Pew: 65% of Adults Have Slept with Their Phones
Thu, 09/02/2010 - 04:57 by Greg SterlingPew is out this morning with more data on US mobile user behavior and attitudes, this time concerning calling and texting. Here are several of the interesting findings from the survey of 1,917 US mobile phone users: 
- 82% of Americans have a mobile phone
- 72% of mobile users text or receive texts
- The average adult cell phone owner makes and receives around 5 voice calls a day.
- 57% of adults with cell phones have received unwanted or spam text messages on their phone (probbly from their carriers)
- 65% of adults with cell phones say they have ever slept with their cell phone on or right next to their bed.
Pew also speculates that in some cases people may be using text/SMS as an "Internet replacement." However this conclusion is inferred and not based on any direct question(s). The idea is that Internet users have other communication tools and channels available to them and so they rely on SMS less heavily:
Adults with cell phones who text, but who use the internet infrequently, are more likely to use text messaging to have long conversations. Adults who use the internet less than once a week are more likely than those who use the internet more frequently to say they have long message exchanges on important personal topics several times a day – 22% of infrequent internet users report this, while 8% of daily internet users and 6% of those who use the internet several times a week report having frequent, long text exchanges. These infrequent internet users are also more likely than weekly users to use text messaging to coordinate meeting up with someone (21% vs. 8%) and to use text messaging to communicate silently with someone (19% vs. 7%). Taken together, these findings suggest that some cell phone users may be using their phone’s texting capabilities as a substitute for internet access on a computer.
Top Grossing Apps on iPad, iPhone Are Costly
Thu, 09/02/2010 - 04:12 by Greg SterlingDistimo is out with its July report on the various app stores, their pricing and the top ranked apps. There's lots of great data in the report. Here are the big bullets provided by the company:
- The average price of the 100 most popular applications in Google Android Market and Palm App Catalog is higher than the average price of the entire catalogue of applications.
- While the average price of all applications is only 16% higher in the Apple App Store for iPad than in the Apple App Store for iPhone, the average price of the 100 most popular applications is nearly three times as high in the Apple App Store for iPad.
- Paid applications are priced lowest in Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store and Palm App Catalog.
- The top three cross-store publishers that publish applications in multiple stores are Gameloft, Electronic Arts and Handmark, Inc.
- In the Apple App Store for iPad, BlackBerry App World and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, the respective companies that run each application store are the top publishers in their own store with only a limited number of applications.
- The top grossing publisher in the Apple App Store for iPhone is Electronic Arts, which publishes free and paid applications as well as applications with in-app purchases.
You can take a look at the report for more. I'll briefly highlight two charts that struck me.
All the app stores have a similar proportion of free to paid apps, except Android which has a much higher percentage of free apps:
The top grossing apps on the iPad and iPhone are much more expensive than the average and it seems to indicate a pretty healthy willingness to pay on the part of Apple users. This will undoutedly make the iOS platform more attractive to certain kinds of publishers and developers.
Apple Announcements: iPods, Ping & Apple TV
Steve Jobs is on stage discussing the architectural elements of some of Apple's new stores in China, London and Paris. These stores really reinforce the "premium" nature of Apple's brand. Now there are 300 Apple retail stores in 10 countries, soon to be 11 with impending opening of a store in Spain.
First announcement: iOS 4.1 app with several bug fixes in this release. Jobs details some of the new features: new photography features, game center (with social integration done by Apple APIs). . . Now he's providing a "sneak peek" at iOS 4.2 for all iOS devices but really upgrades iPad (all iPhone functionality, including multi-tasking coming and it adds wireless printing). It comes out in November.
Jobs says there are now 120 million iOS devices that have shipped since the iPhone launched. The company is seeing 230K iOS "new activations" per day. He takes a swipe at Google indirectly without naming the company. Two-hundred apps are being downloaded every second from the app store.
More data:
- 250K apps in iTunes app store
- 25K iPad specific apps
- 6.5 billion downloads of apps from the apps store overall
First announcement: iOS 4.1 app with several bug fixes in this release. Jobs details some of the new features: new photography features, game center (with social integration done by Apple APIs). . . Now he's providing a "sneak peek" at iOS 4.2 for all iOS devices but really upgrades iPad (all iPhone functionality, including multi-tasking coming and it adds wireless printing). It comes out in November.
