BlackBerry exchange Google for Bing…

After being on stage at the annual RIM BlackBerry show, Microsoft announced that Bing will be providing the search facilities on Blackberry devices. This will then be a new partnership for Microsoft, with the aim to help people make better decisions with Bing on Blackberry Devices, while boosting handset sales.

The partnership will include Bing as the default search provider for the search app and the browser. However, it is unclear at this point which of the blackberry devices will be defaulted to Bing. It might be the new Blackberry Bond and also the Blackberry Playbook that is due for release soon.

This is good news for some and not so good for others. The benefits are for Microsoft and their Bing search, hopefully this will boost handset sales for blackberry.  The biggest loser in this deal is Google; as they where the default search provider on the Blackberry handsets.

Bing has been in this position before, in terms of having their search facility exclusively on a produced handset. Also, you may remember that deal that was pending between Microsoft and Nokia, which did sound very similar to the Blackberry and Bing arrangement. Perhaps Microsoft is planning a worldwide domination to be the default search providers of mobiles and Smartphone’s.

Let’s assume that both Microsoft deals happen and are completed as expected, what might happen to the market share of Google against Bing? What is known is that Bing is growing fractionally month on month, 2011 has started very well for Bing. This slow but consistent pace is worrying for Google, as it has been stated if Bing’s growth was erratic it would show that its decline just as quick as it grows. Unfortunately that is not the case which is why it could be very damaging for Google.

Specifically in the mobile search, Google have a strong hold on the Android and the iPhone devices, but if Apple that make the iPhone decided to change the default search provider, Google would be in a lot of trouble and would lose a lot of crucial market share. Having said that, Microsoft and Apple are not on best of pals anyway, so the chances are remote that these two businesses will come together.

Google is not helping itself in a number of areas because of the changes that have been made to its search results and the algorithms.  Add Bing’s increasing fortunes and we could be in for an entertaining online battle for search facilities.

Spending using mobiles hits £581m

The Smartphone, Apps and the increased availability to the internet via 3G and Wi-Fi have contributed to a £581m mobile spend. Purchasing Groceries is the main contributor towards the total figure, with travel tickets and clothing in a close second and third.

The main reason for this increasing spend via mobiles from the research is purely because of convenience, 78% of the sample stated that they like shopping on the move either during their commute to work or on the high street itself.

This spend is set to increase again in the near future because of the interest in tablet computers and net book sales. These devises are not considered as mainstream internet devices but they will be in 2012, and boosting mobile spends.

Going into the numbers more specifically, the results show that £908 is spent online on groceries per year. Travel tickets are at £675 and Clothes at £565. You may expect travel tickets be in the top three but perhaps not clothing and groceries.

Tesco is the dominate supermarket reaping the rewards from the mobile users requiring their groceries. Tesco has an app for the iPhone, Android, Nokia, and Windows Phone7. This app is a transactional app that Asda, Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s don’t have.

This then highlights that fact that the online and the mobile audience are making further steps into the mobile market, and importantly using their Smartphone’s and mobile devices for more every day activities.

Not having an App that includes a checkout facility will be vital as we discover new online habits.

Mobile Ad Spend Increase is Enjoyed by Affiliates.

The mobile device sector is the number 1 growth area in the advertising world. The ad spend for mobiles has more than doubled over the last year. This is what affiliates want to see.

In addition to that, many businesses are operating or at least developing a mobile marketing strategy. This strategy will include a mobile specific website and a mobile payment service that is usable and secure. The increase in spend is set it continue and could top the previous year.

These specific differences to traditional market advertising and spending has forced many marketing companies to review the investment plans as the target audience may be different, but by how much?

Currently, marketing in apps is a key area that highlights the ongoing strength of the online advertising. This will maintain the investment in affiliate marketing. Also, there has been an emergence of social media .ads on personal network websites, especially with the ‘like’ icon that is an accurate and live indication of your popularity. Those that do ‘like’ will then get any post about offers and promotions – an instant link to a receptive audience. The last area that is being more recognised as good practice is incorporating online video advertising into social catalogue websites like YouTube and to a lesser extent ITV player.

Crucially however, the mobile is generating new activities from its users. Learning this array of habits is very important as marketing teams target a growing audience. A fully developed mobile site is key otherwise people shopping on the move will move to a different website to shop.

Marketing teams do have an ace in up their sleeve because they can use the affiliates to gauge the tactics and mindset of the mobile shoppers and visitors. Gaining these behaviours and tactics is very importing for planning your next online marketing budget.

