There is a new mobile ‘phone war happening, and its not just between handset manufacturers. In the past when mobile phones were being bought the questions were around style (remember the ‘clamshell’? ) and what the ‘phone would do .. Bluetooth, Tri Band etc. But now I believe these are changing to what can be done on the ‘phone. Applications that are freely available on computers and the web are now being touted as USP’s for a particular ‘phone brand. Take the UK network 3. Their promotions revolve around tools we take for granted online as being ‘free’ on their platform including Google Maps and Windows Live Messenger.

Furthermore, the latest promotions from Nokia, a company that has been struggling without a ‘hit’ smartphone (read Om Malik’s, “The iPhone & Nokia’s Troubles, By the Numbers“) has been not about the handsets but about what you can do with the handsets. This in the form of their OVI Store promotions which are taking full advertising on and offline (including TV spots) to promote what you can do, rather than their latest ‘phone.You may recall the OVI store launch being riddled with problems which will not have helped Nokia’s fortunes.

The big battle that I see is the iPhone vs. Google Android in which the number of apps available has been one of the benchmarks for comparison. Some put the numbers at 1m + apps for iphone, 100,000 for Android. Certainly, as a user of both ‘phones the number of apps available on the iphone and the ease of access [to these apps] on the iphone far outstrips the Android which is one of the main reasons I use the Android less than the iPhone.

The App as the Hookor ‘The Killer App’

The concept of the ‘Killer App’ is not a new one but one I feel is particularly relevant here. Nokia is trialling a free version of Shazam, the mobile music recognition software in the hope it will drive additional music interest and resultant sales of music on Nokia handsets. Music again is the promotion for the newishly released Spotify apps for iphone and Android. The app, limited to premium customers is one potential killer app that could generate interest in new mobile phones. I personally feel a smart move would be for a provider (Handset, Operating System or Network) to subsidise the premium Spotify price to gain market share, much in the same way as Nokia is doing with Shazam. However vested interests of music sales for most players (except Google) means such a tactic may not happen. Putting music to one side, the principle remains strong if there is a new killer app that will kick start interest in mobile ‘phone sales.

The Concept of App Loyalty

As the market matures, or in the interests of gaining customers one has to pay attention to App Loyalty. If the app becomes ‘the thing’ then each platform will need to have the common tools offered by others. Let me explain, I have an iPhone and a Hero (Android.) On my iPhone I love:

1. Tweetie for Twitter
2. Portfolio Live for tracking stocks
3. Evernote for filing
4. Spotify for Music
5. Flight Control for games

Which ones can I get on Adroid?

1. Twitdroid is as close as I can get, but not nearly as good
2. I cannot find a decent portfolio manager
3. I have to use a PixelPipe ‘hash’ version which requires a Pixelpipe account (I don’t have one)
4. Yes, and its great
5. No, I can’t find anything close

Now one of the issues with this is finding the apps. The app store Market on the Android is poor with little visibility of all the available apps, few categories in broad brush strokes like ‘finance’ which covers everything from mortgage calculators to tip calculators and share price tools. Trying to research these on the website for Android is equally hard as only a handful of apps are displayed. Furthermore the quality of some of these apps is questionable which,without better filtering brings down the overall quality of the market.All is not lost, however, there are some great apps for Android (I like the WiFi Analyser) but I find them through trial and error rather than a pleasurable shopping experience.Larva Labs post a great article covering more of the Market’s shortcomings.

If for final evidence, if you will, of the importance of apps it is the revenue they generate. GigaOm estimate Apple sells $2.4 billion worth of apps every year in their store. If Apple retain 30% of the sale value (says Infobeans) that would equate to around 15% of their 2008 profits. Something not to be sniffed at.

OK, we are planning to have an informal tweetup next Thursday 29th October.

Venue Details

We will be at Isaacs bar on the Ipswich Waterfront. It is quite a cavernous place so if you are coming on your own feel free to tweet or DM me and I will come and find  you. There is car parking both at the Waterfront Car Park off Duke Street and at Cardinal Park. From memory the Waterfront Car Park is not as well lit or as busy as Cardinal Park so you may wish to choose Cardinal Park – they are both about the same distance walking to Isaacs.

We will be there from 19:00 but come along when  you are ready. There is no agenda and no rules, it will just be nice to see you. If you plan to come, feel free to leave a comment below so we know to look out for you.

New Hashtag #tractortweetup

I came across this wonderful infographic of the distractions we face on a day to day basis. As you can see, only a dead computer will tear us away from Twitter and Facebook.

I am currently working on my presentation for the Golden Dove conference in Budapest. The title as you see is ‘Applications in the service of the community’ in which I will talk about how the rise of applications or functions within social networks are fuelling brand interaction, campaign awareness and in some cases public pressure. Last year’s presentation talked about the rise of the networks themselves and how smart brands were harnessing these networks in more of an integrated way than ‘just advertising’.

