MediaPost
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Posted by: Viki ZabalaJanuary 28, 2013
- Apple reported record revenue numbers this week, along with record iPhone and iPad sales.
- As if the App Store isn’t packed enough, 2013 will bring an estimated 435,000 new apps to iOS users – further aggravating discovery challenges for app marketers.
- Across iOS, Android, and RIM, Facebook is the No. 1 app in the U.S., with nearly 86 million unique visitors per month.
- Experts believe 2013 could be a year of explosive tablet growth, as global tablet shipments are expected to reach 145 million. What does this growth mean for mobile marketers?
This week, Apple reported its first quarter earnings, revealing the company sold a record 47.8 million iPhones, 22.9 million iPads, 4.1 million Macs and 12.7 million iPods. In total, some 75 million iOS devices were sold during the quarter. “We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.” AllThingsD has more here.
A recent year-end adeven report forecasts that the Apple App Store will boost its inventory this year. More than 435,000 new apps are expected to launch in the already jam-packed App Store, creating more user acquisition headaches for app developers and marketers. “Growth in terms of App Store size will continue to increase steadily as it has during the past few years, but it also points to a steady climb in the number of apps that fall into its ‘zombie’ category, which accounted for 60 percent of apps in June, but climbed to 64 percent in its most recent tally,” reports Darrell Etherington in TechCrunch. Zombie apps are those that aren't ranked and so have very little chance of being discovered by users.
While the competition is fierce, Facebook sits atop the crowd as the most popular app brand in the U.S., according to comScore. In 2012, the Facebook app enjoyed 85.5 million monthly unique users across iOS, Android and RIM platforms. Of note, Facebook not only has the largest number of users, but also the highest level of engagement. And while Facebook sits at number one, Google apps (including maps, search, and YouTube) occupy slots 2 through 6. Seth Fiegerman of Mashable has more.
New research from ABI Research suggests that 2013 could see dramatic growth in tablet sales. A projected 145 million tablet shipments are set to hit the shelves across the globe this year, meeting the demands of tablet-crazed consumers, reports Mobile Entertainment’s Daniel Gumble. This boost also produces a huge opportunity for marketers. “The concept of mobile advertising started with smartphones but tablets are changing everything, rapidly establishing themselves as universal media players (TV programs, movies, radio, news, magazines) in a way never achieved through ‘personal’ computers,” said Magna EVP and Director of Global Forecasting Vincent Letang to MediaPost.
Tags: App store, Apple, Facebook, Android, iOS, iPad, iPhone, tablets, ABI Research, comScore, TechCrunch, MediaPost, Tim Cook, RIM, AllThingsD, Mobile Entertainment -
Posted by: Viki ZabalaJanuary 4, 2013
- Christmas 2012 saw record iOS and Android device activations, while industry reports show App Store downloads soared by 87 percent.
- Both the Apple App Store and Google Play saw healthy revenue gains in 2012, with more monetization and potential for global growth ahead in 2013.
- 2012 was (finally!) the year of mobile – from the launch of the iPhone 5 to Android device supremacy. But some say we’ll look back on 2013 as the year of the tablet.
- Will Apple unveil a new iPhone in 2013? This is just one of many predictions industry experts are making for the new year.
TheNextWeb reports that Christmas Day 2012 saw a record 17.4 million iOS and Android device activations – or 2.5x more than Christmas Day 2011 – according to Flurry. And new stats from Distimo indicate that daily downloads in the Apple App Store increased by 87 percent on Christmas Day, while revenues increased by 70 percent. This data “supports the common idea that developers should make a point to take advantage of the holiday season by updating and tweaking their apps in the weeks leading up to the 25th of December,” writes TheNextWeb’s Emil Protalinski. The 2012 holidays also marked a turning point in the history of mobile marketing, with more campaigns and shopping conducted on smartphones and tablets than in years past. If you’re interested in learning which holiday mobile marketing strategies worked well this year (and which ones didn’t), we invite you to join our free Mobile Marketer webinar on Jan. 24 – register here.
TechCrunch reports on the latest findings from ABI Research which show that mobile apps hit 43.6 billion downloads worldwide between September 2011 and September 2012, with Apple’s App Store leading the pack. In fact, all the app stores felt the boom of the mobile economy during 2012. Daily revenue in the Apple App Store grew 21 percent in 2012, while Google Play’s app revenue increased 43 percent, reported Steve Smith of MediaPost. Android’s operating system also realized remarkable gains in the latter half of 2012 with its improved user experience and scale of penetration. Device-wise, international growth also surged – the iPhone in Japan, China, and Russia; and Android devices in Korea, Japan, and France.
