'Net Features : smartphones

Keynote Awards Gold Medal Mobile Retail Sites

Michael Garrity — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:30:00 GMT

Just as the 2012 Summer Olympics were getting underway in London, Keynote Systems announced its own event, the International Summer Games for Mobile Retailers.

For three weeks, the mobile communications and Internet performance measurement company will name weekly Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners determined by the “Keynote Mobile Retail Index – World Edition,” which assesses the download speed and reliability of leading mobile retail sites by measuring them on smartphone devices from a variety of countries.

Index scores are based on a combination of a site’s average speed and reliability, and are measured all day, everyday over the course of a week (from Tuesday to Tuesday). The Mobile Retail Index will show average response times, success rates, and a composite score for homepage downloads on selected retailer sites.

Yesterday, Keynote announced the big winners for the first week of “competition.” The popular French brand Chanel took the Gold, largely because of its simple, sleek site that gave it the highest combined score for Load Time and Success Rate, as well as the site’s ability to maintain 100 percent availability.

German companies secured the next three spots, with the country’s Amazon site taking the Silver and ALDI capturing the Bronze. Despite having the fastest measured Load Time for the second consecutive week, Germany’s OTTO just missed out on the Bronze spot, but did make the jump up to fourth place by improving its availability numbers from 98.5 percent to 99.09 percent. Rounding out the top five was Amazon Japan, who secured 100 percent availability for the second week in a row.

Click here to see the whole list of winners for the first week of performance, and don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled to see who takes the Gold next week!

Report Shows Consumers Getting More Personal

Michael Garrity — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Local Corp. has unveiled the preliminary data from its report that shows that the modern consumer takes a highly personalized path to purchase and utilizes a wide variety of devices to do so, including PCs, smartphones and tablets.

Still, 90 percent of the shoppers surveyed said that a physical store was still important in the purchasing process.

However, as evidence of a changing landscape, 60 percent of respondents said they researched products or services several times a month using a mobile device of some sort. Meanwhile, PCs are still a major part of the purchasing process.

The survey’s results were culled from the responses of 1,026 consumers and explored their behavior across an array of mobile devices, including asking about preferences and plans for researching and purchasing multiple types of products. Ultimately, the survey reveals that due to the proliferation of available devices and channels, consumers are more frequently displaying pre-purchase behaviors based on their individually specific needs and interests.

Other interesting highlights from the survey include:

- 28 percent of researchers used two devices at a time to find information

- Over one-third of shoppers have made a purchase on a mobile device in the past six months, with tablet shoppers using their devices to shop more frequently

- 47 percent said they use smartphones to search for local information

- 42 percent of respondents said they use the Web to check inventory prior to shopping at a brick-and-mortar store

- Ratings/reviews and search listings top the list of most influential things to the shopper’s choice of destination at 41 and 37 percent, respectively

- 31 percent of shoppers expect to research products and services more on their smartphones in the next year, while 41 percent plan to use tablets more for research

The Real (Energy) Cost of Free Apps

Michael Garrity — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:35:00 GMT

A recent study at Purdue University revealed some interesting information that may just help businesses sell a few more paid apps.

As it turns out, as much as 75 percent of the energy consumed by free Android applications is actually spent serving ads or tracking and uploading user data for marketers. Popular apps like the free version of Angry Birds or the NYTimes were shown to only use about 10-30 percent of their energy consumption to actually power their core functions.

All this means that running a single free app can completely drain the battery of some smartphones in approximately 90 minutes.

This discovery was made my computer scientists at the university as they were developing a software to analyze the energy usage of different applications. A lot of the energy being used in some of that apps was for things like finding and uploading the user’s location with a GPS to send them location-based ads via a 3G connection.

Much of the energy consumption is blamed on inefficient third-party code that developers include in free apps to turn some kind of profit from them.

Device Optimization Feature from Fluid

Linc Wonham — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:00:00 GMT

The increasing use of smartphones and tablets is changing how consumers browse and shop, forcing online retailers to do more than just shrinking down their product images to fit an assortment of screen sizes. Fluid is one company looking to solve the issue for merchants, offering a new solution in dynamic product merchandising.

The Fluid Experience device optimization feature enables retailers to create the proper visual presentation for all "touch" devices, offering a better visual experience and easier navigation for consumers. The customizable solution fits seamlessly into e-commerce platforms and integrates with back-office systems, can be tested and implemented quickly and requires no training or IT involvement to manage.

“Our technology automatically detects the type of device being used, quickly adapts and offers the best possible presentation of rich-media product displays,” says Brian Biggs, senior director of product management at Fluid, Inc. “This will only become more important as the number of devices grows.”