Jobs demonstrates multi-tasking and folders on the iPad. Now he's going to talk about new iPods (275 million sold). The iPod line has been totally redesigned: shuffle, nano (with touch screen). And now for the iPod Touch ("an iPhone without a contract").
iPod Touch:
- Two cameras
- HD Video
- Face Time (between iPhone and iPod Touch)
- Retina display
- A4 (iPhone 4) chip
All the new iPods will be available next week.
Jobs is now announcing iTunes 10, with a bunch of new features.
Apple announces "Ping" -- a social network all about music, built into iTunes. Follow artists and friends (very interesting). This is a very significant announcement (maybe a MySpace killer). It appears to be very thoughtfully designed (lots of privacy controls, groups). It also has concert listings as well. This is going to be quite successful I suspect.
A social network all about music: Wow. Facebook, Twitter, Ping. Ping is also available on iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as PC.
Apple TV: it's never been a huge hit, says Jobs. The new model is 25% percent of the size of the current Apple TV. No purchases; all rental model.
You can also stream content from computer (photos, video, music). iTunes rental prices: $4.99 for movies, $.99 for TV shows (ABC, Fox). Has Netflix streaming as well and YouTube content.
Apple is very effectively connecting all its devices and now has the most complete digital product suite.
Apple TV price: $99 (going to drive a lot of sales I suspect). It's available in about a month.
AOL Pushes the Gas Pedal on Mobile
AOL at one time said it was going to help consumer-users adopt the mobile Internet in the same way it helped get millions online on the PC. The company bought mobile ad network Third Screen Media in 2007 and had an ambitious mobile "platform" initiative. But the seismic shifts at the company over the past two years, the personnel changes and the spin out of TimeWarner caused most of AOL's mobile momentum to slow or stop entirely.
Third Screen was rolled into AOL's Platform A and largely disappeared. So did the platform effort. But there are now a number of signs that AOL is building momentum in mobile again. The most recent of these was yesterday's announcement of the acquisition of mobile development shop Rally Up. Characterized by the Associated Press as "a location-based social networking service," the acquisition is less about any of the specific mobile applications the nine-person startup has built than acquiring the talent and expertise they will bring to AOL.
It also marks the beginning of a new "mobile first" approach that will build products exclusively for the mobile market:
Mobile-first marks a new approach to the mobile market at AOL. For the first time, AOL mobile applications will consist not only of mobile versions of its popular desktop and web offerings, but also will include all-new products that launch first on mobile devices. The infusion of mobile product development talent provided by the Rally Up team will provide AOL with an additional spark to ignite its mobile-first initiatives.
Major portals and publishers online will absolutely need to extend their products to mobile as many are now doing. But mobile is a unique medium that demands specific attention and simply "mobilizing" portal or publisher content won't always work.
Apple's 'On the Grid' Highlights LBS Apps
Apple has collected about a dozen location-based apps in a new featured iTunes area called "On the Grid." While there are many more apps that offer location as a central element of the experience -- yellow pages apps for example or various cityguides -- the bias appears to be toward check-in style apps.
Apple should recognize that location and check-ins are not entirely synonymous. And I would expect the selection to grow over time. Here's what's there now:
Third party sites that monitor the app store recently indicated that it now exceeds 250,000 apps from more than 50,000 developers. Here's the distribution of apps from 148Apps.biz. Somewhat surprisingly books has taken the top spot from games.
CardStar Launches iPad App, Coupons
Mobile loyalty platform CardStar launched an iPad app. It expands the functionality of the company's earlier iPhone app (and other smartphones) by adding coupons and deals that are tied to users' registered loyalty cards. In other words you see the deals for the companies whose cards/programs you've registered on the app.
