rate to grow even faster than the MAU, which has been increasing annually 39%. This may very well be possible. According to a recent ComScore study, 55.1 million European mobile users accessed social networks or blogs via mobile devices in September 2011 only, representing 23.5% of the total mobile audience. Not only did the mobile social media usage nearly double, but 47% of the users accessed social networks and blogs daily.

Challenging global mobile market

 Facebook might have a strong position in International online market, yet the global mobile market is full of competitors and challenges. The social networking company admitted that it is dependent on different mobile operating systems they do not control, such as iPhone OS, Windows OS and of course … Google’s Android.

 Until recently we were experiencing Apple smartphone domination, yet things are changing. Industry analysts are predicting that Windows Phone will increase its market share up to 16.7% by 2015, while Apple’s market share will decrease from 18% percent to 16.6% by 2015. Meanwhile Android is expected to grow from 47.4% to 58.1% by 2015.

 There are several reasons for the change. One is Nokia’s powerful partnership with Microsoft, which has resulted for example in a successful Lumia mobile. Other is Android’s massive volume of devices. Even if the Android OS is fragmented and constantly changing, Apple takes its time to launch a new expensive new iPhone / iPad, while hundreds of Android powered mobiles arrive in stores across the globe in a year … and with a cheap price.

Facebook / Apple mobile partnership?

Facebook has a problem. It is planning to step into the mobile game, however its 425 million MAUs have already an existing Facebook app, there are many competitors in location-based services, social networks, games and deals, and the social networking company does not have any control over mobile OS. Apple on the other hand is losing its market share rapidly while Android OS is growing fast.

One interesting possibility the two companies have is augmented reality. According to Juniper, by 2015 global revenues from AR will reach 1.5 billion dollars. ABI Research estimated that even if in 2010 revenue from Augmented reality was only 21 million dollars, amount might very well increase to 3 billion dollars by 2016. But it gets better: AIB claims that revenues related to Augmented reality will increase from 6 million dollars in 2009 to more than 3.5 billion dollars in 2014 – which signifies a yearly growth of 97%.

What this has to do with Apple and Facebook? Apple has acquired recently Polar Rose, a company which has created facial recognition software and other elements that enable the “automatic creation of events based on visual cues in images.” This brings enormous possibilities in social networking area, which should interest Facebook. Apple has the iPhone OS and technology, and Facebook its Facebook Places and large user base perfect for the newly acquired facial recognition. If these two companies join forces they can very well have a chance to compete with Google. Actually these two combined could possibly even be very, very dangerous for Google.

Facebook and Google do not like each other. Apple and Google do not like each other. What would be a better partnership than ganging against a common enemy?

The QR codes have been highly popular among users as well as marketers in Japan for past few years, where almost all mobile devices are sold with a QR code reader software. Now QR code usage is growing exponentially worldwide: according to ComScore in June 2011, 14 million mobile users in the U.S., representing 6.2% of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR code on their mobile device. What comes to Europe, in EU5 region (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK) 4.6% of mobile users and 9.8% of the smartphone owners scanned a QR code during the same time period.

It seems like QR code is an exciting, effective new marketing tool … or is it?

What is a QR code?

Developed in Japan, a QR “Quick Response” code is a specific two-dimensional code that is readable by Smartphones. The numeric codes are a great way to enhance marketing and content, however QR codes require that users have a QR code reader installed in their Smartphone and they link to a mobile website.

QR code can be read by scanning the code with a Smartphone, which allows the user to access the encrypted content. Users will be then directed to the mobile site in the internet, where they are able to discover additional information or buy the product online.

How to use QR codes in marketing?

There are many ways to use QR codes in your communication campaigns to enhance the user experience and connect with the users:

• Implement QR code in your offline promotions: QR codes are a great way to connect offline with online through for example print ads, TV, magazines, posters, and direct mail, but do not forget usability, for example billboards on highways and underground are not likely to work.
• Implement QR code in your online promotions: implement QR codes to your website, online promotions, microsites, social media, etc. to enhance the content.
• Engage with audience with location-based QR codes: let users interact with you via QR codes on windows, maps and other physical signs. This could be for example used as part of a mobile game or competition linking to reality allowing users to search and discover next steps or locations via QR codes.
• Surprise with QR codes in unusual locations:use QR codes in unexpected locations such as buildings, museums, windows, etc. to provoke users…they have even been used in tombstones. In South Korea one of the supermarket chains created a digital supermarket in a tube station, where users could use their Smartphones to scan the QR codes and put the products in their shopping cart. These were then delivered home when they returned from work.
• Use QR to provide contact information: Add QR code with contact and route information into business cards, flyers, event handouts, event invitations, etc. (but remember to add text contact details as well, since not all prospects have a smarphone or QR reader).
• Give special QR discounts: implement an offer specifically targeted for the QR code readers to give users feeling of exclusivity and to push them to buy the product/service.
• Enhance product and in-store information with QR codes: give additional value for the users by implementing a QR code with additional product information and reviews in product packages and promotional offers. You can also add product usage information such as recipes, manuals, show-and-tell videos, post-purchase information, etc. and product origin information, for example where, when and how the product was made/cultivated, if the pesticides were used, etc. A pioneer in this field is the Japanese food wholesaler Aeon, which has been providing information via QR codes since 2004.

