1/3 of Android, iPhone Apps Used While Still in Bed: US Mobile Marketing News

Ericsson recently published a report which found that 35% of US Android and iPhone users surveyed interacted with an app before getting out of bed.

According to the report, which was presented at Ericsson Business Innovation Forum in Silicon Valley on May 11, Facebook is one of the most common apps used. This should come as no surprise to anyone: 18% of the users surveyed logged in to Facebook upon waking. What does this report mean for mobile marketing?

Most importantly, the Ericsson study demonstrates that when engaging with people, mobile marketing content is more important than the actual channel of communication. This ‘content supremacy’ is one unique feature of digital media which has repercussions for mobile marketing: while just having a mobile phone used to be the most important thing, now we think about so much more than the ability to make calls and send text messages. Apps and the mobile Web are crucial for today’s mobile phone, and they can also be the basis of successful mobile marketing campaigns. Ericsson’s press release also explained the implications of their report for apps and their use in mobile marketing:

“Consumers today depend less on the devices they use, and more on the apps that help them… to find a place to eat, organize their family schedules and other everyday activities. The app culture is turning into a new way of living.”

Compared to apps for Red Bull, Absolut Vodka and Nike (for example), the Facebook app does not market a specific product or service; thus it is not technically mobile marketing. However, the popularity of app usage before getting out of bed signals that consumers are engaging with mobile devices in new ways. When people are continuously connected to apps and the mobile Web, mobile marketing is no longer just for a small group of the population. Mobile marketing activities (such as apps, mobile Web sites, and SMS marketing) are now a part of daily life for many people.

This article was written by Emma Smith of TXT2GET, a leading mobile marketing company. TXT2GET supply affordable SMS keywords that typically increase ad response by 2-3x. SMS keywords also bring measurability & accountability to advertising, because you can see the exact time and date that responses come in. Click on the link to get free advice on how mobile marketing can improve your business’ advertising.

The iPhone 4 – A mobile commerce revolutionary?

Publicised as “the world’s thinnest smartphone” and built upon three years of design experience, the iPad 4 was highly anticipated when released in summer of 2010. With its A4 chip and Retina display, can this fourth generation smartphone really be a mobile commerce difference-maker?

The iPhone 4 is an HD phone, with new Retina display and it has amazing clarity of screen, a great camera, so coupled with its ability to take high res pictures and HD Videos itself, it offers the opportunity for mobile advertisers to bring rich media visual experience to this device too. The text on its display is impressive too. Like the iPad, which also offers an even larger screen and clarity of visuals, both devices have the same OS powering them – iOS4.

By year-end, mobile commerce sales are predicted to reach a staggering $2 Billion or more which is double that of 2009 figures. That means massive opportunities for brands and retailers but they need to adjust their approach accordingly to be able to fully capitalize on this new market. In effect, that means making the mobile experience more creative, visually exciting, rich and appealing so as to drive real results. Apple has raised the bar and set the challenge for advertisers and marketers. Take a look at Apple’s iAd network.

One company who has recognized its impact is eBay who quickly revamped its iPhone application to accommodate iPhone4. EBay is a veritable giant in mobile commerce and knows a good thing when it sees one. A recent report tells us that on eBay more smartphones were shipped than PCs in the final quarter of 2010.

What the popularity of this mobile will do for m-commerce is increase the interest and overall sales of smartphones and drive mobile commerce even higher. Mobile marketers have to be up with the play and ready to adapt and refine their approach constantly and stay ahead of the game. It is important to know what their target audience is buying and what platform they are relying upon. It is all exciting movement in an industry that is growing in leaps and bounds.

This article was written by Alex Speirs of TXT2GET, a leading mobile marketing company. TXT2GET supply affordable SMS keywords to advertising that typically increase ad response by 2-3x. SMS keywords also bring measurability & accountability to advertising, because you can see the exact time and date that responses come in. Click on the link to get free advice on how mobile marketing can improve your business’ advertising.

What Can Purchasers Expect In the Iphone Five?

