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Juniper Research: Mobile coupon redemption value to approach $6 billion globally by 2014

Dusan Belic — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:13:32 +0000

In its new report titled “Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014,” Juniper Research forecasts that consumer usage of mobile coupons will generate close to $6 billion globally in retail redemption value by 2014.

However, the research company warns about stumbling blocks the industry faces: apathy amongst the wider public, and the lack of willingness to learn a new method of making financial transactions. Juniper goes on suggesting that smart posters with embedded NFC tags will bring to life static billboards, enabling interaction between potential customers and their prospective purchases.

Further findings from the report include:

ARPU from NFC coupons and smart posters will exceed ARPU from NFC payment transactions;
The vast majority of mobile coupon redemption value will be generated by the Far East & China, Western Europe and North America in 2014.

As usual, more information about the report is available from Juniper’s website.

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IDC + Canalys: Q3 2009 was a record breaker for smartphone shipments

Stefan Constantinescu — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:07:48 +0000

The economy, which is experiencing either a recession, or depression depending on who you ask, is starting to look better, but make no mistake, a lot of people are still hurting and will continue to hurt for a few more years. It’s surprising then that in the midst of all this belt tightening and frugal spending that in Q3 2009 smartphone sales broke a record. IDC says that 43.3 million smartphones shipped last quarter, while Canalys says 41.4 million, either way, they both conclude that this has been the best quarter, ever, for converged devices. Here are the numbers:

Manufacturer – (IDC) – (Canalys):

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) – (16.4 million) – (16.4 million)
RIM – (8.2 million) – (8.5 million)
Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) – (7.4 million) – (7.36 million)
HTC – (2.4 million) – (2.18 million)
Others (8.8 million) – (6.9 million)

In terms of growth as a percentage, IDC says RIM shot up 35.7% year on year, while Canalys reports 40.8%. Apple and Nokia are growing at roughly the same rate year on year, IDC says Nokia grew 6.6% while Apple achieved 7.1% growth, and Canalys is saying Nokia grew 6%, while Apple did marginally better at 6.7%. In terms of market share, Nokia is still number one: IDC is saying 37.9% and Canalys saying is 39.7%, both are higher than the 35% Nokia quoted themselves as having during their Q3 2009 financial conference call.

Mind share is another story all together, but to quote Steve Ballmer: “At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what the critics say, it matters what the customers say.”

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ABI Research: 27% of smartphones cost under $200 this year

Dusan Belic — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:43:08 +0000

We dig the idea of falling smartphone prices. ABI Research has been following the market and they say that in 2007 only 18% of these devices were priced under $200 retail. This year, however, that percentage went up to 27%, and by 2014 the research company predicts 45% of them [smartphones] will be priced below $200.

According to ABI, these numbers show changing consumers’ attitudes toward smartphones, and a corresponding shift in vendors’ and mobile operators’ sales and marketing strategies which ultimately lead to the current situation where we have more and more smartphones and conventional (feature) phones being priced in similar ranges.

ABI also points out that some smartphones are never subsidized (i.e. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) in the U.S.), but increasingly manufacturers want to see their higher end models reach high volumes of sales.

ABI’s mobile devices practice director Kevin Burden said: “Prices will hold at a certain point. We may never see a $30 smartphone. But over time, smartphones will take a substantial part of the mainstream handset market.”

More information about ABI Research’s new “Smartphone and OS Markets” report is available from their website.

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Analyst: Over half of Europeans want their next mobile phone to have a touch screen

Stefan Constantinescu — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:15:56 +0000

Analysts at Canalys (does that rhyme?) conducted a survey with over 3,000 people spread out over France, Germany and the United Kingdom to find out how large of an impact touch screen devices are having on Western Europe. The results speak for themselves: 38% want their next mobile phone to be finger touch enabled and 16% want their next device to be stylus enabled. That’s 54% of people who have simply had it with a regular T9 keypad and 5 way directional pad.

What about the people who are taking this survey and already have touch screen devices? Of those individuals (percentage not given) only 47% wanted their next mobile device to be touch enabled, which leads me to believe that buying into the touch screen hype and building a terrible user interface is almost as toxic as not making a touch screen model at all. Those with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and HTC devices are the most likely to buy another touch device, while those with Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) touch devices are the least likely to buy a touch screen again. The people most eager to buy a touch screen device? Men between the ages of 22 and 45. The people who least want a finger based touch enabled device? People who currently use stylus based devices.