Consumers’ demands are outweighing retailers’ commitment to mobile commerce

Despite plenty of warning it seems that the majority of retailers aren’t ready for the demands of mobile commerce. 

In research carried out by mobile app developer Kony, results showed that 60% of shoppers use their mobile to buy an item.  However, only 16% of the retailers surveyed had an m-commerce strategy in place.

Head of product marketing at Kony, David Eads, said: “The results show a significant discrepancy between retailers’ anticipations of the impact of mobile and the strategies they currently have to facilitate this demand. Mobile is already affecting shopping habits and has the potential to overtake ecommerce in the next few years.”

The survey also revealed that the majority of m-commerce users are using their mobiles to decide on purchases by using a store finder app and running price checks.  In addition to this 60% of the consumers who took part confirmed they used the net on their handsets to decide on purchases while in a store.

89% of surveyed retailers advised that m-commerce had equaled e-commerce in terms of popularity.  42% of retailers also said customer behavior in their physical stores had changed due to the use of mobiles.

Even though we can see the potential behind m-commerce, the majority didn’t have it high in their list of priorities with only 1 in 10 retailers investing 50% of their marketing budget in m-commerce.

UK mobile networks step up SMS marketing services.

UK mobile networks are ramping up their marketing efforts with SMS and MMS ads that are proving increasingly important for brands like Coca-Cola, Burger King, and Domino’s.

Many big brands are seeking to gain revenue from the mobile market that is estimated to be worth £43.8 million in the UK by 2015. Vodafone will become the third network provider to launch this new marketing service that will introduce its customers to brands via a text message.

Other networks have been using the text service to drive business and Orange will be rolling out its Orange Shots service that was launched last year. Also, O2 Media is increasing its attendance at many more O2 events that uses a location service that is now responsible for over 50% of the O2 More bookings.

It has also been reported that the total ads spend on mobile marketing last year was £83m. Mobile messaging was just £1.6m despite the advances O2 and Orange had made launching their messaging services.  The Oranges Shots campaign was effective and will be introduced to its T-mobile brand later in the year.

It has been discovered that the over 24 age group is more receptive to the mobile marketing – possibly because of having more disposable income.

Vodafone UK are currently the only major network that does not offer this type of service but the requests are in from agencies to start a mobile ad messaging service and that should change the mobile messaging spend a bit.

O2 Media’s work force has increased almost three-fold since the You Are Here location services started. The SMS campaigns that are generated by the You Are Here messaging are starting to be accepted by the target audience. This success has increased the O2 More customer base to £2.5m and has also drawn interest from brands including Burger King and Marks and Spencer.

As the Smartphone technology improves and becomes more popular to the consumer, more SMS and MMS will be ran as the audience grows and is more receptive. It could include in the future, MMS messages that have a video message perhaps using flash, or other digital solutions.

One taxi company is using the location based mobile messaging to get its core message across that one of their cars is not far away. The O2 More campaign has been very effective for use in driving business via a marketing channel that is accepted. 

Mobile search is now being observed by marketing teams as a way that mobile users require information.

The Smartphone – what can we expect in 2011?

If you have a Smartphone, ask yourselves this question – would things in your world be the same without the apps, email, MMS, and the internet on the move?

Smartphone’s are expected to be more popular than ever in 2011 and take a bit more market share. According to the International Data Corporation that tracks technology and its sales, they believe that 450 million Smartphone’s will be shipped in 2011. That is a big leap compared to the 303 million on 2010. This increased distribution then puts the Smartphone on course for a 50% growth assuming that they are all bought.

This is an intense market, including Google, Apple, Sony Ericson and Microsoft pushing their handsets into the market and trying to out promote each other during their new product announcements. It is that intense that Apple has sued HTC (that made the Google Phone) and Nokia have sued Apple, twice! One being because Apple copied their patents on their OS software.

Recently in the news – there has been more chatter about establishing more Wi-Fi points and the national replacement of copper wire for fibre optic cable, providing a more complete and quicker internet service. These changes just add more reasons to buy a Smartphone.

Within one battle there are several more. If the Smartphone market does use and need the 450 million units, which OS platform will you choose? Perhaps the Apple OS is what you prefer, Google Android or Windows OS. So there is a battle for OS software as well as manufacturers of the handsets.

There is also the possibility of partnerships to gain an advantage in the marketing place – such as Microsoft and Nokia. The first Nokia devices running Windows OS, not the Symbian, are due to appear in 2012.

If you don’t have a Smartphone – you will be missing a lot!

