Mobile Devices: 25% of ...

According to Marin Softwar's report "The State of Mobile Search Advertising in the US: How the Emergence of Smartphones and Tablets Changes Paid Search," for the month of March 2012, mobile devices will account for a quarter of paid-search clicks by the end of the year.

Nielsen: As U.S. Nears ...

New numbers out from Nielsen today point to just how close the U.S. is to having more smartphone than feature phone users: analysts say 49.7 percent of cell phone users currently own a smartphone, a big leap on the 36 percent who owned smartphones only a year ago. What’s increasingly clear in that growth is that, at least in the U.S., no other platform is proving to be a contender against Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Currently, Android-based smartphones account for 48 percent of all smartphones owned in the U.S., while Apple’s different versions of the iPhone account for 32 percent. Both of those shares have grown: in September 2011 , Nielsen said that Android’s share was 40 percent and Apple’s 28 percent. When it comes to smartphones that are getting bought, the power of those two platforms is even stronger. In the last three months, Android accounted (again) for 48 percent of all handsets purchased, while Apple accounted for 43 percent. This growth was at the expense of BlackBerry, now down to just five percent of handsets bought, with the rest of the other platforms — which includes Microsoft’s Windows Phone — accounting for 4 percent of purchased smartphones. The big question for Microsoft/Nokia is whether Windows Phone will have what it takes to break out as a separate item in this list from the “others” pack. And the big question for RIM is whether it has what it takes to keep from becoming just another platform in the “other” category. But while Android and Apple have cornered the market for purchases so far, there is still 50.3 percent of the market to play for, according to Nielsen’s figures. That’s still a lot of consumers, but most likely targeting a different kind of consumer from those who have bought handsets already. Nielsen’s figures show a lot of momentum for smartphones in general: two-thirds of all handsets bought at the moment are smartphones, its analysts say. [Photo: Paolo Camera, Flickr ]

Mobile to Account for 2...

Mobile is rising faster than anyone anticipated and that’s good news for all kinds of marketers. The recently released “ State of Mobile Search Advertising in the US ” report by Marin, shows the click growth over the past year. If mobile continues on this path, Marin estimates that mobile will account for 25% of all paid-search clicks on Google by the end of this year. Most of the reason for the growth is the corresponding growth in smart phone ownership. It’s estimated that when you combine Android and iOS, there will be one billion phones in play sometime before the summer of 2013. But it’s not just smart phones. It looks like tablets will be delivering almost half of all the mobile paid-search clicks by the end of this year. That’s really something, given that tablets are not yet common, household devices. Now here’s a little good news, bad news. Mobile and tablets have a higher click through rate than ads on the PC. The cost per click on mobile devices is also cheaper, so it’s a real bargain! Or not. The bad news is, even though click rates are high, conversions are low. Average smartphone conversion is only 2%. Tablets come in a 4.9%, better, but still not as good as a PC’s 5.2%. The reason for this can be found in the “why.” Why does someone use a phone to search rather than a PC? Usually, it’s because they’re on the move. So a click through for a nearby electronics store could result in a $2,000 TV purchase, but in-store, not through the phone. The PC user is likely at home or work with time to browse. A click there, could result in that same purchase through the retailers website. Voila! Conversion. The lesson here is that cross-marketing is a must. It doesn’t matter how attached we get to our smartphones, we’re still going to use the web for more detailed browsing. The tablet is another story. Since it more closely resembles the actions of a PC than a smart phone, it could become a real contender as soon as they become more popular. Want to know more about the future of mobile advertising? Ask Marin nicely and they’ll happily send you the full report. Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

Please Do Not Buy Cheap...

