Mobile Will Need to Become an "App Platform"

For European mobile operators, the next phase of business development will be about mobile service as a platform for web and other applications, displacing a more-recent phase where success hinged on new data revenues, smart phones, reducing operating costs and raising average revenue per user, says Declan Lonergan, Yankee Group analyst.

Clearly gone is the period where success could be built around text messaging, voice revenue and minutes of use.

Some executives rightly will be concerned, if only because the next phase of growth will depend on the ability to create a new revenue platform based on access and other elements of mobile service that can be sold to business partners, if not directly to end users.

Mobile Will Need to Become an "App Platform"

Apple iMessage Will Act Like BlackBerry Messenger

Apple's new iMessage service will act in a manner similar to BlackBerry Messenger. Depending on your point of view, that is a major alternative to carrier-provided text messaging, or not a factor. iMessages will be sent using the standard data connection, and could replace a text message, so long as the recipient also is on an iOS device.

So iPhone owners who are able to send iMessages to the people they most often text with might find the feature quite useful. Such users might be able to pay text messaging plans that save them money. Others will simply find they don't want to think about "how" to send a message. Also, lots of users are on unlimited texting plans in any case, so the "savings" actually aren't there.

Apple Attacked Mobile Carriers Today, But Also Gave Them A Gift

Apple's iOS 5: No More Syncing to a PC

With iOS 5, Apple finally has moved device set-up and updates away from the need to connect to a PC to accomplish such tasks. One assumes that eventually will happen with iPads as well.

Apple also has integrated Twitter, providing a single sign-on for Twitter use on the phone, and with any app you download, it will just ask you for Twitter credential permission.

There’s no need to re login. The practical advantages are that photos, maps, YouTube videos, web content and location details can be sent directly from inside the applications.

Twitter photos and @usernames can be autopulled into the phone’s contacts.

Apple's PC-Free iOS 5 Coming This Fall

"No Ads" for iCloud Email

However Apple sees monetization of iCloud, "ads" does not seem to be among the approaches. While discussing Apple's free, new iCloud email service, CEO Steve Jobs said the new email service would not feature advertising.

"We build products that we want for ourselves, too, and we just don't want ads," said Jobs.

Read more here

Mobile Social Networking Grows 10%

The frequency of mobile social networking grew about 10 percent between the three-month period ended January 2011 and the three-month period ended April 2011, according to comScore MobiLens data.

Some 28 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers accessed a social networking site via mobile phone in April, compared to 25 percent in January.

Mobile Social Networking Grows

New Apple iOS Features

For some of us, Apple's new iCloud services are more interesting than updates to the Apple iOS, but there were new features announced at the same developer meeting where iCloud services were announced.

$12 Billion Personal Cloud Business?

Though Apple’s iCloud services are available “at no incremental cost,” analysts at Forrester Research estimate there is about $12 billion in annual revenue (by 2016), about $6 billion earned in the form of subscription fees,  to be earned by providers of “personal cloud” services that help people manage their personal and work-related information across the many devices they use.



More than half the U.S. online population, about 135 million people, have the challenge of managing their content across multiple PCs and smartphones, Forrester Research says.


Apple is innovating on par with the most notable startups in the personal cloud space, such as Dropbox, Box.net, and Evernote, and is ahead of Google, says Frank Gillett, Forrester Research analyst. Gillett We expects Amazon, Facebook and other major players to pursue personal cloud strategies as well.


Read more here: http://goo.gl/7zsqE

Apple Launches iCloud Services

Apple has launched  “iCloud,” a set of free cloud services that synchronize applications on  iPhones, iPads, iPod touch, Mac or PC devices. Content stored on iCloud is automatically and wirelessly pushed to all of a user’s registered devices when changes are made.

The free iCloud services include the former “MobileMe” services such as contacts, calendar and mail, The App Store and iBookstore.

Purchased iOS apps and books can be downloaded to all of a user’s devices, not just the device they were purchased on. Tapping the iCloud icon will download any apps and books to any iOS device (up to 10 devices) at no additional cost.

iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up iOS devices to iCloud daily over Wi-Fi when users charge their iPhones, iPads or iPod touch devices. Backed up content includes purchased music, apps and books, “Camera Roll” (photos and videos), device settings and app data.
iCloud Storage seamlessly stores all documents created using iCloud Storage APIs and automatically pushes them to all of a user’s devices. When you change a document on any device, iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all your devices. Apple’s “Pages,” “Numbers” and “Keynote” apps already take advantage of iCloud Storage.

Users get up to 5GB of free storage for their mail, documents and backup.

iCloud’s “Photo Stream” service automatically uploads the photos a user takes or imports on any of their devices and wirelessly pushes them to all of a user’s devices and computers.

Apple’s “iTunes in the Cloud” lets users download previously purchased iTunes music to all of a user’s  iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all devices.

Marketing in the "Age of the Customer"

It would be easy enough to consider content marketing as a tactic, rather part of a strategy. But in the "age of the customer," content marketing is a tactic that fits with a fundamental strategic approach as well. That isn't to say content marketing is THE strategy, only that content marketing is a tactic clearly aligned with new market imperatives and strategies.

The issue is what provides sustainable advantage in an era. Previous sources of dominance were derived from core competence in manufacturing, distribution or information. Those sorts of competencies still are important, but arguably are not the unique sources of competitive advantage for most firms and brands.

