Social Gamers Go Mobile

Smartphone analytics firm Flurry has declared the era of marketing singularly to the 18- to 34-year-old group of hardcore male gamers as officially over. In particular, hardcore gaming is facing competition from more mass-market-friendly gaming apps on mobile devices. In addition, mobile social gaming is attracting a much stronger female base, as well as a younger average user. In February, Flurry reported it has detected more than 250 million unique iOS and Android devices in the market, and it’s detecting more than 750,000 new devices daily. Those devices are commanding a larger installed base than the combination of portable game platforms Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. In fact, Flurry says the audience playing mobile social games exceeds that of any U.S. primetime television show, the best of which can top 20 million viewers on days airing new episodes. So, game on.

Mobile Transactions Popular – Minus the Fees

Mobile transaction usage is growing, but consumers show little willingness to pay for such services, according to Yankee Group research. The company’s forecasts predict unprecedented growth in mobile transactions worldwide, yet consumer survey results show that less than 10 percent of respondents would be willing to pay extra for mobile transaction services such as mobile banking, mobile coupons and mobile payments.

Yankee Group senior analyst Nick Holland, author of the report titled “A View from the Trenches: What Consumers Think of Mobile Transactions,” says if banks, mobile operators, card networks and retailers want to tap mobile transactions as a revenue stream, they’ll need to come up with more creative schemes than per-transaction fees. Other findings include:

• The total value of global mobile transactions will increase from $162 billion in 2010 to $984 billion in 2014.

• The number of active mobile coupon users is expected to grow from 2.7 million in 2010 to nearly 35 million in 2014.

• The number of near-field communications (NFC)-enabled phones will grow from just 834,000 in 2010 to 151 million in 2014, a CAGR of more than 300 percent. Similarly, the value of NFC-based transactions will explode from $27 million in 2010 to $40 billion in 2014.

• In 2010, EMEA leads all regions with 42 percent of worldwide active mobile banking users, followed by Asia-Pacific (38 percent), North America (16 percent) and Latin America (4 percent). But by 2014, Asia-Pacific leads with 54 percent, followed by EMEA (32 percent), North America (10 percent) and Latin America (4 percent).

 

In-Stat recently took a look at the state of the LTE market and found the following: • By 2014, LTE services will be available to 1.85 billion people (PoPs) globally. • Despite the potential for LTE services in China and India, Japan is very likely to have the most LTE subscribers in Asia/Pacific by the end of 2014. • LTE networks will generate 50 percent of last mile backhaul demand in North America.

 

Survey: Smartphones Rule Over Other Gadgets

Consumers in the United States are more likely to buy a smartphone in 2011 than PCs, mobile phones, eReaders, media tablets and gaming products, according to a survey by Gartner.

Smartphones were followed by laptop computers and desktop computers in rankings of U.S. consumers’ average intent to purchase in 2011. Mobile phones ranked fourth in average intent to purchase, followed by eBook readers in the fifth position, and tablet computers ranking sixth.

U.S. smartphone sales are expected to grow from 67 million units in 2010 to 95 million units in 2011. By comparison, mobile PC shipments are forecast to total 50.9 million in the United States in 2011, up from 45.6 million from 2010.

Although demand is very strong at the high end of the smartphone market, Gartner analysts say vendors should not ignore the middle and lower tiers of smartphones, which will be a source of growth in 2011 as operators look for prepaid smartphones that require no subsidy.