Android regains market share and smartphone market will soon become about replacement cycle

According to comScore’s latest data (October 2015), Apple’s share is down nearly a point 2015 Q3, without including Q4 holiday-related device sales. Android’s market share is up 1.5 points compared with July.

Also, device forecaster IDC says that globally smartphone growth will slow next year to “single digits” for the first time. Even so, growth will be near 10 percent globally. Slowing growth in China is partly responsible. Many mature markets are now “replacement markets.”

http://marketingland.com/smartphone-data-android-regains-share-but-apple-maps-wins-the-iphone-154923

Connection of TV ads and Mobile for more efficient targeting

      Concerns exist for how effectiveness are TV ads in promoting brand awareness and more importantly,  driving consumers down toward the funnel to execute the action of buying. Now, the problem may be solved as Millennial Media, a mobile advertising network consisting of 65,000 mobile apps, is partnering with Rentrak, a video measurement company whose measurement currency are used across screens, (movie studios, cable, satellite, local and national television network, etc.) to allow advertisers to connect TV ads with audience's smartphone. Using Rentrak data, after a viewer sees a commercial on TV, he/she is then matched in Millennial Media's smartphone user database. Then a targeting video related to the commercial he/she just seen will be placed in the mobile apps the viewer installed in the mobile device. Effectiveness of ads can be measured as whether the user clicks on the mobile ads or agrees to receive promotion and emails from sellers. 

     The strategic partnership meets the growing demand from advertisers to conduct advertising activities across different channels and utilizing all the screens in front of consumers to reinforce brand awareness. Furthermore, rich media such as video as well as mobile advertising are enjoying growing spending from advertisers and will become the most important method and channel of marketing. 


http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a70871f0-8e0f-11e5-8be4-3506bf20cc2b.html?ftcamp=crm/email/20151120/nbe/CompaniesBySector/product

Twitter Partners up with French Bank BPCE to offer users to Tweet Money Transfers

Tomorrow, officials from Group BPCE, France’s second-largest retail bank by number of branches, and its online payment unit S-money will reveal details of a new service at a press event in Paris.  In a statement last month, BPCE said that Twitter users will be able to “send money to other users easily, rapidly, securely and free of charge with a simple tweet”.  Details have not been released yet on the technicalities of the service, but the service requires users in France to hold a Twitter account and a bank account in order to transfer money via tweets.

Twitter is racing against other tech giants like Apple, Facebook, and eBay to gain a foothold in new payment services for mobile phones or apps.  Recently, Apple announced a new mobile-wallet feature on the iPhone to allow in-store payments from a touch screen.  Google already has a similar service with Google Wallet. EBay recently spun off PayPal to become more competitive in the rising use of consumer mobile commerce to pay for goods and services.

BPCE will offer peer-to-peer money transfers via Twitter to French consumers, regardless of what bank they use, and without requiring the sender to know the recipient’s banking details. BPCE, based in Paris, operates 8,000 branches and serves more than 36 million clients.  Twitter’s partnership with BPCE will soon reveal the success or failure of this new mobile payment platform service.

Source: http://adage.com/article/digital/french-bank-users-tweet-money-transfers/295393/
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/13/twitter-bpce-payment-tweet-french 

BI: Why The iPhone's Market Share War With Android Actually Matters

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-android-market-share-2011-12

This article had a very interesting discussion following our class on the market for smart phones and specifically the battle between the Iphone and Samsung's android. It talks about many of the things that we were going over in class...operating system comparisons, market domination, etc and where the battle between the two is going.

Ultimately, the outcome remains unsolved, but it clearly seems as though the competition is good for users particularly in product innovation, and at the lower end of the market.