Here are the features of the new iPad app:
- Scissor-Free Coupon Clipping & Hassle-Free Redemption – To select a coupon, drag and drop it onto the corresponding merchant’s digital loyalty card inside of CardStar for iPad. To redeem saved coupons, simply use the loyalty card at checkout
- Retailer & Manufacturer Coupons – CardStar currently partners with numerous retailers and coupon providers, including Zavers, to provide a wide range of saving opportunities.
- Personalization – CardStar helps avoid information overload by only sending coupons for retailers saved in a user’s CardStar card catalog.
- Filtering – CardStar offers filters so users can easily see coupons they’ve previously selected or search for those from specific brands.
- Social Sharing – Coupons can be e-mailed to friends and family through the app and users can also automatically check in through Foursquare at checkout.
One of the nice things about the new app is that offers saved on the iPad are in the "cloud." So they're automatically logged on the iPhone and other smartphone apps.
People obviously aren't going to bring the iPad to the point of sale. But they can browse deals on the couch and associate them with their registered loyalty cards. By using the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry apps at the POS, users automatically get the benefit of the coupons previously "clipped" on the iPad accordingly.
In addition, one spouse can clip coupons on the iPad and the other one can use the CardStar smartphone app and get the benefit of those coupons at the POS without any knowledge of the spouse's prior iPad clipping activity.
Adding coupons (tied to loyalty cards) is a logical move for CardStar, whose iPad app becomes something analogous to the Sunday circulars. And the automatic linkage of the deals to the loyalty card/account offers a "closed loop" to merchants. CardStar told me that they're were going to greatly expand the variety and range of coupons offered. However I believe offers presented will remain largely "personalized" via the filter of existing loyalty memberships.
CardStar is compiling some fantastic data on user behavior that it can use in a variety of ways to be determined. The company says it's had two million downloads since launch in 2009 and currently has 700,000 active mobile users.
See our earlier posts on CardStar:
GMail Voice: A Million Calls in 24 Hours
If there was any question that Google Voice/GMail calling was going to be popular, let's put that to rest. Google announced earlier today that in the 24 hours since Google's new free-calls-to-phones service went live there were over a million calls.
I don't yet have access so I can't give you my personal impressions and experience. Reviews have been generally positive but mixed in terms of call quality. Here are two . . .
How was call quality? Calls were about on par with what you expect from VoIP. They were somewhat muffled and "digital" sounding. Several of the people with whom I spoke noted that I sounded "echo-y." In other words, we're not talking pin-drop quality here, but an average VoIP client. I tested several Skype-to-Skype calls for comparison, and Skype performed at about the same level.
CNET:
We were pleased with the call quality, overall, which we tested with other U.S. callers using landlines and mobile phones. Calls were loud and mostly clear, however, there were a few moments of garbled voices on multiple calls. There was also sometimes a noticeably persistent high buzz, but it did not distract from the meat of the call. The experience was about on par for VoIP calls, which are known to break up due to variable conditions with the callers' hardware, strength of Internet connection, and the telecommunications channels that process the voice data.
Assuming that, as these reviews say, the call quality is comparable to other VoIP offerings it becomes a viable telephony solution that for many could replace landlines, whether business or personal. It's hard to argue with free.
Intuit GoPayment Adds Smartphone Credit Card Swiping
Mobile consumer payment solutions are starting to emerge and proliferate. The flip side of that development is small business smartphone-based credit card acceptance and processing. Many people are familiar with Square and its smarpthone credit-card swiping hardware. This enables anyone -- SMB or consumer -- to easily accept a credit card on the spot with a smartphone.
Intuit has a small business payments platform (GoPayment) that integrates with QuickBooks. It's really a PayPal competitor. The product has been in the market for a year. Fees are $12.95 a month, plus a 1.7% to 3.7% commission and $0.30 to $0.34 per transaction fee. Now Intuit has teamed up with Mophie to offer an intelligent case (and software) that enables the iPhone -- like Square -- to swipe a credit card. (Previously credit card numbers were manually keyed in.)
Per the release:
The speedy new Intuit Merchant Account application process is designed to let small business owners easily and quickly apply and be approved to start processing credit cards. A user can apply from the GoPayment App, online or by calling Intuit right from their iPhone.
