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Spiral Arm News

Monday, February 25, 2008

Mobile trends

UK mobile internet penetration:
Most UK mobiles are capable of internet access, but only 16% of users have made use of it and only 10% to send or receive email. Greater 3G handset penetration is needed for mobile internet usage to grow. From 2005 to 2007 3G growth is at about 60% - suggested penetration for 2007 being 18% of the mobile market.
The article didn't offer any thoughts on what the 3G tipping point might be or when it could occur. But it did offer a few suggestions to what may help 3G handset adoption, which would help increase mobile internet usage. That being a cheaper 3G iphone.

North American mobile users are searching primarily for free downloadable content:
60% of North American mobile searches are for downloadable content, tied in second place were adult material and general web queries. Some what confusingly downloadable content did not include games, ringtones or wallpaper.

Read more and see a lot of graphs at emarketer, UK Mobile Internet Users, 22 February 2008 and Mobile Searchers Hunt for Downloads, 25 February 2008.

by Jono @ 22:47

Monday, February 18, 2008

Location relevant banner-like adverts delivered to WAP pages

Location information is based on  GPS position and as such can be hyper targeted - instead of Get your coffee from Starbucks, it can be Get your coffee from the Starbucks around the corner.  From Mashable.com, Feburary 6, 2008. 
by Jono @ 05:44

Monday, February 11, 2008

Half the world expected to own mobile phone in 08, good news for developing countries.

 The number of world wide mobile phone users is expected to reach 50 % this year - smh.com.au, February 7, 2008. From the Guardian, February 7 2008, we find this will be a boost for developing countries where mobile phone subscriptions in some cases have quadrupled in the last 6 years. With greater numbers of people having mobile phones, developing populations have greater access to knowledge. Increased access to mobile phones can also provide the ability to drive innovation. 
by Jono @ 22:59

Monday, February 04, 2008

SMS and calls continue to dominate phone usage.

Computing: "Despite the vast of number of features packed into today's mobile phones, over half of users (60 per cent) still use them purely for calling and sending SMS messages, according to a new study by mobile interaction management developers SNAPin Software."

Of other services...
  • 30% use their camera to take and send pictures.
  • 12% use email or access the internet.

Computing also reports: Mobile marketing poised for explosive growth. "ABI Research estimates that, as new platforms for ad-supported mobile search, video and gaming content services arrive, mobile marketing is expected to grow to over US$24bn worldwide in 2013 from just US$1.8bn in 2007."
by Richard @ 10:17

Friday, February 01, 2008

Pay in cheques by mobile phone.

From The Mobile Weblog: "To make a deposit, the user initiates a mobile banking session, keys in the deposit amount, and snaps a photo of the front and back of the check. The software captures the images and recognizes and extracts the check's Courtesy Amount and Legal Amount (CAR/LAR). Before transmitting data to the bank, ImageNet Mobile Deposit confirms the check images meet Check 21 accepted image quality standards. Once the bank's system receives the deposit, it sends the customer a confirmation text message."
by Richard @ 13:40