International Digital Marketing

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.

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.

Research and Markets has published an interesting study of mobile communications and mobile data markets in 38 African countries. Due to the launch of prepaid services and the declining price of phones and tariffs, there are almost billion people in Africa who are now able to afford a mobile phone. Even if the biggest demand is in the major cities, mobile phones are also used in rural and other disadvantaged areas to increase accessibility.

The major highlights of the report:

• Mobile market penetration in Africa is expected to pass 50% during 2010
• At least eight African countries will have broken the 100% mobile penetration barrier by the end of the year while some African mobile markets are still growing at more than 100% per annum
• Overall growth across the continent is expected to slow to 17%
• Mobile ARPU has bottomed in some markets but is still falling rapidly in others
• Some mobile operators are rolling out national fibre-optic backbone networks and are entering new service sectors under converged licensing regimes
• Mergers and Acquisitions are expected to intensify in an increasingly crowded market

Smartphones and Africa – not as impossible combination as we could imagine.

The high price has kept most of the Africans off them so far, but after the boom of the affordable Smartphones these compact ‘mobile computers’ have grown both in its popularity and capabilities. They were originally targeted at the businessmen, yet they have begun to challenge the rest of the mobile phone market – and laptop market as well. 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.

One example of the African Smartphone country is South-Africa:

According to a study by World Wide Worx, 75% of South African companies have already used Smartphones within their organizations. Two years ago there were almost none.

“These results show that enterprise mobility solutions are no longer just nice to have. They’re essential for businesses that want to be competitive, responsive and efficient. Smartphones are now mainstream devices within South African businesses, but the smartphone revolution has only just begun. Enterprises should now be looking at what smartphones mean for their businesses in a more strategic and holistic fashion”, declares Deon Liebenberg, Regional Director for Sub Sahara Africa at Research in Motion (RIM).

What makes Smartphones also relevant for the organizations is the size of the country. An organization’s building may still be in one place, its people, activities, information, documentation and data can be accessed from anywhere.

The top 10 most popular Smartphones used in SA to access the internet, according to AdMob Mobile’s Metrics Report April 2010:

1. Nokia N70
2. Nokia 6300
3. Nokia E63
4. Apple iPhone
5. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
6. RIM BlackBerry 8520
7. Nokia N73
8. Nokia E71
9. Nokia 6210
10. Nokia 6110

However, what comes to mobile phone usage itself, South Africa is no longer as dominant as it once was. In 2000 it accounted for 74% of Africa’s mobile connections, but in 2009 the percentage had dropped to 19%. There has been strong growth in Nigeria and Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Cote d’Ivoire have also increased the amount of African mobile connections.

What will be interesting to see is whether a continent far behind on technology will actually jump over the computer/laptop phase and acquire straight a compact affordable Smartphone.

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.

After the massive iPhone launch, new Smartphones are popping up everywhere. The competitors are catching up and smartphones’ speed, capacity, features and applications are highly increasing in the new versions. The manufacturers and application developers invest a lot of money and research to assure their products are intuitive and easy to use. However, are smartphones getting too smart for end-users?

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 USA here, 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.

Other study by Compete declares that there is a general misunderstanding of 4G (fourth generation) mobile technology in the USA. Currently, only the Sprint HTC EVO offers 4G in the country, yet 59% of US smartphone owners believe 4G is already available on a variety of phones and 16% think their carrier offers 4G. Interesting fact is that 69% of US smartphone users know that 4G allows for faster data downloads than 3G.

With the increasing competition in the smartphone market, what could really seduce the end-users? Are the applications too complicated, are the users “badly educated” or are we simply concentrating in wrong product attributes? Watching closely these two studies, it seems like the data service speeds plays a small part in purchase decisions. If users strongly believe the 4G is available, but they have not made an effort to have it, the priority must be somewhere else. We want things now and we want them fast yet even if data service speed is very important, in marketing and communication we should focus on another product attribute. But which one?

The different applications smartphone offers have a great potential and can result very powerful. But it seems like they are not as simple and intuitive as manufacturers believe. Or maybe they are not well explained. Yet if they need to be explained, they are not simple enough. In this society what we do not have is time (or patience) to read and go through in detail our smartphone manual. The user wants to click the application and see immediately what it is, what it is for, how to use it and how it can make his life a lot easier. But how to stand out when there are so many applications available and they are so easy to copy?

Best thing to do is to go back to the basics and check what people complain about. Very discussed complaint with the first iPhone in Europe was text messaging. In the US there is no limitation with the text messages and your service provider charges you the same whether you write 50 letters or 300 letters. In Europe the situation is not the same: the limit for one text message is 160 letters with spaces, which Nokia for example shows as 160/1. If you write 161 letters, you pay for two messages instead of one (161/2). The first iPhone did not show this detail and people had to write very short messages being afraid they will pass the one message limit. Maybe this kind of details cannot be used in advertising, but it can be addressed online and in sales speech.

Secondly, check what people are asking online during their research stage. What are the most popular key words? (example key words: Smartphone with “what”, iPhone with “what”) What people ask in message boards, blogs, microblogs, communities, social networks? (Which smartphone has “what”? Does iPhone have “what”?). What are your existing customers asking? Do some research.

Third thing to do is: ask. Do as Dell did after “Dell Hell”: create a platform where you can get users suggestions on how to improve your smartphone (or all smartphones). Then pick the most common/best opinions and do it.

Do not only listen to the “tech savvy” bloggers and users: smartphones are becoming mainstream. Forget the pixels and seduce the public by offering them what they really want.