TMSFactory Blog » mobile content

Retail Business: Mobile web gained traction to US women, 93% active to promo offers sent through mobile phones

admin — Sat, 08 May 2010 03:20:16 +0000

The US market revealed that women are actively engaging to retail-driven mobile promotions, with 93% of them look out for promo offers sent via mobile phones, the Internet Retailing reported.

A study conducted by miBuys found that 93% of women are actively looking out for promo offers sent through their phones, or on mobile web. In a report published at Internet Retailing, the study uncovers the women’s attitudes and usage to mobile web, and m-commerce on mobile web in particular, with time spent mostly focused on fashion, clothing, and accessories. The meal category, which was dubbed as lion’s share in the distribution of mobile coupons in the region, went down at third only.

A clear preference to mobile coupons related to retail goods and services went at 53% compared to dining at 16%. The mobile coupons relating to concerts and events became the second option at 21% – pronounced to be the most interesting area.

Meanwhile, Facebook and Yahoo Groups grabbed the top pick in the online community category with an approximate of 52% while 41% went to MySpace, and 23% to others.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 05:47:06 +0000

Mobile can restore diminished brand loyalty caused by recession: Study

Due to the recessionary environment, consumers have been willing to forgo their favorite brands to cut household costs. Mobile represents a new access point for brand engagement and marketing opportunities. There has been a clear willingness to “trade down” to lower-priced brands over the past two years. According to research by comScore a decline in loyalty to consumer goods brands is typically one of the byproducts of a recession as consumers give greater consideration to price.

Consumer dependency on mobile devices increasing: InsightExpress

Forty-five percent of users check their mobile devices first thing in the morning, according to InsightExpress. The study showed a shift in three major mobile user profiles. Mobile Intensive, Mobile Casuals and Mobile Restrained represent the latest in mobile behavioral and attitudinal trends among consumers. “The Mobile Intensives segment, the group that is consuming the most content on mobile phones, is an incredibly attractive audience for advertisers,” said Joy Liuzzo, senior director, marketing and mobile research at InsightExpress, Stamford, CT.

Australians take to mobile internet

Nearly half of all Australian mobile phone users now own an internet-capable phone, but only a third accesses the web regularly on them, according to new research by The Nielsen Company. Australians’ ownership of internet phones now sits at 43 per cent, with 29 per cent regularly using it to search, email, find maps and to share their lives on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Even though people have an internet-enabled handset, some people aren’t necessarily using it.

Webinar: Applebee’s and MMA: Five Drivers Influencing Mobile Marketing This Year

As more marketers and retailers such as Applebee’s incorporate mobile into their multichannel plans and more consumers engage with content, marketing and commerce on their mobile devices, increased scrutiny and expectations are likely to result. In this free, hour-long webinar on Thursday, May 20 at 2 p.m. ET, Applebee’s executive Scott Fischer along with the top officials from the Mobile Marketing Association will outline the five factors that could propel the use of mobile.

Advertising Scene: Pepsi rolls out multifaceted LBS mobile loyalty initiatives

PepsiCo Inc. has debuted application-centered mobile initiatives to help its restaurant partners inspire customer loyalty and drive consumers to nearby locations. PepsiCo is working on two separate initiatives.

Indonesia: Bakrie Telecom issues $250 million debut bond

Indonesian mobile phone operator Bakrie Telecom sold $250 million worth of five-year bonds on Friday. The 144A high-yield notes, which are callable after three years, pay a semi-annual coupon of 11.5% and were re-offered at par, resulting in a yield of 11.5% as well. The maturity date has been set to May 7, 2015. Bakrie initially announced a deal roadshow on April 21 and on the following Monday (April 26) came out with guidance for a $250 million five-year issue with a yield in the area of 11%.

5 Keys For Successful Mobile Marketing

If the majority of your customers have cell phones, you might want to consider a mobile marketing strategy to reach them. Reaching out to your customers via text message is a great way to promote special offers and encourage further engagement with your brand. Choose a simple keyword that is easy to text. Most of your customers will join your mobile program by sending a text message to a short code number (5 or 6 digits) with a keyword to identify your program.

