Finlay from Google talked at New Year Search Club in January this year where he mentioned mobile would really take off and it definitely has.

Google Mobile Search

Mobile search queries have increased considerably from last year. Here are a few interesting stats:

Travel queries on mobile have risen from
4% (2010) to 11% (2011)

Retail queries
4% (2010) to 13% (2011)

Tech queries
5% (2010) to 10% (2011)

Entertainment
7% (2010) to 18% (2011)

Do you use your mobile while out shopping? Apparently 45 % of us do and 15% use it to compare prices.
The study carried out by Google, also found that with mobile, people always have them with them and are searching while at home and on the go. 74% of people use them at the same time as consuming other media.

53% of people use a smartphone while watching tv
49% of people use it while listening to music
26% of people use their mobile while using the internet.

Consumers are starting to purchase products on their mobile. 28% of people in the study has purchased on their smart phone, with 41% of people buying entertainment products, followed by 31% for clothing and 28% for tickets.

So what does all this mean?

You cannot ignore mobile any longer. You need to start engaging in a mobile strategy for your organisation. If you are already doing paid search, make sure you have a mobile search campaign. You also need to have an optimised mobile site so that consumers can view your site on their handset and purchase a product.

Google are there to help
There are a number of ways to advertise your site on mobile. Google have three interlinked mobile advertising platforms, adwords mobile search and GDN (Google Display Network), Admob Mobile network, and m.YouTube.com

Adwords Mobile Search & GDN
This gives a company mobile search presence using keywords – remember to set up a separate campaign for mobile. The GDN allows you to contextually target mobile content within the Google Network.
There are also adwords (as with desktop) but tailored for mobile – different volumes of search queries

Admob Mobile network
This network has a reach of 250 million unique users. You can target your ads to specific mobile users, decides ad operators, bundles they have and location as well as time of day.

m.YouTube.com
There are over 1.5 million impressions per day on mobile and this channel allows you to increase your brand awareness on mobile.

There are so many options with mobile search. Below are a couple more mobile adverts than you can choose to run
Mobile Click the Call
User taps your advert and goes straight to the call without having to dial the number

Mobile Click to Maps
User clicks to the location of the store and can easily see Google Maps.

If you have any questions about setting up a campaign, the Google account managers are always happy to help you.

Buying a mobile phone should be easy and simple. With the rise of smart phones, this is no longer the case.

I am looking for a new mobile phone, I have a 2 year old Samsung mobile phone which is unheard of. I do not want to spend more than 25 pounds a month but I would like to have at least 300 minutes and 500GB of data download. I will share with you my quest for the ideal mobile phone:

1) Vodafone
I started my mobile phone journey with Vodafone as I have been with them for over 10 years (although I have never received any loyalty points or benefits from being such a loyal customer)
.
I do not want to be on a 24 or 18 month contract. That is too long. I switched to a SIM only contract with Vodafone in November and my bills have not been more than 25 pounds. So what can I get with my money?

BlackBerry: BlackBerry Curve 8520, Curve 3G 9300,
HTC: the HTC Wildfire only
LG: LG Cookie,
There are a number of Nokia phones on PAYG
Nokia 6700 Slide, 7230, C1-01, C2-01, C3-01, C5-03.
I can get 6 Samsung phones , C330, Ch@t 335 E1150, E2550 and the Galaxy Mini. I can get just 2 Sony Ericsson phones, the Spiro and the X10Mini Pro.

All of the Vodafone phones are available on PAYG.

Mobile phone operators

(source – flickr.com/photos/marksunderland/4543099719/)

2) Orange
So the next place to look was Orange who with T-mobile should now have better network coverage than it had in the past. I love all the offers you can get with Orange, especially the 2 4 1 cinema tickets so I thought I have a look to see what offers they have on PAYG.

Alcatel: OT-223, OT-335, OT-606.
BlackBerry: Curve 8520 and the Curve 9300
HTC: HTC Wildfire, HTC 7 Mozart
LG: Cookie Lite T300, Town C300, Town GT350, Optimius Me, Optimus One,
Motorola: Flipout
Nokia: 1616, C1, C2, Nokia X3 Touch and Type, C3 Touch and Type,
Orange handsets: Lisbon, Miami, Rio, Tokyo, Rio II, San Francisco
Samsung: E1170, C3300K, Monte Slider E2550, Tocco Lite (my current phone), Tocco Icon S5260, Solid Immerse B2710, Monte S5620
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, Zylo, Xperia X8, Xperia X10 mini

Not a bad range I have to admit, the San Francisco has to be a good deal at just 99 pounds for an Android handset.

3) O2:
With my research done, I popped down the road to O2. Kingston is great, it has at least 2 stores for each network provider.

