Life's New Remote Control as it Evolves...

Well as we have covered in recent posts the mobile apps frenzy is certainly upon us. It seems these days you can’t watch an hour’s worth of television without the iPhone commercials dazzling you with all of the neat functions and download applications you can easily have at your fingertips. However, the iPhone is not the only mobile with such capabilities and interesting applications available for download. Google’s Android has also been leading the charge in terms of releasing many applications for users to start having fun with.

As such, with the rise in app it would only be a matter of time for smart company’s to realize that they too can leverage themselves through the development and release of their own software. Enter into the fray Visa with its new Android based app which enables select customers to receive card transaction updates, be able to keep track of spending, get deals and savings, and a “locator” service to help users redeem the special offers and find ATMs that accept Visa cards. Visa even has a special video promoting this app. This is all U.S. based at present but if things catch on one can expect this type of application to really take off in other parts of the world. I am sure there are a lot of other companies looking to establish and/or refine their company/customer relations. This app based method offers a seamless integration of the company’s values and offers direct to customers.

I would say that this is further proof, of how this mobile device of ours is moving away from the traditional uses of phoning and even emailing and more towards that ‘life remote control’ it has been envisioned as becoming for so long. It is our belief at Mobile CRM Japan that the clever company’s are the one’s positioning themselves for this inevitable transformation of the mobile into that futuristic and high powered device we will not only want but need to function within our daily lives. Exciting times ahead for those prepared.

Canadian Chris

iPhone: Only fun and games?

Today, as I fiddled with my Nokia mobile and gave myself another reason as to why I will never buy another phone made by that company, (I could have a whole post outlining those reasons) I had a thought race across my mind. What about the iPhone as my next mobile? As most people on the planet are aware, the iPhone has been on the darling of the mobile industry. Recently, the applications designed for it surpassed 10,000! That could translate into a lot of useful programs which could potentially simplify things for a busy professional. Now, I have heard a lot of grumblings about the iPhone from front line business professionals in relation to its lack of programs purely designed for their use. These individuals have lambasted the iPhone for being a fun toy but of little use in their working day. This post in effect, will be dedicated to delving somewhat deeper into this matter.

A quick search over at Techcrunch certainly did not lend support to the notion of the iPhone being only fun and games. Here is the list of the top paid apps for the iPhone:

Top Paid Apps (Overall):

Koi Pond
Texas Hold’em
Moto Chaser
Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart 3d
Super Monkey Ball
Cro-Mag Rally
Enigmo
Pocket Guitar
Recorder
iBeer

Hmm…I can’t really fathom just how useful iBeer or Pocket Guitar is to the busy executive but I could stand corrected. For a complete listing of other rankings in terms of paid and non paid top application downloads please check out the Techcrunch article.

Upon a second search, I found a site which outlined a number of different business apps for the iPhone which could definitely boost the performance of individual professionals and in essence their respective companies.

I have compiled a basic list of the apps covered in this article:

Oracle Business Indicators, Splash Money, HyperOffice
Readdle Docs, Quickbooks, Netnewswire
Salesforce, NuevaSync, WinAdmin

I assume that if there are over 10,000 apps now there must be more than the aforementioned in relation to pure business minded programs. Some of above are heavy hitters with the power and effectiveness to really make a difference for someone committed to harnessing it within their enterprise.

So, in effect what I have gleaned from my five minute search is that yes the iPhone does have apps out there. Perhaps it’s the proliferation of useful apps like ‘iBeer’ or ‘Super Monkey Ball’ which damage the iPhone’s image as a business tool or maybe more time is needed for the business applications to catch on and gain traction within the professional community. Either of the two or possibly both explanations could explain the overall malaise of business professionals towards the iPhone thus far. It will be interesting to see how this evolves and where Apple desires to position the iPhone in the future.

Canadian Chris

Gloom confirmed

Global markets are reeling and it was only a matter of time before the effects spread into the world of wireless. Well, unfortunately such gloom has arrived. Samsung and Nokia have officially given notice that growth within their respective companies will be stunted for the remainder of this year and possibly into next.

"The actual global market growth on a unit basis could come short of our initial forecast for 9 percent growth (in 2008)," James Chung, a spokesman for Samsung, told Reuters.
"As for next year, it is possible that the market could post a single-digit or even negative growth," Chung added.