Smartphone Shipments Jump 50% During Q1

People want smartphones, as evident by a new report indicating global smartphone shipments totaled an estimated 54M units during Q1 2010, growing 50% from Q1 2009 when 36M units were shipped. The report, published by Strategy Analytics under the name “Global Smartphone Market Share Update,” also indicates Nokia shipped a record 21.5 million smartphones worldwide in Q1 2010, rising an above-average 57% from 13.7 million units a year earlier.

Mobile Marketing and Retail Sector to Exceed $8 Billion by 2012: Report

A recent research conducted by Juniper Research has found the mobile marketing and retail sector including mobile advertising, smart posters and coupons, will exceed $8 billion globally by 2012. The “Mobile Marketing and Retail Strategies” report found that retailers have started exploiting mobile channel through advertising campaign on the handset and also by issuing free coupons.

Portals and directories lead mobile advertising spend in 2010: Study

Portals and directories, travel, entertainment and telecommunications lead mobile advertising spend in quarter one of 2010, according to Millennial Media. In the company’s one-year anniversary edition of its monthly Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting report, it focused on a number of trends observed from its ad servers and campaign data. In addition, the report showed that Blackberry smartphones dominate 12 of top 15 DMAs and the iPhone is tops in the Bay area.

Whitepaper: Mobile Marketing Predictions For The Next Five Years & Beyond

Dubbed “Mobile Marketing for Business – Part One – An Overview,” the new whitepaper does an excellent job at detailing the fundamentals of mobile marketing, current industry statistics, examples of “what’s working now,” current drawbacks and future predictions for the industry as a whole. The whitepaper details stats such as that mobile devices will surpass desktop Web browsing within five to ten years, citing the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) who states cell phone use is far higher than Internet use.

Industry News: Of budgets, Apple and mobile advertising

Apple CEO Steve Jobs seems intent on bludgeoning everyone to submission with his love-it-or-leave-it attitude to mobile. First it was the tight girdle around applications and now it’s his diktats on mobile advertising. Quite clearly, Mr. Jobs is taking advertising agencies, application developers, ad networks and advertisers on this rollercoaster ride, making each descent more frightening than the other. Does he know something that mobile marketers don’t?

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:24:32 +0000

Mobile marketing gaining ground

ADVERTISING on mobile phones is gaining ground as analysts say functionality and affordability help build up the potentials for the industry. According to Pudding Media Inc. founder Ruben Eduardo Maislos, mobile advertising spending in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to hit $2.108 billion this year, increasing by nearly 74 percent next year to $3.655 billion.

Mobile Messages to Surpass 2.1 Trillion Messages in Asia/Pacific in 2010

Short Messaging Services and mobile voice services are proving resilient even during financial crisis, as SMS in Asia/Pacific and Japan are on pace to reach 1.9 trillion messages in 2009, a 15.5 percent increase from 2008, according to Gartner. In 2010, SMS volumes are forecast to surpass 2.1 Trillion, a 12.7 percent increase from 2009.Gartner analysts said that messaging traffic and revenues continue to be driven by new subscribers in developing markets.

Mobile marketing to account for 11.7% of ad spend

Mobile phone marketing will account for 11.7 per cent of total digital advertising spend by 2014, it has been claimed. According to new projections from industry analyst Berg Insight, the mobile marketing sector will be worth an estimated EUR 8.7 billion (£7.8 billion) in the next five years.
The firm believes that the medium will become a standard part of digital campaigns alongside email marketing and html email newsletters.

International mobile money transfer services to exceed $65bn by 2014, Juniper Research

Juniper Research forecasts that international mobile remittances market will gain traction as world exits recession. According to a new report from Juniper Research the international mobile money transfer market will be worth in excess of $65bn by 2014, based on gross transaction values – driven principally from migrant workers based in developed countries. Juniper’s new report – ‘ Mobile Money Transfer & Remittances: Markets, Forecasts & Strategies 2009-2014′ - however also identified a number of inhibiting factors such as rising global unemployment and increased immigration controls by governments which will hold back the market until the recession is over.

