A new report from Juniper Research has found that one-to-one marketing allied to the rapid proliferation of smartphones will be among the key drivers of a mobile retail market which is anticipated to exceed $12 billion by 2014.
The mobile marketing and retail strategies report found that the mobile retail sector - defined by Juniper as comprising mobile coupon redemption values, smart poster fees and advertising expenditure – would initially be dominated by coupons. However, it noted that mobile advertising expenditure would exceed coupon redemption values by 2013 as digital adspend is increasingly transferred into the mobile space.
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After a rough two years, mobile operators will look to increase their capital expenditure on improving their networks in 2010. ABI Research expects mobile CAPEX to grow by more than 4% YoY in 2010, after contracting by 2.7% in 2009.
Driving this growth will be investments in 3.5G technologies such as HSPA and HSPA+, along with the rollout of 4G LTE networks by large operators such Verizon Wireless and Telia Sonera. The fastest growths in capital expenditures are expected to be in South America, with a CAGR of 10% between 2009 and 2015.
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The worldwide number of consumers using smartphone applications will grow from 102 Million (2009) to 974 Million in 2013, according to research2guidance. The new report focuses on the corporate perspective of app publishing for smartphone devices. Currently, only 10% of Fortune 2000 companies are targeting their customers with a smartphone application.
"Despite the hype around the iPhone and other cutting-edge devices, corporations are only just beginning to realize that smartphone applications offer a direct channel to their customers," explains Ralf-Gordon Jahns, Research Director at research2guidance.
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Mobile end-user ARPUs (average revenue per user) dropped between 6% to 9% globally, year-over-year in 3Q-2009, compared to 3Q-2008. India, the world’s second-largest market in terms of subscribers, saw ARPUs dropping more than 10% YoY in the same period, as new operators and the introduction of per-second billing put heavy downward pressure on voice revenues. In Europe the ARPU contraction was in the range of -5 to -8%, with Austria seeing a contraction of more than 9%. However, ABI Research estimates that ARPU decline is likely to flatten out in developed markets in Europe and North America as mobile data revenue increasingly replaces falling voice revenue.
Globally, the growth in Minutes of Use has also peaked, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of only 1.4% between 2009 and 2015. Much of this growth is driven by developing markets in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
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| Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled 1.211 billion units in 2009, a 0.9 per cent decline from 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the market registered a single-digit growth as mobile phone sales to end users surpassed 340 million units, an 8.3 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2008. "The mobile devices market finished on a very positive note, driven by growth in smartphones and low-end devices," said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner. ”Smartphone sales to end users continued their strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2009, totalling 53.8 million units, up 41.1 per cent from the same period in 2008. In 2009, smartphone sales reached 172.4 million units, a 23.8 per cent increase from 2008. In 2009, smartphone-focused vendors like Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) successfully captured market share from other larger device producers, controlling 14.4 and 19.9 per cent of the worldwide smartphone market, respectively.” | |
Leap Wireless International, Inc., a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless communications services, and Pocket Communications, Texas' fastest-growing flat-rate wireless company, today announced they have entered into an agreement to form a Leap-controlled and managed joint venture that will provide enhanced mobile communications through Leap's Cricket brand to customers in the South Texas region, from San Antonio to Laredo and in the Rio Grande Valley covering more than 4.4 million covered potential (POPs).
Leap, which offers unlimited, pre-paid mobile voice, text and Web, as well as mobile broadband service through Cricket, had approximately 5 million customers across the nation at the end of 2009, including approximately 400,000 in the South Texas region. Pocket Communications, which offers similar unlimited pre-paid services, had approximately 320,000 customers in the South Texas region at the end of 2009.
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PocketGear, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Handango, the leading provider of smartphone applications globally, creating the world's largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles that are available for discovery and download by the more than 4 billion consumers worldwide using Android, Symbian OS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Linux, and Java powered mobile devices.
PocketGear and Handango are the two largest independent app stores and combined to date have generated over $400 million in mobile application revenues from customers living in more than 175 countries and using over 2,000 unique mobile devices.