Alcatel: One Touch 355, One Touch 708
BlackBerry: Bold 9780, Curve 8520, Curve 9300, Pearl 9105, Torch 9800
Nokia: C1-01, C3, C3-01, C5, C7, E72, N8, X2, X6 8GB, 2220 Slide, 2720 Fold, 6700 Classic, 6700 Slide
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, Xperia X8, Xperia X10, X10 Mini Pro, Zylo
Samsung: Ch@t335, Diva Diamond, E1050, E1080, E1150, E2121B, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Europa, Galaxy Mini, Galaxy S, Libre, Monte Slide, Solid Immerse, Wave II, Wave 525, Wave 723
HTC: Desire S and HD7
LG: Al133, A140, Optimus Chat, Viewty Snap

4) TMobile:
Finally I came to Tmobile who with Orange should have the biggest network coverage in the UK under the Everything Everywhere brand.

Alcatel: OT-355
iPhone: iPhone4 16GB
BlackBerry: Curve 8520, Curve 9300
HTC: Wildfire
LG: GS101, GU230
Nokia: C1-01
Samsung: Ch@t 335, E1150i, Monte Slider, Zinnia E2121B
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, X8
T-Mobile:Pulse Mini, Unity, Vibe, Vairy Touch II, Zest

So all the network providers offer similar handsets. What I did find surprising was the HTC Desire was cheapest with Vodafone at 130 pounds.

I wanted to get a iPhone, but it works out as quite expensive. The only way I can get a free iPhone 3GS for free is if I pay 35 a month on a 24 month ontract or 40 pounds a month on a 18 month contract.. To get a iPhone 4 for free, you need to sing up to a 24 month contract giving you 1,200 mins, unlimited texts and 750B of internet on your phone.and pay 45 pounds a month. If you want only an 18 month contract, you have to pay 65 pounds a month but you will get 3,000 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data.

Conclusion:
Either cough up and commit to the 24 months, or …. go to ebay

Think I will go to ebay and get my HTC Desire unlocked – better screen resolution than the HTC Wildfire. If I can get a cheap iPhone, maybe I will do that – perhaps I should wait till the iPhone 5 has come out, but then my phone would be three years old. Nearly an antique.

The Sony Ericsson phone is claimed to be the ultimate smartphone. It has the latest version of the Android OS, 5.1 megapixel camera (front and back) incase you want to take lots of pictures of yourself, and of course being Android, you have access to over 150,000 apps from the market place.

Android mobile phones

What is so special about this phone?
Well it has a dedicated slide out control pad, powerful graphics with an optimised 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Ok enough of the tech bits – well one more – there are more than 50 games to download (but it comes with 6). So apparently this really is a gamers mobile phone. Time will tell if it flies off the shelf

To celebrate the launch of this momentus mobile phone, everyone was invited to go to the Xperia Play rooms on 21 – 31 New Oxford Street from 9am – 5pm. I, like most people have the day job to go to (haven’t quite made enough to retire yet) so I did not go. If you went, please let me know how it was.

Metro were giving away golden tickets which allowed everyone to go to the event. However, when scanned at the door to the Xperia Play rooms, there was a chance to attend the VIP party in the evening with Mr Tinchy Stryder. I know someone who won tickets, so maybe I can get some cool photos to upload.

This is seojoblogs… signing off.

Queue for the ipad 2 outside Apple Regent Street

According to the Evening Standard, there were more than 300 people queuing for the 399 pound iPad 2 so obviously yes, as the shops have now sold out. Friday was also the launch of the Nintendo DS. I wonder if Apple launched the same time as Nintendo on purpose. Friday became one of the most lucrative high street gadget sales.

Who queues?
There was a father of two who was fourth in the queue for the original iPad last year and now he was first in the queue. It did come at a cost as he missed his son’s birthday to wait outside the Apple store. I think attending your son’s birthday is more important. You never know, he may be giving the iPad 2 to his son.

There was a couple who spent the night on the pavement. The boyfriend was after the iPad and the very nice girlfriend didn’t want it, she was just keeping her boyfriend company. Ahh isn’t that nice?

I went into Kingston upon Thames, just outside of London and there was a queue from 3:00am on Friday morning and they sold out within 5 hours. I went to Kingston today (2 days after the launch) and they told me iPad 2 would not be available for another 2 weeks. I also went to Orange and Tmobile who were sold out and they told me the same thing. But I can still get one and I didn’t have to spend 33 hours waiting, I just need to let the hype die down.

If I choose to spend the 399 pounds, I will get a 33% and 15% lighter IPad and so far people have been impressed by the upgrade. Apple will no longer stock the orginal iPad, so if you want a cheaper model, better get down to Apple soon before that sells out as well.