China’s 3G Conversion Boosts Telecom Software Firm’s Earnings

U.S. telecom firms have hit a ceiling as most Americans have a cell phone and Internet access. These firms can only dream of untapped potential in China, the world’s largest mobile market. The Chinese government shook up its telecom structure 18 months ago. At the time, China had six major telecoms, split equally between wireless and fixed-line providers, and merged them into three.

Next big growth wave to come from Asia, not necessarily China: Yahoo

SINGAPORE: Internet search giant Yahoo said its next big wave of growth will come from Asia but not necessarily just from China and it said there are also ample opportunities for growth in emerging countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and India. Yahoo is already big on the internet and it’s looking to get even bigger among internet users especially in Asia. Industry players are predicting that growth in internet use in Asia will expand a compounded 19 per cent by 2012.

Cellphone users log in on social networking sites

Manila, Philippines — More social networking site (SNS) users in Asia-Pacific, including those in the Philippines, are logging in through their mobile phones potentially overtaking personal computers as the device of choice, according to research firm International Data Corp.’s recent survey. “The survey findings thus show that mobile phones and mobile Internet hold the promise of changing the SNS landscape in the Asia-Pacific region. Particularly in markets where PC penetration is relatively low, mobile phones have the potential to eventually overtake the PC as a preferred way of accessing SNSs,” said Debbie Swee, market analyst at IDC Asia-Pacific Emerging Technologies Research.

Android doubles smartphone traffic in 6 months: AdMob

In the United States, Google’s Android had 20 percent of the smartphone traffic, up from 7 percent six months before, according to AdMob’s October 2009 metrics report. The report also found that new BlackBerry devices from Research In Motion are generating an increasing percentage of total requests for the platform. RIM’s BlackBerry Tour, the new Curve 8900 and Curve the 8520 are gaining traffic.

MMA Unveils New Definition Of ‘Mobile Marketing’

The Mobile Marketing Association Tuesday released revisions to its definition of “mobile marketing.” The new definition is: “Mobile marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.”

TheTMSway provides a new service for its mobile marketing platform TMSfactory to distribute mobile coupons in real time from social media posts such as Twitter or Facebook

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:51:52 +0000

GLOBAL — Brands using social media to engage in conversation with consumers can now include a TMS tiny URL in a post which will link to a widget where consumers can “opt in” using their cell # to receive a mobile offer via a free message alert. The service is available in 160 countries.

“Actually we can see the migration of a majority of international and local brands to social media like Twitter or Facebook. They use those networks to engage with consumers and to provide news and promo to followers, “Dell Outlet” on Twitter with 1.5M followers is a good example and I think what drives those brands to social is of course the audience and the simplicity of the service which offers low cost connection to consumers, avoiding the need of web developers or ad agencies. With this service – Tiny URL widget – we are proposing to brand marketers, who use social media, to go one step ahead with the possibility to provide targeted mobile offers with a pull service, Spam free”, says Frederick Saurat, TheTMSway co-founder.

The service is accessible on TMSfactory (Create a new campaign using TMS express and the “Tiny URL widget” module) and offers to customize a widget linked to a tiny URL which can be posted on a social media. On the other hand, the service offers to associate mobile coupons (country localized) to this widget. This pull service will distribute the mobile offer to “opt in” consumers in targeted countries via a free SMS message alert.

“This service is a first taste of a new social platform about recommendation and good deals that we will release soon. This platform will offer brands a mother board to engage and manage conversation with consumers using the posts on social media”, adds Frederick Saurat.

## – ##

About TheTMSway Ltd

TheTMSway (www.TheTMSway.com) is a Hong Kong based company who provides a platform to develop, monetize, and promote mobile business. Based on a new short code technology for real time interaction between Media and Mobile Internet, TheTMSway connects brands to consumers using the Mobile Medium as a “1 click” bridge to engage in conversation and deliver personal content (marketing or payment). In complement to its self service platform www.TMSfactory.com, “TheTMSway” provides premium services for Media and Ad agencies.

