Business Intelligence Report

THE YEAR OF MOBILE MARKETING.

January 2012

Business Intelligence Report

MOBILE
Smartphone Penetration Will Hit 50%.

Marketing gone

Article after article in late 2011, early 2012 proclaimed this year to be the year mobile advertising, mobile shopping, mobile viewing and other mobile activities will come of age. Mobile growth and usage is driven by the powerful force of the consumers strong desire for all things mobile.

2011 saw smartphone and tablet shipments outpace computer purchases for the first time. The proportion of U.S. mobile subscribers with smartphones has swelled to 44%. That figure is more than double the 18% of two years ago and on track to meet Nielsens projection that half of American mobile users will have smartphones by this time. The growth will continue and this year, a majority of people will have smartphones (older people will be an important demographic), shops will undergo dramatic change, mobile ads will get richer and more interactive and advertising will be more responsive. Mobile voice control becomes a practical reality and new screens will appear with texture and gesture interaction. The tablet market will continue to rapidly expand, with users interacting (and buying) more than on mobile.

57% 49% 40% 20%

Smartphone owners access the mobile Web

Smartphone owners download apps

Mobile users use their smartphone or tablet to compare prices while in a store

All searches are conducted from mobile devices

Percentage of penetration levels currently achieved for various mobile activities. These are expected to grow dramatically in 2012.

Business Intelligence Report

SuRGE

Tablet Sales

Further, the share of U.S. adults who own tablets nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December 2011 and early January 2012, and the same surge in growth also applied to e-readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same period, per survey results released in January 2012 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In November 2010, just 5% of Americans owned a tablet, meaning that ownership has almost quadrupled in the past 14 months.

Data from the Pew surveys indicate a notable surge in ownership of tablet computers from mid-December 2011 to January 2012 among adults aged 18-29 (24% now vs. 10% then) and those aged 30-49 (27% now vs. 14% then). The share of college graduates owning a tablet also increased from 17% to 31%, while 36% of those living in households earning more than $75,000 now own a tablet, compared to 22% in mid-December.

Other key findings from the Pew report:

The proportion of men and women owning tablets is equal Adults aged 50-64 almost doubled their tablet ownership over the holiday period, rising from 8% to 15% E-reader ownership among adults 18-29 grew from 7% to 18% over the period, the largest percentage growth among age groups

94%
Laptops

75%
Tablets

58%
Mobile Phones

Percentage U.S. adults who have made purchases on devices.

Source: 1/17/12 Media Research Briefs, TechBargains

Business Intelligence Report

Tablet Sales Surge (cont.)

In a recent Forrester report it is projected that nearly one-third of all U.S. consumers will own a tablet device by 2015, totaling roughly 82 million people. The firm predicts tablet sales will grow from 10.3 million units in 2010 to 44 million in 2015, eclipsing laptop sales by roughly 5 million units in the process. Laptop sales will continue to grow, however, from 26.4 million in 2010 to 38.9 million in 2015, while desktop PC sales will decline from 20.5 million in 2010 to 18.2 million in 2015.

Not surprisingly, Forrester predicts a majority of tablets sold over the next few years will sport an Apple logo. Regardless of brand purchased, tablet devices will become a primary means for consumers to access nearly all forms of digital content in the very near future.

More than half of social networking sites usage will be on mobile devices. Social media is happening in real time and people share content when its happening. For instance, nearly 60% of mobile phone users planned to use their phones during this years Super Bowl. As more and more people get smartphones and tablets, sharing content will move towards mobile devices. Smartphones allow people to always be connected with social media, no matter where they are.

