Mobile Fix: The people who believe we’re in a dotcom bubble again got a little boost today
Simon Andrews, founder of the full service mobile agency addictive! (and a chair at this year’s Media Playground event): If you ask your social media expert about the big successes you tend to get pretty standard answers about Twitter & Facebook. LinkedIn has never been very cool & its role seems to have been understated by many. Not any more…
Not a huge week for news but plenty going on. Our 4Ps framework has been well received so we’ll use it to organise the news and views again…
Devices
Vodafone does a good job of summarising how far mobile has come – from the early yuppie bricks through the global infatuation with Snake to the smartphone revolution.
And Google looks at the Mobile Movement rounding up some of the facts that make mobile such a compelling opportunity for smart brands.
People
If you ask your local friendly moleskine toting social media expert about the big successes in social you tend to get pretty standard answers about Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn has never been very cool and its role as a social medium seems to have been understated by many.
Not any more. Their IPO today values them at around $10 billion- with their shares rising 173% on the first day of trading. The people who believe we’re in a dotcom bubble again got a little boost today.
The other business that desperately wants to be seen as a major player in social is Google, who have announced they will roll out Social Search around the world.
Places
We continue to believe civilians don’t take checking in seriously – yet. New research from comScore shows that 7% of US mobile users check-in and nearly 18% of smartphone users do. That’s pretty impressive.
The typical user of FourSquare et al is young and employed – a typical early adopter profile.
Whoever finds the mechanism to make check-ins cross the chasm could do really well here. Our money is on Facebook blending deals and places to create a truly mass market promotional platform.
Physical
All the banks and credit cards companies are trying to position themselves for when NFC finally gets traction. O2 have announced their mobile wallet (powered by Visa) will launch later this year.
And Mastercard have published research showing that most people are relaxed about the idea of using their phone for making payments.
Our QuiteeasyReally project is getting good acceptance but we still keep seeing QR campaigns that don’t help consumers understand what to do.
Promotions
With Groupon eyeing an IPO valuation of $25 billion – (that valuation is probably being upgraded right now following the LinkedIn performance) – they have confirmed our view that the business is essentially a mobile one – talking of 50% of their revenue coming from mobile within a couple of years.
And the everything else
Google had their annual Zeitgeist event outside London this week and the speaker line-up was as good as ever. It’s well worth taking a couple of hours to watch some of the sessions – world class thinking.
And talking of smart people, our friend Jeffery Cole talks about the rise and rise of mobile – We think everything is moving to mobile.
Econsultancy have some interesting insights on search – the proportion of locally focused search is growing – now around 22% of spend is locally focused. The same survey showed that the number of companies using mobile search doubled last year – but its still only at 16% in the UK.
We remain convinced mobile search is a huge opportunity – millions of people using it, not many people taking it seriously so little competition… and it works. What’s not to like?
Econsultancy also point to a fascinating report on mobile search, which suggests cost per click on mobile is usually cheaper than desktop, whilst click through rates are almost three times higher. What is everyone waiting for?
Finally
We’ve had a good week. The Mobile Guide we wrote in partnership with ISBA has finally been published and is getting a good reaction. For the launch we spoke at an interesting ISBA Digital Seminar at JWT. And we also spoke at an IAB event on Technology Explained, where we were dealing with the geekspeak and acronyms that plague the business. Our Buzzword Bingo game went down very well.
We’re still casting for talent to join the addictive team – especially producers and IA people – so if you know people who are really into mobile please point them in our direction.
And last of all, a bit of fun. Go to Google maps, select street view, and then press 3 on your keyboard. It all goes 3D!
Click here for your full Mobile Fix (complete with links to background articles).
Simon Andrews is chairing the Mobile Advertising session at MediaTel Group’s Media Playground 2011 on 9th June. For more information and to buy a discounted ticket, click here.