Weekend Reading – July 18
US Teen Mobile Market? Hot but saturated. The number of teen cellular subscribers in the US surpassed 16 million in 2007- up 12% from 2006 – but growth is stagnating, according to a report from market research consultancy MultiMedia Intelligence (MMI).
Despite this increase, wireless penetration rates for teens (12-17) are approaching saturation, primarily because the teen market is not a multiple-handset demographic, MMI said.
However, teens teach their older counterparts, including their parents, how to use their handsets and value-added services, adding to the average revenue per user (ARPU) of older demographics. (ARPU, or average revenue per user, is the amount of monthly operator revenue received from each individual subscriber.)
Moreover, “teen ARPU has been growing higher than that of the overall market. Teens simply use their phones to do more, from text messaging to purchasing premium content,” according to the report.
Text messaging marketing: It seems to work. A new online survey from the Direct Marketing Association reveals that text messaging is by far the most often cited mobile marketing method — accounting for 70 percent of consumer mobile marketing responses compared to a 41 percent response rate to surveys and a 30 percent response rate for e-mail offers.
According to the report, mobile marketing will continue growing into a multi-billion dollar industry as more mobile phone users are “enticed by falling prices to purchase data plans and broadband enabled devices.”
Single (never married) respondents were the most likely of all groups to respond to mobile marketing appeals; overall, higher-income respondents making more than $60,000 per year were more likely to respond to mobile offers.
City signs text messaging deal. According to The Olympian Newspaper, city officials in Olympia, Wash., have signed a licensing agreement with Txtwire to “provide text messaging services as a way to improve communication with the public.”
The city will roll out the service with the Parks and Recreation Department, by sending text messages out on items such as cancellations in city league softball games.
The service is completely voluntary and free – minus carrier text charges.
Local school officials signed on last year and use text messaging to alert parents about school closures and other emergencies, says the Olympian.
Txtwire’s customers range from schools and cities wanting to get simple text messages out to faculty, students and parents [e.g., school is closed due to snowstorm] to more complex marketing programs for restaurants who want to offer promo deals such as text coupons.
Symbian and Google BFF? According to Reuters, Symbian might expand its collaboration with Google to the operating system level as it moves to grant free and open access to its software platform. Symbian currently uses Google applications such as maps and search engines on its platforms. Reuters says the collaboration could be “on the application level or on the more fundamental operating system level.”
We’ll keep our eyes on this one.
Client update: Talkster Launches Calling Application on Facebook. MoPR client Talkster launched Talkster Phone Party this week, giving Facebook users a fun and easy way to set up and manage free Talkster long distance, international, and group conference calls, directly from their Facebook profile pages. Talkster Phone Party can be downloaded from Facebook here.
Talkster’s Phone Party Application aims to give the more than 80 million active Facebook users one more way to have fun, keep in touch, and get to know one another even better. For more information visit Talkster via the Web from your mobile phone or from your iPhone.
Bag the airport line. As if airline travel was rough enough, how many times have you had to remove your laptop from the laptop bag and set it into a bin? It’s a pain and all it does is slow down the line – in front of you as well as behind you.
Help might be on the way.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently announced plans to implement new security procedures that will allow travelers to pass through security checkpoints without having to remove their laptops from their cases. They also issued a request to laptop bag manufacturers to create “checkpoint friendly” laptop bags to help speed up security lines, allowing passengers to get to their departure gates in a timely manner.
Mobile Edge recently unveiled three innovative checkpoint friendly laptop cases designed to help move traveling computer users through airport luggage checks more quickly. With these cases, airport screeners can X-Ray a traveler’s laptop while still it’s still inside the bag. The new cases from Mobile Edge have been tested and meet the new guidelines for carry-on luggage.
The new ScanFast Collection consists of a backpack, a briefcase and a messenger bag, all designed to conveniently open for airport screeners and help speed travelers through the X-Ray screening process.
