The Windmill - A Blog about the High-Tech PR Industry

More Data to Digest Matthew Griffes | November 20, 2008 | Permalink

Below is a list of market projection related data focused on mobile Internet and smartphone adoption on behalf of consumers. The first quote is taken from a recent InformationWeek article that provides an overview of a Kelsey Group research report titled, “Mobile Market View.”

U.S. consumers are increasingly purchasing smartphones and using the mobile Web, according to a new study from the Kelsey Group.

The study, entitled "Mobile Market View," found that 18.9% of consumers surveyed had a smartphone, and 49.2% planned to buy one within the next two years.

Once the exclusive domain of business personnel, more and more smartphones are being marketed and sold to mainstream consumers. Apple's iPhone and iPhone 3G have been tremendous hits with the casual market, as have handset like the Palm Centro, and the Samsung Instinct. Even Research In Motion (NSDQ: RIMM) has aggressively targeted the casual market with BlackBerry models like the Flip, Storm, and Curve.

The study also found that these smartphone users had a marked increase in the level of mobile search activity. About 18% downloaded or looked at map directions on the handset, an increase from 10.8% in 2007. There were also significant increases in the amount of mobile subscribers who searched for products, movie and entertainment information, and mobile social networking also got a boost.
Source: InformationWeek

Compare this to the recent revisions that many analysts made to handset shipment volume in light of the global financial meltdown, and the projections made above become a bit muddled:

UBS analyst Maynard Um halved his forecast for 2009 global handset growth to 3 percent from 6 percent, pointing to particular weakness in Europe and North America. "We continue to believe in a tight relationship between world real GDP and device volume growth," Um wrote in a research note.

He cited UBS cutting its forecast for 2009 global gross domestic product growth to 2.2 percent from 2.8 percent for his own reduced handset estimate.

The news comes as major phone vendors -- and some new players -- are betting heavily on the success of higher-end, Internet-enabled smartphones, following the model of the popular Apple iPhone. HP, for example, is expected to be driving into the consumer smartphone market with a new iPAQ model later this year.
Source: InternetNews.com

And then there’s this bit of news to throw a bit more uncertainty into the mix:

Global smartphone shipments hit an all-time high in the third quarter 2008, and while the United States market more than doubled, Japan experienced a steep decline, according to a report.

Apple, Research in Motion, and HTC made large gains in market share, which came at the expense of share leader Nokia. Although it lost some of its huge lead, Nokia retained its top spot.

Despite softness in the overall mobile phone market, 39.9 million smartphones were shipped in the third quarter 2008--an all-time high for a single quarter.
Source: Red Herring

So...there's plenty of room for optimism. However, there's also plenty to be sorted out and the mixed data reflects the degree to which things will remain uncertain for the time being.

And So It Begins… Matthew Griffes | November 19, 2008 | Permalink

I’ve started the process of authoring a research report focused on the mobile Internet. The intent of the report is to understand both the market potential for the industry, as well the potential issues that could slow or even undermine its furtherance. At the outset, the report is aimed at public relations and marketing professionals, as well as entrepreneurs who are either considering or have already created an early to mid-state high-tech company focused on the mobile Internet.

I’ll attempt to update my blog with entries related to the report as I progress with it. For starters, here are few nuggets to consider:

A report from ABI Research on Thursday predicts that the number of smartphones with highly capable mobile browsers will grow from 130 million today to more than 530 million by 2013.
Source: CNET

More sophisticated browsers means that more Web sites are actually getting traffic from mobile users. In fact, between 3 percent and 10 percent of traffic to a PC-based Web site comes from mobile devices, according to Bango, a company that offers a tool for tracking traffic from mobile users. Bango found in a recent survey that half of the 20 most trafficked PC-based Web sites did not work well on leading mobile phones.
Source: CNET

Google founder Larry Page was recently quoted in regard to the FCC's decision to authorize the unlicensed use of white spaces:

"The government should be encouraging its infrastructure to have nice high-speed wireless everywhere; it's good for the country and good for the economy," Page said.

"We make most of our money on advertising on search, and there are a lot of times I can't easily do a Web search even with 3G or open Wi-Fi networks," Page said. "If people can get easily connected anywhere [with white spaces], we can make 20% to 30% more money."
Source: InformationWeek

That’s all for now…more to come.

The Bad News First Matthew Griffes | August 14, 2008 | Permalink

In a recent post in NYT's Bits titled, "Pessimism From Venture Capitalists" author Claire Cain Miller handles the bad news first.

"I am convinced that the I.P.O. market will be largely unavailable or unattractive for at least the rest of 2008 and for the first half of 2009," says Jim Breyer of venture capital firm Accel, an early investor in Facebook, where Breyer is on the board. "We are advising our portfolio companies to view their cash as particularly precious in these difficult times."

However, in the following paragraph she writes:

When the market does turn around, investors say green technology will lead the way, with mobile and digital entertainment following.

Okay then, I guess we just have to wait for things to turn around…

Getting Things Off the Ground Matthew Griffes | August 13, 2008 | Permalink

Windmill My intent in creating a blog is to have an opportunity to write about a variety of topics related to high-tech PR. The focus will be on those industries within the technology and Internet sectors that are primed for growth. Additionally, some posts will include informational resources that I come across as I research different topics of interest.

In terms of growth markets, I am most interested in the mobile Web, cloud computing, application development trends (for both the Internet and mobile platforms), and clean technology. I plan on authoring an in-depth research report for each of these industries, and have currently started the research end of a report focused on the mobile Web.

As I build out the mobile Web report, I'll be sharing some of what I am finding in a series of posts, which should follow in the near future.

That's it for now. Back to work.