Wap vs. App (again)Oct 13, 2010 @ Marketing Magazine “the future is mobile” Conference

Phil BarrettVP Digital & MobileBSTREET Communications Toronto & London, UKbstreet.ca (yah, it’s mobile friendly)

+ Chair CMA Mobile Task Force

Laptop sales are down 50%

Other tablets

22

Wap vs. App

What is a marketer to do?

VS

What we’ll cover in the next 36 minutes (thanks Michael for eating into my time)1. A few updated Canadian Mobile

stats2. Apps 3. Waps4. Our recommendation5. Questions

Critical Mass has been reached

Source: 2008 Wireless Attitudes Study: harris / decima for the CWTA

75% in 2009

93% by 2012

NOTE: Broadband is about 75% penetration

Not just for teenagers anymore…

Source: 2008 Wireless Attitudes Study: harris / decima for the CWTA

+ ~5% for 2010>

~35 Billion text messages sent in 2009

SMS is now ubiquitous

Based on published Canadian Wireless Communications Association (CWTA) stats

Over 2 billion SMS messages forecasted on shortcodes in 2010

~55 billion in 2010 forecasted

Smartphones are HOT!1. About 5 million Canadians are

accessing the mobile web through their mobile device

2. 6 of the top 10 best selling phones are touch-based smart phones

3. 25% of all new Canadian mobile sales in Q2 09 were smartphones. That rose to 47% in Q3 09.

4. 55% of Canadians have indicated that they are looking to upgrade their mobile phones over the next 6 months

The average Mobile user spends 295.1 minutes on Facebook, viewing 269 pages and averages 8.3 usage days per month!

In a month, the average PC user spends 274.7 minutes on Facebook and averages 12.2 usage days!

Source: comScore, Inc., Mobile Metrix, United States, July 2010

Source: comScore Inc., United States, Persons: 2+, All Locations, July 2010

~ =

Social is Mobile. Mobile is Social

comScore Inc. M:Metrics US – October 2009

http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/archives/2009/06/if-this-is-the.html

Mobile is a WOM accelerator

• 35% of Canadian teens aged 13-18 have bought a product because the brand allowed them to interact with it - IMI International, July 2010

• 64% of Canadian teens aged 13-18 have bought a product because it was recommended to them - IMI International, July 2010

What does this mean? (to marketers)

http://www.grzegorzmilos.com/blog/?p=30

(hint: great and crappy shopper marketing experiences will be shared immediately)

http://www.gdirectory.org/articles/article-2.html

He probably just tweeted or updated his facebook status… and wait until you see the “tip” he’s leaving on foursquare!

http://www.callcentrehelper.com/call-centre-qa-coping-with-angry-customers-223.htm

How the new TV audience tunes in: by platform

Base sizes:Total=1823

TV Only=1183Online Only=105

Both TV/Online=535

‘The future of original TV Viewing and the new digital consumer’ was a survey conducted by comScore in December 2009

Apps

(presented at last year’s presentation)

App stores… More than Apple.

Image source: http://doroteos2.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/apple_logo_rainbow_fruit.jpg

Can you believe it?

• Android app downloads now around 1.8 billion total

• Blackberry users downloading 1.5 million apps per day on average– 40% increase from previous quarter

• Nokia Ovi users downloading 1.4 million apps per day on average

• Microsoft Windows Mobile 7 looks promising & huge installed dev base for future App development

Should you build an App?

• Nielsen survey found that games were the most popular apps, followed by music, food and entertainment, news and weather, social networking and maps and navigation.

• Eighteen to 29 year olds made up 44 percent of apps users

Soccer Frenzy

Developed by: Mobile Fringe

Weather Network

(15.7MM on Mobile Web & 87.9MM on Apps. TWN + MM Sept. 2010, BTW)

1. Buzz worthy – nobody ever talks about a great mobile website they just saw!

2. Allows you to build a richer experience without impacting data speeds / charges

3. Allows you to take advantage of native phone features

4. Features can work offline5. Can become a great extension of your

brand attributes

5 Advantages to an App

1. Try sending a consumer to an App from a QR / 2D bar code!

2. Most consumers will not use your App more than once unless you offer true utility

3. It’s expensive (especially with Canadian budgets) to build multi-platform – even single platform can cost more than a mobile website…

4. Not great for shopper marketing – consumers want info or enter contests right away

5. Harder to drive mobile media to an App

5 Disadvantages to an App

Wap(Actually, nobody really calls it that anymore)

Relationship Status of the Mobile web… it’s complicated

Wap, Web, or Full Web?

1. Can work on 100% of devices (without spending 6x the dev cost)

2. Experience can be optimized to the highest common denominator

3. Easier to drive to mobile web vs. drive to mobile App from mobile advertising networks or for QR codes or txt to web

4. More intuitive shopper marketing experience5. You can update your mobile website all the time

without forcing the user to download a “new version”

5 Advantages of mobile web

Disadvantages of the Mobile Web1. Nobody really talks about that AMAZING new

mobile website – so not as great in generating awareness

2. Optimizing for all devices can be time consuming and expensive

3. Although thanks to webkit we are seeing great experiences, generally Apps have better UX

4. You can’t access all device hardware features through the mobile web (although GPS works)

5. You can’t really charge for access to a mobile website

So… Wap or App?

VS

What does this mean?

The future of mobile is the mobile web

http://www.frogdesign.com/images/dattoos_cs_1.jpg

…but there will always be a place for Apps that offer great utility

http://blog.appboy.com/2009/12/10-best-free-mobile-apps-of-2009/

@phryl – twitter

My Mobile & Interactive Marketing Blog

burningthebacon.comMore about who I work for:

bstreet.ca (mobile enabled!)

Phil Barrett (.mobi)VP Digital & MobileBSTREET Communications Toronto & London, UK+ Chair CMA Mobile Task Force & Vice Chair of CMA Digital Council

Let’s continue the conversation…