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New cell phones in 2010 are loaded with new features. For some models, like Motorola’s Droid, Blackberry Bold 9700, LG Chocolate Touch and HTC Nexus One by Google, consumers pay a hidden price: exposure to the highest legal levels of cell phone radiation. You can see for yourself by looking the radiation levels for new 2010 cell phones.
Other new phones emit significantly less radiation. Which is which? You won’t find out from those pricey ad campaigns or even the labels. Makers and vendors aren’t required to disclose their products’ radiation output at point of sale.
That’s why Environmental Working Group (EWG) has created a user-friendly interactive cell phone radiation list and database, covering more than 1,000 phones now on the market. We’ve updated it with the wireless industry’s latest and greatest offerings for the 2010 market. | 
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The battle to remove cell phones from the hands of prison inmates saw a major breakthrough this week. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) authorized the first federally sanctioned test of cell phone signal jamming technology inside the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, MD using CellAntenna technology.
CellAntenna, experts in jamming and boosting cell phone signals, demonstrated how jamming can be surgical enough to block illegal signals without affecting cell phone communications outside the prison perimeter. The February 17 test drew support from Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who backs allowing states to use jamming technology to curb problems resulting from prison inmates using contraband cell phones from inside correctional facilities.
The demonstration of this technology supports S251, a bill that is currently awaiting House approval, which would allow state authorities to use cell phone signals jamming devices in prisons. Under current law, only Federal agencies can use the technology. | 
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According to a new forecast from IDC, the world's mobile worker population will pass the one billion mark this year and grow to nearly 1.2 billion people, more than a third of the world's workforce, by 2013. The most significant gains will be in the emerging economies of Asia/Pacific, where a strong economic recovery and new interest in unified communications will drive healthy growth in all aspects of mobility spending.
"Vast opportunities exist for bringing a variety of mobile technologies to the world's workforce," said Sean Ryan, research analyst, Mobile Enterprise Software. "Outside the United States and Japan, where mobile worker population penetration has essentially peaked, there are large worker populations that are still growing. Underserved mobile workers across all regions stand to benefit from the reach and flexibility offered by mobile solutions. While some barriers to adoption will still have to be overcome, the potential market for mobility solutions is enormous."
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| Shipments of consumer devices that can be powered or charged wirelessly (e.g. inductively) are forecast to grow from just 1.5 million in 2009 to almost one billion in 2019, according to the latest analysis from IMS Research.
According to IMS Research’s latest report, “The Growth Potential for Wireless Power and Charging”, activity in the wireless power and charging industry has increased significantly over the last two years and there are now numerous start-ups offering solutions using conductive, inductive, magnetic resonance, radio (RF) and infrared technologies. . Although shipments of consumer devices using the technology were very low last year, this is forecast to grow rapidly driven by the predicted adoption in high volume applications such as cell phones.
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New forecasts from ABI Research indicate that in 2015 about 244 million people worldwide will carry out financial transactions with their banks using their mobile phones. Of those, some 66 million will be in North America.
According to senior analyst Mark Beccue, however, “It’s not the North American market that is moving fastest to mobile banking: that crown goes to the Asia-Pacific region, which accounted for the lion’s share of the world’s 30 million mobile banking subscribers in 2009. The global number of subscribers more than doubled between 2008 and 2009, and is expected to almost double again in 2010. This growth can be seen everywhere, but Asia – led by India – is pushing it particularly hard.”
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Sagem Wireless today announced the launch of Cosyphone, a connected lifestyle device aimed at the over 50’s market. Cosyphone combines the latest technology innovations such as NFC with a simple yet elegant design and easy-to-navigate user interface to create a connected device which is customised to the specific lifestyle needs of an older generation of mobile phone user.
