Apple dominated 67% of all smartphone app downloads last year despite claiming just 14% of the overall smartphone market, said analysts Ovum.
However, the Symbian operating system, which is used by Nokia, commanded a 49% share of the smartphone installed base but only generated an estimated 9% of the total applications downloads market.
The report states that in 2015 Apple will generate a relatively modest 22% of app downloads, compared to 19% for Symbian.
Michele Mackenzie, principal analyst at Ovum and co-author of the Mobile Application Download Forecast 2009 to 2015, said: "The iPhone generates the lion’s share of smartphone app downloads but over the period we will see the share of application downloads becoming more equally distributed."
Between 2009 and 2015 Ovum expects Google's Android to increase its smartphone base from 5% to 18% penetration and its mobile application download share from 14% to 26%.
While BlackBerry looks set to lose smartphone share over the forecast period as newer players like Android move in aggressively, it will more than triple its share of the app download market from 5% to 17%.
http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1015018/Apple-dominance-app-download-market-set-wane/
Posted by jen | Comments (0)
Tags: iphone, nokia, symbian, android
Lonely Plant has made a move to expand its reach within the digital space, with the launch of a series of augmented reality (AR) apps on Google’s Android Market.The company already has a strong hold in the Apple App Store but wants to expand its mobile readership beyond this one domain.
The Lonely Planet Compass Guide apps use AR and the phone’s GPS features to display local attractions in 25 cities, including Bangkok, London and New York.
Matthew Cashmore, innovation and ecosystem manager at Lonely Planet, said the apps, priced at $4.99 (£3.14), are designed to drive premium revenues for the company, and ruled out any third-party ads.
In addition to the release of the AR city apps, they have recently introduced a discover eBooks series, which profiles areas of interest, on Apple’s iBookstore.
Lonely Plant’s expansion into these new digital arenas demonstrates their commitment to developing innovative and exciting products for their consumers, while at the same time developing their online operations.
Posted by jen | Comments (0)
Sales of Android phones have risen by more than 300% since the beginning of 2010! With 1 in 10 mobile contracts sold in the UK now running on Google's mobile operating system.
From the beginning of 2010, most of the UK's major mobile operators have started selling a number of Android based mobile devices, running on Google's Linux-based software. The HTC Desire and HTC Legend are among the devices hailed by critics and consumers alike. HTC, the Taiwanese manufacturer of many devices running Android, posted a 41% global sales increase for the first six months of 2010.
"The figures suggest an increasing number of consumers are now asking for Android handsets by name," said GfK analyst Megan Baldock. "Operating systems are no longer simply a by-product but a key selling point in their own right."
Posted by jen | Comments (0)
Aiming to increase the success of the Android App Market and reduce the gap with the Apple App Store, Google has released a web-based system which it says needs "NO programming knowledge" to write your own app.
The program, known as App Inventor, is attempting to bring app programming and creation to the masses. The web based application makes the whole process simpler by removing the tedious process of writing code and allow users to drag and drop display elements and use blocs to specify the app’s behavior. The creators said that there are blocks available for just about everything you can do with an Android phone, as well as the more depth function calls.
Google said it had been working on the system for a year and were pitched at those with little knowledge of programming.The programming system was developed with the help of computer scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who created a similar coding system known as Open Blocks.
Obviously Google’s main objective in producing the system is to increase the number of apps in the Android App Market and to add allure of their platform. However it will remain to be seen if App Inventor will lead to thousands of useless basic being developed or genuinely useful apps that will allow Android really challenge Apple as the rulers of the App space.
Posted by jen | Comments (0)
Foursquare are moving things to a higher level with the introduction of a new tool called “Location Layers”. Location layers will effectively tag information onto geographical locations.
To give a clearer picture, say you are near a location that was used in a famous film; you would receive an alert giving you information on that location and its connection with the film! The possibilities are endless for the type information that could integrated, such a live news needs, historical facts and more importantly commercial brand information!
The idea that brands can feed consumers information based on their current location sounds very promising, however foursquare would have to try and prevent it from descending into location information overload…
Posted by jen | Comments (2)
Although Ireland have no place in the European finals this time around we must soldier on and continue to join in the fun!
And so brings us to Carlsberg's latest campaign that hopes to help us do just that!
Return2Sender is deee-lighted to announce it's involvement in Carlsberg's "Live It" campaign which has just gone live in the past few weeks. "Live It" is primarily executed online and over mobile. The brand is advertising through all traditional channels (On - Pack, TV, Outdoor, DM etc..), banner ads online and mobile advertising.
The main objective for the activity is to get consumers signing up to the promotion to receive their free Carlsberg supporters pack through the post.
Consumers can sign up by visiting the liveit.ie website or by texting LIVEIT to the shortcode provided.
Once registered consumers are given exclusive access to the Live It supporters area where they can catch latest news updates and fixtures, take the footbal quiz, watch videos (incl. retro football moments),upload their own videos of classic footballl moments and downlaod screensavers and wallpapers. A support WAP site for the campaign has also been built and will also provide latest news, fixtures & results, TV listings, retro video vault and free mobile content. The mobile site will also be advertising on 02 active using banner ads.