About TMSfactory.com

TMSfactory.com (www.tmsfactory.com) is a self-service mobile marketing platform that provides the tools needed to create mobile contents automatically optimized for all mobile OS, including Blackberry and iPhone. The platform enables also the customization of widgets (online and offline) for cross media distribution of mobile offers and for consumer’s real time interaction. The platform is also made of metric tools to analyze data and statistics from mobile campaigns in real time.

Corporate Headquarters

TheTMSway Ltd – Main Office
5/f On Lan Centre, 11-15 On Lan Street
Central, Hong Kong
Phone: 85231028077

Generation Y holds tight to Email and Texting, report says

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:43:35 +0000

Email is an activity which is hardly given up by over one-quarter of college students even for a week, according to Participatory Marketing Network and Pace University’s Lubin School of Business’ IDM Lab report via eMarketer.com.

PMN admits the result is quite surprising and adds that as long as email remains the collection point for social networking updates, including alerts around new followers, discussion updates and friend requests; it will remain a powerful force in marketing and in people’s lives.

On other hand, the report found text messaging as the most needed activity by college students with nearly a half of them sent and received more than 500 messages a month. Read more

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:53:41 +0000

Retailers to Send up to 3 Billion ‘Mobile Coupons’ to Phone Users by 2011, According to Juniper Research

New figures from analyst firm Juniper Research estimate that almost 3 billion mobile coupons will be issued to Mobile Users by 2011, with just under $7 billion of discounts redeemed. The new Juniper study finds that mobile coupons are becoming an increasingly important tool for brand owners and retailers to provide a `push to purchase’ capability for mobile marketing and advertising campaigns. The key issues driving the move to mobile coupons include:

Will BlackBerry give Android, iPhone a run for their money?

With all of the buzz around marketing on the iPhone and Android-enabled devices, there seems to be a sleeping giant left behind in the dust. Research in Motion’s BlackBerry has quietly become the leader in smartphone market share in North America even though the first incarnation of its much-anticipated Storm was nothing to write home about. Will the touchscreen BlackBerry Storm 2 help RIM gain coveted smartphone marketshare and therefore woo marketers to the platform?

LinkedIn Surpasses 50 Million Users

As we reported yesterday, growth for some of the world’s biggest social networks — like Twitter and Facebook — appear to be flattening. One site bucking that trend though is LinkedIn, which saw a 5.68% growth in traffic for the month of September, according to Compete.

Good news for Android, from both Verizon and Gartner

Analysts from Gartner are predicting that the Android OS will be running on 14% of all smartphones globally by 2012, putting it ahead of iPhone, WinMo and Blackberry. The OS currently has around 2% of the smartphone share – but Gartner is confident that the openness of the OS will lead to a surge in the number of devices being manufactured, sold and used over the next 3 years.

Online retailers must look to mobile commerce

The ecommerce experience is all about taking the shopping environment to the consumer instead of the consumer physically going to the shop. Today, however, this scenario is changing rapidly. As the usage of next-generation handsets grows and mobile technology continues to advance, bringing the ecommerce experience to consumers will increasingly mean delivering it to their mobile devices.

Mobile advertising poised for substantial growth: CTIA keynote

A Yahoo Mobile executive said that mobile advertising has been growing despite the economy during a keynote address at CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2009: Mobile Business. Yahoo also unveiled the next phase in its efforts to deliver personally relevant Internet experiences to mobile users worldwide by showcasing the new Yahoo mobile homepage during the keynote address. The presentation covered the growth of mobile Web usage and Yahoo’s various ad-supported mobile properties, including search, applications and the mobile Web site.

Which Smartphones Fill Consumer Content Needs?

The iPhone continues to top all other smartphones in measures of consumer satisfaction. In May–June 2009, Crowd Science found it well ahead of the BlackBerry and other smartphones in measures of satisfaction and brand loyalty—and content usage too. August 2009 data from CFI Group agrees: Users are happier with the functions of their iPhones than with any other smartphone. Android and Palm Pre took second and third place, respectively.

Mobile Advertising Becoming Line Item In Brand Media Buys

When a mobile phone that spends 18 hours in someone’s pocket or purse makes a noise, they stop what they’re doing and service the device. “That’s a marketer’s dream,” Michael Wehrs, president and chief executive officer for the Mobile Marketing Association, tells Online Media Daily. People develop a personal attachment to the device, so they tend to trust it. Large companies, such as BMW, Lufthansa, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, have recognized the benefits of mobile advertising.