Merchants need only use one version of a product image to deploy their displays across multiple platforms. Only one version of the image needs to be downloaded, and Fluid Experience does the rest. One of the first companies to use the feature was clothing and lifestyle retailer Elie Tahari.

“Mobile and desktop users are catered to from the same platform, and the new implementation is able to detect our site visitor’s device and serves up the optimal presentation,” says chairman Elie Tahari. “We couldn’t be more pleased with how our partners have helped us showcase the elaborate detail and fine workmanship that Elie Tahari is known for.”

Fluid’s customers range from mass-market retailers to luxury goods manufacturers such as Coach, Diapers.com, Nine West, Reebok, Sears, The North Face and Vans.

1&1 Unveil New Features for MyWebsite

Michael Garrity — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 12:30:00 GMT

1&1 Internet Inc., the worldwide Web hosting company, announced this week two new feature upgrades for their successful 1&1 MyWebsite product.

MyWebsite offers users industry-specific templates for well over 200 types of businesses and is, according to 1&1, ideal for small businesses that have an outdated website, or none at all. Each template comes adorned with individual text, picture and design modules that make it easy for computer users of any skill level to create a professional-looking website in just a couple of minutes.

Now, this helpful product has been made even better with a pair of new, useful upgrades.

The first is that every MyWebsite site can now be optimized to display on smartphones. As you probably know, smartphones are rapidly gaining in popularity, with 40 percent of current mobile users over 18 in the U.S. now operating them. And now, MyWebsite site owners can make their pages easily viewable on these nifty handheld devices. This new feature identifies the mobile device being used when the page is accessed and will automatically customize it for display, which means that potential customers can now access your content on-the-go, increasing the chance of sales for the owner.

It should be noted that in addition to the growing number of consumers using smartphones, recent IDC research shows that in the fourth quarter of 2010, smartphones surpassed global PC shipments for the first time ever, which may be an indicator that mobile devices are becoming the primary method for accessing the Internet for many users.

The second hot, new feature is a social media interface that will automatically and seamlessly connect your business with Facebook and Twitter. This will allow owners to inform visitors about new offers or news easily through both their primary website and their social media presence. This interface also gives users a lot of flexibility, such as making it possible for companies to include recommendations from other social platforms in their website and/or add a "Follow" or "Like" button.

In the end, these upgrades will allow SMBs using MyWebsite to benefit from the popular and important trends of mobile Web and social media in a way they were never able to before.

Users interested in trying out 1&1's MyWebsite can try a risk-free 30-day trial. After that, users can move up to the entry-level, Plus or Premium packages, the lowest of which starts at just $9.99 a month. The smartphone optimization is only available in Plus and Premium packages ($19.99 and $29.99 a month, respectively), but the social media interface is available with all of them. (Note: Current customers can now use both features for no additional fee.) Also, 1&1 also rolled out 30 new layouts for their Plus and Premium packages, increasing the flexibility and customization of website creation for users.

Ads in Apps Are the Most Likely to Stick

Linc Wonham — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Compete has released a new Smartphone Intelligence survey which found that advertisements in mobile apps have a better chance of influencing consumers than do ads on mobile websites.

More than half of the smartphone users polled (52 percent) said that they remember ads they see in mobile applications, but only 40 percent could make the same claim about the ads they see on the mobile Web. The divide increased when respondents were segmented by the mobile platforms they use, with Android and iPhone users claiming better recall for in-app ads over mobile Web ads in even greater numbers.

Given the popularity and demographics of each platform, the mobile advertising industry should take note of Compete's conclusions.

“If the behaviors of iPhone and Android users – who have more experience interacting with different forms of mobile advertising – are indicative of where the industry is headed, we’re starting to see what forms of advertising could be most effective moving forward,” said Danielle Nohe, the director of technology and entertainment for Compete.

It's Time to Redefine "Mobile"

Mike Phillips — Fri, 27 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT

These days you can't read a story about business, e-commerce or the economy without coming across something about "mobile." And if you take every report, statistic or survey as fact you might just be convinced that desktop computing has gone the way of the Dodo.

One of those recent surveys, JiWire's Mobile Audience Insights Report, found that 79 percent of mobile users are comfortable making purchases on their mobile devices and 50 percent "...are confident spending more than $100 on a purchase from their device – nearly 20 percent are even comfortable with purchases over $500."

Turn to the person to your left and ask if he or she is comfortable spending $100 using their mobile device. Then ask the person to your right the same question. According to this survey, one of them should say "yes." Ask five people if they would spend $500 using their mobile device, and one should say "yes."

