Mobile Groove

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, a leading integrated advertising and marketing communications agency, challenges the view that mobile is somehow in its infancy and has yet to grow up and compete with the Big Boys (such as online, TV and print) that continue to account for the lion share of advertising spend.

As Rory sees it: the proper way to measure the importance (and effectiveness) of mobile in the marketing mix is not to look at spend. The cost of developing a brilliant text-based …

The Netsize Guide 2010 is also creating a stir at CTIA, where several fans have asked me for a copy. But at 200+ pages it really wasn’t the ideal hand luggage to bring on the trip. Instead, MSG and Netsize move on to Part 2 in the ongoing series to showcase a “best ofâ€� selection of executive interviews and hot topics that have everyone talking. On the heels of the fantastically successful SXSW conference, there’s a sharp focus on figuring out how companies can move from meeting place to market place – and make money in the process.

Flirtomatic is certainly a company that provides a blueprint.

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ALMOST 30 PERCENT OF US MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS USE THE MOBILE WEB AT LEAST ONCE PER MONTH, eMarketer reports, based on data from BIA/Kelsey and Constat. That’s up from 22.3 percent last year, but the boom doesn’t stop there: the figures say that 21 percent of US mobile users get online on their mobile device at least 10 times per week, up from 15 percent in 2008.

The survey found that nearly half of US subs use text messaging at least 10 times per week, and a fifth use mobile email that much. Popular mobile web tasks include local searches, looking for movie or entertainment info and information about restaurants and bars. Source

In brief: Inma Martinez – a leading digital media strategist, “free radical” and advisor to venture capitalists – is back for the second in the series. Following her last take on Blyk she comes back from lunch with Antti Öhrling, Blyk Co-Founder, with deep insights into the Blyk model. Other topics/companies include: VouChaCha and other startups high on the radar; social media buzz and Vodafone 360; a review of Mobilize and Mobile Marketing Forum Europe; the new mobile brain drain; and why developers need to tune into women. We salute Mark Curtis, founder of Flirtomatic; Dagmara Brylack (for innovative and thoughtful mobile campaigns at P&G); and Mark “Mr. Mobile” Wächter, for his work to take the partnership between the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and the German Federal Association for the Digital Economy’s mobile division, the BVDW Section Mobile, to a new level.

Mobile Groove, the monthly podcast that focuses on the news and companies that matter most in mobile — is back with a great line-up of topics and the usual mix of insights and outspoken observations from co-host Inma Martinez, my über-connected and always professional partner in crime. (We missed posting on Friday, but the reason for the delay will be clear when I take the wraps off an all-new MSearchGroove, so watch this space.)

Mobilize, the conference Inma attended in September, left a lasting impression. Her SWOT analysis: a great line-up of startups and a high level of energy and VC activity in the Valley. Where does this leave Europe? Inma (also based in London) connects the dots in some recent investor reports and concludes Europe may see its best and brightest in mobile “defect.” Is the U.S. the place to be if you are a mobile entrepreneur? Listen in and let us know what you think.

Speaking of startups, Inma also outlines the highlights from Seedcamp, a program created to jumpstart the entrepreneurial community in Europe by connecting next generation developers and entrepreneurs with over 400 mentors from a top-tier network of company builders; including seed investors, serial entrepreneurs, product experts, HR and PR specialists, marketers, lawyers, recruiters, journalists and venture capitalists. One company that stood out: VouChaCha, a U.K. startup that delivers vouchers to your mobile phone. Where is the hold up in Europe and why aren’t coupons a de facto part of our daily mobile routines (as they are in the U.S.)? You tell us!

Other success stories Inma shares: Flirtomatic, iScoot and eBuddy.

CONTEXT MATTERS?

Will location-based services excite women? Well, we beg to disagree.

US MOBILE PENETRATION EDGES UP, says eMarketer, and will reach almost 97 percent in 2013. Meanwhile, they add a number of other stats pulled from other reports: in the first quarter of 2009, US mobile users sent an average of 486 texts per month and made 182 calls, with heavy use by 13- to 17-year-olds skewing the numbers up strongly.

The firm adds that the mobile Internet audience in the U.S. is now a third of the size of the wired Internet market, with the gap narrowing by the early part of the next decade. Source

The bottom line: No big surprises here, but some good insight into US mobile usage – in particular, the mobile internet audience is already a big target market for content providers and advertisers.
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DON’T FORGET BLACKBERRY WEB USERS, says mobile web firm Bango. The company says BlackBerrys now account for 14 percent of all mobile web traffic, pulling ahead of the iPhone. Given the length of time BlackBerry has been in the market, plus the fact that essentially every such device comes with an unlimited data plan, it’s perhaps a little more surprising that the iPhone was ever ahead of the entire BlackBerry range. Source

The bottom line: Once again, we’re reminded that the mobile web is a lot more than just the iPhone, and that users of other devices generate significant traffic for publishers and content providers. It’s also another reminder that fragmentation among devices and the multitude of mobile web browsers on the market isn’t going away anytime soon!

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TWO-THIRDS OF TWITTER USERS ARE UNDER 25, says eMarketer – or at least they were in May – while a tiny group of the service’s users account for most of its activity. Just 1.1 percent of Twitter users update more than 10 times per day, while 85 percent do so less than once per day; consequently, 5 percent of Twitter users account for 75 percent of its activity.