International Digital Marketing

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.

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?

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.

According to a research firm IDC, tablet market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) made up about 33% of last year’s global sales. The company also estimates that the EMEA media tablet market will more than triple in 2011 to reach 22 million units.

However, research firm Forrester predicts that tablet market in EMEA will account for 14.5 million units, or 30%, of worldwide consumer tablet sales in 2011. Not as positive prediction as 22 million units, yet the research firm indicates that more than 43 million Europeans say they are interested in buying a tablet in the future.

Apple, not Android, dominates Europe

Despite recent Android launches in Europe, Apple still has 70% market share for tablet sell-through to consumers in Europe. It means that other tablet makers have product in retail channels, but it is not moving nearly as quickly as Apple’s iPad. Main reason is that non-iPad tablet competitors’ content ecosystem, applications and channel strategy are not as effective as Apple’s and their tablets’ prices are perceived too high.

Apple’s weakness outside the UK

However, Apple has a smaller number of Apple store outlets across Europe (52) compared to its more extensive network in the U.S.(240). What makes this even more interesting is that 30 of these Apple stores are located in the UK, leaving 22 for the rest of the Europe. It means that Apple could be vulnerable to competition outside the UK, since Apple’s brand and channel presence is not as strong in the continental Europe. For example, Mac ownership is lower in all EU-7 countries than it is in the U.S.

This weakness could give Samsung, HP, Acer and Research in Motion a chance to gain more market share in Europe yet if the prices remain the same, there is a danger that low-cost tablets from ODMs such as Huawei and ZTE will enter the market quickly and steal market share.

No content or apps? No customers.

Yet even if consumers like low prices, being cheap is not enough to make them purchase the product. For tablet to be successful in Europe it has to be user-friendly, and have attractive content and useful applications both for free time as well as business purposes. In a very culturally diverse Europe it is very important to have local content providers, because English is simply not enough.

What comes to t-commerce, most of the tablet owners find shopping with the tablet more engaging and a study by e-commerce platform provider Shopatron, supporting more than 800 brand stores in 35 industries, claims that the conversion rate from tablets is much higher than conversion rate from mobiles or even PCs. According to the study, the average conversion rates for non mobile optimized pages (iPhone, Android, iPod…) was an average of 0.37%, yet the average conversion rate from iPad was a whopping 2.04%.

This means that t-commerce is another aspect tablet developers need to take in account while optimizing the user experience.

Anyone to challenge Apple?

Even if there are many competitors rushing into European market, Forrester argues that at the moment there is no serious iPad challenger on sight. This will not change and people will keep on buying iPads unless a competitor with competitive price, quality hardware and successful content ecosystem emerges.

Google might just do this. The search giant has 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, said the reason for the move was to “supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers”.

What would be interesting to see is Nokia and Microsoft taking on the challenge to compete with the two. Nokia is known around Europe for its high quality and Microsoft office programs would result very attractive and familiar for European business users. If Microsoft does not invest in mobile and tablet market, the company will see its market share diminish. Nokia meanwhile has also strong reputation in emerging markets, which could help them to keep their market share.

In the end of the day, Nokia still has the strongest foothold in European mobile market even if all we hear about is Apple and Android. But as we Finns say: empty barrels make the most noise.

Augmented reality mobile apps’ future looks bright. According to Juniper, by 2015 global revenues from AR will reach 1.5 billion dollars. ABI Research forecasted that even if in 2010 revenue from AR 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 AR will increase from 6 million dollars in 2009 to more than 3.5 billion dollars in 2014 – which signifies a yearly growth of 97%.

Main reason for the growth and high predictions is the exploding global use of Smartphones, which are able to run the augmented reality apps, and the big brands which are very keen to take advantage of the new shiny toy.

No wonder Google and Apple want the biggest piece of the cake. And are ready to fight for it.

Augmented reality – a new way to see the world

Long way short, augmented reality apps allow user to see digital text, animations, links or images in real time on top of the real life environment via mobile devices. For example, only by placing the mobile front of a painting in Rome, user can get information of the painter, history or dimensions. Or more fun example: user can play real life pac man, where the players look like computer pac man characters (through mobile of course). Basically, the possibilities are endless. See list of interesting AR apps here.