Listen, I understand the pain that comes with not being able to afford nice things. I really do. But for the love of everything mighty, do not waste your money, or stand by as your loved ones waste their money, on cheap Android phones. Thanks to generous subsidies in the U.S., often only a few dollars separates a cheap Android phone from a top-tier model. With the exception of handsets like the Galaxy Note tabletphone, Droid Razr MAXX and Galaxy Nexus, all of which cost $299, there are a lot of quality Android phones to be had for just $199. Why get something like this lump, the $80 (after rebate) LG Lucid , and live with a bargain phone that will likely be shortly abandoned and destined to live without proper updates. You’re setting yourself up for a bucket of fail. Here in the U.S., most of our smartphones are relatively affordable. Carriers provide generous upfront discounts, which they recoup over a pricy 2-year voice-and-data contract. Good or bad, this structure gives consumers easy access to top-tier devices — devices such as the Galaxy S II line and the Droid RAZR that are the very best companies can come up with to battle the iPhone. These are the phones you need to buy. The thing is, these companies don’t just want to beat the iPhone — they want to try and own the smartphone game at multiple levels. To make this happen, they diversify their smartphone lineup like crazy. Consequently, instead of focusing on building one or two amazing models, makers outed many low-end phones that, thanks to a number of factors just don’t run well. Android’s race down market helped market penetration but has left a trail of unsatisfied customers. Motorola, Samsung and all the rest rely on flagship devices to bring attention to their line. These devices, halo phones if you will, get top-billing by their makers. These devices get updates quicker and they tend to have more 3rd party accessories. Plus, and this is a big one, they often garner more attention by the development community even though they’re often harder to modify thanks to locked bootloaders and general nonsense. “But they’re more expensive!” Yep, these phones are sometimes double the price of their cheaper siblings. However, we’re talking about $100 to $200 here. That’s not a huge jump. I know this makes me sound like a dick, but, you could always wait until you have the extra cash. After all, thanks to the same subsidy model that brings the price down to an affordable level, you’re going to have to live with this phone for at least two years. Don’t waste your money on a cheap model. The problem comes when shoppers start comparing specs. Both phones might have a great screen, a 1.2GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM — but one is $100 less! Jackpot! But something had to give to get the price that low and often it’s bloatware, a shoddy hardware design, or smaller battery. Android is a demanding OS and quality and software must be used. There are plenty of quality $100 phones out there. Nokia’s amazing Lumia 900 will be $100 when it comes out next week. The iPhone 4 is only $100 now. Really want an Android phone? Look at the outgoing flagship models like the Galaxy S II models. Samsung threw everything they had into these phones in 2011 and they’re well-loved by the development and accessory community. But remember, this will be your phone for the next two years. Spend a bit more time and money on it than you would your next date. You’re probably going to be with your phone longer.

Roccat Connects Your PC...

One of the more interesting PC accessories of the last few years was the now-infamous Optimus keyboard , which replaced every key with a tiny display that could be customized for games and software. At $1500, it was kind of a stretch. More recently, Razer’s Blade laptop and an unreleased keyboard have integrated a touchscreen and LCD keys, though also at a premium. But why haven’t we employed the high-resolution touchscreens we all carry around with us – our smartphones? Roccat, a PC gaming brand that has been expanding into the states, has put together a free app that acts as a sort of window into your PC, letting you monitor your components, create custom key layouts for games, and more. It’s a geek dream. They call it Power Grid . The smartphone app connects to a desktop client that hooks into Skype, Twitter, your PC’s basic stats like network throughput and drive space, and also lets you adjust stuff like audio and media playback. People who play games like WoW likely already have apps like this for calculating DPS, doing mapping, and so on. And serious power gamers will have their own separate displays for this kind of thing. But this looks pretty slick, and is apparently very versatile. And it’s also free. Initially it will only be available for iOS, but they plan Android and Windows Phone 7 versions in the near future. The first version is being shown off at Cebit, and should be coming out later this month. Free doesn’t make much money, though, so they’ll be selling accessories like this keyboard to pay the bills: There will also be a special stand, though to be honest it seems like any dock will do. The data is sent over wi-fi, so it could be in your pocket for all that. Unfortunately, the hardware won’t be out until late 2012. But the app will be out soon and that’s the important bit. We’ll give it a once-over as soon as it hits.