Study: Frequent “Smartphone Shoppers” Buy More Than Others

Considerable research has already established that smartphone owners use their devices heavily during offline shopping and “pre-shopping” activities. Now Google is out with new sponsored research that reinforces the message and adds a few new insights. The study’s insights come through both surveys and observation. Read more about the study here.

Survey: 49% Of SMBs To Incorporate Mobile Into Marketing Efforts Next Year A new survey sponsored by mobile lead-gen provider Pontiflex found that 49 percent of small businesses (SMBs) are “somewhat likely or very likely” to incorporate mobile into their marketing efforts in the next year. The online survey had 1,300 respondents, mostly from the US.
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Survey: 49% Of SMBs To Incorporate Mobile Into Marketing Efforts Next Year

A new survey sponsored by mobile lead-gen provider Pontiflex found that 49 percent of small businesses (SMBs) are “somewhat likely or very likely” to incorporate mobile into their marketing efforts in the next year. The online survey had 1,300 respondents, mostly from the US.

Meeker: Mobile Advertising A $20 Billion Opportunity In US Mobile advertising will come in somewhere around $2.5 to $3.0 billion in the US this year. However Kleiner Perkins’ Mary Meeker, who is a former Morgan Stanley analyst, says the opportunity is roughly $20 billion. Among the 110 slides in her presentation to the D10 conference yesterday is one that illustrates her thinking on this point. This is one of those familiar time spent vs. share of ad spend slides that everyone has seen. Meeker shows online advertising almost catching up with consumer time spent — which Business Insider identified as a bad omen for online ad spending growth. However there’s a major gap between time spent with mobile and monetization. There are different stats and metrics floating around regarding how much time is spent with mobile. For example, ad network InMobi has argued that mobile web users are spending more time with mobile now than conventional TV (based on international Q4 2011 survey data). And Flurry Analytics has famously said that people in the US  spend more time in mobile apps than they do on the PC internet. The logic behind these “time spent vs. ad spend” statements is the assumption that money will move with consumer eyeballs. That’s generally a correct assumption at the highest level. Advertisers want to be where audiences are. But friction, fragmentation and other challenges can complicate that migration. Read more about mobile advertising reaching that $20 billion potential.
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Meeker: Mobile Advertising A $20 Billion Opportunity In US

Mobile advertising will come in somewhere around $2.5 to $3.0 billion in the US this year. However Kleiner Perkins’ Mary Meeker, who is a former Morgan Stanley analyst, says the opportunity is roughly $20 billion. Among the 110 slides in her presentation to the D10 conference yesterday is one that illustrates her thinking on this point.

This is one of those familiar time spent vs. share of ad spend slides that everyone has seen. Meeker shows online advertising almost catching up with consumer time spent — which Business Insider identified as a bad omen for online ad spending growth.

However there’s a major gap between time spent with mobile and monetization.

There are different stats and metrics floating around regarding how much time is spent with mobile. For example, ad network InMobi has argued that mobile web users are spending more time with mobile now than conventional TV (based on international Q4 2011 survey data). And Flurry Analytics has famously said that people in the US  spend more time in mobile apps than they do on the PC internet.

The logic behind these “time spent vs. ad spend” statements is the assumption that money will move with consumer eyeballs. That’s generally a correct assumption at the highest level. Advertisers want to be where audiences are. But friction, fragmentation and other challenges can complicate that migration.

Read more about mobile advertising reaching that $20 billion potential.

Source: marketingland.com

springwise: Platform enables diners to view the menu and order on their smartphone QR codes have proved themselves to be a useful tool across a wide range of industries, and the catering sector is no different. In February, we covered the LA-based Paperlinks service, which enables take out restaurants to direct customers to mobile ordering via a code on their menus. Now offering a system for sit-down restaurants and other hospitality services, Your Smart Butler allows diners to view the menu and place their order solely using their smartphones through QR code technology. READ MORE… So much for not using your phone at the table.
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springwise:

Platform enables diners to view the menu and order on their smartphone

QR codes have proved themselves to be a useful tool across a wide range of industries, and the catering sector is no different. In February, we covered the LA-based Paperlinks service, which enables take out restaurants to direct customers to mobile ordering via a code on their menus. Now offering a system for sit-down restaurants and other hospitality services, Your Smart Butler allows diners to view the menu and place their order solely using their smartphones through QR code technology. READ MORE…

So much for not using your phone at the table.

