Mobile Search

Mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets continue to grow in importance at a rapid pace. Below we’ve look at 10 statistics that show how quickly mobile is growing and why it’s important for you to have a solid mobile strategy in place right now.

1. 15% of UK search happens on a mobile device, 3 years ago that figure was down at 2%

In Nov 2011 15% of UK Christmas related search happened on a mobile device and this figure is growing rapidly. In countries with less developed network infrastructure that figure is even higher, for example in India 40% of search happens on a mobile device. If you don’t have mobile strategy in place you’re potentially missing out on 15% of the search market in the UK.

2. Mobile accounts for 10% of ecommerce

10% of visits to ecommerce websites now come from mobile devices. According to the IAB “marketers and retailers are losing hundreds of thousands of pounds by failing to grasp the opportunities presented by mobile devices.”

3. 48% of users start their search on a mobile device and finish on a desktop – Ipsos, March 2011

If you have no mobile strategy in place you are potentially losing out on half of your audience.
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As has become tradition in February we’ve taken a fresh look at the state of the mobile web and who are the main players with respects to Mobile Operating System (Mobile OS) market share. We looked at 15 countries from all corners of the globe to see what the predominant mobile platforms are in that country and how the situation has changed in the last year.

2011 has been a big year for Android, with the platform seeing massive growth in many countries, growing from 17% to 47% in Spain in the last year and from 6% to 45% in Peru. In the UK Android has grown by 10% which has mostly been at the expense of Nokia and BlackBerry which have fallen 2% and 7% respectively.

Of the 15 countries we looked at, BlackBerry only had a significant presence in two markets (USA & UK) and has lost a significant amount of market share in the USA dropping 26% in the last 12 months, with both Apple Read more…

In February 2010 we took a look at the state of the mobile web and how various platforms were performing by country. 12 months have now passed so we thought it would be interesting to take another look at the this space and see how things have changed. Additionally with the recent events that have taken place across North Africa and the emergence of social media and mobile internet as tools of the revolution we thought it would be interesting to take a look at those countries and see what the predominant platforms in use are.

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An increasing number of companies, especially retailers, are adopting mobile applications or in some other instances mobile web as part of their digital strategy. Here at iCrossing we conducted some analysis to find out how different demographics use their mobile devices depending on their needs.

The use of mobile internet by women is quickly catching up with men. According to Opera research between May 2008 and July 2010, the number of female users using Opera Mini increased by 575%, while male users increased by only 233%.

Our latest Research and Insight report, Understanding Women’s Digital Behaviour, shows that women prefer to use their smart phones when they look for advice compared with when they are performing a transactional query. Of the volume of mobile search queries analysed, most were advice-related. Search categories in the yellow circle below were more likely to be performed using a mobile rather than a desktop browser, meaning that women are interested in getting advice using their mobiles: from hair styles or recipes to sex tips or career advice.

For instance, mobile search for ‘sex tips/advice’ (figure below – left column in pink) showed 53% of total searches compared to only 4% using normal desktops. For ‘handbags‘, women are more likely to use desktop search – 23% of the total volume compared to only 3% with mobile. Read more…

Research published last week by Omniture studied 1,200 people in the U.S. looking at their mobile preferences across four key consumer categories: shopping, financial services, media & entertainment and travel.

A key finding in this study has been that in reference to the mobile user experience, respondents tend to favour the mobile web over downloadable mobile apps across all four consumer categories.

Mobile apps are generally preferred when consumers approach music or social media or when they experience games and maps. When focussing on shopping and media & entertainment 66% of the people surveyed expressed a preference for mobile web browsers compared to 34% preferring mobile apps.

Mobile apps are popular but the browser experience cannot continue to be overlooked, brands need to consider engaging with mobile strategies that optimise the experience across both web and app.

In amongst all this, Windows Phone 7 has hit the shelf, perhaps better late than never. Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android have been squeezing other players, Blackberry and Nokia, out of the space and both will now have to wait to see if Microsoft will start devouring their market share. On the surface it should do just that – a user interface that looks good and is simple to use (like the iPhone) but one that is also capable of customisation (like the Android). So potentially Windows Phone 7 could disrupt the two major players. All of us like Apple’s design finish but not everyone likes it when Apple locks us into its environments – Windows Phone 7 may find a great deal of traction with certain user groups.

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No, this isn’t the brand new piece of software which will identify the closest place to eat the best Boeuf Bourguignon in town. It’s actually a rather easy blog title. However, not as easy as apps progression to invaded our everyday life; apps for Androids, apps for iPhones/iPads, apps to locate your train platform or apps to boil your eggs. You still own a Cretaceous Nokia 3310 and think you’ve never used an app? I presume you must be part of that 500 million users social network and once played that popular game about harvesting virtual crops and raising livestock… Well this game is…an app!

How do we know that apps aren’t hype ?