Who uses QR codes?

What comes to the QR usage demographics, according to ComScore study, 60.5% of the users who scanned a QR code in the U.S in June 2011 were male and 53.4% were between 18-34. The usage of QR codes sounds even more interesting when you take in account the income: more than 1 out of every 3 QR user in the US has a household income of at least 100,000$.

How and where mobile users interact with QR codes?

In the US most of the users (49.4%) scanned QR code from a printed magazine or newspaper, product packaging (35.3%) was the second popular QR source, followed by website (27.4%) and poster/flyer/kiosk (23.5%). Interestingly, 13.4% had scanned the QR in business card/brochure, 12.8% had scanned it in the store front, and only 11.7% on TV.

But where do mobile users scan QR codes? According to ComScore, in the US 58% of the mobile users who scanned a QR code did so at home, 39.4% scanned the code in retail store, and 24.5% in grocery store. Almost 20% of the users scanned the QR code at work, 12.6% outside or in public transport, and 7.6% did so in restaurant.

In Europe 57.4% of the mobile users scanned a QR code at home, 22.6% scanned it at work, and 20% scanned the code outside or on public transport. 18% of the users scanned a QR code in retail store, 17.2% scanned it in supermarket and only 5.7% in restaurant.

Increasing global QR code usage

In Q1 2011 worldwide QR code usage grew by 61.9% over Q4/2010. The US (181%), the UK (167%), Netherlands (146%), Spain (94%) and Canada (94%) were the top growing countries.

Top countries QR code usage Q3 2011:

1. Japan
2. US (51%)
3. UK (8%)
4. Netherlands (4%)
5. Colombia (4%)
6. Canada
7. Italy
8. Germany
9. Spain
10. Brazil
11. Mexico
12. Saudi Arabia

What comes to the mobile OS, in Q2 2011 Android phones lead iPhones with more than 8%, but in Q3 iPhones are responsible for 30% of scans while Androids are responsible for 23%.

Exciting for marketers, confusing for users

While the marketing usage of QR codes is increasing globally, the users still need to learn how to use them. According to a new research by Archrival, QR code is an ineffective marketing tool when targeting young people and it lacks attractiveness. When Archrival interviewed more than 500 university students in the US, they found that these have very little interest in QR codes. Mostly QR codes are ignored, even if 81% of the students has a Smartphone and 80% has seen a QR code in some occasion.

Why the lack of interest? According to the study, only 21% of the students had managed to scan a QR code. There were difficulties because some students believed that they only needed a camera to scan the code and were not aware that they would need to upload an app. Many of them got bored during the process because it took a long time and others directly did not want to download a scanning app.

These are important obstacles marketers need to take in account while using QR codes in a strategy directed for young consumers. Let’s remember that what comes to the trends especially in technology, the trends do not spread from old to young consumers, but it is the youth who start the trends that then spread to mainstream.

Even if the QR codes have a lot of potential, the fact people do not know they need to use specific applications to read the codes or how to get the apps to view the content is without a doubt one of the big challenges marketers are facing. However, if the QR code reader would be automatically integrated in mobiles like in Japan, the mobile users would be more likely to adapt the new tool.

Anyhow, QR codes are a great way to link offline to online and enhance the user experience. It might be worth experimenting with the QR codes now when the audience is smaller so by the time QR codes become mainstream you have the experience and knowhow to beat the competition. That is if the users actually learn how to scan them.

Social Media, Social Networks, Social Commerce … there is no escaping social these days especially after the launch of Google+. We communicate with the consumers via wall posts and tweets, build our business network in LinkedIn instead of meeting face-to-face and handle customer service via Twitter. But maybe we are right to become so obsessed with Social Media.

According to an European comScore MobiLens study, the mobile social networking has increased  44% in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK during 2011. What is even more interesting is that more than 40% of the European Mobile Social Networking users are engaging with brands.

 Snapshot of the 2011 European mobile market

•  UK and Spain are leading countries in Smartphone usage with 46.9% and 46.3% penetration respectively, compared to the European average of 40.1%. Germany has the lowest Smartphone penetration with 33%.
• British and Spanish mobile users also use non pre-installed apps above European average of 34.5%, UK with 44.9% and Spain with 35.4%. Germans have the lowest percentage with 30.4%.
• 46.9% of the mobile users in the UK and 35.3% in France use browser, compared to the European average of 35%. Germans users browse the least with 28.4%.
• 33.8% of the British , 30.1% of the Italian and 28.7% of the Spanish users play mobile games, compared to the European average of 26.5%. French users play games the least with 15.6%.
• Sending text messages is the most popular mobile activity across all five European markets, the average reaching 82.9%.
• 32.6% of the Spanish mobile users listen to music, above European average of 25.9%. Only 23.3% of the French use mobile to listen to music.
• 35.1% of the UK mobile users access news, way above European average of 18.5%. Germans are the least interested on news, with 15.7%.
• 35.1% of the UK mobile users access social networks and blogs well above average of 23.5%. Germans were the least social with 17.3%

 Increasing mobile social network addiction

 55.1 million European mobile users accessed social networks or blogs via mobile devices in September 2011 only, representing 23.5% of the total mobile audience. Not only did the mobile social media usage nearly double, but 47% of the users accessed social networks and blogs daily.

