06/05/10 by Cellit Staff | Blog, Industry Blog | No Comments »
While the iPhone may still have captured the hearts and minds of consumers as THE phone to have, it is clear that Google’s Android operating system is generating big gains, through calculated and smart business moves by the parent company, in the smart phone market. The NPD Group released findings in early May that indicated a new pecking order in smart phone sales for the first quarter of 2010: the Blackberry operating system maintained its lead with 36% of all smart phone sales, while Android jumped into the #2 position with 28% of sales, leaving Apple in the #3 position with 21%.
While the merits of the two operating systems (AppleOS vs Android) can be debated, the reason for this huge jump in sales lies in two significant decisions by Google. The first is to give the operating system away for free (yes! free!), which provides handset makers with a large economic incentive to create devices that use the system. The second decision by Google is to partner with any handset maker or carrier that wants to, ensuring that their phones are available on all carriers in a variety of handsets.
To date, there are 20 new Android models that are either on the market, or announced as coming to the market in next few months. The sheer volume of new Android options will make Google’s operating system almost ubiquitous. Now remember, this compares to Apple’s single iPhone model, which is currently only available on AT&T.
Now the battle seems to be moving to tablets, as the iPad has caused a rush by other manufacturers to produce a similar device. And what operating system are they choosing to run these new tablets ? You guessed it – a modified version of Android for the same reasons that handset makers have chosen it.
Apple has a fantastic history of being a first mover, creating innovative products that define spaces. That being said, Google has done a fantastic job of eliminating Apple’s first mover advantage and launching a potent rival to Apple’s hit iPhone.
keywords: mobile marketing, mobile coupons, mobile couponing, text message coupons
04/08/10 by Cellit Staff | Blog, Marketing Blog | No Comments »
Advancing technology is an interesting thing, which sometimes begets unusual outcomes. T9 predictive text was a huge leap forward on traditional flip phones, as it allowed you to type faster and almost always obtain the desired message. Occasionally I’d miss something as the phone was almost too smart, and a message would go out to a friend that didn’t quite make sense.
I recently ran into a similar and unexpected situation. Newer smart phones are coming out with built-in detection for emoticons – you know, those smiling yellow faces that can be found in most email strings, on Facebook, and many other online gathering places.
Take for example the following news alert, sent out by one of our clients:
NEWS TRAFFIC ALERT: Main St. (Hwy 78) in Blanchardville blocked after fire at tavern leaves four dead; more on WKOWTV.com
Several phones received the above message and replaced the “8)” with a smiley-face, creating a disturbing addition to an otherwise somber message. So we decided to test it out, and sent the following series of common characters to demote a smiley face to several phones to see what results we would get:
The results were extremely varied across various models of phones. As you can see from the pictorial evidence, some phones replaced all of the characters, some replace a few, and others saw it as only text.
Old Blackberry Vs. New Blackberry
iPhone Vs. Android
12/24/09 by David Wachs | Blog, Industry Blog | No Comments »
Well folks, it’s that time of year again. Time for another round of predictions. Looking back, it seems that the last time I ran through predictions was in (yikes) 2007! Many (actually most) of those predictions came true. This time, I’m going to expand my predictions to cover the entire mobile industry, and not just text messaging. As Cellit is a full-service mobile technology/mobile marketing company (covering text messaging, mobile web development, and iPhone/Android app development) so too are our predictions. Let’s get to them:
- Symbian will drop from first place to forth in global new smartphone sales. Lacking a competitive operating system, Nokia’s Symbian group will be trumped by Blackberry, iPhone, Windows and Android. Android will also overtake Windows’ position and become the third largest smartphone OS, after iPhone. Symbian will only beat out Palm, and Samsung’s Bada. (Hey, these are predictions people, so I don’t need to back them up with reasons for my forecasts!)
- iPhone app development will curb as companies come back to the mobile web. With over 100,000 apps out there, the novelty of a mobile app will compare poorly to the ROI. Thus, companies will turn to developing robust mobile web sites that support multiple platforms.