The rumours encircling the iPhone Five have been rampant. Everybody from bloggers in order to iPhone owners tend to be speculating about what iPhone5 will offer you its customers. While there’s been no release of specifications or features through Apple, there has been lots of informed speculation through those in the business associated with providing such information.

Reports have been released by various electronics-focused websites and blogs that the iPhone 5 will be completely redesigned. This is in direct contradiction to other reports which suggest that the new phone will include upgrades but will remain the same in many important aspects. The folks, however, espousing the total redesign theory, believe that the design of the iPhone 5 will be substantially different then the iPhone 4 and previous iPhone handsets.

The new phone is rumoured to run on the CDMA/GSM/UTMS chipset. This could support the two Ough.S. carriers that now sell the actual iPhone, Verizon as well as AT&T while making the telephone compatible with other worldwide carriers. Qualcomm would be responsible for the manufacture of the new chipset.

Another departure apparently being made entails Apple CEO Jobs. Reportedly, he will ‘t be involved in the launch from the iPhone 5. Work has been ill and it is no longer able, at least for now, to supervise the day-to-day function from the company. That work has been handed over in order to Tim Cook, the actual company’s COO. How this will get a new design and release of the phone, everybody will have to wait and find out.

There are many people looking to see if Steve Job’s absence will have an impact on the product and its acceptance by the consumer. Some people are even wondering whether or not this change of guard will be permanent, considering Steve Job’s ongoing health problems. How this might affect Apple’s business in the long term is something that many people are wondering.

Will Cook get the job permanently? Will Steve Jobs ever return and if not, what will happen to the company? Apple has seemingly done enough in the last few years to make them a player in the electronics market for a while. The iPhones have been the stuff of electronics legend. The iPad and the iMac have been successful in their own right. Taken together, it seems that Apple is poised to be a big hit for awhile. Jobs helped Apple make a significant turnaround and now the company is a real contender.

There has been a lot of speculation concerning the iPhone 5. Unfortunately, there have been few conclusive details given. There definitely been people guessing about what may be incorporated into the next phone but no certain answers. The company may be attempting to be extra secretive this year considering the fact that so much information had been leaked about the iPhone 4.

What is probably fairly safe to assume is that the iPhone Five will be a significant update from the iPhone 4 or at best remedy the inflictions of the iPhone 4. Otherwise, what’s the point? By just about all accounts the world might find if this is true or otherwise in short order. The apple iphone 5 is expected to be shown for sale in June associated with 2011.

The latest and best iPhone deals can be found quickly and easily when you know where to search. You can even register for a iphone 5 deals in some locations.

Is the iPad a game changer for Mobile Marketing?

Apple brought us the iPad in April 2010 and iPad2 just under a year later and these fine examples of technology at its best has brought touch-screen computing to around 15 million consumers to date. Many of these will be new consumers – converted by this revolutionary, veritable work of art. It is used at work and at play but is it a game changer for Mobile Marketing?

Well, Apple’s iPad may have more impact on mobile marketing than any other segment according to some writers. A bold statement indeed until one really starts to look at mobile marketing – its rapid rise in the industry and also, the one thing that may just be preventing another phenomenal breakthrough. That thing just happens to be the small screens on many mobile phones – known by those in the industry as ‘lack of screen real estate.’ The iPad has a substantially larger screen and this is where its advantage lies for sure for those in the mobile marketing sector.

Additionally, where the iPad really stands out from other tablets is its ability to both integrate and standardize advertising using its incredibly well-stocked Applications Store. Streets ahead of its competition with apps has resulted in its own advertising network known affectionately as iAd, which incidentally Nielsen research is claiming as twice as effective as television advertising already! IAd is also receiving developer praise as it allows developers to incorporate advertising into their applications, thus opening options for both developers and marketers alike when it comes to designing and selling their applications.