Blooming augmented reality market

At present, most of the augmented reality elements focus on marketing and entertainment, but there has been some experiments with online shopping experience, ecommerce, tourism and search. Layar (http://layar.com) is currently the leader developing AR apps for both Android OS and iPhone OS, including advertising, reviews, ratings or other information users need in real time. Yelp is another rating and review service, mobile media company Ogmento creates AR mobile games and Wikitude shows the user in real world the information from Wikipedia and other sources.

Google and Apple: augmented reality rivals

Google and Apple are very interested in the possibilities augmented reality can bring, since both Android and iPhone have computer vision technologies that rely on Smartphone cameras. Other companies have developed AR apps for both OS, but it brings a small revenue compared to the profit and business opportunities a fully owned killer AR app could bring. In addition Google has already picked up a fight with Yelp, one of the providers.

Google started by creating Goggles, a mobile app for Android and iOS which can translate text, get more information out of contact info, artwork and books besides of recognizing landmarks, logos and wine labels. However unlike Augmented reality, Googles does not process and present things in real time. It takes a photo, sends it to Google’s servers, which recognize and translate it before sending the result back.

Apple meanwhile has acquired 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 on social networking area.

Apple/ Facebook Partnership?

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?

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.

Let’s imagine Google decides to upgrade Google Places and create AR version. With its impressive data base and search engine & Google maps experience it could very well become a killer app. There are review and map AR apps, but they are mainly focused on cities and tourist attractions such as NY, Paris and London for example. Imagine an app you could use everywhere you go: like Google Maps with a real life view. Imagine what it would mean for local businesses and advertisers to be highlighted in real life environment.

Now if Apple and Facebook decided to join the forces, they could compete in AR “places” category with a social touch. Imagine an app where you can see in real life not only the ratings or info, but also which places have been recommended or visited by your friends. Seeing little pictures of friends who like the place or even friends who actually are currently there sounds very attractive. Imagine adding the Facebook “deals” function with the discount/offer that is available in the place.

Of course this Apple/Facebook partnership could lead even further if the two explore more the social networking capability on the iPhone. For example, user could see other person’s social networking info and feeds from Facebook just by looking at them though the phone. Big personal privacy issues yes, because no one wants a stranger in the street or bar to know his name and everything else about him. But then again – when exactly Facebook has cared about privacy issues?

Expanding market with huge potential

It has been predicted that augmented reality will take between five to ten years to become mainstream, together with the Smartphones. Brands and consumers do not necessarily understand yet how the technology works, but AR creates interest and fascination. Android, Nokia, iPhone…there is something to explore and take advantage of.

 “Nokia has been infected by the biggest computer virus in the world – Microsoft”, was the reaction of my Finnish dad when Nokia announced they would change Symbian OS to Windows Mobile OS. Watching the feedback around the web, most of the Nokia fans agree and are furious of Nokia’s new partnership with the giant. The investors did not have much faith either, stock diving 14% straight after the news.

Myself, proudly coming from the country of Linux, I must say I was not very “excited” either. But…could this be a chance to bounce back?

“The Black Friday” of Nokia

Last Friday Nokia announced the new partnership with Microsoft to build a new global mobile ecosystem. The decision means that Nokia will abandon its Symbian OS and take the Windows Phone OS, developed by Microsoft, as their principal Smartphone operating system and will develop on top of it their own solutions. Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia, did not respond directly whether Nokia has to pay Microsoft for using the Windows Phone OS, but Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer makes it clear the contract between two companies is not exclusive. Other companies can also add the license into their phones in the future.

 Why to change Symbian OS to Windows Mobile OS?

Stephen Elop declared one of the main reasons for Nokia to chose Microsoft Windows Phone – operating system instead of Android was to stand out from the crowd. The competitors using the Android are for example Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and HTC.

What comes to the current mobile market, according to a study by Nielsen measuring the recent acquired Smartphones in the U.S, iPhone OS has experienced a decrease in popularity while Android OS is experiencing a steady growth. ComScore study in July 2010 claims that Blackberry owns 39.3% of the Smartphone market share in U.S. compared with 23.8% market share  iPhone has. Android OS follows the two with 17%, a number that is constantly increasing. Windows Mobile holds 11.8% of the market share, Palm 4.9% and Symbian (Nokia) only 3.2%.

