Mobile marketing is a green pasture for 2014, in which many marketers are earmarking a significant portion of their budgets. A recent survey of marketers – Digital Trends 2014 from Ecoconsultancy and Adobe – showed that customer experience, content marketing, and mobile marketing are top priorities this year.
According to recent information from International Data Corp. (IDC), the amount of smartphones shipped worldwide in 2013 shot up 38.4% over the previous year to a record-breaking 1 billion units. What kind of smartphones are your customers accessing your content on?
An independent report released on Wednesday by tech trend analyser Canalys revealed that, of these 1 billion smartphones, roughly 80% carried Android technology. This figure represents an 11% boost for Android over 2012; meanwhile, the iOS share of the market fell from 20% in 2012 to 15% in 2013.
Two of the major trends driving the smartphone explosion are larger-screened devices and cost, according to Ryan Reith, a program director for the Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker unit of the IDC. “Of the two, I have to say that low cost is the key difference maker.” Apple released a less-expensive iOS model, the iPhone 5c, but it didn’t make a big splash. With sales falling below Wall Street expectations, Apple shares took an 8% tumble on Tuesday.
With 313.9 million smartphones shipped, market dominator Samsung outstripped the performance of Apple, which according to IDC data shipped 153.4 million. Emphasizing the price factor as a key market driver, Reith said: “Markets like China and India are quickly moving toward a point where sub – $150 smartphones are the majority.”
Speaking of China, Lenovo made another major US technology acquisition. On Wednesday the Beijing-based PC manufacturer announced its purchase of Google’s Motorola unit for about $2.9 million. Google bought Motorola in 2011, paying $12.5 million. With its promise not materializing, it jettisoned the company but maintains several thousand Motorola Mobility patents.
Google’s Larry Page wrote in a blog post: “We believe that Motorola will be better served by Lenovo – which has a rapidly growing smartphone business and is the largest (and fastest-growing) PC manufacturer in the world. This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere.”
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