So far so good you might say and the iPad is or should be a game changer but there are still challenges in its path and the mighty dollar is one such obstacle. The iPad is not cheap especially if you compare it to the price of a mobile phone, even a middle range smartphone and thus it remains out of reach for many consumers. For advertisers, too, Apple’s start up prices for iAd are extremely expensive when compared to traditional mobile marketing.

So the bottom line – is the iPad a game changer for mobile marketing? Well, that remains to be seen. The iPad has all of the makings of a device that can change the way marketers view mobile, but whether it has the power to enter the mainstream market – both for consumers and advertisers remains a major question mark.

This article was written by Alex Speirs of TXT2GET, an SMS mobile marketing company. For more free reports on mobile technology such as the iPad and fresh news pieces on the mobile marketing industry, visit the TXT2GET blog.

Is the iPad the standard for tablets?

Just when we were starting to think that our trusty laptop was becoming too bulky to lug around, Apple introduced us to its amazing iPad selling over 3 million of the devices in just 80 days and taking us to even dizzier technological heights in 2010.

Fast forward through the rest of 2010 and globally Apple sold over 15million of the devices which when compared to general sales of tablet PCs equates to around 75% of the market sales. Pretty impressive by anyone’s standards.

Well to put it into tangible terms, in the first 80 days of its release, iPad was bought by an impressive 3 million fans. Fast forward through the rest of 2010 and globally Apple sold over 15 million of the devices, which when compared to general sales of tablet PCs was equal to around three quarters of overall market sales. It is hard to argue with those sorts of statistics!

So, if Apple is indeed believed to be the standard for tablets, what is out there competing to dispel that theory? Google Android makes tablets worthy of a closer look and backed by the interest of large renowned manufacturers like HP, LG and Samsung, all apparently interested in joining with the Android operating system to ceremonially knock Apple off its perch over the next year, we could be in for some excitement. ‘By the end of 2012, Android tablets will rapidly overtake the iPad in market share,’ says forecasts expert Sascha Pallenberg. Achieved, he claims, by “sheer mass.”

But can Google really top what has been described as the “most elegant and functional approach to design” when describing the iPad2? This device is outselling other tablets currently by a staggering 9 to 1 and even Android’s Honeycomb 3.0 software is reportedly not making the Apple grade.

Let the consumer be the ultimate judge about whether the iPad is the standard for tablets. I say it is a resounding “yes!” – just as it did with the iPhone, Apple has set the standard and it is the grade by which other similar devices will and must be measured by the discerning consumer.

This article was written by Alex Speirs of TXT2GET, a leading SMS mobile marketing company. To learn how to best use mobile technology such as the iPad in your marketing, visit the TXT2GET blog.

Make More Money With Freebiejeebies Incentive Program

Making money on-line using advertising is big business these days, but are you making a living from affiliate advertising?

The last three years an on-line business called Freebiejeebies has been quietly making a storm amongst it’s members, if you have used CPA and Ad-sense and failed they have the answer your looking for.

Showing it’s members ways they can get their hands on the latest gadgets with such ease you would be amazed when you see how.

Knowing CPA marketing and how to benefit from ad-sense will give you an advantage over their members as you already know how to promote links and get traffic flowing to adverts etc.

How much have or had you made using say CPA advertising? Maybe a few pence per survey? How about 17 pounds per completed offer, does this sound a better deal?

Here is a thought, the Apple iphone 4 is one of the most sort after mobiles phones in the last three years. How many people do you think would have one if you said, complete one offer and you qualify to claim a free iphone.

People will and do come running in the thousands, since the iphone 4 was released business has more than doubled the members are required to complete some simple requirements and doing so will get them a free iphone 4

They are not just allowed an iphone 4, there is a massive choice of free gifts people can choose from. So if they want the latest Xbox 360 slim they are required to collect 10 credits.

Knowing a little about Freebiejeebies and how they work you will have to agree that affiliate advertisers can make some fantastic money using this system.

They are also offering great help from a forum which daily it’s members post hints and tips on the latest methods of driving traffic to your websites, this alone is a real boost to your earnings.

Come and see how you can make pounds and not pennies by being a affiliate advertiser, using this unique incentive based marketing money maker.