If you would like to sign up text LIVEIT to 51725! Or visit www.liveit.ie
Posted by lisa | Comments (3)
Tags: carlsberg, euro 2008, new campaign, return2sender
Last week we released the first official study of mobile consumer behaviours and attitudes towards phone services and mobile marketing. The research, conducted on our behalf by Lansdowne Market Research, is nationally representative and highlights Irish mobile consumer attitudes and behaviours to SMS, picture messaging and mobile internet.
It was found that over a third would respond using text and that more consumers would prefer to respond using the text number supplied as opposed to visiting the website. Marginally more under – 35s would respond when compared with their older counterparts and there is little difference across social classes.
Our report also found that one in five mobile consumers are regularly using the mobile internet. These consumers represent the adoption of mobile internet as a new technology and are namely the “early adopters”. We expect to see considerable growth in this area through the second half of 2008 and going into 2009. Key mobile web services used by respondents vary by age.
While younger mobile Internet users are interested primarily in downloading ringtones, browsing and music, the over- 35s are more motivated by information services such as news and directions. As would be expected, male-oriented services include sports and news-related content. It is, however, significant, that larger numbers of females are using key services such as downloading ringtones and music.
77% of those asked admitted that they had never used the mobile internet and they cited lack of interest, perceived need and high data costs as reasons for this. Interestingly slow service, connection problems or lack of time were not seen as barriers to usage leading us to believe that there is a clear gap in the market for content owners and producers to engage the mobile audience by creating new needs and interests.
Another area of interest to us was picture messaging and we found that 60% of respondents have at some point sent or received a picture message with 10% doing so daily and a further 10% weekly. This supports statistics released by Comreg this week which claims that MMS usage increased by 6% in the last quarter of 2007.
To receive a full report on the research please click here
Posted by lisa | Comments (4)
Tags: statistics, mobile marketing, ireland, return2sender, mms, mobile internet, text marketing
In association with Dublin's WHPR we have just launched Mr.T on your mobile! Mr.T and Snickers are back on TV this month after huge success late last year and a WAP site full of Mr.T content is being made available in support of the campaign re - launch. The campaign has become iconic for it's advertising and associations with Mr.T. The ads have been downloaded over 800,000 times on Youtube already.
The WAP site features a whole host of content for free download including - ringtones/Mr.T sound bites, wallpapers, the ad itself, the Snickers "Get some nuts challenge" and there's also a competition offering a chance to win an Nintendo Wii.
The full content mobile internet site has been live for over a week now and is being promoted on the Vodafone LIVE portal. Animated banner ads have been up on various areas of the portal as of last Monday (18th Feb) and results are proving that there is real cut - through to be had for early movers in this environment.
Mobile internet runs on a cost per impression model as opposed to internet banner ads, which are charged per click.
Not only are mobile users responding to the ads but activity on the site itself has far exceeded expectations. Visitors in their thousands are downloading content, watching the video ad on their handsets and forwarding the site on to friends. The result now is that thousands of people out there have the Snickers/ Mr.T content on their phones and are free to pass it along to friends via bluetooth and MMS. So now the brand lives in their phones, their most personal device .
To view the banner ads please visit Vodafone LIVE or to be sent a WAP link leading to the site text the word SNICKERS to the shortcode 51727. (Std text rates apply, ROI only)
If not in Ireland you can access the site by typing in the following URL www.r2s.ie/snickers
You can also give us a call on 01 679 0640 if you would like to discuss the campaign further, find out more about mobile internet sites and also mobile advertising! Get Some Nuts!!! Grrrr....
Posted by lisa | Comments (0)
Tags: mr.t, snickers, mobile internet, mobile advertising, return2sender, mobile content
I was incredibly impressed this week and quietly pleased with my little handset when I bought a book on the train home from work. Amazon.com has just gone live on 3's "Planet 3" portal and now anyone who is already registered and has an account with Amazon can purchase items directly from their mobile. So, finally we are starting to see mobile payments happening securely and I'm sure that this will be the first of many. So encouraged was I, that this morning on my way to work I toiled to get Ticketmaster.ie working on my mobile - I was frantic that I may miss out on Kanye West tickets - the latest in a string of Phoenix Park gigs scheduled to take place this October.
Anyway it seems that ticketmaster do not have a mobile ready site yet (much like the rest of the country :( ) and so I had to contend with reading from the standard (online) website. This all worked fine and thanks to 3's all you can eat package it didn't cost me anything. I got as far as buying the tickets when my journey ended abruptly at the word verifiction tool, which usually proves that you are a human being. Anyway, it wasn't deeply disheartening but it did mean that I had to run to my desk computer to get the tickets before they were sold out! I bought my tickets via the standard route and I suggest you do the same for the minute. Tickets are still on sale for the Kanye West concert last I checked.
Posted by lisa | Comments (0)
Tags: mobile payments, ticketmaster