Report: Android to surpass iPhone market share by 2012

Research firm Gartner is forecasting that Google’s Android operating system will surpass Apple’s iPhone in global smartphone market share by 2012, Computer World reports. Gartner says that Nokia’s Symbian OS will own 37.4 percent of the smartphone market that year, putting Android in second place with a predicted 18 percent of the market. BlackBerry OS came in third in the report with a predicted 13.9 percent of the market, followed by the iPhone’s OS X with 13.6 percent of the market. Windows Mobile is expected to control 9 percent of the market share.

Entertainment top vertical in mobile ad spend: Millennial Media

The entertainment industry, an early innovator in mobile, remained the top vertical in terms of mobile advertising spend in the third quarter, according to Millennial Media’s U.S. Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting (SMART) report. The consumer packaged goods (CPG) vertical jumped from sixth in mobile marketing spend in the second quarter to the fourth spot in the third quarter. In addition, Apple drove Samsung out of the top spot for number of ad impressions among device manufacturers.

Smartphone Industry: iPhone tops consumer satisfaction, report says

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:13:11 +0000

The iPhone continues to top all other Smartphones in filling the consumers’ content needs, as revealed in a recent study. The Crowd Science study (May–June 2009) has reported that iPhone grabbed ahead from Blackberry and other Smartphones in measures of satisfaction, brand loyalty, and content usage.

August 2009 data from CFI Group agrees: Users are happier with the functions of their iPhones than with any other smartphone. Android and Palm Pre took second and third place, respectively.

A key finding of the “Smartphone Satisfaction Study 2009” is that the most satisfying smartphones are the ones that offer the best consumer functionality. Users now expect more than just the e-mail and calendar functionality that were critical for early business users. Read more

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

admin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:56:30 +0000

Batteries set to become $60 billion industry by ‘13

So far in 2009, battery companies have received over $600 million in venture capital funding, compared with $478 million garnered for 2008, according to research analyst Lux Research. The investment isn’t without reason. In a report released Tuesday, Lux predicted that the energy storage market will grow to become a $60 billion industry by 2013.

Facebook Usernames: 50+ Million Claimed and Counting

In a post entitled “Designing the Facebook username land rush,” Facebook’s Srinivas Narayanan reveals the number while explaining the difficulties of building a system capable of handling 200,000 signups in 3 minutes and planning for contingencies (aka the so-called “nuclear option”). These are subjects we actually discussed with Facebook’s Jared Morgenstern and Guy Rom at Facebook headquarters the night of the launch.

All About iPhone In China/Asia, Interview with iPhonAsia

iPhone is so attractive and Asia holds such a huge mobile market. In Japan, iPhone is getting quite popular; nobody knows the exact date yet but we know it is stepping closer to China; it is not very clear about iPhone in South Korea, but at least they are in talk for a long time; and it is already rocking HongKong and Singapore. Recently, we had a great pleasure of interviewing with Dan Butterfield, managing editor of iPhonAsia.

Mobile money roundup: banking, finance and payments in mobile

Here’s a round-up of some of the mobile money stories that have been of interest to us this morning. We’ve got pieces from America, Asia, Africa and India. iPhone check feature: The USAA is a smaller bank in America, serving mostly military personnel. But it has just launched a very interesting product – an iPhone application that allows you to deposit your check through your iPhone. You take a snap of the front and a snap of the back, hit send, and it deposits with USAA. Cambodian mobile banking: Cambodian mobile service provider Smart Mobile and WING have launched a mobile money service. It allows Smart customers to send and receive cash, and make payments, via top-up cards.

Worldwide phone sales drop 6 percent — but smartphones shoot up 27 percent

Low-cost Nokias will probably ensure Nokia’s dominance of the non-smartphone market for another year. But the low end is no longer the place to be. A new report from Gartner says worldwide sales in the second quarter of 2009 dropped six percent from Q2 2008. But phones classified by Gartner as smartphones shot up 27 percent. Many people buying new phones, says the report, want either a QWERTY keyboard or a touchscreen. Still more, though, are buying on price.

