Myne

Forget iPad, should I get a Kindle?

A slew of new tablets and e-Books readers are due to hit this year, of course most notably the new Apple iPad. We’re lead to believe that 2010 is the year we really do finally start to say farewell to paper. There are plenty of skeptics on this one, a la “a paperless office is about as realistic as a paperless bathroom”– style thinking but we’ll see. I’m sure there will be plenty written about these topics (@granleese and @agreeves are no doubt already on the case).

But what of the Amazon Kindle, does it have anything to offer?

Questicon makes use of QR

       

We recently spotted that Canberra's interactive science and technology centre Questicon is making use of QR codes to provide more information to browsers. It's especially relevant since QR codes are themselves a subject for one particular exhibit called Perception Deception.

This is an application that we've talked about a lot.

It's a great way of connecting to more detailed content providing the back story, if you will. It also means that users can walk away with referenceable content after the fact - very useful indeed.

However in this case I just felt that the reward just wasn't strong enough. That is, the experience didn't really add anything. I think when used in these situations QR must link to content that provides more value - greater utility or entertainment. Think video content, location-based tools, mobile vouchers and so on.

Nevertheless good on you Questicon for getting stuck in, and my kids really enjoyed the exhibit. This is a must visit attraction in Canberra if you have kids by the way.

Aussie 3G quietly climbs to 46%

 

Not yet being quoted by Mediasmart in media sales material, Telstra 3G penetration was placed at 54% in March by CEO Sol Trujillo. A quick scan around the other carriers indicates no change in their reported 3G numbers making a reported total at 46%, almost 10% higher than the government stats of 8.55M or around 37%.

Why is this important to marketers?
Our belief is that mobile is still largely a missed opportunity for marketers. In a market that's moving so quickly it's hard to get a good bead on the reality of course, that's why tracking like this helps. Still there remains a lot of very smart clients and agency folk who think that mobile is still too nascent.

Yet at the base level we continually see ad performance that is ten times better than web. In a market becoming more obsessed than ever with ROI that's got to be attractive right?

Mobile activation from traditional advertising is really taking off with consumers responding to ads "in the moment". Who still seriously believes that someone seeing an out of home ad will write down the url and remember to visit a web site? This is extreme inertia working against the advertiser and mobile helps to solves this.

An extension of this, QR codes, the latest so-called bleeding edge mobile technology is damned by naysayers as a "wait 2 years and see" tactic. The fact is that (with correct implementation) QR codes are CONSISTENTLY OUTPERFORMING other response channels sometimes by a large factor - we hope to share some data on this soon.

The fact is that our customers are still way ahead of the marketing industry in mobile. Some marketers  are working hard to close this gap.

Where do you stand?

VodaHutch – a new number 2 force.

 Wow, no such thing as a dull day.

No sooner had we done a round-up on 3G than it looks like things will change again. Based on this morning’s announcement of 3 and Vodafones likely merger as reported, here, here, here and from a media perspective here we wonder what the new carrier landscape may look like?

In terms of total customer numbers Vodafone would still be in third place, but in the key area of 3G would move ahead of Optus.

From a media perspective, this would make Vodafone VHA the #2 player in the mobile marketing and advertising arena. Optus has a nascent commercial model, whereas both 3 and Vodafone are well experienced in commercialising their mobile portals albeit in very different ways.

It will be interesting to see how this blend manifests itself – Vodafone’s team have been very open to trialling opportunities, whereas 3 has tended to favour a more protective stance on customer experience (and making the customer pay for more content). No doubt learning’s from both sides will prove very useful.

The other obvious point is that the new entity will be very strong in the 18-35 segment, a traditional hot spot for many advertisers. As ad dollars begin to flow into all carriers mobile portals (with e-Marketer and several other players predicting 300% growth this year) this should see some stiff competition.

The reality: it will be 6 months before we see any real changes, and it still has to get through a shareholder vote in April and meet with ACCC approval -  although one would think the prospect of a third heavyweight in the market would be appealing.

Any other thoughts?

Australian 3G Penetration at 43%?

Mobile data.

That is good data about mobile. It's pretty scarce. 

It seems that's partly because there's not lot of it about and partly because it changes so quickly.

So many presentations about mobile (mine included) start with the stats piece designed to generate a lean forward moment from the audience - its the same myth-dispelling exercise that online used to have to go through. No issues with that, we just don't think it's in anyone's interest to use out of date data so here's another view on 3G data.