4G catches the eye of OFcom resulting in a consultation

The telecoms regulator (OFcom) has stepped in to ensure a transparent selling of the rights for the next generation 4G wireless network. The auction for 4G will be the largest ever. The last time that an auction like this was done was in 2000, 3G was under the hammer on that occasion. It raised a massive £22.5bn

The 4G auction is going to be held in early 2012. The additional data freedom that will be sold off will mean faster data speeds and reduced download times for tracks and movies to your mobile phones. The actual parts of the spectrum to be sold off will be 800MHz and 2.6GHz bandwidths that are consumed by analogue TVs. As part of the digital switch over, these bandwidths will be revised and included into the wireless network.

The auction will be exciting but is also crucial for the future of the mobile communications market and its economy. The revised bandwidths will support the more digital world and services that are rapidly becoming more essential to the modern world.

Many Smartphone’s including the iPhone, Google Android and the tablet market all have a massive thirst for bandwidth. Plus, the rocketing sales of Smartphone’s means that there will be a squeeze on available bandwidths and constantly reducing what’s left.

OFcom has stated that network providers like Vodafone and O2 can use 2G equipment to boost the existing mobile networks spectrum to keep bandwidth to a maximum.

However, this auction of the 4G rights is not sitting right with everybody. Other smaller UK networks such as ‘3’ have fears about the auction. They are concerned that they will be out bid and so they will end up with a very small slice of a very profitable pie. OFcom have stated that they will regulate and impose a cap on the amount of data allocation that the networks can have, to ensure a fair auction.

This is why OFcom have stepped in, the caps are very talked about and very controversial as they may dilute the market and disguise which networks value the 4G update the most, and distort a good measure of intent within markets.

OFcom is therefore, the middle man between the established networks and the younger networks. The established networks want a proper auction, highest bid wins. This method of auction is traditionally how they work but doing it this way could see the younger networks being outbid with the risk of them pulling out of the market completely. Present customers will be affected and potentially the economy. The likes of Vodafone and O2 see this as an opportunity to increase market share and out do the competition. So, OFcom has a tricky job. Where do you draw the line on an auction?

However, OFcom’s consultation does not stop at that. Any successful bid will be committing to extend their coverage to 95% of the UK population. That will also include data coverage as well, reducing residual bandwidths again.  The 4G service will also have to be at the same level of coverage as its predecessor.

Despite the auction process being under debate and what the caps might be for networks, OFcom does not want to experience what happened in 2000. The auction that was held in 2000 was for 3G, back then Vodafone bid £5.96bn, O2 formally BT Cellnet, bid £4.03bn, Orange offered £4.1bn and OnetoOne bid £4bn. These are big numbers and big bids that highlight the extent that networks are prepaid to go to in order to crack a new market. This is what we might not see with the 4G auction because of the bidding caps.

More importantly and embarrassing for OFcom is that most of the networks over cooked their bids in 2000 and where not able to invest in their new infrastructure as a result of their big auction payout. Subsequently, consumers and observers did not get the service they expected. So, capped or not capped seems to have historical problems.

Let’s assume that the auction is good and fair and the networks such as O2 and Vodafone are satisfied with events, the UK mobile communications are still well behind the US and Japan that already have 4G.

So, to catch up with the other countries on the planet, the 4G has to be sorted out. OFcom will be the mediator, and if that was you, how would you control the 4G auction? Highest bid wins or not?

Sony Ericsson Release the Xperia Playstation

Just when we thought that we had seen it all, Sony Ericsson have launched the Xperia ‘Playstation’ Smartphone. Yes! That’s right.

Breaking that down a bit more, the handset is an Xperia play and is the first Android phone that will support Playstation games.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia ‘Playstation’ phone was revealed in Barcelona and is expected to go on sale in the UK in April. It will be available on T-mobile, Orange, Vodafone and O2.

The Xperia ‘Playstation’ Smartphone will have a 4 inch touch screen and a 5 MP camera, but the better aspect to the handset is that a full Playstation controller layout slides out under the touch screen.

Sony Ericsson is trying to crack into the Smartphone market that has got some big players including Apple, HTC, Samsung and Blackberry.

It is also the first phone that will access game downloads from the Playstation Suite. Titles include Assassin’s Creed, FIFA 10 and Need for Speed. Sony Ericsson have not released any information about cost for the handset or the game downloads.

The disadvantage that the Xperia ‘Playstation’ Smartphone will have is that there are hundreds of games available for Smartphone’s already.

Angry Birds watch out!

Will Mobile Advertisers Dominate your Phone?

You might think that your personal mobile phone is free from advertising, because it’s your phone. Unfortunately, that might not be the case. Advertising experts believe that the personal mobile is the future market, and your mobile is liable to be flooded with marketing messages.