Cosyphone is designed to be ultra simple and elegant, with an ergonomic form factor and user interface to simplify access to the features users want quickly and easily. Cosyphone uses contactless NFC technology (near-field communications) to enable users to access the features of the device without scrolling through menus on the handset. Users can create pre-configured and customised shortcut cards (or “tags”) for friends and family, or services such as the doctors or the supermarket, and simply wave their device over the cards to activate the call or text message. Shortcut cards can also be used for data services, for example accessing the latest weather or traffic information on the phone’s browser.
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Synchronica plc, the international provider of next generation mobile messaging services, and Korean Device Manufacturer KC Mobile today introduced MessagePhone, a new low-cost messaging device (www.message-phone.com).
The result of eight months of extensive collaboration, the new MessagePhone provides an integrated device and service solution that delivers Smartphone-like functionality and messaging services at lower TCO than competing solutions.
MessagePhone enables operators in emerging markets to bring mobile data services to the mass market and to combat churn. MessagePhone, which is available in two models, is distributed by Brightstar, a multi-billion dollar global innovator in demand generation distribution and integrated supply chain solutions in the converging wireless and IT industries. | 
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The high-profile launch by Apple last week of its long-rumored iPad tablet computing device highlights the real start of a new market segment for media tablets that according to analysts at ABI Research will see four million units shipped this year. By 2015, shipments are forecast to reach about 57 million annually.
“Apple’s iPad is not the first media tablet,” says senior analyst Jeff Orr. “But it does help define this new device category. The main focus of media tablets is entertainment. A tablet will not replace a laptop, netbook or mobile phone, but will remain an additional premium or luxury product for wealthy industrialized markets for at least several years.”
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A new study by Juniper Research has forecast that nearly 15 billion tickets will be delivered to subscribers' mobile devices worldwide by 2014, compared to just over two billion this year.
The new Mobile Ticketing report found that services are developing fastest in the transport sector, with SMS, bar code and, increasingly, app driven services being offered by rail & metro companies and airlines.
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking public comment on a proposal by Wilson Electronics (Wilson) asking the regulatory agency to raise its certification standards for cell phone signal boosters in order to prevent interference to service providers’ networks and equipment while increasing customer satisfaction.
Wilson, manufacturer of North America’s top-selling line of cell phone signal boosters, in November 2009 submitted a “Petition for Rulemaking” to the FCC, recommending the agency require additional tests that cell phone signal boosters must pass in order to meet FCC’s certification standards for these devices.
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| The worldwide mobile phone market grew 11.3% in the fourth quarter of 2009 (4Q09), ending five consecutive quarters of retrenchment. According to IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 325.3 million units in 4Q09 compared to 292.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2008. Vendors shipped a total of 1.13 billion units on a cumulative worldwide basis in 2009, down 5.2% from the 1.19 billion units shipped in 2008. "The mobile phone market has rebounded in dramatic fashion," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker. "The Asia/Pacific region and the United States were primarily responsible for pushing the market back into growth territory. Overall, vendors offered a wide array of converged mobile devices (smartphones) and messaging devices in the seasonally strong fourth quarter, to take advantage of increased user demand." | |
Above is a video from Crunchgear with Michael Dell in Switzerland showing off the new Android-powered Mini 5 (A.K.A. Streak, M01M). The smartphone has not been officially announced. It's rumored that Dell will be launching an Android-powered device on AT&T. |
WiMAX modems and gateways will dominate the WiMAX chipset market, representing nearly 50% of the market on a unit basis in 2013, according to new research from In-Stat. Other key equipment segments for WiMAX chipsets include external modules, mobile PCs, base stations, handsets and other portable devices. Overall, In-Stat expects the WiMAX chipset revenue to reach $352 million by 2013.
“WiMAX is not a mere niche technology to fill a void until LTE is up and running, but a complementary solution for providing last mile wireless broadband access and a true mobile Internet solution,” says Jim McGregor, In-Stat analyst. “WiMAX chipset technology has already moved beyond multiple chips to single chips solutions that integrate the baseband processor chip with the RF radio. A small group of semiconductor manufacturers have already emerged as leaders in this growing segment”. | |
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