Thursday, April 3, 2008

Mobile Internet Conference, Berlin -Take 2


Random Friends vs Regular Buddies

A lot of talk about mobile communities on the second day of the conference, with emphasis on the importance of ‘random friends’ as well as regular friends in order to aid the process of discovery and also on how mobile web differs from standard web, in that it allows creation at the point of inspiration.

Growth Forecasts

Thomas Husson from Jupiter Research provided some interesting stats on mobile internet trends and forecasts, including that:

  • 60% of users never browse the internet on the phone
  • 59% of European mobile users want to access maps and local information on their phone
  • Only 20% of European mobile customers have a 3G phone but over 50% are expected to have one by 2010
  • 40% of European mobile users are expected to regularly access the mobile internet by 2012

· Also, Thomas made the interesting comparison of time spent by an average consumer on different media versus the ad spend on that media, noting how there was a big gap within newspaper (little time spent and high spend) and mobile (high time spent and low spend).

Mobile Advertising Priorities

Antoine Couret from Bouygues Telecom made a good point that what is free on the traditional web cannot be premium on mobile internet and he stated the 3 priorities advertisers currently have for mobile spend:

  • Large, qualified audience
  • Interactive media
  • ‘Certified audiences’ -I think relating to the uni-personal nature of a mobile (as opposed to a PC which can have multiple users)
The Power of Recommendations

Jesus Pindado from Mystrands cam at things from a fresh perspective, emphasising both personal recommendations and 'attention' as key factors to keep in mind. He went to stress that 'attention data' (what the user is eyeballing and when) has real value and has to be protected accordingly in order to be monetized.

Other general comments about the usability of the mobile internet referred to how google can act as an effective icebreaker for users and how transaction-based services act as a deterrent (too complex on a small screen).