Ignore m-commerce and Face Being Marginalised, Ovum Warns Insurance Industry
Insurance companies that ignore m-commerce face marginalising themselves as younger generations come of purchasing age, according to Ovum.
In a new report* the independent technology analyst looks at the effect m-commerce will have on the insurance industry and concludes that companies that avoid it could be bypassed when younger generations come to make their first purchase.
According to the report, m-commerce is a ‘game changer’ for the insurance industry, due to its high speed capabilities, and companies must begin to offer it to customers in 2010 to maintain market presence.
Barry Rabkin, author of the report and an Ovum insurance technology analyst, said: “The speed that m-commerce is conducted at obliterates both distance and time. When commerce is conducted at this speed, it creates heightened customer expectations of availability, responsiveness and fulfillment and puts insurance companies on a path to offering a world class customer experience.
“Some insurers may feel that m-commerce is not a viable channel for them to sell their products, believing that their clients do not live or work in areas with adequate wireless service.
“However, we believe that if they decide to ignore m-commerce, they will marginalise themselves as quickly as younger generations arrive at their first purchasing decision.”
The report points out that the definition of m-commerce goes beyond financial transactions and also includes the role it plays in providing information to customers before and after a purchase, as well encompassing a wide range of devices.
It also states that to successfully embrace m-commerce, companies need to tick several boxes, including having strong connectivity, reliable and secure infrastructure and adequate resources.
Barry adds: “For insurance companies to benefit from m-commerce they need to ensure they are truly viewing the picture from the customer perspective. Only by doing so will they ensure their m-commerce environment will be one that their customers need or appreciate.” Ovum/pr
Orange Introduces Twitter Photo Sharing via MMS
By Jason Ankeny
European operator Orange announced an agreement with microblogging giant Twitter to enable subscribers to send and receive Twitter updates directly from their phones via text messaging--according to Orange, it is also the first mobile carrier to enable Twitter photo uploads and sharing via MMS.
Orange notes that customers will be able to update their own tweets, send direct messages to other Twitter users and receive alerts on Twitter activity through SMS--all alerts will be available free, with uploads included either in subscribers' bundles or charged at the usual data rate. In addition, users can post their photos to Orange UK's Snapshot photo-sharing site, which automatically posts the link directly to Twitter in a tweet and enables followers to add comments.
Twitter also will join Facebook, MySpace and Bebo as part of Orange's Social Life social media aggregator, accessible via the Orange World portal. Social Life enables subscribers to view and post updates and get in touch with contacts across all four social networks at the same time via single log-in. [FierceMobileContent]
Industry Leading Mobile Software Companies Form Mobile Alliance in Singapore
Mobile Alliance is Singapore’s first association focused on innovations in mobile software applications
Singapore’s industry-leading mobile software companies today announced an agreement to form the nation’s first mobile software association, Mobile Alliance. As an industry-led initiative supported by the International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the alliance represents the interests of the broader mobile ecosystem with a focus on driving innovation and growth of the mobile communications industry.
Boudewijn Pesch, Managing Director of Acision in Asia Pacific, has been selected by the founding members as the President of the Mobile Alliance. In this role, Pesch will lead the group towards establishing Singapore as a Centre of Mobile Excellence in Asia, with a specific focus on driving research and development in the mobile software industry. Boudewijn will be assisted by industry veterans Kevin Chia of Clearhub and Rakesh Sabharwal of Mobiquest, both of whom are Vice-Presidents of the Mobile Alliance.
The Mobile Alliance will work jointly with key industry stakeholders like IE Singapore, MEF and MMA to drive strategic programs to position Singapore as an attractive base to develop new mobile services and market them globally. Members can benefit from subsidized international trade shows, overseas missions, market intelligence and research as well as business matching events through the assistance of these agencies.
“By adopting a collaborative approach, Mobile Alliance is focused on generating greater synergies and incubating new opportunities within the mobile ecosystem in Singapore. We aim to work closely with over 30 of our members and forge partnerships with key industry agencies to develop Singapore into a vibrant and innovation-driven hub for home grown mobile content and application developers,” commented Boudewijn Pesch.
Said Mr Thian Tai Chew, Director of Infocomm Technology Division of International Enterprise Singapore, "In recent years, mobile operators are stepping up efforts to bring more value added services to customers. New and interesting mobile application services are required to attract and retain subscribers, which creates the opportunity for Singapore-based mobile software companies. The formation of the Mobile Alliance is timely as it will unite stakeholders in the local mobile eco-system to work on strategic initiatives and branding efforts to promote Singapore as a Centre of Mobile Excellence in Asia. IE Singapore fully supports the Alliance in its internationalisation efforts and to assist its members widen their business connections."
