iOS

Useful Stats which Show Mobile Bringing Higher ROI

/ Mark Brill / Leave a comment

A useful article from Search Engine Land includes some useful stats which show how mobile and tablets are performing across certain sectors:

Another trend which was first identified by Adobe Research last year is that tablet devices bring a higher ROI than desktop. Whilst the reasons have not been identified, it is likely to be a combination of factors. Until very recently, the tablet landscape has been dominated by the iPad, which is largely bought by those in higher income brackets. Add to that the rich user experience, accessed from almost anywhere in the home, and you see a higher purchase value in retail. There is more here in this very useful report.

Mobile specialists are aware that different handsets and operating systems appeal to specific demographics. The chart below supports this, as it shows how Android and iOS deliver different ROIs:

Latest stats show users iOS users do more of everything

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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
Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
May-11 Aug-11 Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A
Google 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%

200 million iOS devices: a look behind the figures

/ Mark Brill / Leave a comment

At yesterday’s developer conference Apple announced that iOS was now in 200 million devices. That’s good going, making their mobile operating system Apple’s greatest asset. However, before brands start assuming that ‘everyone has an iPhone’, it’s worth getting a bit more understanding of what these figures really mean:

  • Whilst 200 million iOSs puts Apple level pegging with the most successful mobile phone ever, the Nokia 1100, that was a single device. Apple’s figure is across the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
  • Apple tell us there are 25 million iPads out there. They have trounced the tablet market with no one coming close in terms of sales.
  • Although we don’t have up-to-date figures from Apple (they don’t publish separate iPod touch figures), there is plenty of financial analysis (and their lawsuit against Samsung) which indicates that it represents 1/3rd of their iOS users. That puts iPod Touch sales at around 60 million.
  • That leaves the iPhone with sales of 115 million over four years – that’s consistent with figures published earlier this year estimating phone sales at just over 110 million.
  • The iPhone is currently the best selling smartphone, however there are more hansets using Android than iOS.

115 million sales of a device over four years is great going, and in many markets the iPhone is the best-selling handset. However, these figures aren’t the complete picture.

For a start, that figure of 115 million represents total sales, not actually devices in use. How many people still use an iPhone 2g or 3g? We simply don’t know the actual numbers, but if we are looking at Apple phones in people’s pockets then the figure will be well below the total sales.
From a brand engagement perspective, it is important to understand where your customers are in the mobile landscape and what they are doing on their phones. Many marketers assume that most people have an iPhone, or at least the ones they want to be talking to.  However, when we look at the smartphone market share then the global split is 36% Android, 26% iPhone and 25% BlackBerry. In the UK the total handset market share is 15% Android, 10% BlackBerry and 9% iPhone. Nielsen also found that Android users access more data (and nearly as many apps) as their iPhone counterparts.

Whilst it’s true that iPod Touch and iPad are still iOS and offer opportunities for brands, the fact is that the device usage and demographics are different to the iPhone. iPod touches are popular amongst a younger audience (many of who have a BlackBerry for their phone), where the main activity is around listening to music, watching videos or playing games. Similarly with the iPad, it is much more than a big iPhone. Magazine reading, rich content and higher end gaming are more the order of the day.
There’s no question that the advent of the iPhone four years ago significantly shifted our ideas of what a mobile phone is (or can do). Apple lead in terms of profitability, but it’s important to look behind the figures and realise that there are many more handsets out there than just the iphone.

Mobile Predictions for 2011

/ Mark Brill / 3 Comments

How accurate were the 2011 predictions? As a review of the year in mobile, I have added comments in italics. 2012’s mobile predictions are here.

1.       The rise of Contactless (or NFC).

2011 will be the year that contactless technology comes to mobile in the UK (and Europe).

In the UK Orange and Barclaycard launched a (not very good) NFC phone. More significantly both the Google Nexus, higher end BlackBerry and a number of other devices included contactless. The real potential for growth will be in 2012. In the UK it will be spurred on by the need for fast payment etc at the Olympics and growth will be also be significant elsewhere, especially if the iPhone 5 includes an NFC chip.

