Tag: Mobile Device

Smartphone Shopping Relative to Type of Store

Consumers are using mobile devices more and more to help command the points of purchase while shopping online or in-store. During the most recent holiday shopping season, 41% of consumers made purchases directly on their smartphones, 46% noted that they picked out their item on their smartphone, and completed the purchase in-store, and 37% said they researched their item on their phone, and bought it online. Shoppers have come to expect a more integrating retail experience, with physical and online storefronts merged.

A new Neilsen study delves deeper into how consumers are using their smartphones while shopping, relative to certain types of stores:

First off, it would appear that very few smartphone users access product reviews online while shopping in dollar (3%) and convenience stores (7%), though 73% will look up an item when browsing in an electronics store. While only 14% of shoppers look up products during a grocery store visit, 41% access online coupons. Online coupons are also popular in department and clothing stores, at 41 and 39% respectively. When it comes to scanning QR codes for product details, 57% of electronics stores note this shopping activity. QR codes are also popular in department stores (36%) and mass merchandisers (31%). Not many consumers use their mobile devices to enhance their convenience store shopping experience, with only 7% looking up product reviews.

May 14, 2012
Users Reading More News on Mobile Devices

It was recently reported that news content brings in 7% of of Apple Newsstand’s monthly gross of roughly $70,000 – while this doesn’t seem like much, a newer study reveals that users of mobile news apps now read more articles and long-form content than regular computer users.

The January Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism found that when searching for news stories, 33% of users went directly to the news outlets website, while using a desktop or a mobile device, while 38% of tablet users did the same. This suggests that readers go to sources they have existing knowledge of. In general, 54% of consumers in the US used the web to read the news, whether on a desktop or mobile device, and most those surveyed tend to mix it up – i.e. combine web-based formats when reading stories. Of those who read content on a desktop, 34% also read articles on their smartphones, and 17% used a tablet device. Those using both tablets and smartphones accounted for 27% of consumers in the study, and 5% of users get on all three.

An interesting facet of the study concerns the general ineffectiveness of Facebook and Twitter regarding the relaying of news links. Recent reports have shown that both social networks were not particularly integral in the driving of new stories, and now data shows that only 8% and 3% of tablet uses follow links through Facebook and Twitter respectively. As for Facebook, this trend stands in contrast to its effectiveness in product marketing, as 92% of users queried in the Global Trust and Advertising Survey state that they would buy a product based on a friend’s recommendation. It would seem that users don’t trust the social network so much when it comes to news.

April 11, 2012
Mobile Devices Influencing Consumer Purchases

According to the Google Mobile Ads Blog, in a 2011 study conducted in tandem with Ipsos, consumers are using mobile devices more and more, to help command the points of purchase while shopping online or in-store.

During the holiday shopping season, 41% of consumers made purchases directly on their smartphones, 46% noted that they picked out their item on their smartphone, and completed the purchase in-store, and 37% said they researched their item on their phone, and bought it online. Of the three modes of purchase, it was also noted that consumers with tablet devices were more prone to read product reviews and look up more product information, likely due to their larger screens and portability, according to Dai Pham, of Google Mobile Ads Marketing. It’s now easier to get detailed information about a product from the couch, kitchen or bed, with a tablet device.

Naturally, most consumers are using their smartphones to contact the retailers directly, with click-to-call phone numbers on company websites making this convenient. With 80% of consumers saying that they’d used their smartphones while shopping this year, along with 70% of tablet users, it is essentially that retailers optimize their websites to engage customers on all three devices.

For more information on consumer trends in regards to desktop, mobile and tablet devices, check out a report on Post Holiday Learnings for 2012.

February 13, 2012
Twitter Mobile Users On The Rise

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Twitter passed the 100 million active users plateau. While the overall amount was impressive, a nugget of information contained within demonstrates just how dominate the mobile device industry has become.

According to the new data from Twitter, of its many active users, 55% of them use a mobile device to tweet:

Speaking Thursday during a media event at Twitter’s San Francisco offices, [CEO Dick] Costolo said 50 million users log in every day–in addition, 55 percent of all active users are active on mobile, a 40 percent quarter-over-quarter increase.