In Europe, it is a completely different story. The recent study by comScore reveals surprisingly that the five largest European Smartphone markets in Europe are still ruled by Nokia. A high 51.2% of Smartphone-owning respondents in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy have a Symbian OS by Nokia.

In Africa, Symbian OS rules as well on this continent. For example, eight of the top 10 most popular Smartphones used in South-Africa to access the internet, according to AdMob Mobile’s Metrics Report April 2010, were Nokias.

However, Nokia has been struggling in the Smartphone market focusing on price more than innovation and has experienced a 21 percent drop in revenue in the final quarter of 2010. Elop claims that Nokia is being attacked on all fronts — by Apple from the high-end, Android from the middle and MediaTek from below. Also, another factor forcing Nokia to pick Microsoft could be the carriers. According to a report from the Financial Times, the company was receiving pressure from its European carriers, such as Vodafone, Telefónica, and France Telecom, to not adopt Android, because the market already had too many companies with Android OS.

It should also not be forgotten, that Elop is a former Microsoft executive and the first non-Finnish CEO Nokia has had.  It is quite obvious the CEO has not been objective and the possible move of “executive centre” to the U.S.  would be a big strike to brand’s strong national identity.

New Nokia Windows Phone

Engadget published the first pictures of the Nokia Windows phones last week and Jo Harlow, responsible of Nokia Smartphones, confirmed they are real.

Nokia claims that the Nokia phone with Windows Mobile will:

• Have better usability than other mobile OS.
• Push gaming at the next level
• Make it easier to process work documents in the mobile version of the Microsoft Office
• Bring music and videos together in an easy way with media centre
• Offer additional support for mobile email such as Microsoft Exchange
• Offer improved Nokia Maps with Microsoft assets like Bing and AdCenter.

According to Elop, Nokia is not abandoning Ovi or Meego it is developing with Intel, but these two are going to form part of Nokia still in the future. Meego will become open-source based mobile operating system project. Nokia plans still to sell 150 million Symbian OS phones.

A Suicide?

There are more than 20.000 Finns who might lose their jobs because of the new strategy. While Nokia employees protest, Google is quick to take advantage of the Nokia top talent. “Any Nokia software engineers need a job? We’re hiring: www.google.com/jobs”, tweeted Aidan Biggins, responsible of personnel in Google Europe, Middle-East and Africa, on Friday. To be honest, many of the software engineers working for Nokia hate Microsoft and other closed ecosystems like Apple and this is why Google’s offer to move might very well be tempting for the top developers. Especially if the national identity is lost. This is a serious danger, because the loyal developers are the heart and soul behind the success of any mobile brand and device.

Another problem are the loyal fans who are highly disappointed of Nokia’s recent move and the fact it “has sold its soul to Microsoft”. They want freedom to do what they want with the mobile and, as Nokia developers, hate closed ecosystem. Other fans love the clear Finnish identity and quality and how the brand stands out from the other mobile manufacturers. Again, if the identity is lost, brand will experience some very rocky times.

And of course, this may well be a Microsoft’s evil plan to eat, chew and kill Nokia by taking its independence.

Genius move?

Microsoft is a strong brand and has a large software clientele, Nokia has the quality hardware side and a strong brand outside U.S.

Microsoft has been struggling in the market as well, because mobile devices are taking over the traditional computer industry and it has not really got on board yet. Therefore, the company might actually invest, instead of destroy,  big money in this alliance, because its Windows Mobile OS has a very lousy position in the Smartphone market. Since Nokia has negotiated a solution they still can tailor and update themselves, the brand may well take position over competitors relying on Google for progress. Nokia will also gain access to the U.S. market taking advantage of the Microsoft’s extensive network.

