By AJ Gerritson (@ajgerritson)
I am excited to see where this year brings the mobile marketing industry and marketing in general. Most especially, I am excited to see the continued emergence of smart phones and the impact they will have on consumer behavior. Currently, smart phones are being used by 1/5 of the mobile market, there are more than 100,000 iPhone applications available, and Motorola’s Droid is growing in popularity fast. There are four times as many mobile phones in the world as PCs, and there are over 130 billion texts sent each month. Many predict that the number of smart phones in use will equal the number of basic phones in use within five years.
This will mean many things to marketers including: (1) More and more campaign plans will (or should) involve some mobile component. (2) More applications and mobile sites will be built (probably at a lesser cost with the emergence of more sophisticated building tools like Mofuse). (3) Expect more mobile couponing to take place as the number of people who use texting as a form of communication increases. (4) Companies and brands will have stronger relationships with their customers through the emergence of localized applications like FourSquare.
If you are excited about smart phones, mobile marketing and 2010, I would invite you to share your predictions here. We welcome your thoughts!
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Great post. I am excited about Google’s new “superphone” announced today as well!
2010 will be the Year of “Got Mobile?”
With the announcement yesterday that Apple purchased mobile ad network Quattro Wireless, and Google’s recent purchase of AdMob, there is no doubt that mobile is the new marketing sandbox where everyone wants to play – and sees the potential for business & brand payoff.
All the savvy big brands are executing and refining mobile strategies. 2010 is the year that any business leader who is serious about engaging customers will ask its team “How are we integrating mobile? What’ve we got?”
The superphone does look pretty cool! – @cristinalepore
Very true, Heather. Thanks for the feedback! -@cristinalepore