Which side of the argument do you sit on? I’m still pounding away on buttons with my Nokia (NYSE: NOK) E71.

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ABI Research: Consumers to buy more 3G modems than businesses for the first time

Dusan Belic — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:40:13 +0000

In its latest report, ABI Research argues that consumers will buy more 3G modems than businesses for the first time. The research company anticipates that in 2010, 51% of these modems (mostly USB) will ship into the consumer segment, and by 2014 that percentage is expected to rise to 63%.

ABI continues adding that although notebooks and netbooks will increasingly feature embedded modem modules, penetration will remain slow in the near-term. To prove the point ABI points to 2009 figures when less than 5% of laptops and netbooks has shipped/will ship with embedded modems. However over the long-term, the attachment rates will reach significant levels and in 2014, 48% of laptops and netbooks will come with 3G or 4G data connectivity.

In addition, there’s one important factor that will shape the market in the mid-term – roll-out of mobile WiMAX and LTE networks during 2011 and 2012, which will create demand to upgrade to compatible modems…

Additional details on ABI Research’s report titled “Cellular Modems and Mobile Broadband Connectivity” are available from their website.

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Opera Software: Opera Mini saves consumers $8.1 billion per year in mobile data costs!

Dusan Belic — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:01:33 +0000

Opera Software is out with their monthly “State of the Mobile Web” report and we bring you some cool highlights:

You know Opera Mini works through proxy server that compresses data and sends you the user more bandwidth friendly version of the site. Well, thanks to that compression, Opera Software said that their mobile web browser has saved their users in top ten countries approximately $8.1 billion in mobile data costs! It’s important to note that this survey reflects metered rates only, not flat-rate subscription options.
In September 2009, more than 35.6 million people used Opera Mini, an 11.5% increase from August 2009 and more than 150% compared to September 2008. These people viewed 15 billion pages in the period – 7.2% increase since August and 230% since September of last year. In terms of data usage, September 2009 accounted for nearly 227 million MB of data for operators worldwide.
The top 10 countries for Opera Mini usage are (in order): Russia, Indonesia, India, China, Ukraine, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Poland and Vietnam.

As usual, you can get the full report from Opera’s website.

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ABI Research: 385 million ultra mobile devices to ship in 2014

Dusan Belic — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:31:02 +0000

ABI Research forecasts that ultra mobile devices (UMD) — which they say include Ultra Mobile PCs, netbooks, MIDs and some other mobile consumer electronics devices — will achieve a 385 million unit size in 2014.

The research company’s senior analyst Jeff Orr says that as uptake continues, developing markets will become the larger opportunity leveraging ARM-based, Linux-powered devices. The premium netbook category will also be established with larger screens and greater choices in connectivity solutions.

Orr also added that pocketable MIDs remain a far more interesting product segment to watch, as the market is still emerging. We have pure tablet-shaped devices, as well as models with sliding keyboards. “However, there is a danger that the MID market will disappear before it gets the chance to mature, as smartphones increase in popularity and mimic most if not all tasks performed by MIDs,” he added.

In addition, ABI says that the lines are blurring between MIDs and smartphones with the addition of voice capabilities. Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s N900 was not surprisingly pointed as a prime example… More information about ABI’s findings is available from their website.

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iPhone Breaks 100,000 Approved Apps

Simon Sage — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:21:08 +0000

A short month after announcing 85,000 apps in the iTunes store, recent metrics are hinting that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has approved over 100,000 applications for the iPhone (although only about 93,000 are currently available for download). All jokes about the proliferation of fart apps aside, the rate of growth and activity in the iPhone’s app market is nothing short of meteoric and has had many other manufacturers scrambling to get their own application stores up and running. While iTunes might be the original, it’s quickly becoming oversaturated; that’s good news for internal competition, but it does have a lot of developers looking to burgeoning on-device markets like webOS, Android, and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) where they’ll have an easier time to make a name for themselves. In any case, good on iPhone for reaching this landmark, and developers, keep ‘em coming.

[via Mashable]

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Study: iPhone Mom demographic could be a lucrative marketing target

Will Park — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:06:53 +0000

Soccer moms, move over, your time is over. It’s time to make room for the “iPhone Mom” – a relatively new demographic made up of female iPhone owners with children. A new survey from Greystripe indicates that the usually slow-to-adopt “mommy” segment has quickly become a significant consumer of mobile content and mobile applications. As a key purchase decision maker in most US households, sometimes the sole decision maker, the iPhone Mom could prove to be the most important demographic to advertisers.

