Mobile Devices, PDAs, Phones and Gadgets

Apple has traditionally lagged behind when it comes to the business market and most of corporate America still seems to favor Blackberry as their device of choice. However, there has definitely been a shift recently in corporate thinking and Apple may well be beginning to challenge Blackberry – but will it capture a significant part of the business market?

Until recent years, RIM’s Blackberry was the smartphone with the stronghold on the enterprise market but now there are other companies vying to challenge Blackberry for a bigger share of the business market, not least of all, Apple. With its trendy iPhone 4 currently flooding the market and iPhone 5 heralded as the next big thing for Apple and rumored to be due for release in June, could the iPhone really challenge and capture the business market.

Some statistics show that there is definitely a visible shift by a number of companies in the States from Blackberry to iPhone. They see it as a way of accommodating the preference of many of its employees for the popular and trendy iPhone. Security has always been the big issue for many corporates and Blackberry was always the preferred choice because of its proven record at protecting business-critical information. However, Apple now offers users a new facility; the ability to remotely erase a lost or stolen phone, giving better security for sensitive data and information.

How does Apple itself market towards the business world? It describes as “…the most powerful, flexible, and intuitive phone ever. With new features like multitasking, FaceTime video calling, improved mail, and enhanced security, iPhone makes even more sense for your business.” Some critics say that Apple does not provide the powerful enterprise tools needed by the larger corporates. No doubt Apple would disagree.

Recent reviews say that the iPhone remains targeted more towards personal use and is particularly popular amongst younger people with good incomes. However, it is making good inroads into the business market, so it is definitely one to watch. Mobile marketers watch with interest to see exactly what their target audience is buying at any given time. Businesses not yet using mobile marketing can find out more about this exciting way of enhancing business by visiting…

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With mobile capabilities reaching all new levels, features are moving well beyond communications. Mobile is now incorporating news services, music players, maps and even games into their systems. Gaming especially seems an extremely interesting development in the mobile sector when we consider how revolutionary it could be for the technological studies into mobile devices. So, how well has gaming developed in the mobile sector thus far?

If we first address some of the main reasons gaming may have been incorporated into mobile, we can better see how it may be developing for mobile users. A key point to highlight is that the average age for video gamers nowadays is 35 years old. This may prove contrary to conventional stereotypes of the biggest gamers, but it points out how gaming may reach a wider range of participants on mobile than expected.

Gaming’s integration into mobile already offers availability with a mobile device as one of its features, however, to really be successful it needs to offer a lot more. Recent updates in gaming software on mobiles is aimed at ensuring smooth application use and steady game play. Touch screen technologies have been a large focus of this, with responsiveness and player control being a feature of mobile gaming that developers see as paramount to the mobile gaming experience.

Not only are developers looking at touch screen control, but they are looking at how the mobile device can be the control in a whole new way. A range of sensor technologies have been developed for mobile gaming whereby the motion of the mobile device directly influences movement of a character or vehicle in the game. This offers a whole new level of player-to-game interaction and offers a level of game play not yet seen on portable gaming consoles.

It is possible to see then that although mobile gaming in some ways cannot compete with specialist portable gaming consoles, it offers all new features and technologies that provide a whole new way of playing games for users. Ultimately this makes gaming developments in the mobile sector not only successful, but almost ground breaking for gamers.

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Mobile Marketing may just be the best kept secret in the world of advertising. Perhaps the best form of supplementary advertising; mobile marketing provides a measurable form of engagement with consumers, one that heavily increases interaction with your advertisements by providing alternate calls to action.

Spicers, a New Zealand financial planning and investment firm found out just how successful a well implemented mobile marketing campaign can be when they incorporated an SMS response component into their latest radio campaign. Over the course of this campaign, three different ways in which consumers could engage with the advertisements were offered: text, internet and a free phone number. The results were overwhelming, with SMS being identified as by far the preferred method of interaction, with it garnering 75% of total responses. Statistically, the mobile marketing component of this campaign tripled the number of responses compared with those received via more traditional forms of engagement – the internet and a free phone number.

Black and White, a player in the New Zealand cellphone market showed that the results received by Spicers were far from an aberration, achieving comparable results. Their campaign originally offered two separate ways in which consumers could engage with their advertisements – a free phone telephone number or via SMS. The number of SMS responses overwhelmed those received via the freephone number. The results allowed Black and White to do away with the freephone number, utilizing SMS as their sole method of interaction whilst saving capital previously budgeted for the freephone number.

So why is SMS by far the most popular method of interaction chosen by respondents?

Social protocol is an important factor to consider in the decision of many people to text. Calling can often be impractical and is at other times considered inappropriate – whereas texting is simple, quiet and quick. Internet responses are often also inadequate and difficult for many, as they’re far less likely to be accessible. For the majority of people though a cellular phone is an appropriate and immediate option as they’re nearly always on hand.

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Sports brands such as adidas and Puma invested in mobile marketing during the World Cup and helped increase global mobile advertising.

The sports giants weren’t alone in a push towards mobile advertising. Reports for the three months to the end of June 2010 showed global mobile advertising grew by 61 percent worldwide.

It doesn’t take a global budget to reap the benefits of mobile marketing. Even the smallest company can integrate mobile marketing into their campaigns.

Businesses can also take advantage of mobile marketing without having a global budget. It is a simple and effective method that allows potential clients to interact with promotional campaigns, and you can start a campaign at any time.

Tying a new advertising campaign to a big event is a great way to capitalise on media coverage and audience interest in a particular subject. If your business relates to the latest sporting event, cultural event or a local or national celebration, it is a great time to look at how you can turn the audience’s interest in that event into interest in your business.

A business can look at how their product or service best fits into an event or its audience, and target their mobile marketing campaign to suit. By choosing a key word that relates to the event, a business can capitalize on recognition of that word being used in media coverage. A campaign using “flag” around a national holiday is a going to grab the interest of the audience.

Being aware of events coming up during the year and planning marketing campaigns in line up with these is an effective way for businesses to capitalize on audience interest. Using key words associated with these events ensures the campaign is relevant to the audience and is a quick and easy way to get interested customers to interact with your business. Harnessing interest in a media event and using that to increase sales makes great business sense.

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