Mobile Alliance also has the active support of the Mobile Marketing Association, a global trade association that drives consumer best practices and guidelines across the mobile ecosystem. The MMA has over 700 members worldwide including carriers, service providers, aggregators, developers, brands, agencies and regulators. Members of both organisations will benefit from cross-promotional activities as well as be able to jointly develop initiatives for software development within the mobile industry.
Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, MMA Asia Pacific added, “The Asia Pacific region, with a high penetration of mobile devices, is well placed to drive innovative applications for the development of the mobile software sector. Singapore offers the infrastructure and talent required to encourage world-leading companies to be based here, and with a mobile penetration of over 100%, it acts as a test bed for the R&D process. At the MMA, we look forward to the growth of this segment as an important part of the broader mobile ecosystem.”
Faissal Houhou, Vice Chair for MEF Asia & Vice-President International Business Development for Paymo noted, “The Mobile Entertainment Forum is delighted to support the local players in the Singapore mobile entertainment space where our Asian office is based. We are looking forward to synergize with the Mobile Alliance to create more opportunities for both our members to boost the growth and innovation in this sector.” Insa/PR
NFC No Answer for Mobile Payments, But Alternatives Offer Promise
Once, NFC (Near Field Communication) was the leading contender among technologies that could enable mobile payments. But NFC has developed more slowly than anticipated, and will not offer viable large-scale mobile payment solutions for at least six years. In the mean time three existing technologies — SMS, mobile Internet and downloadable mobile applications – have the potential to deliver what NFC (so far) cannot.
“About half of all purchases made by consumers last year were made with cash,” notes ABI Research senior analyst Mark Beccue. “Consumers would in many cases prefer cashless transactions when away from home. So around the world solutions providers have leveraged SMS, mobile Internet and downloadable mobile applications to enable mobile commerce and payments. ABI Research calculates the potential revenue in 2013 from mobile transactions using these methods at about $18 billion: a significant opportunity for payment processors.”
A new ABI Research study examines the potential for mobile payments in four key vertical markets that will drive adoption: taxis, parking, movies, and Internet shopping. While the latter is usually done using credit cards anyway, the first three are areas in which mobile payments could replace cash transactions. The research found that Internet shopping would account for almost three quarters of this mobile commerce revenue in 2013. A further 15% would come from parking, with the balance split about evenly between taxi fares and movie tickets.
Beccue concludes, “Companies already seizing this mobile payment opportunity include parking solutions provider Verrus, Bharti Airtel and movie theater operators in India, and notably eBay and Amazon – the world’s largest e-commerce merchants – which have enthusiastically embraced mobile transactions with very comprehensive offerings.”
The new ABI Research study “Mobile Commerce and Payments” examines several emerging markets in which consumers are or will be using their mobile devices to purchase goods or services using SMS and mobile Internet. It highlights important players within the space, suggests who should play and who will benefit, and outlines what MNOs, merchants, and financial services providers can do to take advantage of these opportunities. [ABI Research]
Forecast: 82M Location-based Mobile Social Networkers by 2013
By Jason Ankeny
Location-based mobile social networking sites will top the 82 million subscriber mark by 2013 according to a new forecast released by market analysis firm ABI Research, which cites the availability of multimedia-centric GPS handsets as well as licensing agreements with carriers and handsets manufacturers as catalysts behind the growth. ABI anticipates mobile social networking will emerge as a key driver of location-based services uptake, promising a unifying framework for a number of mobile applications including friend finders, local search and geo-tagging.
ABI also notes the growth of location-enabled instant messaging applications such as Palringo Local and Nokia Chat. The study predicts that while a wide range of coexisting business models will initially drive location-based mobile social networking, advertising-based models will win out due by capitalizing on the possibilities of local search- and content-driven social context."While growth will be mainly driven by the availability of multimedia-centric GPS handsets, other mobile form factors will also become important", said ABI Research director Dominique Bonte in a prepared statement.
"Mobile Internet Devices with built-in GPS receivers have been announced, with location-based social networking site GyPSii supporting Moblin-based Intel Atom processor-powered MIDs. Connected PNDs and outdoor GPS solutions are other obvious candidates for location-based networking. Nissan Carwings' in-car telematics solution allows the sharing and ranking of fuel consumption in Japan." [ABI Research]
Google Takes on App Store with Android Market
By Jason Ankeny
Google announced the pending launch of the Android Market, an App Store-like open content distribution system for consumers to find, purchase, download and install various types of content to the devices powered by the web services giant's fledgling Android mobile operating system.
According to Google, Android Market will feature feedback and ratings systems similar to its YouTube user-generated video service: "We chose the term ‘market' rather than ‘store' because we feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available," writes Google's Eric Chu on the Android Developers Blog in a subtle-as-a-sledgehammer jab at rival Apple. "Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it. We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings."