Usability: according to the 2010 Digital Influence Index by Fleishman-Hillard and Harris Interactive, mobile users are not keeping up with the rapidly growing technology of the devices. We are not talking only about the U.S, the Index includes 48% of the global online population, such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Japan and the USA. People love Smartphones and the market is booming yet the users do not realize the real potential their phone has. Even if Mobile Internet use is increasing, there is a considerable difference between the capabilities the Smartphone offers and the quantity of people who actually leverage them. Maybe a Smartphone that is highly usable and helps users to discover new features is the new area to exploit.

If Nokia succeeds launching its new mobile with Windows Mobile OS, everything may not be lost. It might be a mobile that is more attractive and easier to use, seducing young people with improved gaming and older business audience with improved mobile email and work documents that are easier to edit. This might be a winning factor especially in emerging markets; Executive Fred Baumhardt stated at Microsoft SA’s Tech-Ed Africa 2009 conference in Durban, that mobile devices such as Smartphones are entering the market four times faster than PCs or laptops. They have the potential to bring Internet connectivity and replace the need for other gadgets, providing considerable cost savings to many small businesses and consumers in Africa.

What comes to gaming, maybe Nokia should talk to other successful Finnish company, Rovio, who has created the Angry Birds we all love.

Maybe everything is not lost if Nokia keeps its head cool, does not lose its Finnish integrity and plays its card right.

The increase of mobile Internet use and Smartphone popularity have augmented the importance of designing a specific mobile website. Blackberry, iPhones, iPads, Android, Nokia and other devices can already bring a big part of the traffic to the website, however if the website is not mobile friendly the users might leave as fast as they arrived. The mobile optimized sites are booming and users have become more exigent and expect higher standards while navigating with their devices.

What is very important to realize is that a standard computer screen is not the same as iPhone or Nokia screen and the PC website looks very different in mobile devices. It is essential to take in account the design and lay-out, the legibility and navigation, and the need of fast and efficient download time.

Some examples:

• Size of screen: Screens are smaller and the web content is organized in different way than in the normal webpage. Basically, it is necessary to organize the information in a vertical manner, but still avoid the need for user to slow down.
• Images: All the images in the pages should be correct size and smaller and lighter than in the normal page to allow faster download.
• Connection speed: Your mobile website should be optimized for a fast download and should take in account the lost of connection and other issues related with the connection speed. This especially important for a mobile website that sells products and does not want the user to get worried if the connection fails during the transaction.
• Widgets and plugins: All the additional components, like widgets, plugins and add-ons can slower down your mobile web and the site might not work in all mobiles. For example, the Apple devices are not compatible with flash, so if you are creating a mobile website, avoid Flash and if possible choose the format HTML5.

As always, it is very important not to focus only on technical aspects, but also consider the end-user. More user-friendly the mobile website is, more likely the user is going to come back.

Remember, mobile users want their information fast:

Mobile and PC users have different reasons to visit your page. PC users are more likely to navigate for leisure, while mobiles are usually used in the time of need and users are more likely to want information urgently to help them at that exact time and location. For example, to find timetables, directions or events near-by. Also they might want quick, fast entertainment to fill up the dead moments in the metro or the bus.

Forget always visible top navigation bar and concentrate on content:

Another difference with PC and Mobile sites is that well designed websites respecting usability repeat the navigation bar on every page to facilitate the user journey. However, since mobile screen is smaller, the top navigation pushes the actual content down and users are forced to scroll down on every page. To increase the usability on your mobile website, show the navigation bar only on the homepage and on other pages include just links to the homepage, back to the last important point users have taken (searching dates & cost for example) and next call to action (for example “buy”). These links should be shown at the top and bottom of the page to keep them close.

Highlight the selected items clearly:

It is usually quite difficult to navigate with the mobile phone, because when you move down the page with the joystick or direction buttons it does not only scroll down, but highlights links, buttons and form fields. This makes it hard for users to see, which item is in focus. Changing the appearance of the item by for example showing different font or background colour of the links or buttons makes it stand out from the rest of the items.

Allow users to select instead of having to write:

Having to type on mobile phone can take time, causes errors and is not viewed positively if the user needs information fast. Allowing users to search or input information by selecting certain fields with an easy-to-use dropdowns instead makes the user journey more pleasant. For example, country, region, sity, type of concert, available movies etc.