Such sentiment was already shared by top handset maker Nokia with their top boss stating, "that the world's mobile phone market would fall in the fourth quarter and next year as an economic slowdown crimps consumer demand."

With new models being looked at as luxury items one can easily see why these top handset makers are not so bullish about their prospects. In fact here in Japan, where electronic gadgets are always in fashion there has been a shift in consumer buying patterns as reported by Japan's broadcast corporation NHK. The new trend apparently has been the selling of older mobiles at drastically reduced prices. Models that four months earlier retailed at nearly $500 US are being sold for $150 or less. Manufacturers seem to be understanding that consumers simply cannot spring for the newest or latest models.

Interesting times right now and it will be even more compelling to see how these companies respond. As alluded to in the previous post, that despite downturns there are always opportunities
for those ready to look for them.

Canadian Chris

History in the Making and in More Ways than One

Well, today we officially welcome the next U.S. president elect to the fold. Barack Obama will certainly have his hands full with the number of issues America faces. This blog is not political in nature however one cannot deny the significance of this moment. As a side note however, this point in American history is being captured and read in ways never imagined and that is what is catching my interest today.

To be more succinct, I just finished watching a news clip from the American news outlet ABC and how the Obama campaign won the young voters. They turned out in huge numbers to support his campaign. This group certainly played an instrumental role in him capturing the presidency. Why did the younger generations suddenly come alive and present themselves at the polls? Traditionally that vote has always been difficult for any candidate to capture. One could certainly point to the issues of the day truly impacting the American people and an utter dissatisfaction with the last administration. The mounting frustration and emotional strains caused by the current government’s policies such as the Iraq war. These policies were potentially hitting home in ways that haven’t been felt in a long time. I believe that these are but a few of the reasons for this young voter presence. One that I would like to look at today however is from the mobile technology side of things.

With today’s sources of news--traditional print, television, radio and word of mouth--playing their usual roles in influencing people’s thoughts, actions and beliefs, I am struck by just how fast the mediums of communication are changing. Today, as we can see, the young in particular are gravitating towards new sources such as the internet and even mobile web to fulfill their needs for the latest news. They may find this info from trusted news sources or they simply read an unfiltered blog.

To say this technology and the associated trends are not having an impact would be an understatement. Just look at what the company Twitter has been doing as of late and what role it has been playing in the election. For those of you not familiar with Twitter this company allows users to send short messages of up to 140 characters from a mobile phone or computer to other ‘followers’. The significance of this is that it has taken off in the States with news and opinions being shared by millions at any given time. It has become so huge that while Obama was campaigning against both Clinton and McCain he actually had an account set up and used it as a tool to connect with voters. He continued to use this service for the duration of his campaign and even sent a message upon winning the Presidency. Do not get me wrong, I am not suggesting that this particular service or technology itself was a decisive factor in this win. However, one cannot discount the affects that mobile related services such as Twitter may have had in uniting young people, challenging ideals and potentially swaying hearts and minds to a certain extent.

Another site created by Twitter tracked the current sentiment of the American people in a way that has never been done before. Basically this site tracks all the political messages on the service. Twitter regularly determines a set of 'Hot Election Topics' and displays every tweet that fits into these categories in an automatically updating stream. This type of technology certainly has the potential to galvanize voters, the younger ones in particular, as the way this information is presented is so new, hip and up to date.

The key to tech based info sharing services such as Twitter is this notion of always on and always available. Of course you can use a home based computer to log messages, however what really runs this engine is the mobile, with most users firing off these messages using their ketai’s.
As you can see here, the power of the mobile is there in a way which allows businesses to build powerful CRM tools to collect information, track sentiment and in some cases alter courses of action or even history. I hope you enjoyed today’s post and as always comments are welcome.

Canadian Chris

The Nuts and Bolts of Global Mobile Stats

I recently came across a nice little online presentation of global mobile stats—1H 2008—assembled by the ever in touch Chetan Sharma. He is the author of Mobile Advertising: Supercharge Your Brand, as well as a new book entitled Wireless Broadband: Conflict and Convergence. His insights and coverage of mobile developments are always sharp and certainly worth reviewing if one truly wants to get a feel for where things are in terms of growth and expansion of mobile markets. As such, I would like to throw a few of his nuts and bolts stats together for you in this post today.