Chu adds that developers can expect the first Android handsets (presumably led by the HTC Dream, expected from T-Mobile USA this fall) to arrive enabled with a beta version of Android Market. Google is still finalizing some of the details, but according to Chu developers can at the very least count on support for free applications--a subsequent update will support premium content and features like versioning, multiple device profile support and analytics. [FierceMobileContent]
How Will Mobile Applications Deliver Business Benefits During the Next Five Years?
Background: All businesses have processes that result in some addition of value. Business processes dictate that, for a given level of quality, the more continuous and rapid the process is, the lower the investment the organization needs to make to receive the benefit. Although structured processes that operate from formal business systems (such as CRM) can easily be targeted for improvement via simplification and other means, the impact of the human latency that results from the use of e-mail, voice and other unstructured communications channels isn't usually addressed for improvement.
Mobility often creates human-latency delays, because the endpoints are out of touch. Mobile applications can connect these processes to mainstream applications and improve business performance. Enterprises are faced with a wide range of platform and tool choices in delivering these applications, ranging from integrated development environments to shrink-wrapped solutions. Multichannel access gateways (MAGs) continue to be important platforms for delivering applications to mobile users.
Impact: Mobile applications projects interconnect discrete information processes, regardless of location. Faster supply chains reduce investments for delivering goods and services. As business processes become more streamlined, customer satisfaction is improved by rapid deliveries, resulting in increased benefits. Faster supply chains also reduce expenses, because processes are more streamlined, reducing inventory and head count requirements.
This area will be increasingly seen as a high point of leverage for IT spending. Mobile project risk has decreased; however, organizations must be vigilant about selecting platforms. In the coming years, enterprises will be under pressure to reduce the number of platforms they support, including MAGs.
Summary of Planned Research: Research will include coverage of unstructured communications applications, such as wireless e-mail, IP PBX telephony and cellular telephony. It will also cover structured applications, such as call center management and mobile applications, across a wide range of industry and process improvement areas. We will also cover methods for interfacing unstructured systems into established business systems. [Gartner]
Next Steps: Mobile Web Application Guidelines
According to Juniper Research, "the global market for Mobile Web 2.0 will be worth $22.4 billion in 2013, up from $5.5 billion currently." Keeping pace with this trend, the Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) Working Group published today the first draft of the next generation of guidelines, Mobile Web Application Best Practices, aimed at mobile Web applications.
While the "original" best practices document focused on traditional Web browsing, the new guidelines will focus on the use of Web applications and widgets for user interaction opportunities on mobile devices. For example, mobile content providers might use Web applications together with geolocation information to provide users with richer location-based services and interfaces.
W3C is also developing resources to help authors understand how to create content that is both mobile-friendly and accessible to people with disabilities. A draft of Relationship between Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is jointly published by the The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group and WAI's Education & Outreach Working Group (EOWG).
The MWBP Working Group participants, including key leaders from the mobile industry and representatives of the Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) sponsors, are declaring their support for today's set of published mobile Web technologies. [FierceWireless]
Google Debuts First Mobile App for iPhone
By Jason Ankeny
A staggering volume of iPhone 3G-related news and announcements hit the wires once Apple's App Store opened yesterday. Perhaps the biggest name jumping on the iPhone bandwagon is Google, which announced the Google Mobile App, the web services giant's first native app for the iPhone and iPod touch devices.
According to a post on the Official Google Mobile Blog, the free app promises a single text box enabling users to search through their contacts and the mobile web--with the first keystroke, the app begins offering typing suggestions, website suggestions or access to previous search results, and over time it builds a unique user profile based on recurring behaviors.
Google Mobile App also capitalizes on the My Location feature to determine the user's present whereabouts and show nearby business and points of interest. Other Google mobile products are aggregated via an "Explore More" button. [FierceMobileContent]
Study: Users Want Practical Mobile Applications
By Jason Ankeny
Consumers desire practical, utility-based mobile applications like mobile-optimized banking and travel planning more than basic entertainment services according to a new usage and attitudes study conducted by mobile web domain registry dotMobi and digital agency AKQA's Research & Insights unit. dotMobi notes growing consumer trust in the security of the mobile web, citing the volume of consumers demanding access to mobile banking and related m-commerce services.
In addition, roughly 90 percent of the 2,000 respondents said they would be more likely to select an airline with mobile check-in over one that did not offer mobile services, while almost two thirds of participants said they would consider purchasing theater tickets, take-out food and travel tickets on mobile.
dotMobi notes that consumer awareness remains a significant challenge: About 50 percent of respondents said they were unaware of the existence of websites optimized for the mobile platform, with 86 percent expressing interest in learning which sites are easily accessible via mobile device.
Moreover, close to 50 percent of respondents reported that their initial mobile web user experience was so poor that it made them "reluctant to access" the site or the mobile Internet as a whole again, citing poor site display and layout as the primary culprits. Only 2 percent of the survey participants who've purchased new handsets in the past six months selected an iPhone. [FierceDeveloper]
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