Survey: Consumers don’t know the benefits of 4G, two-thirds won’t upgrade
The smartphone market may soon be buzzing with 4G devices, but a recent study found many consumers aren’t aware of why this next-gen technology is any better than its predecessor.
Almost half of respondents “can’t currently identify the main benefits of 4G networks,” according to survey results from Morpace. The fourth generation of cellular wireless standards may be getting a lot of press, but only 18 percent of consumers have smartphone with 4G capabilities.
If consumers were looking to buy a 4G phone, what’s the main deciding factor? Nearly two-thirds said price was a key determinant, followed by network capabilities (58 percent) and touchscreen features (51 percent).
However, smartphone lovers might not be so keen on going the 4G route anytime soon. “At 34 percent, a minority of consumers say they are likely to upgrade to a 4G phone before the expiration of their current contract,” Morpace writes.
The survey provided some recommendations for 4G marketers. “It is obvious that a targeted communication plan about what 4G is and how consumers benefit could increase revenue streams from 4G networks,” Morpace suggests, adding, “cellular phone service providers who are willing to invest in their technology and educate consumers, coupled with a significant increase in network sizes will increase their market share.”
Photo by Brandon Shigeta
New TV show about apps, mobile industry coming to Canada
In what appears to be a TV first, a 30-minute weekly show about smartphone and tablet PC applications is debuting in Canada this week. App Central is a co-production between BNN and CP24, and will be broadcast on BNN on March 29 at 8 p.m. ET, and later on CP24 on April 3 at 10:30 a.m ET.
Available only in Canada and online, App Central will cover “some of the hottest apps, including where you can get them and how they can be used in everyday life,” the show’s website states.
For instance, the show will look at unique apps that scan bar codes or boost video viewing. Celebrities and everyday Canadians will also discuss what kind of apps they enjoy. Several segments will interview developers and major players in the mobile industry.
Co-host Michael Hainsworth says Canada needs this kind of tech show. “Wading through world of apps can be a daunting task and the idea here is to talk about the best of best,” he notes in an interview. “We want this show to appeal to many kinds of viewers, not just nerds.”
Hainsworth says the show has “wiggle room” to expand its scope. If viewers get bored of all the apps talk, they can review more gadgets, something reporter Kris Abel does in each show. Expect a segment on a voice-activated alarm clock, Hainsworth says.
Co-host Amber MacArthur, well-known for her Webnation program on CP24, sat down with author Margaret Atwood to play Angry Birds with her, and she attended the Juno Awards to learn what musicians had on their smartphones. It’s all part of making a show that tries to be informative and entertaining, she says.
“It’s important to have that focus on personalities, so we don’t just talk about the tech side of apps,” MacArthur says.
She plans on monitoring what fans say about the show via its Twitter feed and Facebook page, in order to learn about the show’s future direction. If tablet PCs become more popular among Canadians, she says, then App Central may look at more tablet apps.
MacArthur says the mobile space is maturing rapidly, so much so her next book might focus on leveraging mobile media.
To check out episodes of App Central after they air, watch them online.
Study: Smartphones and tablets to outsell computers in 2011
By Chris Hogg
For the first time in history, cellphone and tablet sales are expected to outnumber computer sales, a study by Deloitte Canada predicts. The report says 425 million smartphones and tablets are expected to ship globally compared to 400 million PCs.
“In 2011, more than half of computing devices sold globally will not be PCs,” the report (PDF) indicates. “While PC sales are likely to reach almost 400 million units, Deloitte’s estimate for combined sales of smartphones, tablets and non-PC netbooks is well over that amount.”
Deloitte is a professional services firm that provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to businesses. This study was released as part of the company’s 2011 global Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions report.
“Unlike the 2009 netbook phenomenon, when buyers chose machines that were less powerful versions of traditional PCs (but still PCs), the 2011 computing market will be dominated by devices that use different processing chips and operating systems than those used for PCs over the past 30 years,” the report says. “This shift has prompted some analysts to proclaim the era of the PC is over.”