Of course, the chosen mobile device is not necessarily a phone.

According to yet more research (this time from the E-tailing Group), tablet owners do more "mobile" shopping than smartphone users. Nearly 25 percent of tablet users made at least six purchases in the past six months, compared to 15 percent of smartphone users who had done the same.

Here's some more interesting research, this time from Google's AdMob, the world's leading mobile advertising network: In April, they found that 77 percent of 1,400 tablet users surveyed said that their desktop/laptop usage decreased after they started using a tablet. But, 82 percent of respondents said they primarily use their tablet at home.

So, technically, if one were to purchase a $500 item on their tablet, on their couch, this is a "mobile" purchase (and probably a 'comfortable' one, too). Consider this: If you were to go to a car dealership and they used an iPad to help you purchase a $30,000 car – is that a $30,000 "mobile" purchase? Is my laptop on my desk not "mobile" until I take it to Starbucks?

Now the advertising side is raising even more questions. AdMob claims that the network received 2.7 billion daily ad requests in April, up from 2 billion in January. Also according to AdMob, there are more than 80,000 mobile websites and apps in their network, up from 50,000 in January.

If an ad is served on a website on a tablet or mobile phone, is that one of the 2.7 billion ad requests? With today's mobile browsers becoming more sophisticated, mobile screens growing larger and the introduction of HTML 5, is there such thing as a "mobile website" anymore? If my "normal" website loads the same, fully-functional page on a tablet, is that my "mobile" website, too?

What is mobile? It's an important question that impacts everything from analytics to ad rates, which are currently quite different from the handset to the desktop.

But maybe a better question is; what isn't mobile?

Hottest of 2010 are Most Likely Targets for Crime in 2011

Administrator — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 17:54:00 GMT

A report released on Tuesday by security firm McAfee predicts that the top targets for cybercrime in 2011 will include smartphones, geolocation services, URL shorteners and devices that run Apple operating systems. Social networks and Internet TV platforms such as Google TV also made the list of potential threats from online scammers.

“We’ve seen significant advancements in device and social network adoption, placing a bullseye on the platforms and services users are embracing the most,” says Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs. “These platforms and services have become very popular in a short amount of time, and we’re already seeing a significant increase in vulnerabilities, attacks and data loss.”

As the hottest new services and devices achieve widespread awareness and adoption by users, they also become more likely targets for cybercriminals, warns the report. In the case of URL shorteners, for example, Twitter users have grown so accustomed to them that most people rarely give a second thought before clicking on a link – making them a potentially dangerous vehicle for the spread of viruses and other malicious attacks.

Social networks have been ripe for attacks since their inception because of the open exchange of data between users. But now with the widespread adoption of location services such as Facebook Places and Foursquare during the past year, cybercriminals have gained an even clearer view into users’ whereabouts and interests as well as what operating systems and applications they are using.

Mobile devices, particularly those used on corporate networks and those running Apple OS, are also going to be increasingly hot targets for crime in 2011, according to McAfee.

SmartPhone Usage Report (Metrics from AdMob)

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:56:00 GMT

Mobile advertising platform AdMob released its August 2009 Mobile Metrics Report. Examing the marketshare of smartphone devices per geographic region, AdMob is reporting that thanks to improved mobile browsing capabilities and engaging applications, smartphone penetration continues to climb worldwide.

The report indicates that while Symbian devices such as the Nokia N70 and N95 continue to be popular handsets, the report finds that the iPhone OS, Android and webOS have gained marketshare over competing platforms in the last six months. Android in particular has shown strong momentum, with increasing usage of the HTC Dream (G1) and HTC Magic (myTouch) devices in the US and Europe.

Additional highlights of the report (available here) include:

- Worldwide iPhone OS marketshare has increased from 33 to 40 percent in the last 6 months, with substantial share in all regions except for Asia and Africa.
- Android growing rapidly in North America and Western Europe. The HTC Magic (my Touch) is a Top 10 smartphone in both North America and Western Europe.
- Although its marketshare has been declining, Nokia continues to hold 12 of the top 20 smartphones devices in AdMob’s network.
- iPhone represented 50 percent of US smartphone usage in AdMob’s network in August 2009, followed by RIM and Android devices at 14 and 13 percent, respectively.

The data is based on usage of handsets and smartphone devices during the month of August in AdMob’s network of more than 9,000 mobile sites and 3,000 applications. AdMob market share is calculated by the percentage of requests received from a particular handset; it is a measure of relative mobile Web and application usage and does not represent handset sales.

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