BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: Android And iOS Growing At 10x The PC Business Of The 80s

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Android And iOs Growing 10x Faster Than PC Boom Of The 80s (Flurry)
The rate of iOS and Android device adoption has surpassed that of any consumer technology in history, according to Flurry. Compared to recent technologies, smart device adoption is being adopted 10X faster than that of the 80s PC revolution, 2X faster than that of 90s Internet Boom and 3X faster than that of recent social network adoption. Five years into the smart device growth curve, expansion of this new technology is rapidly expanding beyond early adopter markets such as such as North America and Western Europe, creating a true worldwide addressable market. During the month of July, Flurry estimates that there were over 640 million iOS and Android devices in use.

Samsung Galaxy S III Appeal Has Not Decreased, Traffic Up 26% (Chitika)
According to Chitika, Samsung Galaxy S III usage has increased by 26% in the last two weeks. The smartphone now generates 15% of all traffic coming from Samsung phones. After surpassing the Nexus back in June, the S III will soon blow past the Galaxy S to become the second-most popular Galaxy smartphone. The small bump in Galaxy S II usage around August 7th is likely due to the significant online price drop for that phone that day. Clearly appeal has not faded, although the upcoming iPhone 5 launch will be the biggest test yet for the flagship handset.

Why You Should Lead With Mobile Web Apps... (Six Revisions)
When developing apps for multiple mobile device platforms, there is a huge advantage to having the HTML5 mobile web developer lead the production effort as opposed to the native app developer. In team-based bicycle racing, riders from the same team often form a group called a peloton to protect the team leader from wind resistance. Product managers tasked with delivering both mobile web and native apps will be able to work most optimally by arranging their teams into pelotons that can move products forward more quickly and efficiently. Positioning your HTML5 mobile web developer as the primary domestique is the best way to cut through the "wind resistance" by allowing the most important parts of your mobile product to advance faster and more efficiently.

...And Why It's Not So Cut And Dry (Eric Sink Blog)
Last week, Facebook transitioned its iOS app to be fully native. This has triggered another round of debate over the merits of native apps vs. HTML5 (web apps). It seems like most people look at this situation and see black or white. This issue is not new. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, when we only had mainframes and minicomputers, there was a distinction between smart terminals (thick clients) and dumb terminals (thin clients). Web apps and native apps can and will coexist. But native apps are just better right now. That's why they cost more and why downloads could surpass 45 billion this year.

Reasons Why Businesses Should Embrace Mobile (MarketingProfs)
With more consumers using mobile devices to consume media (and by extent, promotional content) brands must incorporate these devices into their multichannel marketing initiatives. Smartphones and tablets are no longer toys; they can act both as a promotional medium to reach consumers with relevant messages and as a tool to execute these campaigns. The data is crucial because it helps executives determine which components of campaigns are working and which ones aren’t. Brands have always known the importance of relevancy. The level of flexibility with mobile campaigns enables brands to get consumers’ attention through their preferred mediums.

Mobile Browsing Continues To Increase In Popularity (Nucleus via Tnooz)
Mobile browsing continues surging in popularity, according to the latest research from web-design and digital specialist Nucleus. A few fun facts:

Mobile browsing of travel websites has more than doubled in the past 12 months to an average of 20.5% of all traffic.
The rate of mobile penetration is slowing, but it’s still up 17.8% since January.
The iOS platform continues to dominate, retaining an 85% share, while Android has surprisingly made no progress at all from it’s previous 8% share.
The lion’s share of mobile traffic is going to luxury sites and are on track for over 30% mobile traffic by the end of 2012.

Regardless of demographic, the general trend is towards increased mobile browsing.

Restaurants Are Being Taken Over By Mobile Search (Search Engine Land)
There’s increasing evidence that mobile search activity for restaurants is growing by leaps and bounds:

Yelp's mobile usage now accounts for 40% of their activity, up from 27% in 2010.
30% of all transactions on Groupon’s platform are now attributed to mobile device use, up 3x from last year.

It’s very likely that we’ll see restaurant search hit the tipping point in the next 12 months with more mobile-based activity than desktop-based. So, how do you order the right dish for mobile?

Think "mobile first" with website design.
Clickable phone numbers.
Consider an app (for repeat customers).
Search engine listings.
Encourage customers to submit reviews.

Not just good advice for the restaurant industry, any service industry should be taking a close look at their mobile strategies.

Fandango: 30% Of Sales Were From Mobile This Summer (Mashable)
Online movie ticketer Fandango that summer 2012 was the best in the company’s history, thanks in part to an increase in mobile ticket sales. Summer ticket sales (May-August) were up 26% year-over-year, thanks to blockbuster hits such as The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. The company credits mobile with helping drive ticket sales to its theaters. Fandango says that downloads of the apps were up 43% year over year, bringing total downloads to 26 million. Fandango has apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. Perhaps the biggest indicator of mobile’s importance is the fact that almost 30% of all ticket sales sold in the summer of 2012 were from mobile, up from 16% last year.