Greystripe found that a typical iPhone Mom is 7% more likely to be African-American, but 5% less likely to be Hispanic, than the typical iPhone user in general. They wield a lot of purchasing-power in their homes – 96% are involved in purchase decisions, with 40% indicating that they alone decide what their family buys. And, these iPhone Moms use their iPhones for a variety of daily activities – 59% let their kids use their iPhone; 79% use their iPhone to keep their daily shopping duties organized, with 60% using it to locate a nearby store; and a healthy 42% of iPhone Moms use their iPhone at the grocery store. To top it all off, they’re an educated bunch – fully 80% of iPhone Moms have completed a an undergrad stint in college.

What do all these numbers mean for the typical iPhone user? Well, if advertisers take this iPhone market analysis to heart, you might soon see in-app and other types of mobile advertising catering to the iPhone Mom segment.

Check out Greystripe’s full report here [PDF link].

[Via: webwire]

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Refuseniks: People who prefer not to have a mobile phone; they’re out there!

Stefan Constantinescu — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:20:29 +0000

A few years ago I would have been stunned at this article in The New York Times about people who choose not to have a mobile phone, but lately I find myself sharing some of their feelings and at times even do the same things they do; turning my mobile phone off for a day, sometimes even an entire weekend. “Refuseniks”, a phrase I was unfamiliar with until today, go without a mobile phone for a variety of reasons. Gregory Han, 34 year old online blogger, says “It’s a luxury not to be reached when I’m out and about”, a statement I agree with wholeheartedly. Then there is Jenna Catsos, a 22 year old college student, who keeps it old school by writing letters to people. She thinks being able to be reached whenever and wherever is “scary”. The most frightening statistic in this article however is a statistic from the Pew Internet and American Life Project that says only 85% of Americans have mobile phones. For such a rich country to have less than 100% penetration rates is absurd.

[Via: Textually]

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Juniper Research: Over half a billion people to use mobile money transfer services by 2014

Dusan Belic — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:38:49 +0000

Juniper Research’s latest report titled “Mobile Money Transfer & Remittances: Markets, Forecasts & Strategies 2009-2014″ argues that the consumer demand for mobile money transfer services will see users exceed 500 million globally by 2014, most of which will come from the developing countries. The reason is simple – for many people living in such markets, a mobile phone will be their first touch with the banking system.

However, Juniper also points out that many of the mobile money services being announced will face political, regulatory or commercial challenges along the way.

Further findings from the report include:

Sophisticated mobile financial services such as loans and savings accounts can add to the attractiveness of mobile money services, and help to reduce mobile operator churn;
Africa & Middle East, Far East & China and the Indian Sub Continent will be the leading regions for national mobile money transfer services in 2014;

More information is available from Juniper Research’s website.

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GSMA Research: Mobile off-grid charging solutions are a $2.3 billion market opportunity

Dusan Belic — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:56:41 +0000

Simu Ya Solar - solar phone launched at Safaricom

A new GSMA report titled “Charging Choices” has revealed a $2.3 billion opportunity in the off-grid charging solutions such as solar phones or external solar chargers in emerging markets. GSMA’s Green Power for Mobile (GPM) programme commissioned the research, estimating there are 485 million mobile users without access to the electricity grid. Furthermore, a range of charging choices have been identified — all which could extend service availability and boost average revenues per user by 10-14%.

The research has found a significant interest in off grid solutions, with 60% of mobile operators interviewed already have or are exploring off-grid charging initiatives. However, there is currently only limited understanding about the full scope of options and the associated social and business benefits. Digicel and Safaricom, however, have demonstrated how to do this properly with their eco-friendly offerings… Additional details are available from the official press release.

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ABI Research: Nearly half of US consumers would choose an eco-friendly handset if properly priced

Dusan Belic — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:08:13 +0000

ABI Research has conducted a small survey of 1000 mobile phone users in North America, asking people what they think about “green” handsets and whether they would buy them. Key points identified include:

Approximately 7% of respondents would be willing to pay a premium for an environmentally friendly handset, and
A further 40% would choose a green handset over a conventional one if price, features, and performance were equal.
However, only 4% said they were “very familiar” with green handsets.

ABI argues that although components found in regular and eco-friendly handsets are the same, it is not that easy for manufacturers to fully “go green,” because such a move would involve revamping the whole supply chain and retooling the production process.

