What’s happening in the battle between Android and iOS? Which country dominates European digital spend? How much more lucrative are apps than the mobile web?
You’ll find the answers to these and many more mobile data related questions in this week’s MEF market stats round up…
84.1 per cent of smartphones sold in Q1 were Android
Worldwide smartphone sales were up year-over-year for the first quarter of 2016, with Android increasing its already signifiant market share.
Gartner says Android accounts for 84.1 per cent of sales, with iOS at 14.8 percent. The splits were 78.8 to 17.9 Android/iOS in Q1 2015.
Samsung extended its OEM market lead over Apple with a 23 per cent market share. Apple had its first double-digit decline year on year, with iPhone sales down 14 per cent. Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi occupy the rest of the top five.
However, the analyst warned that making money for Android OEMs remains an issue. “Despite the Android platform’s advancements and its dominant market share, the challenges of profitability remain for a number of Android players,” stated Gartner research director Roberta Cozza. “This will have an impact on the vendor landscape where new or more innovative business models will increasingly become key to succeed.”
Read more…
Apps generate 13.5x the revenue of the mobile web
A new report by Opera Mediaworks reveals that mobile users are still hooked on apps. It says they typically spend about 30 minutes a day in the most popular apps with an average session length of 8.5 minutes.
This makes app advertising 13x more lucrative than when served on mobile websites though the volume of impressions on mobile apps vs. mobile web are comparable.
The Mobile First Insights study examined data from billions of impressions served to paint a picture of where the mobile marketing industry is today. Highlights include:
- The games category is top for ad impressions and session times; ads also convert at a higher rate on games apps than any other category
- Music, Video & Media is top for engagement (as measured by clickthrough rate), followed by Travel and Lifestyle
Read more…
UK digital advertising market is more than double the size of Germany’s
The UK is miles out in front in terms of digital advertising. Its market is worth more than that of Germany and France combined.
This is according to the AdEx Benchmark report by IHS and IAB Europe. It says “the top three markets still account for the lion’s share of the European online advertising market, but what is notable is the gap between the UK, Germany and France.”
The top 10 markets are as follows:
1. UK – €11.8bn
2. Germany – €5.8bn
3. France – €4.2bn
4. Italy – €2.1bn
5. Netherlands- €1.6bn
6. Russia – €1.5bn
7. Sweden – €1.3bn
8. Spain – €1.2bn
9. Denmark – €0.8bn
10. Switzerland – €0.8bn
Read more…
168 million square meters of screens will ship in 2016
The ‘coverage area’ of large thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) will grow five per cent this year to reach 168 million square meters. This is in spite of lower demand for both TV and IT panels.
Unit-shipments will fall to 656 million units in 2016, according to IHS. TV panel unit shipments are expected to fall nearly 7 per cent, as are PC displays. Conversely, display manufacturers are targeting a 24 per cent year-over-year growth rate for 48-inch-and-larger panel sizes, which are expected to reach 93 million units in 2016.
“Falling prices are causing panel makers to focus on the most profitable products, including larger displays and those employing newer display technologies,” said Yoonsung Chung, director of large area display research for IHS Technology. “From the panel maker’s perspective, area shipment is more important than unit shipments, so panel makers are accelerating the migration to larger TV panel sizes and higher resolutions.”
Read more…
Miura has shipped one million mPOS readers
Square, iZettle and Payleven are the big brand names in the mPOS space, but they don’t actually make the card readers. They buy them from firms like Miura Systems. Now UK-based Miura has confirmed it’s shipped 1m devices.
The millionth was a specially produced gold M010 device it made for one of its biggest clients, PayPal.
Simon Stokes, Chief Commercial Officer at Miura Systems, said “All of us at Miura Systems are focused on unifying payments and POS, we believe our range of sleek new products (such as the POSzle) set a new standard for modular tablet POS with integrated payment.”
Read more…
78 per cent of the world’s population have smartphones – nearly 10 per cent own wearables
Smartphones are so pervasive they are dramatically changing consumer behaviours, says a huge new study from Deloitte.
The Global Mobile Consumer Trends report is based on a survey covering six continents, 31 countries and 49,500 respondents. It found that users check their phones 40 times a day, and that almost all mobile consumers check their phones within three hours of waking up. In emerging markets, 14 percent of phone owners check their devices at least 100 times a day.
The study also looked at mPayment usage, reporting that in developed markets 20 per cent of consumers reported making in-store mobile payments. In emerging markets, it was 47 per cent. Activity in China was up 66 per cent over last year.
Additional data points include:
- 78 per cent of global consumers have smartphones, and nearly 10 per cent have wearables.
- More than 50 per cent have tablets.
- A quarter of consumers in emerging markets plan to buy a wearable device in the next year.
“The reality is that mobile behaviours have become the status quo, and usage is being calculated in the billions, driving new areas of opportunity and investment that is seemingly endless,” said Craig Wigginton, partner at Deloitte.
“The long-term growth prospects for many companies around the world must rely on their ability to stay ahead of these connected consumers and their rapidly changing and evolving habits, especially when so much can be done with a click or swipe of our phones.”
Read more…
US in-store mobile payment volume will reach $75 billion this year
The emergence of Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay – and the ongoing success of Starbucks – will drive mobile payments to new heights this year in the US.
Business Insider’s new report reckons the US in-store market will hit $75 billion this year. Between 2015-2020, it projects payment volumes to rise by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 80 per cent. That’s $503 billion by 2020.
It also says there will be 150 million US shoppers making mobil payments by the end of 2020. The publisher acknowledges the slow progress of m-payments but it believes enhanced security features, faster checkout, and loyalty integration can change that.
Read more…
One in five queries on Android devices are voice searches
Voice is finally emerging as a mainstream search interface, Google has revealed at its Google I/O developer event.
While introducing the new Amazon Echo competitor, Google Home, the firm’s CEO Sundar Pichai said 20 per cent of Android searches in the US are voice searches. This chimes with survey data from MindMeld that said 60 per cent of people have started using virtual assistants and voice search in the past 12 months.
Google Home should be launched later this year in the US for a reported $149. Amazon Echo has been an unexpected hit and has sold over 3m.
Read more…