While pundits have been proclaiming "the year of mobile" for a few years, now, 2012 actually lived up to those expectations in several ways. But what will be shaking the industry in 2013? Greg Sterling of Marketing Land predicts that a year from now, we’ll look back on 2013 as “the year of the tablet.” According to a recent Nielsen survey, the gadget children and adults desired most this holiday season was the iPad, and many unwrapped Apple’s tablet Christmas morning. In fact, of the 17.4 million devices activated Dec. 25, 51 percent were tablets.
And what will make headlines in 2013? Will it be a new iPhone from Apple? A new flavor version from Android? Will Motorola make its first official flagship device for Google? Dan Rowinski of ReadWrite makes some bold predictions on what’s to come for mobile in 2013, especially after a year of tremendous industry growth.
Tags: App store, Apple, Google, Android, App economy, iOS, app downloads, iPhone, Mobile, TechCrunch, MediaPost, thenextweb, ReadWrite, Marketing Land, Motorola -
Posted by: Viki ZabalaDecember 19, 2012
- Industry estimates from eMarketer indicate that total mobile ad spend in the U.S. will end 2012 better than expected – at 180 percent total growth from 2011.
- A recent comScore report revealed that smartphone penetration has reached 55 percent amongst Europe’s five largest markets collectively, with device manufacturers competing in a close race.
- New statistics showed increased optimism about the future of mobile in commerce and advertising, which have both demonstrated rapid growth.
Advertisers can “be of good cheer” this holiday season: growth estimates of ad spend have increased from $2.61 billion to $4.06 billion, equivalent to 180 percent growth year over year. Statistics from eMarketer included display, search, and message-based advertising across devices, wrote Steve Smith of MediaPost. A large chunk of the boom was attributed to the strong performance of native ad formats from Facebook and Twitter, but Google continued leading mobile advertising. For 2013, eMarketer predicts that the industry would see a 77 percent growth and total mobile ad spend will hit $7.9 billion.
Smartphone penetration in the five leading European markets has hit 55 percent collectively, according to a recent comScore report. The study found that 47 percent of users in these leading markets on Google’s Android operating system, and that Spain had the highest smartphone penetration rate, at 63 percent of mobile phone users. In the U.K., Apple is the leading device manufacturer, but is losing in wider Europe, as Samsung has stolen the No. 1 spot. These numbers are bound to shift in the coming weeks, as the holiday shopping season was not represented in these figures, reports Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch.
In the U.S. market, comScore reported a 13 percent increase in retail ecommerce spending, after analyzing data from the past six weeks of the holiday season. Mobile commerce and advertising both grew more rapidly than expected because of the seamless experience that mobile provides to consumers across advertising mediums and purchase channels, according to eMarketer. “The peak spending period may now be in our rear-view-mirror – but the online holiday shopping season is not over yet,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni in a MobileMarketingWatch piece.
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Posted by: Viki ZabalaNovember 5, 2012
History has shown us the arrival of a new mobile device generates remarkable opportunities for app marketers to cost-effectively acquire and engage new users, as download volumes surge, costs to acquire loyal users plummet, and user-interest levels peak. So it was no surprise the much-anticipated arrival of the iPhone 5 in September prompted some interesting dynamics in the Fiksu Indexes. While the App Store Competitive Index didn’t depict a huge month-over-month change in download volumes, in reality there was a whirlwind of activity taking place beneath the surface.
Specifically, by examining the data from before the iPhone 5’s arrival and afterward, we identified a clear distinction in app download activity. In the weeks prior to the phone's launch, downloads decreased by 3 percent, but in the weeks after, downloads swelled by a substantial 33 percent.
Meanwhile, the Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index for September was among the lowest on record at $1.13, down 21 cents or 16 percent from August’s $1.34. The last time the Cost per Loyal User Index came close to this was May 2011, when it was $1.10, as a result of Apple’s ban on incentive-based installs, followed by January 2012 when it fell to $1.14 after the holiday advertising craze.
What does this all mean? Opportunity with a capital O! For app marketers, the iPhone 5 launch in September delivered a prime chance to cost-effectively acquire large volumes of loyal users. In fact, one of our clients even experienced a 20 percent increase in organic downloads and 35 percent revenue gains during the iPhone 5’s post-launch period. Many other clients were able to take advantage of the traffic jump.
As the iPad Mini hits shelves, we may see a continuation of this wave. However, we expect September’s bargain period of rich marketing opportunities will likely be unmatched until the post-holiday frenzy in January 2013.
A big thank you to all the publications that covered our September Indexes, including AppNewser, FierceMobileContent, Inside Mobile Apps, Marketing Vox, MediaPost, Mobile Marketing Watch and Mobile World Live.
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