05/06/11 by Bryan Butler | Blog, Marketing Blog | No Comments »
If you’ve paid attention to marketing materials that feature a phone, I’m sure you’ve noticed the default smartphone is the ever ubiquitous iPhone. Perhaps this is because Apple does a great job in creating hype around said phone, which then raises consumer awareness. How many people can say that they know what the HTC ThunderBolt looks like, or even the Blackberry Torch? The graphic designer wants to use what will be easily legible, something that will communicate instantly. Since people are familiar with the iPhone look, a designer will be more apt to use it.
Sometimes, there also seems to be a misconception of what a smartphone is. “Does it have the apps?” Everyone knows Apple has the App Store, but Android Market launched the in same year, 2008, and Blackberry App World has existed since 2009. If the designer assumes that the misconception holds true, they will cater towards it, meeting the expectations of the target market, which only reinforces the idea.
Perhaps this isn’t the reason, though. If you were to search for public domain images of a smartphone (preferably something in a format that is easy to edit, i.e. vector), most of the higher quality illustrations you’ll find will be iPhones. Designers don’t always have the time or skill to illustrate a realistic smartphone, so it’s much easier to just grab one of these, pop your screen shot into it and place into the layout. This brings up another point: the iPhone and iPod can take screen shots, something which Android and Blackberry can’t easily do (unless your phone is rooted, but that’s something we won’t get into). A designer could mock up a fake screen, but, again, they may not have the time or the skill to pump it out.
Any one of these reasons helps create the strangle hold on marketing materials that the iPhone has. Perhaps Google will release screen capturing as a base function in one of the upcoming Android OS updates, but I’m not holding my breath.
01/18/11 by Cellit Staff | Blog, Industry Blog | No Comments »
Although I have used Apple computers since 1987 and have owned 9 different iPods and iPhones in my life, I do realize that not everyone on the planet uses an iPhone or other smartphone. In fact, as today’s Mobile Marketer shows, less than 20% of Americans own smartphones.
What does this mean for your marketing or donor relations department?
It means that focusing exclusively on smartphone apps for iOS, Microsoft, Android and Blackberry could leave many of your customers or fans behind. Mobile apps –and especially games–may be all the rage right now, but simpler technology like text messaging can reach all of your customers with the message you want to deliver, when you want to deliver it.
We love helping our clients integrate apps, SMS, and mobile web into their marketing plans; contact us if you’d like to know more.
01/14/11 by Cellit Staff | Blog, Industry Blog | No Comments »
If you heard a loud noise from the River North area of Chicago yesterday, it was probably the Cellit team cheering the announcement that Verizon will begin selling the iPhone in February. Analysts are projecting up to 12 million new iPhone sales for Verizon in 2011, adding to AT&T’s mammoth numbers since 2007.
We have created dozens of iPhone and iPad apps for our Cellit Studio and Cellit Classified clients. Expansion to Verizon’s networks means expanded reach and more return for your marketing dollar. We can also create mobile websites that will look great on iPhones. Ask your account manager for more details, or contact us.
12/27/10 by Scott Dolan | Blog, Development Blog | 1 Comment »
Since it’s the end of the year, we decided to share some text traffic stats from Cellit. While none of this is earth shattering, it gives a general idea of what cell phone providers account for usage. As you can see, Verizon and AT&T are the big boys on the block. Combined, these two providers account for over 60% of incoming text messages to Cellit, followed by T-Mobile and Sprint, respectively. US Cellular and Boost Mobile were the only other carriers to show up with an overall percentage over 1%. Worthy to note is that Verizon’s figures include Alltel numbers which they purchased in 2009.
Month to month, the percentage of traffic from AT&T and Verizon is growing while traffic from Sprint seemed to be holding steady. T-Mobile and US Cellular are trending slightly downward over the course of the past year.
Month to month, Verizon and AT&T texting traffic percentages are almost in parallel with AT&T traffic increasing towards the end of the year. AT&T may have the lowest customer satisfaction according to Consumer Reports, but perhaps the demise of AT&T is a bit overblown. We’ll have to check back on these figures next spring to see if Consumer Reports is right (or if the rumored Verizon iPhone is released, that ought to shake things up a bit!).
