Lost in the glitzy introduction of new smartphones at Mobile World Congress is the fact that 35 percent of U.S. mobile users still carry a feature phone. And, according to new research, that percentage won’t change in a meaningful way anytime soon.
Kantar reported that more than half of current feature phone users say that they won't upgrade to smartphone in the next year or are unsure if they will do so.
Feature phone owners tend to be older, are more likely to be retired, and often have a limited income. Unreachable for mobile marketers? Hardly. Mobile loyalty club that use text messaging enable all to participate. And young and old are looking for deals and value. Those programs often lead to sales and a boost in loyalty.
In a sobering study by Duke’s The Fuqua School of Business and others, 40% of CMO’s surveyed say that mobile has made zero contribution to their businesses. Yet the same group says that the spend on the channel will increase 147% in three years.
Nissan disabled its smartphone app after hackers use it to control a Leaf electric car, per Yahoo news.
It amazes me how many marketers even now have no clue that you can't buy a list and just send texts to mobile users.
As the talk and hype build for 5G, it was reported at Mobile World Congress that 4G is in more than 150 countries and will cover two thirds of the population by 2020.
Headline in the Huffington Post: Beacon Use in Retail Stores Will Be Just as Common as Cash Registers. Me: more hype, plus it’s important to note that the number of registers is on the decline with other point of sale systems being adopted.
Only 0.3% of mobile owners use ad blockers, according to M&C Saatchi's CEO James Hilton.
Fifty percent of brands surveyed by the Rubicon Project predict that they will be spending 81-100% of their budget this year in programmatic private marketplaces.
It’s two months into the year and the mobile loyalty clubs that I belong to haven't moved any closer to personalized communications. #dejavu.
Instagram has over 200,000 advertisers in its first five months of operation.
Speaking of ROI, 44% in an eMarketer poll say that the lack of definitive return on investment is holding back wearables.
In 2020, you will be able to fill out your census form on your smartphone, Pew said.
Coca-Cola created packaging that converts into a Google Cardboard-style virtual reality viewer for the iPhone.
