Do Consumer Electronics Trends Tell Us Anything About Content Consumption?

Best Buy has reported "difficult" third-quarter earnings. Best Buy Co. reported a 4.4 percent drop in fiscal-third-quarter profit on weak sales trends on Dec. 14, 2010.

The company also reduced its per-share profit forecast for the year to $3.20 to $3.40, below the level it had seen before raising the view to $3.55 to $3.70 in September.

Market share shifts might explain some of the activity. Maybe it explains nearly all of the weakness. The company said it was facing market share pressure, and one would have to think Wal-Mart and Amazon are factors.

But broader industry data on retail sales for November 2010 suggests electronics are not selling as well as other categories, which might seem curious in light of strong demand for tablet PCs, e-readers and smartphones. Electronics sales in November were were up 0.9 percent from November of last year, while total retail sales were up 7.7 percent from last year. Sporting goods were up 12.3 percent from last year. Clothing was up 7.5 percent. Food and beverage sales were up 3.2 percent.

One has to wonder if the sales weakness, notwithstanding strength in tablet PCs and smartphones, suggests something about changing consumer demand for products that support some content consumption modes. Some think the newer devices are enabling consumer use of "non-traditional" content applications and services.

By way of example, more people choosing to watch movies on their tablets or PCs or smartphones might mean less demand for big-screen TV displays. Online delivery might be cutting into demand for Blu-Ray players.

It's Official: The Traditional Electronics Industry Is Getting Thrashed

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704694004576019272298673158.html (subscription required)

Facebook World

This visual shows ten million pairs of Facebook friend relationships. As is the case for many other sets of data, the visual also shows that activity occurs where people live.

Some will interpret the data as evidence of the borderless world of Facebook. Aside from that observation, the data also reflect that fact that people do things, make things and consume things where they live.

This visual also is evidence of where network-connected people live, not just where they communicate with, and are conntected to, "friends."

Facebook | Visualizing Friendships

Android And iOS Lead Smartphone Impression Share

Android tied with iOS as the largest Smartphone OS on the Millennial Media network for November 2010, with both mobile operating systems sharing 38 percent of ad impressions on the network.

Millennial’s ads reach 63 million of a total of 77 million mobile web users in the U.S., or 81 percent of the U.S. mobile web.

Millennial: Android And iOS In Deadlock Again For Monthly Smartphone Impression Share

NBC/Universal, Sprint Feature Mobile Content to Create Uniqueness

Amy Randall, VP of creative partnerships and innovation for NBC/Universal, posed a simple question recently at the L.A. Mobile Entertainment Summit: “There’s a lot of things you can do [to market content] with a mobile phone. Our question is: What should you be doing?”

For “Heroes” in 2009, NBC/Universal and Sprint rolled out a 10-week story arc for a character in the series, offering Sprint customers the chance to watch the episodes a full 24 hours before anyone else got to see them.

One angle here is the creation of a unique experience for Sprint users. Given that some marketers believe there is much more room for creating experience differentiators using content, the campaign points to how that can be done.

Mobile Experts Mull Future | homemediamagazine.com

Mobile Ad Trends 2011

Google Mobile Payments System Could Track Advertising Effectiveness As Well

Google's new Nexus S device is the first Google device to include built-in near field communications. Normally considered a way to support mobile payments, Google might also be angling for a new way of validating, measuring and quantifying the impact of mobile advertising. If Google's NFC system supports payments, as well as identity, location and payment, it might be able to better demonstrate to advertisers the effectiveness of advertising.

Sure, Google's mobile ad network can be used to deliver coupons and other offers to mobile devices. But the payment capability might be important for reasons other than "payment."

In mobile and local advertising, the last few feet between a consumer seeing an ad and stepping into a store to make a purchase is largely untraceable. But if the mobile ad or coupon could be linked to the payment through an NFC chip in your phone, then Google can begin to measure the full cycle of click-throughs to purchase.

In other words, Google might be able to document the link between advertising and offer and actual purchase behavior. Advertisers will like that.

Google Bought Stealthy Mobile Payments Startup Zetawire

The major wireless carriers came together in 2003 to create short codes to allow marketers to easily communicate with consumers. Since then text messaging has exploded in popularity. Short codes haven’t seen growth to match. Why?

A long, opaque and expensive setup process prevents all but the largest brands from marketing to their customers with text messages. Enter the long code, otherwise known as a "phone number." Long codes offer instant setup, affordable transparent pricing, and no one standing between your company and your customers, some argue.

Short codes were supposed to bring mobile marketing to the masses. Long codes, virtual mobile phone numbers that can send and receive text messages stand ready to finally fulfill that promise. Or at least some of the potential. Most of us would agree that short codes have their place.

Wireless service providers, and marketers, have an obvious stake in such matters. Mobile marketing potentially is a revenue source for carriers and marketers as well. But for many marketers, ease of use matters. Some think long codes can help.

The Death Of The Short Code at Text Message Marketing Blog