Hence, regulation could help. The EU has the most comprehensive regulations in place, which targets the most proactive handset vendors such as Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung, and Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)… Additional details are available in ABI’s special report titled “Green Mobile Devices.”

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Strategy Analytics: Smartphone owners use four to six apps regularly

Dusan Belic — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:43:12 +0000

Despite the fact that many smartphone users download multiple applications to their devices, Strategy Analytics argues that only about four to six applications are consistently used on a regular basis.

The research company surveyed smartphone users in the US and the UK, and has concluded that the iPhone users have downloaded and installed the largest number of applications, but these are not necessarily used on a regular basis. As for the Android users, they seem to remove the apps they don’t use, while those with BlackBerrys keep almost all of the applications they download.

Christopher Dodge, Analyst in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice, said that “only 57% of all smartphone applications device are being used regularly.” His colleague, Paul Brown, Senior Analyst at the company, added: “Application developers need to ensure that their application is useful, usable and compelling in order to ensure it will be used regularly and not just downloaded, used a couple of times, and then discarded.” We couldn’t agree more.

[Via: CellularNews]

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Monitor your heart rate using an iPhone App

Ben Robinson — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:53:40 +0000

Fastcompany.com has an interesting piece about a an iPhone app that was created to monitor your heart rate, and then broadcast it to the social network of your choice! The concept fits within the wider area of ‘body computing’, which apparently is about using technology to monitor physical health.

You apparently need to get a patch first that you wear on your chest – this contains the necessary circuitry to sense and broadcast the information to the iPhone, where it’s read in to the App. From there it’s a question of choosing how you want to share that information.

This stuff does exist mind you – the App was created for the third Body Computing Conference, and there is medical device company called Corventis that supplied the patch.

All very cool of course, and a new kind of auto-tweeting perhaps: ‘my heart rate is …..!”

But I wonder if the likes of Nike and Polar are watching and thinking they’d like that slice of the market – unlike this proof of concept, Nike has already done plenty of integration with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) with its Nike+ product – and Polar are recognised as being the leaders in ECG-accurate heart rate monitors – so how long before they come to market with something that does exactly this?

Well I don’t mind either way – I think the concept in and of itself is a neat one, and certainly those professional sportsmen/women, this might be an interesting way to engage with their fans for example.

[Via: fastcompany.com]

This stuff does exist mind you – the App was created for the third Body Computing Conference, and there is medical device company called Corventis that supplied the patch.

All very cool of course, and a new kind of auto-tweeting perhaps: ‘my heart rate is …..!”

But I wonder if the likes of Nike and Polar are watching and thinking they’d like that slice of the market – unlike this proof of concept, Nike has already done plenty of integration with Apple with its Nike+ product – and Polar are recognised as being the leaders in ECG-accurate heart rate monitors – so how long before they come to market with something that does exactly this?

[Via: fastcompany.com]

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Palm Pre demand outpaces intial iPhone demand in UK!

Will Park — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:15:28 +0000

While the iPhone might be the most satisfying smartphone in the US, more and more Brits are looking toward the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre to quench their smartphone cravings. A new survey from TNS indicates that a healthy 26% of the UK is interested in picking up an O2 (NYSE: TEF) Palm Pre of their own – they are either definitely or probably going to buy an O2 Palm Pre in the near future. Compared with just 16% of Brits that were showed initial interest in the iPhone in TNS’s 2007 survey, it’s clear that the Palm Pre is in higher demand than the iPhone.

The survey also showed the 27% of current O2 customers were interested in picking up a Palm Pre. That compares with 17% of O2 customers that were looking to pick up an iPhone from their carrier in 2007. The numbers point to a UK Palm Pre launch that might just give the US launch some insecurity issues.

To be fair, the higher interest in the Palm Pre is likely attributable to the Pre’s free-on-contract pricing. The iPhone was offered for £269, and many of those initial iPhone customers are coming up on contract renewals that would allow them to put a Palm Pre in their pockets for free. There’s also the possibility that the iPhone itself may have boosted Palm Pre awareness by way of bringing the smartphone to forefront of the consumer mind.

The Palm Pre hasn’t been the fantastic success that Palm had hoped for the US market, but all is not lost. If TNS survey results pan out, Palm could see the Pre carving out significant market share in the UK.

