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This week there have been a number of stories of note:
Survey Says 1 - Mobile Intent Index Survey Results
According to the results of the new Mobile Intent Index Survey by Ruder Finn, Americans are spending an average of 2.7 hours on the mobile Internet, connecting socially, managing their personal finances, and even as a means for advocacy. Other findings include:
>> 91% of mobile phone users go online to socialize compared to only 79% of traditional desktop users. Top social intents are:
Instant message (62%)
Forward e-mails (58%), content (40%) and photos (38%)
Post comments on social networking sites (45%)
Connect to people on social networking sites (43%)
>> Mobile phone users are 1.6 times more likely to manage finances compared to traditional desktop users. Mobile phone users are 1.4 times more likely than traditional desktop users to rally support for a cause. The top business intents are:
Online banking - 46%
Check bill/credit card status - 40%
Read business blogs - 33%
>> Additionally, gender and age influence the Intent of mobile phone users according to the study:
Men (79%) are much more likely than women (61%) to use their mobile phone to simply "escape"
Many more women (70%) than men (58%) go online using their mobile devices to entertain others
Youth (44%) are more likely to shop over their mobile phones than the average mobile user (35%)
Seniors (82%) are much more likely than the traditional user (64%) to use their mobile phones to educate themselves
Source: Media Post "Mobile Phones Organize Lives" by Jack Loechner
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Survey Says 2 - Shopping by Mobile
According to ABI Research's new "Mobile Commerce" study, by 2015, mobile shoppers will spend about $119 billion on goods and services, which is 8% of the total e-commerce market. Senior analyst Mark Beccue stated, "In the United States, mobile online shopping rose from $396 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2009. While definitions of ‘mass market adoption' vary, a more than fivefold increase in one year indicates significant consumer interest."
The ABI Research study focuses on two emerging developments in mobile commerce: mobile online shopping and mobile payments for virtual goods. The report includes global forecasts for e-commerce, mobile online shopping (viewed as a subset of e-commerce), virtual goods, and mobile payments for virtual goods.
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M&A News: PocketGear Acquires Smartphone App Store Handango
It was announced this week that PocketGear, the online mobile application store, is buying one of the oldest players in the smartphone apps store sector, Handango, for an undisclosed amount. The two stores put together now have applications for Android, Symbian OS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Linux, and Java powered mobile devices, and of course excludes the biggie, iPhone. To date, the stores have generated a combined $400 million in app revenues from customers, they say. Jud Bowman will remain as President and CEO of PocketGear and Alex Bloom, current CEO of Handango, will become COO of PocketGear.
PocketGear is headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Munich, Germany and Irving, TX, and funded by Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group. It was spun off Motricity in 2008.
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Mobile Olympics Follow-up
On Tuesday, NBC Universal announced a surge in mobile usage during the Winter Olympics. Through just 10 days, there have been more than 54.3 million page views (WAP site and iTunes app) already surpassing the total number of page views for the entire 17-day Beijing Games (34.7 million) by 56 percent.
>> There have been 1.3 million mobile video streams in just 10 days, more than four times the total number for the entire 17-day Beijing Games (301k).
>> By the time the Opening Ceremony broadcast started at 7:30 p.m. on Feb 12, NBCs Olympics Mobile had already generated more page views than the entire 2006 Winter Games (1.07 million).
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