Compared to the 2010 numbers, when Costolo boasted a 40 percent mobile usage rate, that’s a 15 percent increase, an impressive number that indicates just how many people are making Twitter apart of their lives, regardless of where they are.

Granted, other 2010 numbers showed a 62 percent increase of Twitter mobile use, but these new numbers are focusing on how many active Twitter members use mobile devices. In regards to the 2010 reports, data indicated 16 percent of all new Twitter members using mobile devices to engage.

Taking all these numbers as a whole, it’s apparent Twitter mobile use is growing at an exponential rate. It helps that the two mediums go so well together, especially when you consider the text message basis of mobile device communication. Twitter, essentially, is just another form of text messaging when mobile device use is considered. One of the knocks on Twitter was the growing amount of abandoned accounts, that is, most of the Twitter use came from a minority of registered users.

It’s clear Twitter is working hard to dispel that notion, and with these mobile device usage numbers, the job is being done for them.

September 10, 2011
Do Your Android Apps Get A Lot of Use?

It all depends on which Android apps we’re talking about, according to one of Nielsen’s latest studies.

What they found, while focusing on Android use, that, while most users access mobile web content through applications, as opposed to simply using the mobile web and one of the available browsers. That being said, while app use is greater than mobile web use in the Android environment, quite a few Android apps don’t get used at all.

The popular ones are used extensively. The others? Not as much:

Perhaps more surprising, despite the hundreds of thousands of apps available for Android, a very small proportion of apps make up the vast majority of time spent. In fact, the top 10 Android apps account for 43 percent of all the time spent by Android consumers on mobile apps. The top 50 apps account for 61 percent of all time spent.

Clearly, the idea is to be have an Android app that’s in high demand, otherwise, it will probably sit on the proverbial shelf, collecting dust and not a lot of users. Nielsen even presented a pie chart to visualize the app usage breakdown:

As you can see, while there is definite use of Android apps that fall outside of the top 50–39 percent, to be exact–that part of the pie is divided up between almost 250,000 different applications. Meanwhile, the top 50 get to enjoy over 60 percent of the Android crowd using their mobile programs.

Clearly, the goal is to create an application that already has high demand, or, in the case of something like Twitter, invent something people didn’t even know they wanted and/or needed. The problem with that approach is, the returns may not be immediate.

Nielsen goes on to discuss just how much time Android owners spend on the mobile web, either via app or mobile browser, of which, Nielsen’s blog post says:

…the average Android consumer in the U.S. spends 56 minutes per day actively interacting with the web and apps on their phone. Of that time, two-thirds is spent on mobile apps while one-third is spent on the mobile web.

There is, of course, an additional pie chart to emphasize their findings:

If you’re a mobile app developer focusing on the Android crowd, Nielsen’s findings present something of a dilemma. Clearly, Android users love to use the mobile web, and they prefer to do so with an application. So far, so good. The problem is, if the app being developed isn’t a hit with Android crowd, it may simply go unnoticed and/or unused.

Obviously, marketing comes into play here, because the idea of making people think they need the item you’re offering is incredibly basic, but also a fundamental approach that should not be overlooked.

What about you? Do you use Android apps that fall outside of the top 50? If so, are you satisfied? If not, why? Let us know in the comments.

August 18, 2011
Mobile Device “Addiction” Grips The UK

A new study from Ofcom shows us the answer to the “Sex, Showers, Chocolate, or Smartphones?” question asked by Josh earlier today, at least in Britain, anyway.

In the case of British mobile device users, apparently, these users would have the hardest time parting with their mobile phones. Ofcam’s study begins with three simple facts, and with them, it’s easy to see why “smartphones” would be the answer to the earlier question:

Over a quarter of adults and nearly half of all teens now own a smartphone

37 per cent of adults and 60 per cent of teens are ‘highly addicted’ to them

Smartphones are beginning to affect social behaviour

How this is different from their American counterparts, I’m not really sure. From Josh’s article:

One-third of those surveyed said that they would give up sex for a week if it meant they could hang on to their mobile devices. Of those respondents, 70% were women (there’s a joke here…).