- Flash Lite will finally become an acceptable offering. I predict Android will be the first smartphone platform to support Flash, and other platforms will follow (first Microsoft, then Blackberry, with iPhone taking up the rear). This will lead to the next revolution in mobile “apps”, quite possibly more substantially than the iPhone app revolution.
- Bada will fail.
- The Twitter craze will fade. Marketers will realize catering to Twitter followers is a very specific demographic, and will turn their attention towards developing direct relationships, through text messaging or some other means. Hopefully, this will mean less “follows us on Twitter” ads everywhere.
- Text messaging adoption will continue to grow. We’ve only seen the beginning, folks. The power is the network. The more “texters” out there, the more people will want to learn to text. 1.5 TRILLION texts were sent in the US in 2009. Look for another 150% YOY growth. That’s right: I’m pegging 2010 at 2.25 trillion texts.
- Mobile CRM in 2010!. Companies will follow best-of-class leaders (like Chase, GPS Insight, Sam’s Club) in developing SMS-based interactions with their customers. It’s not about marketing anymore! It’s about developing deep relationships with customers via mobile interaction.
- Mobile companies will be top on the list to be acquired. As the economy turns in 2010, acquisitions should continue to be on the rise. Expect to see some of Cellit’s larger competition get acquired. If you had to ask me, I’d say iLoop and Vibes, as both have investors that will need an exit.
- Sombreros will be fashionably worn at the Cellit office. As Cellit continues to grow, we will be expanding further into Mexico, providing a “one stop shop” for North American messaging solutions. I know this probably isn’t pertinent to most of you, but man is this exciting for us here at Cellit! Plus, our sangrita consumption is going to skyrocket. Maybe an opportunity for some of our readers to go long in tomato juice futures?
- POS providers will begin integrating mobile couponing extensions into their offering.Cellit provides a suite of mobile couponing systems, from the Widgit POS overlay, to APIs for integration with mainstream and custom-built POS systems. POS providers will turn to companies like Cellit in the coming year to build the couponing modules directly in to their platform, which can serve as an additional recurring revenue generator for the solution provider.
Well, that’s it for this year. Many will come true, some will not. Regardless, it’s our intention to do our best in the coming year to helpyour mobile predictions come true. If there’s anything we can do, please do not hesitate to reach out. And, if I don’t get the opportunity to speak with you, please have a happy, prosperous and (most importantly!) healthy 2010.
Best always!
David
06/11/09 by David Wachs | Blog, Industry Blog | No Comments »
In the mobile industry, there’s a term for the mobile sites available directly on the phone, via the menu system. It’s called “on deck” content, which is nestled safely in the carrier’s ”garden”. On AT&T this garden is called mmode, on Verizon it’s VCast… each carrier has a marketing term, but they’re all just beautiful gardens. Oh the garden! Like the Garden of Eden, what a safe place it is! Where you can run free and frolic among $2.99 clips of Saturday Night Live and Bollywood, yellow pages search results, and ESPN news. Where everything you could ever need is just 5 or 6 clicks away! Why go outside the garden? Why look elsewhere when everything you want is available there? I mean, that wacky joke of the day page is all I need! And the carriers want me to stay here! I’m sure it’s out of their benevolent love and acts of kindness! I’m sure it’s not due highly profitable contracts and revenue share agreements!
And then there was the shiny fruit…It beckons you. Tempts you from the tree of knowledge. With its curves and its shiny screen. It’s an Apple on the tree. And now the Apple only costs $99!
You touch the Apple. And then everything you now know changes. The garden walls collapse and you have the entire internet in front of you. You now realize there’s life outside the walls. There’s more than one place to get those Bollywood clips! And they’re FREE or at least cheaper because they don’t have to rev-share with the carriers!
It was only a matter of time, really. The death of on-deck. Of course, technology and market demand trump contracts. And those precious on-deck deals are slipping away.
With the new $99 iPhone (which I think is more impactful than the expensive 3GS) and other powerful and cheap “superphones”, we’re seeing more and more a democratization of the mobile experience. More people can afford it, more people can explore it, and more people can finally leave Eden and see what the mobile internet is about, and not just what the carriers are paid to show us.