Deloitte disagrees with the belief that traditional PCs are dead, saying they are going to continue to be the workhorse computing platform for most people around the world. That said, Deloitte believes 2011 will be a tipping point as consumers move away from standard PCs to a new era of smartphones and tablets.
“[Consumers] will continue to move away from a predictable, but narrow, world of standardized computing devices like the PC, and vote with their wallets in favour of a diversity of choices including tablets and smartphones,” a Deloitte Canada news release says.
Deloitte’s study mirrors a lot of the predictions made by Polar Mobile, an app developer for more than 150 customers including Time, BusinessWeek and Digital Journal. In December 2010, Polar Mobile made 11 predictions for the future of mobile where the company forecast explosive growth for mobiles and tablets.
“Mobile will become part of every business’ marketing and distribution strategy in 2011,” Kunal Gupta, CEO of Polar Mobile, told DigitalJournal.com in an email statement in December. “That’s where we all spend our time and brands, marketers and publishers will want to capture that opportunity.”
Anyone who ever wanted evidence of mobile growth need look no further than Apple, a leader in the mobile and tablet worlds. The company announced its Q1 earnings yesterday, boasting record revenue of $26.74 billion and record net quarterly profit of $6 billion. Apple says it sold 16.24 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 86 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. iPads also saw booming sales, with Apple saying the company sold 7.33 million iPads during the quarter and nearly 15 million in 2010. More than 17 million are expected to ship in 2011.
Furthermore, tech companies showed off more than 80 tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.
With the growth of the smartphone and tablet market, Deloitte says price, performance, form factor and other variables will be diverse and thus make buying decisions more complicated for consumers.
“Choosing a device will take longer, and will need to be done more carefully,” the study notes.
In a news release, Duncan Stewart Director of Deloitte Canada Research and co-author of TMT Predictions 2011, said, “Like kids in a candy store, consumers and enterprises will be excited, yet overwhelmed by the sheer variety of options available to them. With PCs, netbooks, tablets and smartphones, buyers must choose among a wide array of functionalities, platforms, operating systems, sizes, features and price points.”
Deloitte’s top 10 predictions for 2011 include:
- Smartphones and tablets: More than half of all computers aren’t computers anymore
- Tablets in the enterprise: More than just a toy
- Operating system diversity: No standard emerges on the smartphone or tablet
- Social network advertising: How big can it get?
- Television’s “super media” status strengthens
- PVRs proliferate! The 30-second spot doesn’t die!
- Push beats pull in the battle for the television viewer
- What’s “in-store” for Wi-Fi: Retailers roll-out Wi-Fi
- Getting to 4G cheaply: Will many carriers opt for 3.5G instead? The proliferation of new computing devices doesn’t mean that we need new networks
- Wi-Fi complements cellular broadband for “data on the move”
More details on each of these can be found in Deloitte’s report (PDF) or via a livestream online.
Report identifies the 11 key elements for future of mobile
By Chris Hogg
Polar Mobile, a company that makes mobile applications for more than 150 customers including Time, BusinessWeek, and Sports Illustrated, to name a few, will release a paper today that will identify the top trends in mobile for 2011.
Digital Journal obtained a copy of the report ahead of its release.
Among the 11 major trends to watch out for in 2011: Security threats, major fragmentation across various platforms and devices, and massive growth for the tablet market. According to the report, social media will play an increasingly important role in mobile and marketers and businesses will need to start focusing on engagement rather than number of downloads.
“Mobile will start to become part of every business’ marketing and distribution strategy in 2011,” Kunal Gupta, CEO of Polar Mobile, said in an email statement. “That’s where we all spend our time and brands, marketers and publishers will want to capture that opportunity.”
Gupta was also a speaker at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event held in September.
Going into 2011, Polar Mobile says the following areas are key to the growth of mobile over the next year:
Mobile strategies will extend beyond iPhone and iPad. Polar Mobile says simply having an iPhone app is not a true mobile strategy.