Would you like to see how freebiejeebies can help you see a better conversion with them offering a free ipad.

Free iPhone 4 From Freebiejeebies

Affiliate advertising has taken the internet by storm and consumers are taking full advantage of this. Large company’s are joining as they also see the benefits from using affiliate advertising to gain new customers with incentives.

Affiliate advertising from Freebiejeebies is a fantastic concept which not a lot of people are aware of, consumers can claim great gadgets such as the iphone 4 for free by using these systems and have been doing so since 2007. Freebiejeebies have been giving away free gifts from there websites for the last three years and in this time have paid out over 750,000 to their members. Myfreeiphone.co.uk has proved to be the number one free iphone giveaway website who have also been running since 2007.

To get started with affiliate advertising you join the site and are required to complete just one of the offers displayed, these offers could be free trials or simply opening a new bank account through to joining an online casino.

In the UK the offer which most people seem to choose is the LOVEFiLM two week free trial, this offer simply asks that you rent at least one free dvd during the free trial. Doing so qualifies you to claim your free gift, there are of course many other offers catering for everyone.

Myfreeiphone.co.uk offer the free iphone which is a very popular gift the members choose from, they have been running since 2007 and in this time have helped thousands of it’s members.

One of the best things about affiliate advertising is that when you join and complete your offer, you can not only claim one free gift but continue forever. You need to gain more and more credits but this is an easy process and there is even a website that has thousands of members all claiming free gifts from these affiliate systems, with so many people all helping each other you can understand why the systems are proving very popular.

Now that you can see how you can claim all the latest gadgets, why not join in and no longer pay for your kids Christmas presents or just treat yourself to the latest games console. Once you have claimed your first freebie there will be no turning back you will be hooked into the freebie game forever.

Want to get started with freebiejeebies, then visit www.freebiejeebies.co and start claiming your own ipad deals or choose from any of the free gifts offered.

2d Barcode Generator Online

There are various 2d barcode generators online. However only a few will be significantly entirely unique. Several just apply the Google Chart API. Others are supported by the Z-Xing project code.

And so the distinction going from one online 2d barcode generator and one other might be pretty dubious. The available choices from one to an alternative is usually reduced to individual preference or even which one you happened upon first time round.

Because of the various Generators online for 2d barcodes, and the growing popularity of the associated products, you will discover a wide variety of ‘listings’ displaying favorite solutions as well as web pages to generate 2d codes on.

Therefore, as my own contribution to the collection of interested online bloggers and webmasters, I decided to submit my top list of generator tools online for 2d barcodes, while including one or two of their favourites as well. Thereby setting up a type of listing of top lists with methods of generate 2d barcodes online.

All bar code generators listed are internet website based services, and do not involve a download of any sort. All the web pages posted are free of charge for you to use, although may have some restrictions with regard to business use (check out a web sites T&C usage policy if you want to make use of their 2d code for commercial or business purposes). Any further recommendations happily received, and will be added to the list.

Google’s Barcode Generator

First, it makes sense to feature Google’s own Chart API, and barcode generator, that’s the source for a lot of others. The Google Chart API can create a 2d bar code, in the appropriate QR bar code type based upon what number of characters you provide.

And so should you submit fifty five alpha-numerical characters, it is going to make a Version 3 QR barcode. Prior to building a QR barcode, consider what sort of device may be reading the barcode. The very best readers will read Version 40 codes. A lot of cellular devices are able to merely scan up to Version 4.

ZXing QR Bar code Generator

ZXing is an open-source project and multiple format 1D plus 2d code image processing library constructed with Java. The project goal is to make use of phone cameras to be able to read and decode barcodes on the cellphone, with no need to link to any server.

As a supplement for this reading application, ZXing made the online QR Code generator which handles contact info, calendar events, Web-site addresses, plus much more. And also Includes encoding with the MECARD data format.

To get more detailed details on Generators online for 2d barcodes, look at our web site. We have more than twenty-five on-line generators detailed, displaying links and also reviews for all of them.