The new context is that, in a digital world, competition can come from anywhere. Customers have real-time information about pricing, product features and competitors; they hold all the advantages. The only sustainable source of competitive advantage, the only defensible position, is to concentrate on knowledge of and engagement with customers, some would argue.

That might suggest a "customer obsessed" strategy, where budgets focus on processes that enhance engagements with customers, and prioritizes these over maintaining traditional competitive sources of advantage.

You might change the way you do research, says Josh Bernoff, Forrester Research analyst. You might spend less on surveys whose results come back too late to act on. You might invest instead in real-time listening to social media and the search for customers' unarticulated needs.

You might take cash from your email and advertising blasts and spend it on interactive content and mobile apps that create real connections.

The point is that there is a reason people talk so much these days about "engagement," "conversation" and "connections." Those are ways of responding to a market where customers have more power. It might be going too far to say that "brands" now are in the hands of consumers, but the shift in that direction is palpable.

Content marketing fits because it is one way to create and sustain brand engagement.

Empowered

Glass Half Full on Video Cord Cutting?

It would be hard to argue that there is any current and massive trend for U.S. households to substitute online video for linear subscription TV services. On the other hand, it also would be hard to argue that the trend is not in place.

Such substitution is only “nascent,” but could grow if content owners decide to provide the content in that way, said Time Warner

chief operating officer, Landel Hobbs. Though it remains largely true that Americans are not rushing to cancel their subscription TV services, as a survey by the Consumer Electronics Association suggests, neither would it be true to say the phenomenon is not growing.

But 10 percent of survey respondents say they are “very likely” or “likely” to cancel their linear video service. And about 14 percent say they “might” do so. That is consistent with many other recent surveys. CEA’s research suggests that 76 percent of U.S. consumers have no interest in cancelling their multichannel video TV service, with 51 percent reporting they are “very unlikely” to cancel TV service.

Glass Half Full on Video Cord Cutting?

5 Percent of EC Consumers Buy Internet Access at Speeds of 39 Mbps or Above

There’s a clear gap between very high speed fixed broadband in the European Union countries and the availability of such connections. Only five percent of consumers buy fixed line broadband access at speeds of 30 Mbps and above, although 29 percent of households could buy service at such speeds if they wanted to, according to a new European Commission report.

The point is that there is more to ultra-fast broadband adoption than sometimes seems important. As it turns out, few U.S. customers actually buy services running at 50 Mbps or above, and most of the customers who do buy are probably business customers.

You might argue that the only real problem is that the faster services are too expensive. That’s true, but also difficult to change, as it would be difficult to find any cost savings, in any part of the fixed-line broadband access business, that would allow pricing of 50 Mbps or 100 Mbps services to be sold at similar prices as today's 20-Mbps services.

5 Percent of EC Consumers Buy Internet Access at Speeds of 39 Mbps or Above

Mortgage Origination Forecast

Housing is an important economic indicator. Mortgage issuance is related to housing purchases. So this forecast by the Mortgage Banking Association isn't pretty.

Mobile Users Warm Up to the Check-In

Checking in to location-based services on a mobile phone is still not a mainstream activity, but adoption is increasing, especially among smart phone users.

According to comScore, seven percent of all mobile users and 18 percent of smart phone users accessed check-in services in March 2011.

Users of check-in services were more likely than the overall smartphone population to be female, under 35 years old and full-time students.

Mobile Users Warm Up to the Check-In - eMarketer

NRF Finds Willingness to Use Social Commerce

The National Retail Federation reports that people are more willing to dabble in social commerce than many retailers realize, with 42 percent of those who shop online saying they at least occasionally "follow" a store on social media. More than 56 percent of Facebook users have clicked through to a retail site, while 67 percent of Twitter users have done so.

Perhaps the biggest finding is that these consumers are open to skipping brand sites entirely, with 35 percent saying they would be willing to make a purchase directly from Facebook, and 32 percent right from Twitter. Those findings obviously run counter to some sentiment that people on Facebook are in a socializing mood, not a shopping mood.

But other studies do suggest that social shopping is something users will do. Shoppers are willing to interact with retailers through a variety of social networks and retailers have limitless opportunities to capitalize on the momentum, according to the 2011 Social Commerce Study, a joint research project by Shop.org, comScore and Social Shopping Labs. The report, which evaluates shopping directly influenced by social media, polled 1787 adult online shoppers in April 2011. See New_study_evaluates_consumer_behaviors_attitudes_toward_social_commerce_.php.

According to the Shop.org survey, 42 percent of online consumers have "followed" a retailer proactively through Facebook, Twitter or a retailer's blog, and the average person follows about six retailers. While shoppers' reasoning for following a retailer varies, the majority of respondents (58 percent) said they follow companies to find deals, while nearly half (49 percent) say they want to keep up to date on products. More than one-third also follow retailers for information on contests and events (39 percent).

The NRF study, based on more than 1,700 online shoppers, found that those online shoppers who track retailers typically follow six stores, whether through Facebook, Twitter or a retailer's blog.

MediaPost Publications Online Shoppers 'Follow' Faves On Social Media 06/06/2011:

Facebook Accounts For 38% Of Sharing Traffic On The Web

Overall, sharing now produces an estimated 10 percent of all Internet traffic and 31 percent of referral traffic to sites from search and social.

Search is still about twice as big, according to ShareThis. Facebook appears to drive 38 percent of shared items, email about 17 percent and Twitter about 17 percent.

ShareThis Study: Facebook Accounts For 38 Percent Of Sharing Traffic On The Web