Here are five iPhone’s which don’t actually exist:
Tell people an iPhone 4S is a ‘5’ and see what happens :
The projected keyboard on this concept phone caused quite a stir and many people thought it was real:
Great concept of a future phone, it will probably be the iPhone 9:
A camera is ultimately only as good as the lens. Here’s one (bulky) solution:
When the iPhone 4 first appeared with reception problems (the Death Grip), some wag created this concept for the next generation iPhone:
Not the iPhone 5 (obviously), it’s the iPhone 7 of course.
The best round-up of the new iPhone 5 (6th generation) comes from The Next Web. From a mobile marketing standpoint, do the changes have any real impact?
Given that the original iPhone (and app store) changed the face of mobile marketing, any update from Apple may have a significant impact. Although the updates to the iPhone were essentially incremental, there will be some changes for marketers:
Larger Screen – the impact is not significant, delivering a slightly better user experience, however by introducing a new size, this may well impact on app builds and particularly legacy apps. Will brands be up to spending more money on development? Could this drive more businesses to choosing web and responsive design over apps?
4G Support – brands need to provide a rich content engagement. Access to the rapid growth of 4G networks will open up a whole new world of brand content and is probably the most significant update from a marketing perspective.
No NFC – this is also significant for marketing … a significant disappointment. It was unlikely that Apple would have shoved an NFC chip in their handset – they like to do things their own way and define the market. However, we know that iPhone users tend to drive demand and activity – web browsing, app downloads and mobile social media , have all been boosted by Apple’s smartphone users. If we want to see NFC driving forwards then seeing it in an iPhone is the best way to do it.
Siri – this has yet be used as a marketing channel, so the updates have little impact (especially if you are outside the US)
Finally (though not on the subject of mobile marketing) the end of Ping was announced. Apple have never been a social network business, and the launch of their music recommendation system was never likely to succeed (I was bemused by it when they Ping it two years ago). The company’s real foray into social media came last year with the deep integration of Twitter in to iOS.
No surprises really, but early reports suggest that Instagram on Android is as popular as people expected, with over 1 million downloads of their app in the first 24 hours. The iPhone version has steadily built a strong following, with over 30 million users, and it looks like the Android version will match that. The question that most people are asking was ‘why did it take so long’? According to Instagram, trying to develop for two platforms earlier would have made other innovations harder to implement.
Although a number of brands, such as Starbucks, Topshop, Ford (Feistagram) and Red Bull have used the channel, the potential for co-creation remains under-used. Perhaps the Android version will see brands making more use of Instagram.
What is the current UK landscape for smartphone penetration?
Around the end of 2012, the UK reached tipping point with over 50% smartphone penetration. Comscore data from January this year shows how that is distributed by age and income.
As with previous trends, the smartphones have the highest penetration in the 18-34 age group. However, the uptake amongst older audiences is rapid – 75% of all new handsets
Income is also a factor in smartphone ownership, although with some SIM-free smartphones at less than £100, that is now become less significant in defining the market:
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In terms of OS breakdown, Android continues to be the leader, but closely followed by the iPhone, however in terms of usage, iOS still dominates. RIM’s dwindling market share is largely lost to Google’s Android.
What accessory have you always wanted for your iPhone? A bottle opener obviously. You’re probably desperate to know how many bottles of beer you have opened with said accessory? Good news then. The iphone bottle opener comes with an app which can do that. The Intoxicase (what else would you name it?) is an iPhone case with an integrated bottle opener and an accompanying app. To me it seems to be an utterly useless gadget offering a complex solution to a problem that never existed in the first place. But that’s me. I’m not a student. If only they made a cork screw version for wine bottles then I would see the point!
New statistics show that in spite of Android’s domination of mobile handsets, iOS and the iPad dominate data usage
The latest figures from Comscore show that Android now dominates the smartphone market in the US, and an increase on the previous year. This has largely been at the expense of Symbian (Nokia) and RIM (BlackBerry):
| Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens |
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| Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers | |||
| May-11 | Aug-11 | Point Change | |
| Total Smartphone Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
| 38.1% | 43.7% | 5.6 | |
| Apple | 26.6% | 27.3% | 0.7 |
| RIM | 24.7% | 19.7% | -5.0 |
| Microsoft | 5.8% | 5.7% | -0.1 |
| Symbian | 2.1% | 1.8% | -0.3 |
In terms of handset ownership, Samsung are the largest, followed by LG and Motorola. Apple, though popular, represent less than 10% of the handset market:
| Top Mobile OEMs 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens |
|||
| Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers | |||
| May-11 | Aug-11 | Point Change | |
| Total Mobile Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
| Samsung | 24.8% | 25.3% | 0.5 |
| LG | 21.1% | 21.0% | -0.1 |
| Motorola | 15.1% | 14.0% | -1.1 |
| Apple | 8.7% | 9.8% | 1.1 |
| RIM | 8.1% | 7.1% | -1.0 |
However, when it comes to OS usage, Apple dominates with their iOS. There has been previous evidence that iPhone users do more of everything than other OSs – more app downloading, more web browsing, more social media. Add other iOS devices in the form of the iPad (and a few iPod Touches) and Apple’s operating system dominate the market. However, it is the iPad that takes the most traffic of all. Whilst the iPhone accounts for 42% of data, Apple’s tablet has nearly 47% of all data traffic and 97% of all tablet-based online usage.
| OS Market Share by Digital Traffic (Browser-Based Page Views) August 2011 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Source: comScore Device Essentials |
|
| Device Platforms | Share (%) of Non-Computer Traffic |
| Apple iOS | 58.5% |
| Google Android | 31.9% |
| RIM | 5.0% |
| Other Platforms | 4.6% |
Also to have a laser keyboard, holographic display and a flux capacitor (to enable time travel) – all the rumours in one handy infographic.
The latest phone sales stats from IDC (and published by Engadget) show that smartphones are now out-stripping featurephones. The biggest winner is Samsung who sold 4 million more units in the last quarter than the previous year. Apple also saw an increase in their market share from 6 to 11%. This seems to largely be at the expense of Nokia who saw their sales drop by a whopping 44%. BlackBerry remained steady with their sales.
In case you haven’t seen it yet, Aamata Studio, a 3D animation company has produced this natty video of a future iPhone:
Unlikely? Well, Apple already has patents for some of these concepts, such as the projection system and virtual keyboard (trawl through http://www.patentlyapple.com/ to see them).
Brands, Innovation and Creative Technologies 