Federal Communications Commission seeks answers over Apple rejection of Google Voice app

The Federal Communications Commission late Friday afternoon dashed off three letters to Apple Inc., AT&T Inc. and Google Inc. over Apple’s reported rejection of the Google Voice application for the iPhone. The letters seek detailed information on why Apple is said to have rejected Google Voice and pulled previously approved third-party applications from its App Store (see story). They also want an insight into Apple partner AT&T’s role in the rejection of the Google Voice app, which would offer voiceover IP telecommunications services that directly undercut the carrier’s voice offerings.

Base campaign strategy on target audience’s mobile habits: Forrester

Mobile marketing is gaining momentum even in a down economy, according to a study by Forrester Research. One in four interactive marketers in the United States is currently using mobile and nearly half of these (47 percent) will increase mobile spending this year.

U.S. mobile adoption catching up to Asia, Europe: Study

The United States may be closing in on Asia and Europe in mobile technology adoption, according to a study by Mobtext. The reported boost in consumer adoption of mobile technology means that marketers are approaching the prime time for mobile marketing opportunities. The study found that SMS, MMS, location-based marketing, mobile Web and branded content are the major components of growth in the mobile marketing space.

Entrust, Clickatell partner to enhance mobile security

Entrust Inc. has signed a deal with Clickatell to expand its ability to send one-time-passcodes (OTP) to mobile devices via SMS. Oftern referred to as soft tokens, the partnership for OTPs expands the options available to customers using the Entrust IdentityGuard authentication platform.

Merchants turn to iPhone app to reach tourists

For some local merchants, downtown business development is going mobile. Mobilefringe along with the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area (B.I.A.) is launching the Mobile Yonge iPhone application on their m3 platform. The Mobile Yonge application will have the ability to show promotions and events that will appeal to both visitors and residents of the popular Toronto area.

Mobile gaming market to reach $18B by 2014: Study

Due to the growing number of wireless subscribers in emerging markets, the mobile gaming market is predicted to reach $18 billion by 2014, according to a study by Pyramid Research. The predicted $18 billion in growth represents a 16.6 percent growth rate according to Pyramid’s study titled, “Mobile Gaming in Emerging Markets: Five Year Forecast and Impact Analysis.” The study takes the growth of emerging markets and puts it into context with the mobile gaming industry as a whole.

Mobile Usage on the Rise, New Landscape for marketers

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:10:19 +0000

Recent study on mobile media reports the rise of consumer usage to consequently open new landscape for global marketers.

In a report published on Brandweek, the study conducted by IPG’s Universal McCann and AOL reveals 80% of smart-phone users satisfied to the quality of Internet on their mobile devices.

The research study has presented 95% of the respondents saying they used mobile media to fill downtime; 82% said they use it at work; 81% of the respondents use mobile while shopping; 80% at home; and 65% while commuting to their offices.

Stuart Rodnick, Senior director of Strategic Insights at AOL, describes the mobile to lead into a “social transformation”. And with mobile usage forecasted to grow 60% over the next two years, marketers are advised to formulate ways of communicating about their brands with mobile users, or risking of missing out huge opportunity. READ MORE

Scanbuy, TMS partnered mobile campaign content won an award

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:39:30 +0000

A mobile campaign content partnered by Scanbuy and TMS grabbed an award in a recent MediaPost’s Digital Out of Home Awards.

The Mobile Barcode and the Interactive Neighborhood campaign took the winning slot in the Best Integration with a Mobile Device category.

In April and May of last year, Scanbuy and TMS joined forces in creating a mobile campaign content in the US using mobile barcodes to provide people the immediate access to restaurant reviews, news, weather, and landmark audio tours via mobile phones.

Mobile barcodes were distributed using outdoor media tactics such as bus shelters and kiosks, wild postings and static clings, and street teams with flyers and ads.

The campaign resulted to hundreds of codes distributed all over the city and more than three thousand people who used ScanLife to interact with the outdoor media. Read more