This year’s presentation will be assuming that social networks are a given and so we can focus on how people are actively using them to achieve their goals, commercial, political or otherwise.

With the rise of Twitter and continued growth of Facebook, it would be too easy to focus on what has been done in this space alone, but what I interact with is not a true cross section of what is happening ‘out there’. Below I will add the elements I plan to highlight (NB this is still work in progress) and would welcome any suggestions of innovative marketing, promotions or campaigning that I may have not seen in the past 12 months. They need to have happened on social networks ideally in Europe. I intend writing up each example in the presentation as dedicated blog pages so I will ensure that you are credited in the presentation and with links on these articles.

This is still work in progress and I may find better examples to replace them but here we go:

1. Twitter – #hashtag promotions.

Over the summer we have seen the hashtag promotions trending with varied response. Some people love them, others hate them. I personally think they have limited shelf life before users get hacked off with them but I am confident the idea will evolve as users tweeting habits change, and therefore it is valid for inclusion. Examples I plan to include are: #nanobreaks for competitions and awareness and #breastcancer for revenue generation/’campaigning’.

2. Facebook Farmville – Seeds for Haiti

This is a dangerous time sink, relatively simple but horribly addictive. The reason it appears in this list is the ‘Seeds for Haiti’ campaign they are running. If you play Farmville you have to buy crops with virtual money which can be topped up with ‘real’ money. One of the crops is Sweet Potatoes, which you can buy for virtual dollars. These virtual dollars are turned into real donations for Haiti. To date the campaign has raised almost half a million dollars in donations from the game.

3. Er… Its still work in progress! I haven’t seen anything special on Flickr for some time. What about YouTube?

I’ll keep adding to this presentation as I do it, but any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks

Jamie

Google’s mobile aspirations continue apace. A Firmware update is planned for Android (2.0, known as Eclair) which will bring even more enhancements to the Android ‘phone and it looks [from this walkthrough] that the UI will become a lot smoother. News also reaches us that Google are building their own ‘phone to be sold directly and not through the Telco’s. To quote Thestreet.com,

In what is likely to be seen as disruptive to the wireless status quo, Google is working with a smartphone manufacturer to have a Google-branded phone available this year through retailers and not through telcos, according to Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar, who has talked to Google’s design partners about the plan.

This news comes on the heels of a Garter report predicting the Android operating system to be the second largest mobile operating system by 2012. To quote Computerworld who ran the story,

Gartner forecasts Android will actually rank second globally, behind the Symbian OS, which is used in Nokia devices that are highly popular in Europe and many countries outside the U.S. Symbian now runs on about half of all smartphones, but will fall to 39% in 2012, Gartner says.

[I'm still trying to find the actual report quoted, I'll link it here if I do.]

And today we see Google Analytics add a rash of new improvements to help us understand traffic from mobile platforms including identification of which mobile platforms. Quoting econsultancy,

As part of an upgrade to Google Analytics announced today, Google is introducing a numer of useful enhancements,  including the ability to track traffic to both mobile sites and applications, and explanations of what device is being used. Meaning that marketers will be able to track digital campaigns across web and mobile platforms.

Whilst this is not a directly related point to Android it is also another important sign that Google is visibly growing the attention is it giving to mobile platforms.

–

Eclair image courtesy of QuintanaRoo

This is my post in support of the Blog Action Day on Climate Change.

1. In the UK The 2008 Energy Act contains powers for the introduction of feed-in tariffs in Great Britain to incentivise renewable electricity installations up to a maximum capacity of 5 MW. This could be introduced next year which will be a shot in the arm for individuals and small businesses to look at investing in renewal energy sources which historically have shown a very long return on investment vs. staying with fossil fuel powered electricity.

2. In the USA, the Helix Corporation are about to start trialling self powered mobile ‘phone masts which have the potential to reduce energy requirements from the grid whilst also maximising the footprint of mobile ‘phone masts.

3. T. Boone Pickens - a very successful corporate raider is turning his attention to renewable energy – The Pickens Plan is aiming to raise awareness of energy saving as well as investing in renewable energy sources. T. Boone Pickens is a very smart man, and very successful, his attention to this, an his injection of personal wealth into the project offers hope for the future of renewable energy.

4. Do the Green Thing offers fun ways to be greener, with one new idea every month. If you like the ideas, share them and feel the love!

5. The Kyoto Treaty

OK, the Google Android ‘phone has been around for over a year now and has seen limited success but with real potential. As a die hard iPhone lover I had shunned an Android until I felt I really should understand where this is heading.

In the past week we have seen announcements that some major US carriers are going to be offering Android Smart ‘phones before Christmas. This news just adds to the reasons why we need to be paying very close attention to Google Android. If you pay attention to the Google share price (it has almost doubled in six months) you will see that some of the fuel for this growth in share price is the Android roll out.