[Via: CN]

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Apple takes the cake in smartphone satisfaction, LG wins hearts with featurephone

Will Park — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:27:54 +0000

If you thought the iPhone was the best smartphone you’ve ever used, you’re not alone. According to JD Power & Associates’ latest survey of 1,148 respondents, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone is the most satisfying smartphone in both the consumer and enterprise segments (yet again). And, when it comes to featurephones (which don’t run mobile operating systems that can install and run third-party applications), LG takes top billing. The JD Power survey found that LG’s not-so-smartphones were the only handsets to earn satisfaction ratings above the industry average.

How did it all break down? While the iPhone scored perfectly in 5 out of 6 smartphone satisfaction categories, its ongoing lack of battery longevity earned it an abysmal score of 2/5 stars in the “Battery Function” category. Still, it was enough to trump both LG and RIM (BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)) in the consumer smartphone segment, as well as RIM in the enterprise space.

Apple’s iPhone has long been known to satisfy. But, with Android phone offering compelling designs and eye-catching UI’s from the likes of HTC and Motorola (NYSE: MOT), we’re expecting to see the Apple’s lead in consumer satisfaction starting to close. We have to wonder what JD Power’s next survey will show.

[Via: JDPower]

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Blackberry Beating iPhone in Indonesia by Mobile Ad Requests

Ben Robinson — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:28:35 +0000

… well at it is, according to InMobi!

InMobi is the largest mobile ad network in Asia, Africa and Indonesia, and has released data showing that RIM’s Blackberry (NSDQ: RIMM) device may be leading the handset race in Indonesia. From January 2009 to June 2009, mobile ad requests on Blackberry phones increased by 842%, compared to mobile ad requests on Indonesia iPhones, which increased only by 205%.

RIM’s Blackberry device (the info doesn’t say which models) was released three months before the iPhone in the country in January of 2009. Although Blackberry and iPhone had similar growth patterns after the iPhone launch, the two handsets took dramatically different growth paths beginning in April 2009.

Indonesia is predicted to be the third largest mobile market after China and India by 2010 according to the ROA Group. Already, mobile users in Indonesia far outnumber active Internet users by 5 to 1, and the country boasts a 56.8% mobile penetration rate verses a 10.4% according to Internet World Stats.

Just in case you wanted to know, the top mobile Internet operator in Indonesia is Indosat, which leads the market with 75% share, followed by Telekomsel with 18% and Excelcomindo with 3%. Fierce competition between mobile operators and a price war between vendors created an influx of affordable mobile phones this year.

InMobi is the largest mobile ad network in Asia, Africa and Indonesia, and has released data showing that RIM’s Blackberry device may be leading the handset race in Indonesia. From January 2009 to June 2009, mobile ad requests on Blackberry phones increased by 842%, compared to mobile ad requests on Indonesia iPhones, which increased only by 205%.

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Nokia Working on Augmented Reality Language Translation via OCR Character Recognition

Simon Sage — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:21:11 +0000

After getting a demo of some of the cool vector map capabilities on the N900 at CTIA, I prodded a Nokia (NYSE: NOK) rep about what they’ve been working on with augmented reality (since zooming down to street level on the map to check out the 3D rendering of a stadium was awfully close). He mentioned that there’s an project in alpha within Nokia that involves OCR character recognition that would effectively translate text seen through the camera into other languages. Sounds like a logical extension of Point and Find. Camera quality is a bottleneck, but now that phones are getting into the 8-12 megapixel range and optics are continually improving, picking up small text is becoming less of an issue. Given, this program will probably produce the garden variety hilarity of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) translations, it’s all you would need to get by in a foreign country.

And let’s face it: you know you’re living in the freaking future when you can point your phone at a bunch of alien characters and have them magically make sense. Combined with something like Sakhr’s voice translation software, one could be well-armed to handle some pretty exotic locales.

[pic]

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iFixit -The Nikon Coolpix S1000pj Teardown

Ben Robinson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:58:41 +0000

Those boys over at iFixit have done it again – this time they’ve taken apart the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj (catch name, eh!) camera! Now, you might be wondering why this is so exciting – well two (linked) reasons:

The camera has a project onboard – yes indeed!
These projector modules are coming to mass-market mobile near you relatively soon!

So it’s interesting to see right now how they’ve fitted in the projector module to a device with a slightly larger form-factor. Bear in mind the camera doesn’t try to be a phone, it just does a couple of things (like take pictures, and beam ‘em) really well – so there’s a little space in that housing to fit the projector module. But it won’t be long before they are commonly featuring (and yes, I know these modules have already been on a couple of mobile devices to-date, but they weren’t mass-market).

Anyway, check out the full teardown here at iFixit.

[Via: iFixit]

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