Looking back, 2010 was a breakthrough year for mobile advertising. Now in 2011, the mobile advertising has grown dramatically. You may recall receiving text messages to your mobile from your network, informing you of new tariffs and special deals.  This type of marketing is likely to increase but not just from your network provider. The new messages that will appear will be more localised, messages sent from shops, bars and restaurants that are nearby to the handset.

You may be asking – Who is running this operation? Well, no real surprise, Google. That is already taking its massive share of search, maps and established PPC campaigns to link this into the new mobile platform.

So, with Google maps being the main navigation tool on Smartphone’s and the huge search potential, this localised SMS/MMS marketing can begin and grow. Let’s check out the possibilities, you have been shopping on the high street in the morning and its getting nearer to lunchtime, you then receive a message on your mobile that tells you that a local restaurant that you are near to is offering 10% off your total bill when dining with them today. Would this message annoy you – or would you see this as a benefit?

The message is only fired to handsets that are in a local area, with other controllable components.

There is present mobile advertising within many mobile phone apps, most of which are free so ad revenue is vital otherwise the apps won’t be free. So, the advertising medium on the mobile is already there if you have not noticed, but is being tweaked slightly. The App market is now a $15bn business with $2bn contribution from advertising. App developers include advertiser’s logos and messages within their apps to make money and also to offer the app free of charge.

Display advertising is already very popular on the web.  How about a full screen advert on your mobile, perhaps with audio as well? Imagine that landing on your mobile.

There could also be the scenario that the Smartphone is less popular, and the increased sales to consumers are hindered because of marketing messages that annoy the users.  There could be a trend that moves away from a Smartphone, and back to a handset that is just a phone.

The mobile industry still has a load of development and testing to do before it is proven that this new market works. A UK survey from a mobile marketing agency showed that 14% of its sample said that they had never clicked on a mobile ad and 32% said that they hate them. The skill in this game will be all about location and timing, receiving information to your mobile that you want and need.  eBay activity and Facebook comments are well received otherwise apps for both eBay and Facebook would not have been so popular. Random marketing messages that are not related to where you are, what you need or are looking for will not be effective as a marketing campaign.

Yahoo! Peruses the Mobile Market with Assistance from Nokia

Nokia have recently confirmed their agreement with NAVTEQ, who will supply their mapping service and a partnership with Yahoo! who will provide a Mail and Chat service. So, what can we expect?

Yahoo! has in the past has been traditionally quite slow in jumping onto the Mobile Market bus. While Google and Microsoft have developed their own OS, Yahoo! has not been as productive. However, better late than never – Yahoo! has got some help from a very popular and known mobile manufacture that will seriously boost its efforts.

The key aspect that Yahoo! has secured with NAVTEQ and Nokia alliance is that the much recent revised maps and Yahoo! Chat and Mail will be pre installed into all future handsets. This set up is very similar to Google Search being the default search engine on the iPhone, but is it too late?

This market is very competitive and Nokia have locked horns with the likes of Apple, HTC and Samsung on many occasions. So, in summary we have 2 separate business types that are trying to complement each other in their own heavy changing markets. Could it therefore be possible that this partnership could distract either Yahoo! or Nokia from its core business activity and so be detrimental to them?

Having considered all these aspects and elements to the partnership, it potentially might not alter any market position for Nokia or Yahoo!. There is an argument that the main mobile marketing battle is currently raging between the OS for iPhone and Android. The Apple iPhone is the most popular consumer device and this has pushed Google’s search platform further.

The Partnership has a massive hill to climb to compete with Apple and Google. For sure, it may generate a spike in interest and Yahoo! will have their brand name on all supporting devices generating more visibility, but will that worry its competitors enough?

Just to make Yahoo’s intentions a bit harder, Bing have been working towards being a default search engine on other devices, by using offers to users, manufactures and distributors that may become fruitful in the future. However, at present Google is the dominate search engine and without needing to check a crystal ball, they are likely to stay dominate.

Yahoo’s major problem is that the search is not strong enough, while their homepage is littered with news, videos, sounds, popular content and a very valuable email following. Breaking into a fierce market with nothing new will be very difficult.

The mobile internet is a new battlefield for the search giants to attack and hold. With their partnerships with Nokia and NAVTEQ, Yahoo! will be rolling into battle in good stead and moral, assuming that there is something to fight for? We already know the brand name and the financial weight that Apple has and they have stamped their authority on the mobile internet ground. Can Yahoo compete, with or without Nokia?