If you want to find even more 2d Barcode Online Generators, (25 and counting) then take a look at Peter’s site all about 2D Barcode Scanners and 2D Codes.

How Well Are Smartphones Being Adopted?

Smartphones have certainly changed the way we view and use mobile devices whether it is for personal or business use or both and with every new version, there seems no end to the consumer appetite for them. Technology is becoming better, prices are more competitive, graphics are fantastic but are smartphones actually being adopted at predicted rates?

Consider for a moment that apart from the Blackberry which has been the stalwart of the enterprise market for some years, smartphones in general are a relatively new product for most of us. Google only acquired Android 6 years ago and Apple only unveiled iPhone in 2007. It was probably less easy to predict the meteoric rise that smartphones would enjoy by 2011 back then. Late 2009 and most writers were predicting smartphone sales would continue to boom in 2010 but that was hardly rocket science. After all, Apple, who sold 5 million iPhone units in its first year had by early 2010 sold 51 million, so that was a pretty good indicator that things in the smartphone market were going well!

In 2010, Gartner Research predicted that the number of smartphones in use will reach 1.32 billion units by 2013 – figures so large, they are difficult to imagine! For this to be possible, the growth rate must be huge but there are no indications of any slowdown in sales either in the US or globally, in fact, smartphone sales in the Asia Pacific region are set to grow by over 30% to the year 2015, with North America at 21% growth and Western Europe at just under 20%. Emerging markets such as India could make for interesting predictions in the coming few years too.

Smartphones are not only selling at an amazing rate in the US but also worldwide with no reports of any slowdown in sales. Smartphone sales in the Asia Pacific region for example are set to grow by 30% to 2015, with North America at 21% growth and Western Europe at just under 20%. There is no stopping them it seems.

The where, why, how and who is buying and using smartphones is very important to those in the mobile marketing business. Mobile marketing is arguably the fastest growing marketing strategy to promote brands, businesses, services and organizations, and it is important that mobile marketers know what their target audience is doing. If you haven’t yet discovered mobile marketing and what it can do for your business, please visit us today.

Want to find out more about Mobile marketing, then visit www.txt2get.com on how to choose the best solution for your needs.

Is Smartphone Adoption Expected To Stagnate?

Smartphones – high-end mobile phones that can be so advanced they perform like a hand held pc; enhanced by a myriad of applications, it is not difficult to see why many consumers now own one, whether for business or personal use – or both! But with sales known to have been high in recent years, can this trend continue or is smartphone adoption expected to stagnate?

Well, the smartphone, per se, was certainly doing very well indeed towards the end of 2010 with data showing that 1 in 3 of mobile owners in the US boasting a smartphone in their pocket. Taking a look at similar statistics globally and according to Gartner’s research of the 1.6 billion mobile phones sold globally that year, 297 million were smartphones! That’s 72% more smartphone sales than in 2009 which in anyone’s language is massive growth.

The 2011 Consumers Electronics Show also forecasts that 2011 will be a good year for smartphones. They base their prediction on some of the more innovative additions which are either just introduced, about to be introduced or something for the near future. Such things as dual-core processors, 3D display capability, front-facing cameras, improved video capabilities to name but a few, all set to enhance and enrich the mobile experience.

The future of smartphones is very exciting with the next generation expected to take the consumer to even dizzier heights with yet richer, more engaging experiences than ever before. Sales are rising and expected to continue on this upward trend, outstripping PC shipments even by 2012 according to some writers. Demand is certainly strong and there is no indication that smartphone adoption is expected to stagnate anytime soon.

Whether it is iPhone, Android, Blackberry or the like, how smartphone sales are trending now and in the future, is very important for mobile marketers so they can identify their target audience. Like smartphone sales, Mobile marketing is also trending upwards and if you haven’t yet considered it to enhance your business, today is definitely the day to take a closer look.

Learn more about mobile marketing. Stop by www.txt2get.com where you can find out all about TXT2GET and what it can do for you.