Fact-Packed Netsize Guide 2010 Focuses On Mobile Commerce, Mobile Marketing, Exciting Verticals & Augmented Reality Mega-Trends » mobilegroove

Regular readers will know that a high point of my year is collaborating with the Netsize team to collect the information, ideas and insights from industry authorities and +25 c-level execs that make the Netsize Guide the industry’s number one reference work. This year is no exception. To the contrary, I’m proud to report the Netsize Guide 2010 – the 9th Edition of the Netsize almanac– is widely regarded as the best edition ever (!).

One reason for the heightened interest could be the sharp focus on the future of mobile and mobility. The Netsize Guide, aptly titled Mobile Renaissance, pushes the boundaries and examines the subtle yet seismic shift in the role of mobile in our society.

Indeed, mobile is no longer about technology; it’s about the means to collaborate, communicate, and connect with diverse networks of people, breaking down the walls between cultures and bringing together the physical and digital worlds.

More importantly, mobile is the catalyst for change and improvement in society, enabling innovation across all industry sectors (healthcare, education, retail) and countries.

FIVE KEY THEMES

In view of these developments the Netsize Guide 2010 identifies five key themes taking mobile to a new level of popularity and importance among consumers and businesses worldwide.

• Activation (the emergence of mobile as a platform for applications and the advance of app stores);
• Interaction (the evolution of mobile as a tool to communicate, capture and create content, and connect with social networks worldwide);
• Conversation (the role of mobile in the media and marketing mix allowing brands and companies to connect with consumers on the move);
• Transaction (the increasing acceptance of mobile for commerce, banking and customer service); and
• Transformation (the expansion of mobile to emerging and developing marketing and the arrival of a new era of user experience driven by advances in smartphones, location services and augmented reality/AR services and browsers).

SURVEY FINDINGS

The Netsize Guide 2010 also includes the results of Mobile Trends Survey 2010, an online survey asking +1,000 mobile professionals and practitioners their views on these key themes and their insights into trends that top the industry agenda, including the advance of mobile applications stores, progress towards global mobile commerce and the increasing importance of mobile across a range of business verticals.

Among the findings:

• Activation: 87 percent of respondents indicate that the Apple App Store will be most successful, followed by Google’s Android Market (60 percent), Nokia’s Ovi Store (30 percent) and RIM’s BlackBerry App World (27 percent). Surprisingly, applications stores run by mobile operators finished low in the list.
• Interaction: Despite the rising popularity of application stores, side-loading and content-forwarding (ranked first by 84 percent of respondents) remains the most important distribution channel for mobile entertainment content.
• Conversation: Mobile is not a stand-alone technology. The vast majority (92 percent) of respondents said mobile is most effective when combined with online media – which includes Web, email and social media — as part of a cross-media message.
• Transaction: For 73 percent of respondents search, good navigation and targeted offers lead the list of requirements for a good shopping experience on mobile; 60 percent said a choice of payment methods and the ability to have purchases charged to their phone bill is also central.
• Transformation: 2010 will see the take-off of permission-based mobile commerce. 71 percent of respondents expect these purchases will be triggered by location-aware marketing, while 57 percent believe mobile coupons and campaigns involving 2D barcodes will generate sales.

COMPANY EXECS INTERVIEWED

Exclusive interview with 28 industry senior executives at leading companies and organizations provide unique perspectives on these themes and reveal how players across the mobile ecosystem are preparing to meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities ahead.

These include: execs at EmFinders, Evernote, Flirtomatic, GeoVector, GetJar, Havas Digital Mobile, Layar, Marks & Spencers, NearbyNow, Netsize, Nokia NAVTEQ, PayPal Mobile, Scanbuy, SFR, Sony Ericsson, Sony Music Entertainment, UGC and Universal McCann; analysts and consultants from comScore, Informa Telecoms & Media, Dray & Associates, Innopay, Memodia and VisionMobile; and representatives of industry associations including Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft, Internet Advertising Bureau, Mobile Entertainment Forum and the Mobile Marketing Association.

MOBILE MEETS MEDICI

Are we are on the cusp of a modern-day Renaissance?

It certainly looks that way.