“Over the past year we have seen social networking use grow rapidly among mobile users across Europe, driven largely by the growth in smartphone adoption, making it easier than ever for users to stay connected and engage in social activities while on-the-go,” stated Jeremy Copp, comScore Europe vice president for Mobile. “More notably, the rate of growth in daily social networking usage has surpassed even the rate of growth in total social networking adoption among mobile users, suggesting that the behavior is becoming even more ingrained into people’s daily mobile lives. As social networks continue to invest in improving the user experience on mobile devices and tablets, it will be interesting to see how social behaviours on the mobile platform further evolve.”

 Interestingly, while most of the European mobile users accessed social networking sites via browser (31.3 million), the usage of social network mobile apps doubled to 24.2 million.

Mobile Social Networking Activities

Finally good news for marketers: 44% of the mobile social networking users admitted reading posts from brands and about 27% reported receiving offers, coupons or deals on their mobiles.

 What comes to other activities, 74% of the users read posts from people they know and 62% updated their status. Peer recommendation also has an important role with 35% of the users posting links to websites and 49% of the users following posted links to websites.

Leading European mobile social networks

In 2011 Facebook increased its European mobile audience 54% up to 39 million. This represents 71% of the EU5 mobile social networking audience positioning Facebook as a clear leader. However, even if the social network gathered the most users, it did not experience as big growth as its competitors: Twitter grew its mobile audience 115% up to 8.6 million, 2.2 million unique users accessed LinkedIn increasing network’s mobile users by 134% and the Spanish social network Tuenti grew by 60% gathering 2.3 million unique users.

Go social, think local

The results highlight the importance of Social Media in European brand communication strategy. With localized mobile site and social network pages brands can increase user engagement and user referrals, and the little snapshot of the social media activities can provide some insight to the best tactics in each country. While building a game app seems to work in the UK and Spain, a mobile game might not be very successful in France.

Reaching European audience is tricky because of the different languages, cultures and customs, but for brand to engage with the European audience, social media seems like a good starting point.

In 2011 Apple took over Google’s position as the most valuable brand in the world. Even if Google dominates PC as well as mobile search, despite recent Android launches Apple still dominates mobile as well as tablet market in the West. One of the Google’s weaknesses in mobile and tablet business has been the quite in-existing Android content ecosystem as well as competition between different manufacturers using Android OS.

However, things are getting more interesting. The search giant has recently agreed to pay $12.5bn in cash for Motorola Mobility to move decisively into the hardware and into even more intense competition with Apple and Microsoft. Larry Page, Google’s CEO, claimed that the reason for the move was to “supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers”.

Launch of Google branded mini-store “Chromezone”

Now last week Google launched its first Google branded retail mini-store, Chromezone, in London, UK. Surprisingly the company did not make a big buzz about the launch and the little “Chromezone” simply appeared inside the PC World store in Tottenham Court Road. The mini-store sells Google Chromebook computers and accessories and will be up and running for three months.

The mini-store however is only a start of Google retail plans: the company is planning to create more pilot shops around the world in the next few months and, if successful, Google is likely to create permanent retail stores to compete in different level with Apple and Microsoft.

“It is our first foray into physical retail. This is a new channel for us and it’s still very, very early days. It’s something Google is going to play with and see where it leads”, states Arvind Desikan, Google UK head of consumer marketing.

One of the reasons Google said lead to their decision to expand in retail was that company’s research showed 80% of laptop sales being done in physical shops. Until now Chromebook has only been available online.

From Chromebook to full range of products?

If the pilot works and Google’s retail mini-stores turn into permanent Google stores, it will be interesting to see whether Google will take advantage of the opportunity to showcase its full range of products.

Currently to browse or buy Android devices offline, the consumer needs to go through operators or computer/mobile stores. But for everyday, not-so-tech-savvy, consumer the word “Android” might not mean much, especially if you compare it with the word “iPhone”. But there is no one who does not know the brand “Google”.

This means that Google could leverage both the strong brand name as well as the great selection of products ranging from physical mobiles, tablets and laptops to Google search, Google maps, Google+, Youtube, and other company’s platforms and services. Not to forget different Google “stuff” for the Google fans. It would offer normal consumers as well as tech “geeks” a great in-store experience, increased brand awareness and engagement (and sales) for Google, and an additional showroom for different Android manufacturers.

Watch out Apple.