Social Media Driving Mobile Growth or is Mobile Growth Driving Social Media?
A few years ago no one could have imagined the huge impact social media now has. But with so many devices having built-in apps and ways to connect, 2012 will see even more engagement as a result of mobile growth and technical advancements.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

54%

52%

51%

50%

50%

50%

39%

Percent of total U.S. PC unit sales.*

32% 27%

Desktops

25% 22% 16%

25%

27%

28%

Notebooks/Laptops Tablets

23%

22%

Source: Forrester Research, Inc. *Does not include Netbook/Mini PC sales

7%

Business Intelligence Report

COMpETE
01

Equipment Manufacturers Will Innovate and

More so than any previous year, the mobile industry played a major role in shaping the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show held earlier in January. As reported in Information Week Mobility, with carrier, handset, and tablet news a-plenty, mobile tech had the tech world talking all week. IWs top mobile trends from the CES:

2012 Will Be The Year of LTE 4G

Dozens of new LTE 4G smartphones and tablets were announced by manufacturers and carriers. In fact, Verizon Wireless revealed that LTE 4G will be a requirement in most of the smartphones it is to release this year. LTE will become a mainstream technology this year, and CES 2012 was its coming out party. type, the more skeptical, less trusting the respondents are about the email in general.

02

Bigger Is Better
The smartphone market shows no signs of reversing course on screen size. Some of the new handsets have screens ranging between 4.7 and 5.3 inches. It won't be much longer before phone screens reach tablet proportions, if they haven't already.

Business Intelligence Report

03

Feature Phones Are All But Dead, Long Live the Smartphone
In years past, handset makers such as LG, Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung would have unveiled dozens of "regular" cell phones. Not so. In fact, there were hardly any feature phones announced at CES 2012. Instead, hardware makers introduced smartphones that will hit store shelves with $50 price points. It won't be long before feature phones are used only by the very young and the very old. Smartphones have taken over.

04

Mobile Payments Aren't Coming Any Time Soon

One thing that was missing at the CES this year: devices equipped with near-field communications and the ability to make mobile payments. The Samsung Galaxy Note is the only smartphone announced during the show that has the ability to use Google Wallet and make NFC-based retail purchases. The vast bulk of devices announced at the show lack NFC, and lack the ability to make mobile payments. This all but assures that NFC and mobile payments won't start to take off until nearly halfway through 2012.

05

Competition is Alive and Well

The mobile industry continues to thrive on innovation and competition. Smartphone makers are pushing the limits of what they can do with respect to smartphone design, and wireless network operators are rolling out the fastest mobile broadband networks they can. The mobile industry is on fire, and will continue to burn brightly for years to come.

Business Intelligence Report

SpENd & uSAGE

Marketing budgets are indeed following the hype and the eyeballs in 2012 as a majority of marketers are increasing spend on core mobile channels this year. In its survey of 500 companies and agencies (in partnership with Experian Marketing Services), eConsultancy found that 57% of company marketers plan to invest in mobile apps in 2012, and 48% in QR code programs. Right behind these high-profile mobile channels comes investment in mobile commerce (34%); mobile advertising (31%); mobile-optimized emails (31%); mobile search marketing (28%); and SMS (25%). However, only 10% or less of marketers were interested in mobile couponing, near-field communications (NFC) or MMS platforms. While companies may be interested in increasing spend on mobile marketing, eConsultancy found that as late as October 2011, 70% of the company sites they visited were not designed with mobile browsers in mind. They also found that only 14% of marketers were adjusting email design for mobile reading. The move to mobile investment is part of a larger drive toward digital budgets generally. eConsultancy also found that 68% of companies are increasing their digital spend overall, compared to 45% who say they are upping their overall marketing budgets and only 16% who are increasing traditional marketing.

Marketers to Increase Mobile

Business Intelligence Report

COMPANIES ARE FINALLY

getting the word on mobile optimization for a very simple reason the executives themselves are seeing the bad experience that a non-optimized site renders. Senior executives at home on their tablets and smartphones are wondering why the user experience for their own company websites are sub-standard.
eConsultancy

Business Intelligence Report

SuMMARY
So with increased demand for smartphones and tablets, innovative devices being launched by equipment manufacturers, the here and now engagement of social media, and more companies dipping their toe in the water of mobile marketing in a bigger way, 2012 will be the year of mobile marketing. Individuals, adults of all ages, just not teens and young adults, will be using their smartphones and tablets for texting, emailing, searching, browsing, gaming, social networking, watching, shopping, buying and more. Expectations will be set by progressive marketers in terms of the mobile experience, resulting in mobile, as an established content and communications vehicle. This will create interest and usage among other marketers, resulting in mobile taking its seat at the table along with traditional marketing vehicles.

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Business Intelligence Report

About Meers Business Intelligence Reports

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