Posts Tagged ‘2011 predictions’

Evolution of mobile phone usage in Australia

Monday, October 17th, 2011

2011 Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index (AMPLI) were released earlier this month by AIMIA. The survey is designed to track trends across applications, services, social networking and mobile data in the Australian market. The key observation from the survey was the varying utility of mobile phone usage. Australian are undertaking a larger range of activities on their mobile phones (even more apparent with 63% of Australians opting for mobile plans with data included – up 6% on 2010).

Mobile Use:
Weekly use of their mobile phone:
- 51% browsed the internet on their phone (up 16% on 2010)
- 50% conducted a mobile search (up 15% on 2010)
- 25% use their mobile for banking (up 9% on 2010)
- 20% use their mobile to make payments (up 11% on 2010)

Mobile communication services
All mobile communication services are trending upwards from MMS to chat. Most significantly:
- 55% now use email on their mobile (up 13% on 2010)
- 53% use social networking (up 14% on 2010)
Those that elected email and social media as channels they used were amongst the highest of the very-high-level users (‘at least 5 times a day’), reporting 19% and 20% respectively.

Would people use their mobile as an EFTPOS or Credit Card? (Or how quickly can we expect Google Wallet and the likes to be taken up)
- 25% said yes
- 20% said they would need more information

Tablets:
For the first time, the AMPLI Survey captured respondent interest in tablets.
- 49% of respondents have tablets or intent to buy one in the next 6-12 mths
- Those that do own:
o 85% over 25
o 45% are 26-41
o 40% are over 41

Marketing to mobile devices:
40% of the sample had signed up to receive messages from businesses
- 44% of this group getting updates from banks
- 32% for retailers other than department stores
- 21% for beauty brands and
- 16% for travel agents
Less favourably, 60% of people had never bought something following an exposure to a mobile ad, although 15% purchased items after viewing brand messages more than 5% of the time.

Source: http://newsite.aimia.com.au/home/news/member-news/aimia—mnet-release-7th-annual-australian-mobile-phone-lifestyle-index-report

3 + 1 = 4G

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Telstra 4G

Telstra this morning announced it will start selling mobile broadband modems for its new 4G network, also known as long-term evolution technology or LTE.

The modems, “dongles”, will work at faster speeds inside the 4G network and revert to the 3G network in other areas.

Under construction since May, the network is now available in capital cities, airports and some regional areas.

Telstra claims that the time it takes for data to travel is half that of the 3G network – making it up to twice as fast.
The benefits

Telstra claim that it will be “faster, more furious downloads on your laptop

-       Download TV shows and movies in minutes and songs in seconds.

-       Less time buffering when enjoying high definition

-       Less lag and freeze frames for gamers.

-       Better connections for video chat with friends.

4G for Smart Phone Users

Currently only available to laptop users, Telstra announced plans to launch and HTC 4G Smart Phone next year.

Though Apple have not yet released their launch date for the iPhone 5 – it has been tipped to have the 4G LTE technology (a sure fire competitive advantage for Telstra should the rumors of an October launch be true).

Australia’s three mobile network operators have announced plans to build 4G networks but Telstra’s is the first to launch commercial services. Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia expect to launch their networks next year.

Implications:

As the provision of mobile data becomes faster, and consumers are able to get richer content, they will expect more from advertisers.

It’s important as marketers that we continue to  develop new and exciting online media, that will not only cut through, but engage.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/telstra-4g-25x-faster-first-handset-early-2012-20110927-1kund.html Lucy Battersby

http://www.beatweek.com/news/9493-iphone-5-release-date-brings-4s-for-sprint-antenna-4g-lte-assistant/

http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/mobile-broadband/bigpond/

First review of Google Wallet and the start of the mobile payment wars

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

Google Wallet officially launches

The long anticipated Google Wallet has finally rolled out.

The premise largely mimics the “tap and go” utilising near-field communication (NFC) technology. Google teamed up with Citi-bank and MasterCard USA as the first credit card, so for the moment Google Wallet only works with Citi-MasterCards or the Google Prepaid Card. Thanks to the partnership with MasterCard and the NFC chip in the mobile phone, the Google wallet works with thousands of PayPass merchants.

Christina Warren from Mashable has just revealed her first impressions of the new Google Wallet. After a 6 week trial in New York, she believes the real advantage for Google is what they have termed SingleTap. The SingleTap experience means that users can combine their coupons, loyalty cards and payment method all with one tap.

The real potential

Using the Google Offers app that can save coupons directly to Google Wallet for Android, users can make a payment with your default payment type, apply the coupon you have saved and also apply the purchase to their loyalty card for that store. Christina hailed it as “It’s a seamless process and it offers tangible value over fumbling through various cards”.

Fears over security

Don’t worry, Google Wallet is locked with a PIN, a measure they believe makes it “safer than a physical wallet”.

Fears over your privacy

No, well not right now. Google does record local transactions on your phone, but these transactions are only identified by the amount and location –and are only viewable to you.

Let the mobile payment wars begin

With a large amount of activity is happening in this space, mainstream adoption seems closer than ever.

It will be interesting to see how the competing solutions from MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, American Express will affect (or complicate) short-term adoption. In the meantime, Google’s approach is to create a platform that it wants everyone else to build on. That’s the general message the company has presented to Christina in regards to Google Wallet.

That’s lovely for Android users, but what about my iPhone

Apple has reportedly decided not to include NFC technology in this year’s new iPhone amid “lack of clear standards across the industry”.

Ready to throw out your wallet?

Not just yet. The technology is not in Australia yet and is still in its infancy overseas. So best to keep a hold of your wallet or PayPass enabled card for a little while longer.

Ref:

http://mashable.com/2011/09/20/google-wallet-review/

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-nfc-2011-3

Manifesto: The Future

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Adam Wohl answers these questions in a stunning article about creativity and technology. Read it here.

Reflections and Projections

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

What better way to kick off the new year with a look back at the past 12 months and some predictions for the next 12.

Here’s a few of the aforementioned that I’ve been reading.

2010 year in reviews

Twitter’s year in review 2010
http://yearinreview.twitter.com/

YouTube’s 2010 year in review (naturally Antoine gets a mention)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUzLhHH7gHg

The top brands on Facebook in 2010
http://www.good.is/post/year-in-review-2010-the-top-brands-on-facebook/

ZDNet Australia’s top viewed reviews in 2010
http://www.zdnet.com.au/2010-the-devices-you-wanted-339308203.htm

Dan Calladine – Media Milestones of 2010
http://digital-examples.blogspot.com/2010/12/media-milestones-of-2010.html

…and some predictions for 2011

A nice list of “must-read’s” from Gavin Heaton (@servantofchaos)
http://www.servantofchaos.com/2011/01/five-must-read-predictions-for-2011.html

Soap’s Digital Predictions for 2011
http://www.slideshare.net/soapcreative/soap-predictions-2011-wip

Mashable’s ten sites to watch in 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/01/03/websites-to-watch-in-2011/