2.       mCommerce – where the retailers lead, others will follow

Whilst 2010 saw retailers establish themselves in the mobile web space, 2011 was where they consolidated it. From eBay to Amazon, from M&S to Halfords, mobile represented 10% or more of their digital sales. Whilst there hasn’t been exactly a charge towards mobile web from other brands outside retail, during the year most of them created some kind of offering. Interestingly retailers are seeing the potential of mobile and moving beyond just a mobile site with initiatives such as augmented reality pop-up shops.

3.       Mobile Search – the next big thing in mobile marketing?

From the user perspective, 2011 saw mobile search continue to grow. More smartphones means more search from mobile, especially in stores. Research from Google showed that over 70% of smartphone owners were searching and comparing product information whilst in store. Not only that, but most mobile search is about immediate intent – people are looking for something because they want (or need) it now. Sadly brands have not really caught on to mobile search marketing in any significant way as yet. 

4.       Mobile Advertising gets Exciting

2011 saw HTML5 take off in mobile, and particularly mobile advertising. Besides iAd, Google also started to offer HTML5 banners through their ad channel. There were some creative campaigns – Nissan Duke for iAd, Tuborg and Magnum Ice Cream and Auto Trader in the UK – there is still a lot of untapped potential. Mobile is now 8% of our ‘media time’, more than in print, yet the spend on advertising is less than 1%. Print? More than 20% of the total spend.

5.       Location, Location, Location

Whilst location is the backbone of most mobile media, social location didn’t quite live up to expectations in 2011. Although Facebook incorporated location into status updates, they ended their Places and Deals, failing to become a leader in social location. However, Foursquare continued to see their numbers rise to 15m + users. Along with the likes of SCVNGR and Instagram, they engaged both users and brands. In the meantime, Facebook hired the Gowalla crew to rethink their offering. Social location remains important.

6.       The End of Unlimited Data Plans

It happened in the UK, US and elsewhere thanks to too many iPhone users. The biggest problem has been video. More and more mobile users are accessing it but it uses tremendous amounts of bandwidth. The only long term solution is 4G, which is beginning to roll out in some countries. In the UK, the government put the licence bids back into 2012, which means 2013 will be the earliest. Developing countries may well get into 4G sooner and leap-fog the UK. The mid-term solution is in rolling out more WiFi. O2 are working on that right now … hopefully there’ll be enough data bandwidth by the time every0ne arrives for the Olympics.

7.       New Interfaces

There were announcements of 3D screens, gesture control, and electrovibration to create the feeling of textures in mobile and tablet screens. The biggest impact on the consumer came in the form of voice interfaces, notably iOS5’s Siri. After Apple upped the ante, Google are looking to implement something better than Siri into Android in 2012.

8.       Fad Gadget?

Not everyone is convinced by the iPad. It made the top 10 list of worst gadgets of 2010 in one magazine, whilst also making the top 10 best gadgets in the same publication.

This prediction was entirely wrong. The tablet device, or the iPad (others sold very few), sold at a faster rate than the iPod or iPhone.   In many territories they were outselling PCs. 

9. Moblogging

This hasn’t taken off as such, but other forms of social media activity on smartphones increased. When Twitter was incorporated into iOS5, their sign up rate went up three-fold. Now nearly half of all Tweets come from mobile devices. It’s not just writing though. Mobile users say it through photos, as demonstrated by Instagram and Flickr (the iPhone 4 was the most used camera on the site).

10. Bada

I predicted that from a very fast start, Bada would become an important OS in 2011. It didn’t happen. Samsung have not released any figures about the operating system, but they would appear to be low, and the company is likely to drop the OS. In a way, it’s not surprising when you consider that Bada was for lower end handsets but consumers have moved towards smartphones. Not only that, but Android is open source and can be put on most handsets.