Category Archives: mobile

Jun 22 Comments comments
advertising, iPhone apps, mobile, social media

iPhones dominate Australian mobile internet

As an early adopter of the iPhone, I’ve noted its enthusiastic uptake in Australia. Looking on the streets and in meetings, it seems to be the dominant phone, at least in Sydney. Recent statistics prove this, showing the iPhone and iPod touch is dominant operating system - 93% of phones or mobile devices accessing the internet in Australia and NZ are iPhone iOS.

93% of phones accessing the internet in Australia are iPhones

93% of phones accessing the internet in Australia are iPhones

Yet this statistic globally tells a completely different story. iPhone and iPod touch (the newly defined iOS 4 platform) are at 60% of the mobile devices accessing the internet.

Global iPhone/iOS penetration is at 60%

Global iPhone/iOS penetration is at 60%

Is Australia & NZ heavy iPhone penetration because Blackberry and other smart phones didn’t have much mainstream uptake prior to iPhone release? Or is it because Australians are the heaviest users of social networks and social usage continues as the fastest growing mobile category? Either way, the statistics point to a massive behavioural change with mobile devices - phones are barely used for telephone calls, they are more data devices and the internet is in people’s pocket.

There are some other interesting statistics (this time global and just iPhone/iPod touch related)

  1. 225,000 applications in the iTunes app store
  2. 5 billion application downloads from iTunes store
  3. 73% of iPhone users have at least one 3rd party app
  4. 70 is the average number of applications on an iPhone
  5. There will be 100 million iOS 4 devices by July 2010

This is the mobile landscape that the iAd platform is releasing into, although  the iPad will be unable to see iAds until the iPad upgrade to iOS 4 likely to be September 2010.

iAd may transform digital display advertising in the same way that iPhone transformed phones, and with the app developers getting 60% of the revenue to fund further free/cheap application development. What the hope for iAd is to bring emotion & interactivity via content to digital platforms with no “hijacking” or need to leave or be directed out of the apps themselves. This in itself may bring a level of trust back to the digital space, where click through rates have been declining year on year. The question then will be: will the “emotionally engaging” iAds lift the rest of the digital display ad industry?

UPDATE: For all those who are questioning references Apple’s statistics, here’s a great summary of global smartphone statistics from AdMob:

AdMob Mobile Metrics - May 2010 - Highlights

View more presentations from AdMob Inc.
Mar 15 Comments comments
advertising, brand engagement, mobile, social media, social networking

Australians increasing social media use is led by Facebook

Australias most popular social media websites March 2010

Australia's most popular social media websites March 2010

Nielsen reports today via Nielsen’s 2010 Social Media Report, that there are now 9 million Australians interacting on regularly on social networking sites with Facebook dominating - more than 83% of social networkers naming Facebook as their main social networking platform, up from 72% in 2008 and 34% in 2007.

Overall, Facebook is Australia’s most popular social network with 75% of online Australians having ever visited, and via time spent per month (more than 8 hours per month which is seven and a half more hours than its closest rival site YouTube)

Nielsen see the growth in Smartphone ownership in Australia to 43% of online Australians assisting the growth in mobile social networking. Of the pool of social networkers, 26% are participating via mobile.

Twitter is used increasingly a mobile social network in Australia, with half of its mobile users visiting the site daily. In comparison, Facebook saw 36% of its mobile users visit the site, whilst 22 percent of MySpace users and 16 percent of YouTube users were making daily visits. Twitter’s usage in Australia grew more than 400% in 2009 and 14% of Australians have followed companies or organisations on Twitter (up from 5% in 2008)

The chart below shows the fastest growing social media activities from 2009.

Fastest growing social media activities in Australia 2009

Fastest growing social media activities in Australia 2009

Interacting with brands in social networks overall is at 38% in 2009 up 15 points year on year. This translates to nearly two in five online Australians are now interacting with companies via social sites, and shows Australians are open to engaging with brands and companies online.

Melanie Ingrey, Research Director for Nielsen’s online business, sees social networks having big impact on brands:

“The opportunities for brands and companies to tap into the social media phenomenon are really just beginning to emerge and to date we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. Incredibly, nearly nine in ten Australian Internet users (86%) are looking to their fellow Internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands, and Australians’ engagement with online word of mouth communication is going to increase in coming years as social media plays an increasingly important role in consumer decision making.”

I find these stats support what we see everyday as social media marketers - that consumers are looking to make two-way connections to brands. Consumers are looking for brand interaction, in the places they spend the most amount of time, which increasingly is in social spaces. The challenge for marketers in the coming era of social commerce is in becoming a genuine social brand, and to be open to conversation, feedback, and to integrate social marketing into all the other marketing channels.

What do you see as the coming challenges for social brands?