The rise in tablet ownership is growing faster than most industry analysts predicted. This includes smaller tablets like the galaxy tab and the new smaller Kindle from Amazon. Companies need to re-examine how their websites, micro-sites and  product specific landing pages will appear on these devices as well as smartphones. Reach out to ApolloBravo for a free mobile readiness evaluation.

via WARC 

NEW YORK: Nearly a fifth of consumers in China, the UK and US now own a tablet, up from less than 5% late last year, according to a new report.

Citigroup, the financial services provider, surveyed 1,800 people in these three nations, and found the proportion of respondents possessing slate devices had grown from 3% to 18% since November 2010.

Penetration has reached 21% in China, ahead of 17% for Britain and America. Similarly, 26% of the Chinese sample were “very likely” to purchase a tablet, falling to 12% for both the UK and US.

Citigroup’s analysis revealed 31% of its panel were at least somewhat keen to buy such a gadget, versus 14% late last year. In all, 77% of this group would like to obtain an iPad, climbing from 73% in the same period.

Alternatives powered by Microsoft Windows witnessed a slide from 52% to 40%, and equivalents utilising Google’s Android operating system enjoyed a two-percentage point gain, to 38%.

Price remained the “primary inhibitor” to greater uptake, mentioned by 39% of adults questioned, although a “lack of functionality” when compared with PCs was another common factor.

A 62% share of tablet owners saw it as a “toy/gadget”, growing from 44% in 2010. Meanwhile, 18% had acquired one for work, a lift from 13%, while giving someone the device as a gift logged 18%, down from 27%.

Overall, 94% of iPad owners have downloaded apps, with 63% accessing 11 or more such tools, totals standing at 79% and 37% in turn for individuals using competing products.

Thus far, 81% of the iPad population have paid for applications, measured against just 43% of customers for rival brands. Equally, iPad users had paid for 39% of apps, declining to 22% for users of other slates.

Data from the US and UK showed 67% of the tablet audience surf the web via this route, with 55% sending email and instant messages, 31% reading ebooks, 33% social networking and 17% playing games.

Looking forward, the number of people expecting to log on to social networks in this way fell to 29%, with gaming also sliding to 14%, but both pastimes are likely to see rising interest.

Elsewhere, the study reported that laptop ownership rates had climbed from 62% to 81% since November 2010, figures hitting 28% and 59% respectively for smartphones. 

Data sourced from PC Mag, Barron’s, AllThingsD; additional content b Warc staff, 28 September 2011 

From Warc.com  results from latest MMA study.

NEW YORK: A majority of brand owners are planning to increase their mobile marketing activity this year, a study has found.

Trade bodies the Association of National Advertisers and Mobile Marketing Association surveyed senior executives, mostly drawn from the ANA’s membership – and found that 88% of the panel intended to follow such a route.

Interviews were then conducted with 97 client-side marketers that had expressed a desire to make enhanced use of this channel in 2011.

The report also found 62% of the panel had used the medium last year, alongside 26% expecting to run their first initiatives.

To date, 71% of corporations had afforded responsibility for this discipline to an existing in-house unit – generally digital marketing teams – while 19% assigned these duties to a newly-created group.

Regarding budgets, 75% of participants projected expenditure levels on behalf of their brands would climb by an average of 59%.

At present, contributors already boasting a mobile presence had collectively adopted around 12 different formats to promote products.

The top five – deployed by at least half of the featured firms – were mobile websites, apps, SMS, display ads and search.

Among the main advantages of embracing this form of communications were portable web access, and the capacity to deliver content and deals to consumers on the move.

Furthermore, it was argued to offer convenience in terms of providing immediate customer and sales support, and help build loyalty. However, only 25% of executives stated their previous mobile efforts had performed “extremely” or “very” well, and another 53% described these programmes as “somewhat” successful.

The characteristics demonstrated by the most effective marketers included a longer history of using mobile, utilising a larger number of individual platforms and pursuing an integrated strategy.Establishing meaningful measurement tools and employing a wide variety of monitoring techniques also typically yielded stronger results.

Similarly, the absence of metrics to properly allocate mobile within the media mix and an ability to prove ROI were named as two primary obstacles to greater uptake.

A lack of understanding on the part of key colleagues had also slowed this process, the ANA/MMA research revealed.
“Mobile is clearly a fast-growing platform for marketers, but it has yet to attain its full potential,” said Bob Liodice, the ANA’s president/ceo.

“With the anticipated increase in adoption this year, we expect to see fresh, innovative approaches, increased brand-building success, and better accountability for this exciting channel.” Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola was praised by respondents for its mobile advertising, and retailer Target received accolades having combined the mobile web with reward programmes and a “wish list”.

Data sourced from MMA; additional content by Warc staff, 2 February 2011 http://goo.gl/4nMdh

Contact ApolloBravo for a free mobile marketing readiness evaluation. 703-548-3400

Spam Splosion!

JUNE 2, 2009

“We have met the enemy…and he is us.”
—Pogo

Everyone with an e-mail account knows what spam looks like. But where does it all come from, and where does it go?

One thing is certain—there is a lot of it.

According to MessageLabs, the percentage of worldwide e-mail traffic that is spam has been falling over the past few years, dropping from 86.2% in 2006 to 81.2% in 2008.

However, MessageLabs reported a 5.1% spike in spam over the past month. In May, a whopping 90.4% of worldwide e-mail traffic was spam.

The worst-hit area was Hong Kong, where 92% of all e-mail received was spam. Other highly spammed locales included China, the UK, Australia and Japan.

MessageLabs estimated that in the US, 87% of all e-mail was spam.

Nearly one-third of spam came from Europe, followed by Asia, South America and North America:

• 31.6% from Europe
• 27.8% from Asia
• 21.4% from South America
• 13.4% from North America

Whether recipients have spam with breakfast, lunch or dinner depends on geographic location.

Spammers were most active during the US working day, with spam e-mail peaking at 9am local time and gradually declining until midnight. But residents in Asian and European countries got most of their spam in the evening and throughout the day, respectively.

The heaviest spam days were Mondays and Fridays, and the lowest amount of spam was sent on Sundays.

Over one-half of spam (57.6%) was sent through botnets, collections of computers numbering in the thousands that send messages without the computer owner’s knowledge. Botnets named Donbot, Rustock and Cutwail operate on multiple continents around the globe.

Most of the spam that originated in the US came from smaller, unclassified botnets or free Webmail solutions—such as Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail—that are abused by spammers and cybercriminals.

Remember the CAN-SPAM Act introduced to great fanfare in 2003? The cheering has died down. But no one can argue that the law scared many spammers away. Read More Spam Splosion! – eMarketer.

Contact ApolloBravo about enhancing your direct marketing initiatives with mobile marketing.