By adding the sleek, clip-on mophie marketplace card reader, merchants can save time by securely swiping credit cards instead of entering numbers by hand. After swiping the card, data is immediately encrypted using Intuit’s industry-standard security methods.
Customers authorize the payment by signing their name on the iPhone touch screen. The merchant can then send them an e-mail or text receipt. GoPayment processes the credit card within seconds and funds are deposited into the businesses’ bank account.
Square doesn't require monthly fees but takes a higher percentage of the transaction than Intuit GoPayment. The decision of which system to use will be driven by the volume of credit cards being processed and the average transaction values. QuickBooks integration may also be determinative for some.
Kindle-iPad: The Tablet Market's One-Two Punch
By lowering the price and coming out with an improved device, Kindle has established itself as the "iPod of eReaders." Today Amazon said that its new Kindle was selling like mad:
More new generation Kindles were ordered in the first four weeks of availability than in the same timeframe following any other Kindle launch, making the new Kindles the fastest-selling ever. In addition, in the four weeks since the introduction of the new Kindle and Kindle 3G, customers ordered more Kindles on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk combined than any other product, continuing Kindle’s over two-year run as the bestselling product across all the products sold on Amazon.com.
The iPad rather than killing Kindle may have helped it buy forcing it to improve and lower its price, and by expanding awareness and the market in general.
Carefully positioned as a "single-purpose" device vs the iPad's multi-function capability, Kindle has carved out a solid position in the market. It threatens to extinguish all eReader competition and has (perhaps in tandem with the iPad) already caused some competitors to cancel products.
For its part the iPad is showing surprising traction in the enterprise market:
When Apple Inc.'s first iPhone came out in 2007, many companies told their employees that the device wasn't appropriate for the workplace. The iPad is a different story.
The company's tablet-style device seems to be sidestepping the resistance that the iPhone and other consumer-oriented devices have faced in the corporate environment. Indeed, many businesses have raced to snap up iPads.
In addition a recent global survey of 1,100 “mobile workers” by iPass found that just over one quarter of them intended to buy an iPad:
TappLocal: Another New Local-Mobile Ad Network
The sleepless bloggers at TechCrunch profile TappLocal, a new LBS entrant that reportedly wants to build a local-mobile ad network. It's partly or largely directed at SMBs and it sounds a little like Foursquare meets Placecast:
TappLocal uses their backend to create a geofence around certain partner venues. When a user crosses that boundary and happens to be using one of the partner apps, a deal indicator will pop-up. A quick click on this area will open a larger area explaining exactly what the deal is. Simply click one more time to verify you wish to use the deal, show it to the store that it’s valid at, and you’re good to go.
The company has two "franchises": nearby, proximity marketing and time-sensitive deals:
Hyperlocal means in closer proximity than just local. Generally this is measured on a more granular basis such as a neighborhood, intersection, or even meters. TappLocal uses advanced GPS technologies, mobile smartphones, and a network of mobile applications to target users as closes as +/- 3 meters* to visit your business.
This platform allows you to instantly notify users, in real-time, of a sale to move perishable items, or to instantly get customers in your door. Imagine being able to put a time-sensitive deal, selling unsold pastries for half off 2 hours before closing, or half off drinks to fill your business with customers from 3:00-5:00pm. Our network would send an alert to all users in the metro-region alerting them that for the next 2 hours they can get your pastries half off, or from 3:00-5:00pm they can get drinks half off. Furthermore, you have complete control over the offer, so it can be whatever you like.
To the extent that TappLocal is trying to attract SMBs it will encounter the familiar -- or perhaps not so familiar to them -- challenges of educating the market and then signing up advertisers.
There are a range of other local ad networks online and/or in mobile. Here is a partial list:
- Chitika (LAX)
- CityGrid (IAC/Citysearch)
- Groupon/LivingSocial/daily deals
- Local Ad Xchange
- Marchex (calls)
- Where
All the major mobile networks offer geo-targeted ads as well.
My guess is that TappLocal will "backfill" with inventory from these networks as it tries to build its own inventory. But again, it will encounter major challenges in acquiring small business advertisers.