· Global wireless markets continue to grow rapidly with China and India adding about 9M subscriptions a month. India currently has over 300M subscriptions and China has over 600M.
· Global mobile revenues are likely to reach over 1 trillion (U.S. figures) with 800 billion being attributed to service revenues.
· Mobile Data is contributing close to 40% of revenue for leading operators
· Overall, the world market mobile penetration rate is now over 50%
· The U.S. edged Japan again as the most valuable mobile data market in service revenue with the U.S. coming in at $15.7B versus Japan at $13.6B. As a side note, China was third with $7.8B.
· During the last nine years at DoCoMo overall APRU has declined 33% though data APRU has increased over 1800% and accounts for over 40% of revenues. Voice APRU has declined nearly 60% in that same time.
· For the last couple of years DoCoMo has been the only carrier exceeding $10B in yearly revenue, however later this year expected newcomers to this exclusive club are KDDI, Verizon Wireless and ATT.
· China Mobile is number one in subscriptions at 428M with Vodafone number two at 269M and coming in at third was China Unicom at 171M.

Rank by subscriptions:

1) China 2) India 3) U.S. 4) Russia 5) Brazil

Rank by Data Revenue:

1) U.S. 2) Japan 3) China 4) U.K. 5) Italy

Well, as you can see these stats are enlightening in many ways, as one could spend a post dissecting each point. I hope these stats are helpful for those looking to gain that global perspective of where the global mobile market really is. To see the full presentation please, see Chetan Sharma’s blog site as it is chalked full of various stats and other goodies.

Canadian Chris

"The Times They Are a Changin..."

Exciting times we are living within I say. It sometimes takes a moment, thought or experience for that powerful realization to kick in though. I had one of those conscience awakening flashes this past week. I was thinking about this mobile revolution we are living through these days and just how quickly the technology is evolving. It really doesn’t seem all that long ago, when we were all gaga over the internet and what it potentially had to offer. Now, I know the internet is still developing and has much more to offer, however, one would be missing something if he or she didn’t realize that there has been a distinct shift in focus for a lot of companies—Google, Microsoft, Apple—towards mobile technology and development and this little device, which nearly all of carry on a daily basis.

The ubiquitous or ‘always on’ nature of this tool has had people drooling over possibilities for years. Since the keitai’s (Japanese word meaning mobile) inception the possibilities and discussions of developing a universal ‘life remote control’ have been thrown about more times than one can count. However, ten years back or even five years ago those were all just possibilities. Well, fast forward to the present and look around! My, oh my, have we come a long ways from those dreams.

To add some perspective, I picked up Rick Matheson’s book entitled Branding Unbound which basically covers the ‘future’ of advertising, sales and brand experience in the wireless age. This book was first published in 2005, which just under four years ago. Not that long ago right? Wrong! Especially if you are thinking in terms of keitai development, mobile CRM systems and the like! I found a passage in his book—which is an excellent read, or rather was excellent in 2005, but now somewhat dated and most useful to geeks like myself, who blog about the historical evolution of mobile developments. Yes, I am a techno. nerd. However, this book really allows one to see just how far we’ve come. Read, reflect and enjoy a quote lifted from Branding Unbound and an individual called Kenny Hirschorn, the director of strategy, Imagineering, and futurology for U.K.-based mobile carrier Orange:

“A few years from now, the phone call is going to be the lowest piece on the food chain. Of course, we will still facilitate voice communication. But on a daily basis, we will also awaken you in the morning. We will read you your email. We will start the oven. We will arrange transportation to and wherever you want to go. At the office, we will provide you with information and news.”

Check, check and check so far, in terms of what we are currently doing.

“We will translate information into foreign languages, or translate information into your language for you. We will track your health. We will track your family member’s location, if that’s what you want. We’ll be your bank, we’ll provide you with customized news and entertainment and we’ll even monitor your housing security as you sleep at night.”

Sound exciting? Not really eh. Why? Well, we have that technology right now, at least within Japan. That is all pretty much basic and wouldn’t raise an eyebrow to most within this country. That however, is my point you see, This device is rapidly altering the way most of us live and this change is happening now!

Companies or individuals willing to put the time in are leading the charge now, but as we all know, the old adage about today’s leader not always equaling tomorrow’s is something to keep in mind. Especially, for those of us who are big or small movers and shakers in this world of mobile technology and development. Just as Bob Dylan had it right in the sixties with his album about change and revolution, I too would like to join the chorus and hum away to these changin times.

As always, I invite comments about this post and others. In addition, I invite comments on how to introduce more readers to our blog.

Canadian Chris