February 14 – February 18th was Mobile World Congress (MWC) which is the conference to attend for anyone in mobile. Unfortunately I did not have a spare 2k to go and could not get a sponsor so alas I was left to read the daily update emails which were quite informative. Not nearly as exciting as if I had gone to the conference myself.

Anyways, we move on….

What are the main mobile phones to look out for?

Sony Ericsson Play

Sony Ericsson Play – this will come out this month to some of the big network operators….

Instead of containing a keyboard, the play has a slider panel that features a playstation D pad controller and buttons. There are two dual analogue touch pads as well that simulate the sticks on a playstation joy pad.

If you go into any high street network store, they will probably tell you how much it will cost. Of course it will just be on contract to begin with, but those pay as you go customer should not have to wait too long before you can buy it off contract.

So has anyone else got a handset similar? Yes the NGP – which is the PSP2, coming out later n 2011.

LG also launched its own “play phone” the Optimus 3D. It has dual camera on the back which allows you to shoot your won 3D video. Then you can share this with the dedicated 3D channel on YouTube.

The LG also has its iPad rival called the Optimus Pad that has 3D technology. We all know this is not the first company to offer a rival product. HTC has its “Flyer” and Samsung has its “Galaxy Tab”. Motorola launched their version at the Mobile World Congress which is the “Xoom”. As soon as one manufacturer launches such an innovative product, the other companies are hot on their heels. Apple will also face competition from BlackBerry’s PlayBook and HP’s Palm powered webOS device.

iPhone 4

I wonder did Apple do this on purpose? They knew there was going to be a huge number of people signing up for the iPhone 4, they could have made more ready. Lets see how the other mobile phone operators are reacting to the news.

O2 are ranking number 4 for the term “iphone 4″ and it immediately takes you to the page which clearly describes O2′s response to a shortage of handsets. They are saying that only those O2 customers can get the iPhone 4 and then after July 4th, it will be available for non customers. I registered my interest for the new handset and I have been receiving emails with a count down of when I can go and buy the iPhone. This was a nice touch as it lets customers stay excited about the launch.

There was no place to register my interest on the Vodafone site. They also do not mention anything regarding an iPhone shortage, does this mean they will have enough when they become available in their stores? Their site has no new content about the iPhone 4, simply an overlay which appears to be from Apple and sits on the old Vodafone iphone URL.

I registered my interest on the Orange site who sent me an email a week ago letting me know when the iPhone 4 would be available. On their website, like Vodafone, there was no mention of an iPhone shortage, simply a detailed breakdown of their price plan. Orange are the only UK network to reveal their prices for the handset and the tariffs. Prices range from £169 for the 16GB handset on the cheapest £30 per month two year contract, to free for the 16GB model on a £75 per month two year deal.

I am sure demand will only increase once Vodafone and O2 announce their deals. Lets just hope not too many customers switch from O2 since their capped data usage was announced.

Now that Google launched the Android in 2008 which is gaining popularity, customers coming to the end of their contracts are torn between the iPhone and Android. Here are some facts about each handset:

Apple vs Android

iPhone

Android

When I go into the mobile shops and ask which handset is better the sales assistants always seem perplexed. You are either an Apple fan or an Android fan. For me, I love both, but I have to say I have been disappointed with Apple recently. My sister had a problem with her iPhone and it has taken forever to sort out. Someone basically hacked into her itunes account (in China) and purchased music which they didn’t pay for. My sister now cannot buy anything from iTunes until this is resolved.

The market share for Android is growing. It offers just as much as the iPhone does to its customers but as it is open source it allows for further developments to be made without customers having to wait for the big releases as we have seen with the iPhone.

E consultancy reported last week that Marks and Spencer launched a mobile site.

Unlike the other high street retailers who have launched apps, Marks and Spencer have put all their efforts into the mobile site. I have tried it on the iPhone and it is pretty good. I also tried it on the Samsung Tocco (not a smart phone) and it was easy to navigate and the pictures were very clear. A full review can be found at E consultancy

This news just shows you that more and more companies have mobile as part of their marketing/business strategy. Then yesterday, I read another article about mobile phones . Android phones outsold iPhones in the USA, last month for the first time. The iPhone better watch out, it is not the only smartphone out there. And for those companies that want to have a mobile strategy, do not just tailor it to the iPhone. Make sure the Android, Symbian and the Samsung handsets are involved as well. According to The Times, BlackBerry controls 63% of the market for business phones, so do not exclude these handsets either.

The trend in smartphones is expected to increase. According to Garner, sales increased by 49% to 54.3 million during Q1 2010. Overall, 314.7 million handsets were sold worldwide, with Nokia the number one supplier in both categories. Symbian was the most popular smartphone OS globally, selling 24.1 million units, with a market share of 44.3%.