The value of stocks can go down as well as up....

So, here are my five reasons you need to pay attention:

1. Network Access. Verizon Wireless, the largest US carrier will start selling two Android handsets before Christmas, one HTC, one Motorla. Good news for these handsets, bad news for Apple, RIM (Blackberry) in the handset department. Bad news also for Microsoft whose outdated Windows Mobile is being shunned in favour of Google. Bearing in mind the choices Verizon no doubt had, and regardless of how many Android handsets are sold this Christmas, this deal should be seen as a strong endorsement for the future of Android.

(The iPhone is still available only on AT&T in the USA. The Verizon deal offers a very real alternative to those people looking for a s,art ‘phone but not necessarily a Blackberry. The deal with Orange (and soon Orange & T-Mobile) in the UK means this is less of a threat on this side of the pond)

2. The Google Android Operating System is free to handset manufacturers. In this market, free is a very good incentive for handset manufacturers to try your software. Remember, Windows Mobile is outdated (and probably costs a lot of money), and the iPhone software is and will remain exclusive to Apple. If handset manufacturers and carriers are looking for the iPhone killer, they have the potential to gain one with little upfront investment or risk.

3. Android is Open Source. iPhone is not. Whilst both systems have app stores, the open source structure offers a greater ability to really see where this can go. I feel it is important also as the Android system, its apps, and the app market (on the ‘phone is atrocious) is not as polished as the iPhone. By making this open source it puts the power and responsibility for growth into the hands of a much larger connected audience which could see step change improvements as we move forward.

To quote Scott Morrison, WSJ

Mobile apps are critical for two reasons. Yankee Group estimates the U.S. mobile app market will reach $4.2 billion in 2013; meanwhile, consumers are likely to be drawn to the mobile phone platform that boasts the greatest number of apps. However, it becomes a chicken-or-egg debate because developers will turn their attention to Android as more people buy those phones, but consumers might be reluctant to buy Android phones without a robust set of apps.

4. Android is Hardware Agnostic. In part because of its open source nature, the operating system can be tweaked to deliver the right customer experience for each carrier and the ability to run on different ‘phones. If we look at two other options, the iPhone and the Blackberry – you can only use the iphone system on the iphone or the ipod touch. If you don’t like the iphone then tough, and in the States, if you like the iPhone but not AT&T – tough. The Blackberry is similar – whilst there are umpteen different Blackberry styles, its still a Blackberry. Android can appear on any network (subject to contracts) and on (virtually) any ‘phone type. Of course, the handset choice is limited at this stage but that’s because of the audience size – as Android increases in popularity so the investment in hardware will follow from manufacturers.

5. It connects seamlessly with your Google accounts. If you look at any of the major search engines over the past 10 years, they have all worked to grow the reasons to stay on the site, not leave it. With Google this has been the investments with iGoogle, Maps, YouTube, Docs etc. So Google are taking this strategy mobile, giving you the ability to use Google as you would on a computer. This in itself is nothing new, nor is it fully harnessed (I don’t get the same experience on Google Finance, for example, as I do on the computer) but with the sheer size of Google users (and growth) this starts to become an attractive option, to have all of your ‘stuff’ in one place. Android needs to work hard to ensure there are additional benefits or greater harmony between computer and ‘phone (vs. a Google app on the iPhone or Blackberry) for it to become a true killer. I believe this is a strong point moving forward, but one that needs to work right now.

The Future’s Bright The Future’s Android

There are many reasons not to like Android right now, not least the lack of polish, the small number of users and the lack of apps. BUT the reason you need to pay attention is that these will be fixed. The Verizon deal is big news as it paves the way for much quicker potential growth. If growth kicks off, then in will come more manufacturers, more developers and more money. Once this happens we will see a snowball effect with growth coming quicker and quicker.

Make no mistake, Google are in this to make money. It is no accident there is a search button the handset – they want to be your partner in mobile surfing and mobile searching. If you watch their video for Android 1.6 you will see they focus on your ability to search.Their investment now will pay dividends in a few years. If I was a betting man, I’d say those are going to be big dividends.

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The KLF were brilliant, inventive, anarchic but intelligent enough to know how to make a great pop song.

Check out the Facebook ads. How to ‘get ripped’ earn money and lose weight. Is that all Facebook users are interested in or have these just become the new ‘classified’ ads? Tsk, I’m off to tend my Farmville…

.. or the puzzling effect of automated ads.

I was listening to a Smiths track on Blip.fm when, as usual a little ad appears at the bottom, targeted to my music choice. But this one said, “The Smiths are on tour” – well, if someone had been paying attention before they plugged in the parameters, they would have seen that the Smiths definitely aren’t touring. What next, Spandau Ballet? Oh, wait….