Only show essential and relevant information:

Mobile phone users have small screens and not much time to go through the website. Therefore, the best way to save their time would be to create a specific url for the mobile website (which users can bookmark) and re-direct the traffic coming through mobiles straight to the mobile optimized site with the most essential features and content. If the mobile website shows the same, long, nicely written content as in the normal site, information is difficult to find and user might have to scroll down to reach the important content. And pay for it. Most of the mobile phone users do not have yet a fixed cost deal for the internet, so downloading useless content might cost them quite a lot.

Do no forget the “Back” button:

Most of the mobile browsers do not show basic control buttons such as “back” to save screen space or they have opted-in to display webpages always in the full screen mode. That is why the site should have buttons or links such as “Back”, “Next page”, “Back to search results” or “New search” at the bottom of each page. Also, all the buttons should be big and easy to press/click. Another trick to use is a clickable phone number “Click to call”, which has shown to increase the CTR.

Create mobile-friendly design and lay-out:

As mentioned before, usually layouts created for large landscape PC screens do not work well in small mobile screens and user needs to scroll and scroll…and scroll. In case you only want to tweak your website a bit more mobile-friendly, present the content on the left hand side (such as journey search etc. ) with the most important navigation buttons on the top. However, it is better to have a separate page for mobile users if the site receives a lot of mobile traffic.

Despite huge media coverage, the iPhone OS is actually not that popular it seems.

According to a recent study by Nielsen measuring the recent acquired Smartphones in the U.S, iPhone OS has experienced a decrease in popularity while Android OS is experiencing a steady growth.

This data combined with the ComScore study in July 2010 claiming that Blackberry owns 39.3% of the Smartphone market share in U.S. compared with 23.8% market share  iPhone has backs this up. Android OS follows the two with 17%, a number that is constantly increasing. Windows Mobile holds 11.8% of the market share, Palm 4.9% and Symbian (Nokia) only 3.2%.

What comes to Europe, it is a completely different story. The recent study by comScore reveals surprisingly that the five largest European Smartphone markets in Europe are still ruled by Nokia. A high 51.2% of Smartphone-owning respondents in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy have a Symbian OS by Nokia.

In UK and France, Symbian (Nokia) is the most popular Smartphone OS with 37.3% and 35.4% of the market share respectively. However, in both countries it is challenged by Apple’s iOS with more than 30% of the market share in France and almost 30% in UK.  In UK the third challenger is Blackberry with 16% and in France Windows Mobile with 13.8%.

In Germany Symbian (Nokia) has 51.6% of the total market share, compared with iPhone OS with 21.2% and Windows Mobile with 16%.

Surprisingly or not, the Symbian (Nokia) rules Italian and Spanish Smartphone market with a high 72.5% and 69.3% respectively. iPhone and Windows Mobile have a long way ahead in these two countries with their percentage remaining very close to 10%. And no, these two markets are not immature markets what comes to the Smartphone adoption.  They actually have the largest percentage of mobile users with a Smartphone in Europe – with 34.1% for Italy and 31.9% for Spain.

The UK, Germany and France have 28.5%, 20.3% and 19.3% Smartphone penetration respectively – while the US has 22.8%.

Now why is that?

One of the reasons could be that Smartphones such as iPhone are very expensive, or require at least £50 a month contract for two years, while Symbian phones are available at a reasonable cost to anyone who wants a Pay as you Go phone. One example is the Nokia 5230 that has sold more than 10 million handsets and has most of the features user wants from a Smartphone. It is classified in competence at the same level as the mid range Android devices and very close to the 3G and 3GS iPhones.

And why should I care?

Because if you want to get involved in mobile marketing, you need to know which mobiles your target audience is using for the simple reason that the mobile apps need to be developed with a specific operating system in mind.

If you want to reach the most of the market, but at the same time want to create buzz in press, you will not be able to choose between Apple and Android for app development in the U.S. nor between Symbian (Nokia) and Apple in Europe. For the best coverage you need to pick both and stay updated on the latest mobile trends and numbers. Press will love the iPhone app, the consumers the Symbian or Android app.

Now in 2011 everything has changed again with the new Nokia Microsoft partnership. Please find more information here.