RIM came second with 10.6 million sales and a 19.4% share, followed by Apple’s iPhone OS with 8.4 million sales and 15.4% share. Sales of Microsoft Windows handsets were flat at 3.7 million units, seeing its market share falling by 3.4 percentage points to 6.8%.

There is no denying it, these smartphones are here to stay, so it is vital to integrate these into your marketing strategy. Next time you are thinking of redesigning your website or adding new pages, think of making it viewable on a mobile phone.

Firstly on April 1st, it was announced that T-Mobile and Orange had become a single UK entity. Tom Alexander who is the Orange UK boss is the chief of the new company and T-Mobile UK boss Richard Moat is the chief financial officer. It comes seven months after France Telecom and Deutsche Telekomeir first announced their plans to merge the UK operations.

This means that the organisations can share confidential financial and customer information and begin consolidating the two businesses and Orange UK and T-Mobile UK now cease to exist.

Orange said : “Further to announcements of September 8, 2009, and to the obtaining of all necessary approvals, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom today announced the successful completion of the UK merger transaction and the formation of the new Joint Venture. The JV will be accounted for using the equity method as of April 2010 for both Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom.”

Last week Orange also announced their new business mobile broadband packages allowing customers to choose a package that suits the way their business works. They have two packages both tariffs cost £10 a month and Orange has included an additional 1GB usage allowance per month to dip into:

1. Business Everywhere 5 to 9 – as the name suggests is for businesses who work from 5pm – 9am and want unlimited data. It is mainly aimed at start-ups and entrepreneurs who have day jobs and need mobile broadband access outside regular office hours.

2. Business Everywhere 9 to 5- are for businesses who want the same package but access 9am to 5pm.

There is also a service for frequent travellers who access an extra 5MB of data every month to use in Europe. Not worldwide yet, but who knows in the future?

Not to be outdone by Orange, T-Mobile expanded its Business Unlimited tariff by offering free conference calling and compatibility with its Boosters. There is conference calling for up to 20 people and customers now have access to a range of international boosters for businesses working abroad. They are Euro Talk and Text, Euro and Australasia Talk and USA and Canada Talk.

The plan “Business Unlimited” comes with unlimited calls, texts, email and internet access and costs just £35 a month. Customers will also receive free voicemail, free next day phone replacement, free 24/7 online account management and dedicated UK-based customer support.

Max Taylor , head of business marketing said: “We know that transparent pricing and predictable costs are crucial to any small business trying to manage its cashflow. By adding more to Business Unlimited at the same price, we’re enhancing what is already the best value small business tariff on the market and giving businesses greater control and peace of mind over their mobile costs.”

Watch out for more news from Orange.

Find out more news

Love mobile

I knew mobile was big, but after this event, I knew it was no longer the future, it was happening now. Those that are not using a mobile strategy should be seriously thinking of starting one today.

It may seem daunting, but mobile internet is the same position that the internet was 10 years ago and look how big that has grown. A user should have the same experience on the mobile and on the web. It is interesting to see how much internet on desktops has grown. Check out on the bbc’s website to visually see the growth of the internet.

There are 4.6 billion mobile phones world wide, more than 1,000 customers sign up every minute. You can no longer ignore mobile.

So where do you start?
If you are working agency side, you should start to introduce mobile marketing to your clients. The first step is assessing their website, which should be visible on a regular handset. I do not just mean smart phones such as the iPhone or Android but symbian phones as well such as the Nokia 6303. There are a lot of retail, finance and travel companies that are planning mobile at the moment. If you do not have a site that can be seen on a mobile phone, make sure there is at least a landing page that can be built in line with your advertising campaigns.

To app or not to app?
A lot of people when they want to get into mobile think they should build an app. There are over 50 million iphone and iphone touches and more than 3billion downloads for these apps. I wrote about apps in another post mobile app or mobile site and when I was at the event, Carl Uminski from Somo mentioned that there was a life cycle of apps. If it gets featured in the App store (which is luck) then it can get to top 25 of the Apple app store. This equates to 500 downloads a day. If the app is promoted to the top 10, then it can get 1000 downloads a day. However, there is a sudden decline.

He said people should think ahead of time and have ad campaigns to promote it. There is a lot of competition, 130,000 other apps people can choose from. You need to have a mobile advertising strategy before you build.
Somo have witnessed conversion to download range from 4% to 12%
Advertising click through rates range form 1% to 4.8%
Cost per download can range from 80p to 1.50 for free applications

Mobile search
Another interesting point raised at the event was that people on mobile phones who access the internet have different needs, they are more hunters than researchers. They are out and about and use their phone to look for something specific. Therefore there needs to be different ad copy for the paid adverts. Your digital agency should be able to build creative for you.

2010 is the year for mobile search and I challenge you to start using it with your clients or with your agency.

Photo is from flickr