Where is the BIG money in mobile? Why the disconnect between the time we spend on mobile and the amount of money brands spend to reach us on our personal devices? Questions around mobile monetization come fast and hard — and the answers are never easy.
Facebook — the leader in the combined power of mobile and social — has seen its stock price plunge, a development that has brought even more urgency to the discussion. The timing couldn’t be better for industry authority and analyst Mary Meeker to weigh in — and she did at D10 this week.
In another milestone presentation Meeker, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers venture capitalist and former Wall Street analyst, preached patience as the pursuit of large dollars through mobile continues.
Meeker had some new statistics to support the same (and compelling) case she has in previous talks. The eyeballs have moved to mobile, so the money will flow there, too. “It just takes time,” she said.
Among the new data points we need to know:
- Of the 6.1 billion mobile subscribers, fewer than 1 billion (953 million) have smartphones
- Mobile usage has doubled to 10 percent of total global Internet traffic, yet mobile e-commerce is 8 percent of the total e-commerce market in the U.S.
- Desktop CPMs trail the price of mobile Internet CPMs in the U.S.
- There are 1.1 billion 3G users, which is 37 percent growth but just 18 percent penetration
- There are 2.3 billion global Internet users, with growth of 8 percent year over year
How I See It: I’ve been in mobile since 2005 and the discussion around monetization predates that year. In my own conversations with thousands of marketers over the years, I have seen evidence of large marketing and advertising spends and examples that show mobile is proving a business ROI. More dollars are flowing into mobile every month, and this trend shows no signs of stopping. Indeed, the money is moving into mobile — just not fast enough to satisfy impatient observers, whether they are execs on Wall Street, or people on Main Street.
Apple’s Tim Cook Talks
Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at ATD10 the night before Meeker took the stage. If you think that he was fortunate not to have to follow Meeker, remember that Cook has one of the toughest “following acts” – replacing Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs.
Cook’s talk was not streamed, but I followed it closely on Twitter. Among the gems:
- Cook said that Jobs was a genius and visionary. He said he never viewed his role as replacing Jobs
- Cook has also learned to look ahead. “I love museums, but I don’t want to live in one. Another lesson Steve taught us all was not to focus on the past”
- Jobs was known to like or hate something one day and reverse himself the next. That was not a problem, according to Cook. “That was an art … I saw it daily”
- Like Jobs, Cook is looking for quality, not quantity. As he put it: “Only do the things you can do great and cast aside the rest”
- Cook defended the maligned Siri voice assistant, but promised a better experience. “Customers love it. It’s one of one of most popular features of the iPhone 4S. There’s more than it can do. I think you’re going to be really pleased with where we’re taking Siri in the coming months”
How I See It: There was a Jobs-esque constant stream of tweets for Cook’s #ATD10 appearance. I chalk that up to curiosity plus the power of the Apple brand. From all l read, Cook more than held his own despite the super-tough act he has to follow every day as the successor to Jobs. For that, he should be congratulated. The downside of the interview? It became fodder for thousands of additional (and quite useless) Apple rumors.
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