I came to this conclusion after long and invigorating exchanges with Stan Chesnais, Netsize CEO, and Alexander Vlasblom, Netsize Group Marketing Communications Director.

Another confirmation came after I reviewed the arguments presented in the must-read business book The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts & Culture by Frans Johansson. I interviewed Frans a few years back for a feature that appeared in the Wall Street Journal special report on High Performance Business. I was extremely impressed by Frans’ observation that breakthrough ideas are found at the intersection of different cultures, occupations, ways of thinking and points of view.

In his view, the Intersection is where we will find an explosion of extraordinary creativity and thought. In my view, we (all of us everywhere) can wield mobile to forge a new Intersection. It enables/empowers us to create a new world based on “intersectional ideas,” ideas that emerge at the intersection of cultures, expertise and mindsets.

The good news is that intersections tend to yield an exponential increase in ideas and concepts. The better news: this explosion of ideas is percolating at a place within everyone’s reach. As Frans put it: “The movement of people, the convergence of scientific disciplines and the leap in computational power are increasing the number and types of intersections we can access.”

What is the link to mobile?

Stan sums it up best in his conclusion (in the chapter aptly titled Transformation). As he sees it: “Moving forward, mobile is much more than a medium that we can use to link worlds and explore new possibilities. It is a door that opens a multitude of Intersections, where we will find new opportunities, surmount new challenges and gain new insights.”

CALL FOR COOL COMPANIES/IDEAS

What’s next?

In addition to looking for ideas and interview candidates for the next Netsize Guide, I am pleased to announce my collaboration with Netsize to create content around the key themes in the Netsize Guide 2010.

What am I looking for?

Mobile across verticals (healthcare, education, retail – the works); mobile across geographies (emerging and developing markets and/or examples of the global reach and impact of mobile on our lives and lifestyles); mobile at the center or commerce and purchasing (2D barcodes, visual search, marketing, advertising, promotion, CRM – the works); mobile bridging our physical and virtual worlds (Augmented Reality, Open ID, social media and social capital).

And everything in between!

So, if you are company/individual with insights/services related to mobile/mobility or if you simply want to share your “intersectional” ideas, reach out to me directly to set up a briefing. As always (!), I am open and eager to hear what you have to say.

I am extremely fortunate to have made the acquaintance of some super-cool AR companies and champions at Mobile Monday in Düsseldorf and look forward to profiling Dan Romescu, an AR veteran who proposes the fascinating vision of an “Augmented Citizen.”

UPDATE: A simple phone call to the contact number on Frans’ site may have paid off. After connecting with his delightful wife and assistant Sweet Joy, I am one huge step closer to a podcast interview with Frans I am sure will set the bar. I can’t wait to hear his views on mobile at the Intersection and share them via the Netsize Briefing Room microsite.

It’s all good – so stay tuned.

DOWNLOAD AND ENJOY!

In the meantime, I invite you to download the Netsize Guide 2010 and dive into the data and ideas that make it a mobile 2.0 reference work. This year it includes detailed data on the wireless telecoms sector in a whopping 41 countries (covering revenues, market shares and value-added service offerings for messaging and billing of 194 mobile network operators worldwide).

The Netsize Guide 2010 is available for free download here.

The Netsize Guide 2010 will be available for Amazon Kindle and EPUB format e-book readers in March.

Disclaimer: Netsize is an MSG supporter. The Netsize Guide is researched and written by Peggy Anne Salz, MSG Founder & Chief Analyst.

Tags: AR, augmented reality, Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft, comScore, Dray & Associates, education, Emfinders, Evernote, Flirtomatic, GeoVector, GetJar, Havas Digital Mobile, healthcare, Informa Telecoms & Media, Innopay, Internet Advertising Bureau, Layar, Marks & Spencers, Memodia, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Entertainment Forum, Mobile Marketing Association, NearbyNow, Netsize, Netsize Guide 2010, Nokia NAVTEQ, PayPal Mobile, retail, Scanbuy, SFR, Sony Ericsson, Sony Music Entertainment, themedicieffect, UGC, Universal McCann, VisionMobile

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 8:34 pm and is filed under Barcodes, Briefing Rooms, Featured, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Research, Netsize. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.