Research firm Gartner forecasts mobile App downloads will top four billion this year and grow to 21 billion by 2013.
Furthermore, more than 1 billion smartphones are expected to ship by 2013, with players other than just Apple (Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Symbian, Samsung and more)
For developers working with Android, fragmentation will become a challenge because Google has released seven versions of its Android OS (1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.01, 2.1, 2.2) in less than two years.
Polar Mobile says older Android devices will suffer from performance lags.
Furthermore, OEMs such as HTC, Samsung, LG and Motorola each customize their version of Android to distinguish their phones on the market. This will compound the Android fragmentation problems.
Tablets are going to be a major part of the growth of the mobile industry. Polar Mobile believes tablets will become as commonplace as computers, appearing in every home.
Going into 2011, Samsung, RIM, HTC, LG, Acer, Cisco, Dell, Motorola, OpenPeak, Viewsonic, Apple and others will all have their own tablets.
Customers will be drawn to new distribution channels and have more options when purchasing tablets, from OEMs, carriers and retailers.
Apple is expected to sell more than 10 million iPads and Samsung is expected to hit 1 million units sold this year. Gartner believes more than 55 million tablets will be sold in 2011.
Right now advertisers, marketers and businesses typically focus on number of downloads rather than number of active users. In 2011, that will change.
Polar Mobile says most businesses have no clue what happens inside their apps, which is why most only report on the number of downloads. In 2011, improved analytics and tracking capabilities will allow companies to build products that promote user engagement, and enable them to tweak based on real-world feedback.
Companies will shift priorities to focus more on continued usage than number of downloads.
Like the Web, social will play a huge part in the future of mobile.
Polar Mobile notes that 35 percent of Twitter’s active members use the service on their mobile device.
[url=http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics t=_blank]According to Facebook[/url], there are more than 200 million active users who access the site via their mobile device and those users are twice as active as non-mobile users.
Polar Mobile says mobile consumption habits are different than online user experiences and social will play a role in making mobile unique.
With the rise of usage on mobile platforms, the world will see more mobile-exclusive brands and content emerge.
Polar Mobile says new, mobile-only brands will be launched by traditional publishers and niche and focused content will be used to create “greater user stickiness.”
Companies that expand on mobile will also be able to leverage new distribution channels to acquire new users.
Paywalls are going to suffer on mobile. Outside of iTunes, Polar Mobile says it’s very difficult to buy physical or virtual goods on your phone, and limited infrastructure will be the stumbling block for paid content.
Polar Mobile says the industry needs major infrastructure updates and billing improvements before paid content and micro-transaction businesses will see mass adoption.
Applications and mobile websites will be more intertwined, offering a better user experience. Polar Mobile says apps will leverage the mobile Web to scale utility and add custom features across multiple devices.
As the app and mobile web markets mature, average users eventually won’t be able to tell the difference between a mobile website and an app.
Apps will begin using near-field-communication (NFC) technology to enable them to become mobile commerce tools. For example, retailers will be able to use NFC to increase in-store purchases by pushing notifications to shoppers about deals or specials.
Polar Mobile says Android Gingerbread, the recent release of the OS, also supports an API for NFC, giving developers the tools they need to build functionality into apps.
In addition to NFC, RFID chips implanted in smartphones will turn them into payment tools.
Companies and individuals will need to pay more attention to App security and threats, as mobile adoption grows into 2011.
Polar Mobile says smartphones often store far more personal information than desktops that is easily accessible by mobile apps, and App distribution channels do not currently mandate security testing.
The company warns that nefarious developers could use techniques such as spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, and elevation of privilege to get personal information.
Finally, Polar Mobile says fragmentation across operating systems and devices will grow exponentially. Going into 2011, there will be a huge number of mobile platforms, including Apple iOS, Google Android, RIM BlackBerry, Windows Phone, HP Palm, Samsung Bada, Nokia Symbian and Intel MeeGo.
The device market will also expand, including smartphones, feature phones, tablets, smart TVs, automobiles, netbooks and browsers.
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