So yeah, there’s a lot of similarity between the two populations. Mainly, they love their mobile devices.

In Ofcam’s study, they actually differentiate between a standard mobile phone and a smartphone — which would apply to iPhones, Android-capable devices, and Blackberry. Users within these categories enjoy their devices in much different manners:

[Smartphone] Users make significantly more calls and send more texts than regular mobile users (81 per cent of smartphone users make calls every day compared with 53 per cent of ‘regular’ users). Teenagers especially are ditching more traditional activities in favour of their smartphone, with 23 per cent claiming to watch less TV and 15 per cent admitting they read fewer books.

Clearly, the level of connectivity, coupled with the functionality–via apps and the like–contribute mightily to the increased smartphone dependence. Perhaps “dependence” is the wrong choice of word. In the study, 37 percent of the respondents say they are “highly addicted” to their smartphone.

Considering just how many people you come across who have their faces glued to their devices, these findings should probably come as no surprise, but seeing the numbers just drives the point home. Other findings from Ofcam’s study include:

81 percent of smartphone users have their mobile switched on all of the time

38 percent of adults and 40 percent of teens admitting using their smartphone after it woke them (which stands to reason)

51 percent of adults and 65 percent of teenagers say they have used their smartphone while socialising

23 percent of adults and 34 percent of teenagers have used them during mealtimes

22 percent of adults and 47 percent of teenagers admitted using or answering their smartphone in the bathroom or toilet (otherwise known as quality time)

And then there are those who admitted to being asked to switch off their device in a movie or other public setting. As you can see, British smartphone users are a lot like their American friends; that is, if they “need” to use their phone, it doesn’t really matter where they are.

Lead image courtesy of The Sun.

August 4, 2011
Apple Wants To Stop Concert Filming With iPhones

Cell phones are popular items at concerts as mobile users take pictures and videos of their favorite entertainers, or, well, whatever entertainer they happen to be watching at the time. The technology is also considered something of a menace by many artists and concert-goers alike, and now, Apple is trying to placate the recording industry once again by attempting to remove the ability to film concerts with an iPhone.

According to an article in The Sun — no Page 3 here — Apple is in the process of building a system that recognizes concert environments and shuts their iPhones down when they are trying to film the performance. Don’t you just love purchasing an item and then have the company that made it govern how you use it? Clearly, Apple is taking a page from Sony’s handbook in regards to the PlayStation 3. It should be noted this is not a cry to allow iPhone users to willing steal concert footage — but then again, you bought the device, and, you should be able to use it for whatever purposes you choose. If those choices violate laws and/or RIAA edicts, then it’s up to you to pay the consequences.

By that as it may, Apple is still trying to introduce technology to the iPhone environment that will remove such a choice from the device owners. The Sun has more:

A patent application filed by Apple revealed how the technology would work. If an iPhone were held up and used to film during a concert infra-red sensors would detect it. These sensors would then contact the iPhone and automatically disable its camera function.

People would still be able to send text messages and make calls.

While I’m sure there will workarounds, provided Apple is successful, should they be doing this at all? Is it Apple’s job to police how consumers use their products or is the job of the agencies who want Apple to develop the technology? It seems like enforcement is such a frustrating task — I mean, it’s hard to see when a concert-goer is holding up a brightly-lit device with a sizable screen, defecating on copyright laws at will, right? — that these institutions are hoping Apple will do the leg work for them. Perhaps the most telling aspect of Apple’s strategy comes from the following quote, via The Sun’s article:

Apple filed for the patent 18 months ago — and it is thought if successful it will help them negotiate deals with record labels to sell content through iTunes.

If you believe that, then it’s apparent Apple is creating this technology to secure future business ventures instead of something more altruistic like protecting the artists who were infringed upon. Are these ham-handed attempts at securing future monetary deals enough to break the “Apple is the best company at creating mobile devices” talk or will the desire to have a iPhone like everyone else win out? Does it mean the end of things like this:

Which, according to the description, was “Filmed with iPhone from Dress Circle level?”

June 16, 2011