Mobile Fix: Five years of the iPhone revolution…
Simon Andrews, founder of the full service mobile agency addictive!, on why we should all raise a glass to Apple’s iPhone…
It is five years this week since the iPhone launched. While we have been doing bits and pieces with mobile since 2002, it’s pretty clear that the decade of mobile started with the iPhone.
We ought to consider just how profound the effect of the iPhone has been. It has made $150 billion in revenue and generated so much value elsewhere in the ecosystem it has facilitated. The handset has created a large number of jobs and changed all of our lives.
Arguably it is also in the process of destroying value as huge businesses such as Dell, HP, RIM and others are reeling.
Clearly the next five years are likely to be more challenging as operators question the value of subsidising devices and competitors step up with better products. We have seen little to suggest so far, however, that a radical shake-up of the status quo is imminent.
So we should all raise a glass to Apple.
If anyone is to rain on that parade, it’s likely to be Google. As they build out their vertical stack to compete with Apple (hardware, software, content storage, sales, payments and social) we should expect strong products.
At Google’s I/O developer conference last week, some interesting products were shown. The Google Glasses are on pre-order and exciting many, not least because of the cool way the product was demonstrated with live skydiving.
Their entertainment product has been announced, the Nexus Q. Billed as the first social streaming media player, it does look interesting. With the company’s TV play coming to the UK over the summer, Google are competing for the living room too.
The big product news from I/O was the much anticipated Nexus Tablet, known as the Nexus 7. Billed by many as a Kindle killer, to us it confirmed that Google intend to take their Android pricing strategy for phones into tablets.
At $200 the Nexus will appeal to a different audience to the iPad and is most likely to cannabilise the Kindle Fire. Although this is dependent of course on what the new one does.
Just as Android phones largely sell at a cheaper price point than the iPhone, so Google can expand the tablet market without having to go head-to-head with the iPad.
However, we suspect that, as with premium Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy 3, they will launch a tablet at the top end of the market at some point. Could that be the first product from newly-owned Motorola?
Like Amazon, Google aren’t looking to make a profit from the hardware. Google merely want to cement their position in the content space and make money there. Of course Apple make stacks of money from both hardware and software.
Other cool stuff from Google is a teaser about the Chrome Lab coming to the Science Museum this summer, and obviously available online too.
Next time someone rolls out that chestnut about HTML5 not being ready for prime time, show them these wonderful mobile experiments from Google, all using the various technologies that we shorthand as HTML5.
Payments
As our friends from The Mobile Money Network illustrate just how much effect mobile is having on retail, on payments and beyond, PayPal are reorganising to make their structure simpler and faster. They are going to be (even) more mobile-focused.
One US player that hasn’t made it over here yet is Shopkick, where people check-in at stores to get vouchers and offers based on their profile.
Participating stores (including Macy’s, Best Buy and Target) install a box on the wall emitting a high frequency noise that the app uses to identify the location. They have now partnered with Mastercard to deliver rewards, showing how mobile is disrupting both retail and money.
While they have spent this week sorting out some IT problems, RBS are also innovating with mobile through their new GetCash service.
Those using it can send a code via SMS that enables the recipient to get money from any ATM without needing a card. Perfect if you are having problems with your bank account…
Of course this type of service has been available in markets like Kenya for years. As William Gibson says: “The future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed.”
While Martin Sorrell may not think that Facebook has much of a future as an ad medium, his counterpart at Havas disagrees, believing Facebook will end up being more valuable than Google.
Given they have much clearer routes to monetising things such as deals than Google currently does, we tend to agree. The news that Facebook are dropping credits to focus on payments suggests this will become key.
New data is emerging that shows mobile ads on Facebook are receiving a higher CPM than desktop, which is very promising, as is the news that Zappo are getting a great ROI from their Facebook ads: $3.50 revenue from every $1 spent.
One slightly odd move from Facebook this weeks shows where their head is. If a brand has a Facebook app, you are able to access the profile data of those who have installed the app and your messages are much less vulnerable to EdgeRank.
A key factor for many brands has been the opportunity to access the email address of users and therefore speak to them outside of Facebook.
A while back Facebook moved to make this permission-based; now, however, they have gone a step further to try and keep everything within their walled garden.
This week they quietly charged your main email address to a Facebook one, your username@facebook.com. You can theoretically change it back but they are not making it easy.
Connectivity
As Wi-Fi on the Underground rolls out in London, Virgin are trying to have operators rent bandwidth to offer to their customers.
They have a powerful argument as people increasingly expect to be able to get online and we don’t think anyone will want to be seen as denying their customers connectivity on the Central line.
There are quite a few groups looking to reinvent connectivity. We have talked about Karma who encourage people to share their 4G bandwidth with strangers and Free in France who use their customers set-top boxes to create four million Wi-Fi hotspots across France.
A new player in this space is OpenGarden, a start-up that has had rave reviews from New York VC Fred Wilson. Their app (currently for Android only) lets one device share its connectivity with any other around it; tethering without charges or limits.
Unsurprisingly the operators aren’t keen and AT&T has asked Google to make it unavailable to their customers. So far it’s still on Play but well worth watching.
Cannes
Last week we saw mobile come of age with the first dedicated awards in Cannes for mobile.
There were some really interesting winners, and the key thing to us was that nearly all were evidence that starting with a strong idea is crucial. Technology must then be used to bring that idea to life.
We still see too many examples of mobile marketing where it’s all about technology, with any idea added on as an afterthought.
RGA won the titanium with their work for Nike Fuelband, demonstrating the potential for marketing and product development to be blended: the perfect opportunity for mobile.
The Google project looking at re-imagining iconic ad campaigns for the digital age bore fruit for Coke with the mobile version of “Buy the World a Coke” winning gold.
The Toy Toyota campaign was also awarded gold, along with the really cool blend on mobile and digital out-of-home (DOOH) for Pennies for Life from our good friends at DLKWLowe.
One campaign we hadn’t seen before was Parking Douche from Russia: a very clever way to use location to counter anti-social behaviour.
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