BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: Why You Need A Mobile Marketing Strategy

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BYOD Is Forcing CIOs To Either Adapt ... Or Quit (Word-Of-Pie)

Life as a CIO used to be simple. Systems weren’t perfect but they added value and everyone was happy. Then Steve Jobs returned to Apple. And then came the iPhone. And then it all exploded. One morning, CIOs woke up and realized that people were not only buying Macs again, but they were using them for WORK. Other companies decided that they wanted to have phones that were as useful as Apple’s devices. They started selling smart phones at a lower price point with systems that were incompatible with Apple. And don't get us started on cloud computing. Thanks to this cascading of events, CIOs everywhere have to embrace the new world order brought on by this Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) revolution or find a new job. There is no middle ground. CIOs have to find applications that allow for the necessary control of information while still allowing the users to have the easy experience that they have come to expect.

Five Things Marketers Should Know About Passbook (Marketing Land)
Probably the most important new feature to arrive on iOS 6 was something called Passbook, which allows marketers to provide coupons, tickets, loyalty cards and more, all in one place on the iPhone or iPad. Here is the good stuff— if you're a marketer and interested in learning more about Passbook:

It is the killer location-based app
It’s also impossible to delete
Functionality integrates with mobile apps
Marketers can message customers (see point #1)
Ability to customize

While Apple Passbook is good now, one can only imagine that it will get better in time.

Seven Ways To Keep The Mobile Search Experience Fresh (Econsultancy)
Site search is typically the key way mobile users look for products and content, and because site search users typically convert at a higher rate, it’s important to constantly update and enhance mobile site search to maximize performance. Here are some insights into how to make mobile sites more search-friendly:

Put the spotlight on the search box
Auto complete saves time
Make refinements expandable
Take a cue from Facebook
Localize site search results
Point QR codes to search results
Use keyword-specific banners to drive more interest

Above all else, you need to keep testing mobile search options and monitoring mobile visitor behavior so that you know what’s working and not working. Change is a constant in the m-commerce world, so you need move fast to keep things fresh and engage with your on-the-go fans.

Building the Case for a Mobile Marketing Strategy (Savage Brands)
No matter what business or industry you’re in, you hear predictions like by 2014 mobile Internet should take over desktop Internet usage. It’s clear that mobile is significantly changing the online landscape for everyone, B2B and B2C companies alike.   Even if you are excited and ready to start forming a mobile strategy, odds are that you’ll still need to prove the point to someone else in your company that mobile does indeed need to be part of your 2013 strategy. Here are a few convincing stats and facts:

31% use their smartphones for the majority of their Internet use
Age groups with high levels of cell phone Internet usage include adults 18-24 and ages 35-44
Mobile phones and tablets now account for one in eight internet page views in the U.S.
One in seven searches happens on a mobile phone.

And if at any point someone in the group you’re trying to convince of the importance of mobile starts to look at their phone, you can stop, take a picture and end your argument there. It’s a simple illustration, but it proves your point: mobile matters now, it’s here to stay and it needs to be part of your business and marketing plans.

What's Working In Mobile Advertising? (GigaOM)
Even as usage of mobile devices explodes, spending on mobile ads still lags spending on online ads by a huge margin. Will that gap narrow anytime soon? Here’s a look at the main categories of mobile advertising, as well as some emerging strategies that publishers and developers are banking on to help close the monetization gap.

Search advertising
Rich media and video ads
Banner display ads
Location-based ads
Native advertising

There are some other approaches that show that it’s not just about placing a basic ad somewhere in an app or website. Check out Kiip, Pontiflex and Appssavvy.

BONUS: A Computer That You Wear On Your Head (BBC News)
Imagine a computer that isn't a rectangular box like a PC or a smartphone, nor is it driven by a touchscreen or mouse and keyboard. Instead you wear it on your head and interact with it through voice commands. This is an actual product that is scheduled to go on sale in the New Year. The HC1 is made by Motorola Solutions (not to be confused with Motorola Mobility, owned by Google). The device looks a bit like a massively overgrown telephone headset, with overtones of a cycle helmet and maybe a gas mask thrown in. Clumsy in comparison to Google Glass, but both devices fit into a fast-rising category referred to as wearable computers. Juniper Research, a consultancy, estimates the global market for wearable computers will be worth $1.5 billion a year by 2014, up from $800 million this year.

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