This can be done in 3 steps :

1. By reading that Mobile apps will worth $17.5 bln by 2012
2. By having a look at Google trends stats
3. By finding out the first ever mobile application exhibition is taking place next month in London

According to GetJar, an independent mobile phone application store, 50 billion downloads will occur in 2012.  Nevertheless how can I ensure my app will be part of the that figure knowing that everyone is screaming for attention ?

How To Market Your Mobile Application
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If you are reading this, the chance is that you will have either an iPhone or an Android. We all do. In fact, I have both, and lately I had to use them a few times to check positions and look at my analytics. I have been through a lot of apps, some better and some worse. I thought it would be quite useful to share the best ones. I am going to start with the iPhone, but expect the Android version very soon.

Positions:

SEO Check (£1.19)

This one is simple but effective. Check your positions, nothing more. It gives you the possibility of tracking international SERPs and keeps a history record of your positions, which may be quite useful. It has a nice interface too.

SEO Search Ranking (£1.19)

This one is not as nice as Seo Check, but it does the job. Nothing new here, move on.

Analysis:

SEO Adviser (£1.19)

This app will check the basic optimisation elements and obstacles depending on the keywords you tell him to check. And I don’t really like the UI. But it does the job.

SEO Automatic (£5.99)

Another analysis app. Very simple and intuitive, in fact, a bit too simple for my taste. If you don’t want to spend £6 on this, there is a free Lite version.

SEO IT (£1.79)

Quite a clunky app that will analyse any page you introduce. It can give you a quick link report, which is nice. And it is quite useful to analyse content. However, I was really put off by the interface of this app.

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This map shows the popularity of different mobile browsing platforms country by country, with some interesting results.

Apple’s dominance can clearly be seen, with the iPhone and iTouch accounting for over half the market in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany and Japan.

The Android platform has its largest share in the US and the UK, but has a much weaker share in other countries. This could change in the near future as new phones emerge that run Android, such as the Nexus One.

Docomo and KDDI are the largest mobile phone operators in Japan, and account for 12% of the mobile browser share platforms.

Canada seems to like the iPhone and iTouch, with 86% of mobile internet users using this platform to access the internet.

Yesterday Google acquired Admob for $750 million. So what does that California based company do? They are specialised in Mobile display and more precisely apps advertising. The success of those bite-size software programs doesn’t need to be demonstrated: Apple announced last week that developers have now created over 100,000 applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  Furthermore, Steve Jobs also announced last August that 60 million iPhone apps had been downloaded, averaging 2 million per day!

60 million iPhone apps downloaded? Wow that must be representing a lot…

…of free ones. So how are those free apps monitised? Well, in a way there’s no suprise here; through advertising.

The advertising formats which are used on Apple’s smartphone are quite familiar to what we know and several ad network/platforms are already available:

• Text and rich media banners
• Microsites
• CPM, CPC and CPA advertising

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If you are anything like me, you were eagerly watching the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) live from San Francisco last night. This event has a key place in the diaries of all Apple lovers, software developers and any clued up IT professional.

The Keynote led by Phillip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, gave announcements of any specification upgrades to their Macbook and Macbook Pro notebook range, discussed the eagerly awaited new operating system – Snow Leopard which will be launched in September, the new iPhone 3.0 OS software update and of course the focus of the event this year, the launch of the new iPhone 3GS – ‘ the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet’

The iPhone 3GS – (S stands for speed) has been speculated and rumoured on many of the reputable blogging and news sites that follow what Apple is working on. This time they were almost spot on with their predictions which is very good news for us iPhone users because of the very exciting new features it represents.

iPhone 3GS Features:

Improved Performance

The main selling factor of the iPhone 3GS is its improved performance. The time it takes to launch applications, WebPages and email attachments is noticeably up to 2 times faster. That and with its updated 3D graphics should improve its user experience considerably and will obviously boost Apple’s marketing as a gaming device through the downloading of applications through their app store.

3MP autofocus camera

The Camera has been tuned up, now 3 megapixels to make it more competitive with other phones available on the market. iPhone users have been keen to see an improvement due to reviews of the iPhone camera in the past being sluggish with a poor ability to adjust white balance or focus. The new camera now has an autofocus with a built in feature that allows you to tap the display to focus on anything, auto white balance and a macro setting for photographing close up.

Video recording

The video recording option is another key feature of the new iPhone. You can toggle between the camera and video option, shoot footage at a rate of 30 frames per second, edit what you have recorded and share this.

Voice Control

Voice commands have always been in the background for Apple. It is built into their operating system but it’s the first time it has been incorporated into an iPhone. It will give the user the option of voice activated calls, as well as select songs from your iTunes playlists; you can even request it to play songs like the one you are listening to and automatically creates a genius playlist. Obviously this is fantastic for the app developers out there because they can make best use of this function and incorporate it into their own applications.

Digital compass

The digital compass is something that any Google map fanatic has been waiting for. Have you ever been somewhere trying to use a Google map and having no idea what direction your facing? Well this solves that problem. It gives you your latitude, longitude and precise direction – not to mention the benefits of having something so accurate that it is beneficial to any application (including gaming) that relies heavily on the iPhones accelerometer.

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