(via stoweboyd)

Source: springwise

Why Restaurants & Other Local Businesses Need Mobile (Not Responsive) Sites

Mobile searchers are looking for something different than desktop searchers, especially in certain categories.

If you’re going to SMX Advanced in Seattle in June, be sure to attend the iSEO: Doing Mobile Search Engine Optimization Right session for more details on how this research was done, and what it could mean for your business.

Source: searchengineland.com

Will Apple’s Move Bring A Real & Perhaps Better Google Maps To iOS?

by Greg Sterling

After I wrote the story saying that Apple was going to replace Google Maps with its own product when it rolls out as part of iOS 6, I had a conversation with a friend. He reminded me that Apple is actually in control of the majority of elements of the Maps app on the iPhone.

Accordingly, “Google Maps” on the iPhone is not exactly that. Google provides the local data and some other things but Apple dictates and controls the ultimate user experience.

Apple controls mapping on iOS

I had logically assumed that we weren’t seeing all the cool Google Maps updates and features (i.e., indoor navigation) on the iPhone because Google was withholding them for competitive reasons: to boost Android. This theory of mine may be quite inaccurate.

When Google Navigation was first introduced in November 2009, Vic Gundotra (then working on mobile) said that Google would bring Navigation to the iPhone when Apple was ready (there were also some technical issues at the time). Three years later it hasn’t shown up (maybe it got lost on the way).

Seriously, what if Apple was actually the company that didn’t want a full-featured version of Google Maps on the iPhone? But why?

Maybe it’s Apple that wanted a weaker “Google Maps”

Here’s a bit of conspiracy theory: What if Apple wanted to replace Google Maps from a very early point and the company was biding its time until it could acquire and build the core assets and expertise to do so? Maybe that early point was when former CEO Steve Jobs’ attitude toward Google changed, when he began to feel that Android was “a stolen product”?

To continue with my conjecture, maybe Apple thought it would be harder to wean iPhone users off a stronger Google-powered mapping product than the comparatively weak one that exists today. I know this seems very contrary to Apple’s culture and corporate ethos. Yet replacing a weaker product with a stronger one is a lot easier than taking away a strong product from users who’ve come to depend on it.

We have seen the claims about the strength of Apple’s forthcoming mapping product but haven’t seen it in action. A Google Maps app for the iPhone with features comparable to the Android version would be a lot harder to displace than the current more basic version.

Let’s assume that at some point in Q3 this year Google’s direct mapping involvement with Apple ends. What could Google do? What might it do?

An unexpected boon for Google in getting bounced?

It could of course create an iOS Google Maps app, just like the many other Google apps for the iPhone: Google+, Gmail, Earth, Voice, Books, Latitude, Shopper, Places and so on.

There’s also some support for my just-hatched conspiracy theory in the fact that all the Google iOS apps mentioned are not crippled or diminished versions of their Android brethren. They’re as good or in some instances stronger than the Android versions.

Given all that, why would Google countenance a less-than-optimal version of one it its flagship products on the iPhone? And why would the intensely competitive Apple tolerate a clearly weaker product that is so central to the iPhone experience?

It’s curious and a little inexplicable. Very soon it may all be academic as Google loses its mapping role on the iPhone. However in the wake of that likely inevitability, Google could roll out a more full-featured mapping app with all the bells and whistles (e.g., Navigation) and thus provide a better overall experience than the iPhone-Google Maps of today.

Google might lose some traffic and usage in the near term; Google Maps is the top LBS app and one of the top two apps on iOS and Android generally. But getting booted out of its position as official iOS mapping app might ultimately turn out to be a good thing and potential boon for Google.

Source: marketingland.com