Next generation mobile phone
Handset makers have already turned the mobile into much more than a phone, adding a range of applications from portable entertainment to internet access, with other roles, such as a surrogate TV set or debit card, already a reality in leading edge markets such as Japan and Korea. Can next generation mobile technology -- 3G and beyond -- transform people's lives again?
When will this become mainstream? The new designs and cutting-edge enhancements keep coming, but consumers as a whole have proved reluctant to upgrade, with poor marketing often blamed for the low uptake. Even now, with more 3G phones on sale and a more concerted promotion underway, it is still considered too early to see to what degree buyers will take to the full suite of functions -- often the next generation elements are never switched on. Nevertheless, a recent study from TNS showed that consumers from Hong Kong and Korea are among the most avid users of the extra functions, from sending SMS to playing MP3s, in the world. Next generation mobile phones will never attain true mass appeal however until someone, somewhere works out how to exponentially boost the power of the battery -- current incremental improvements are not enough to keep up.
Soaring phone sales in the key Indian and Chinese markets, where PC ownership rates are low, however, will see mobile becoming a key part of the digital landscape in these markets. A recent Synovate study showed that mobile ownership surpassed PC access in all nine key Asian markets the agency suveryed.
What's new? The latest mobile telephony, 3G, allows for more data that can be sent at faster rates. This means, for example, that video on a mobile phone is far more easily accomplished than before. This rich content will radically change what is viewed on the device. The next generation, 4G, promises data transfer speeds that match present broadband speeds, though it is worth remembering that most such promises have rarely delivered. Manufactuers, meanwhile, have already equipped phones with an extra receiver, allowing users to watch TV as it is broadcast, rather than have to download shows in advance.
What will this mean for marketing? As long as the mobile plays a central role in people's lives -- and current trends point to people becoming more dependent on their phones rather than less -- its future as a marketing channel is guaranteed. The intimate relationship people have with their phones makes it unsuitable for mass marketing. Consequently, agencies see its role as an element of integrated campaigns developing much faster than as a discrete marketing channel. Some key developments point the way ahead. Nokia's soon to be released N91 phone promises wi-fi capabilities enabling users to bypass the phone networks and get online with less hassle. A recent patent filed by Google, where a click on an ad results in a phone call to the company, has also caused a stir, demonstrating the possibilities when search engines and mobile phones become compatible. Established methods of mobile marketing, meanwhile, including the humble SMS, haven't seen their day, while agencies are still coming up with clever ways to use the mobile in campaigns. In Japan, a campaign for NorthWest Airlines by Ogilvy & Mather and MindShare saw people with camera-enabled phones taking pictures of a special code on posters around Tokyo and being automatically directed to a website on their phones. Digital TV There has been some confusion over what digital TV is -- used to describe both a better quality signal as well as broadband TV -- but one thing is for sure: it is the television of the future. In Asia, TV's role as the gateway to the mass market looks secure. TV, meanwhile, shows every sign of playing just a dominant role in people's lives in 2010 as it does now -- though it may not be just the passive box we are familiar with today.
When will this become mainstream? Digital TV is set to take hold over the next five years, with penetration set to reach 85 per cent and 95 per cent in Japan and South Korea respectively, and around one in five households in India and China, according to estimates by eMarketer. Take-up in the latter markets is also set to accelerate should rules regulating foreign content be relaxed. "For digital TV to really grow, it's all about choice," says Alice Manners, regional COO of Group M Interaction. Other Asian markets too are progressing to a digital future. The Malaysian Government, for example, is to launch a free trial later this year, as part of a plan to cease analogue transmissions within 10 years. Meanwhile, Asia already houses the one of the most advanced internet TV markets in the world, in the form of Hong Kong's Now Broadband, which has signed up almost half a million subscribers -- more internet TV viewers than any other country in the world. However, one of the major viewing innovations promised by digital TV -- downloading programmes on demand -- is not yet widely available.
What's new? The difference between analogue and digital signals can be seen as the difference between video tape and DVDs. The digital signal does not degrade in the way the analogue one does. Another aspect of digital is that more information can be included. This, in turn, enables such things as high-definition as well as meta-data, or information other than picture and sound.
What will this mean for marketing? Digital TV itself isn't going to change how marketers use the medium anytime soon -- more immediate concerns forcing a major evaluation on how to advertise on TV are changing attitudes to advertising and the profliferation of channels created by deregulation. Consumers, however, are unlikely to switch wholesale to customised viewing. TV schedules still have a future, albeit in a dfferent form. "You can put a lot of choice in front of consumers, but they're not necessarily ready for it all the time," says Pushkar Sane, Starcom's director of IP Northeast Asia. One big change will be on what device people watch TV -- in the future, consumers are increasingly likely to watch TV on the move via their phone, notebook or music player, as they are at home.
Search engines The rise of the search engine has changed the face of the internet, and stands to change the face of online marketing too. Analysts predict that the budget allocated to search marketing is likely to swell to half of a company's interactive marketing budget in Asia over the next five years -- equating with one in every 20 marketing dollars spent on search by the year 2010.
When will this become mainstream? Search is already an integral part of the internet -- now nearly two-thirds of people who go online use a search engine. Japan, which already has the world's second largest online advertising market, is said to be about to experience a huge boost in search, with 2006 tagged as Japan's 'year of search engine marketing' according to a PwC report cited by 24/7 Real Media. While global players such as Google, MSN and Yahoo dominate the headlines, the search space is evolving, with smaller specialised players starting to find their niche. "There is no lack of technology development in terms of search and Asia- based companies are quickly developing servcies that cater to a specific market or interest," says Kevin Huang, CEO of Pixel Media Hong Kong, citing travel specialists such as Chinese service Qunar.com or Singapore site Fare.net.
What's new? Companies like Google use enormous computing power to monitor and index almost everything that happens on the internet. The data can then be searched in seconds and it is also possible for these companies to analyse this to determine trends in world-wide searches.
What will this mean for my marketing? There are two ways to get the most out of search -- buy search terms or push the website up the search rankings organically with modifcations and programming tweaks. Marketers' use of search is lagging behind consumer uptake, however, due to a shortage of specialists in this area and low levels of understanding among marketers. Agencies are confident however that the pay-per-click model used by search engines will strike a chord with brand-owners under pressure to demonstrate ROI. Group M Interaction Asia-Pacific COO Alice Manners says: "We'll see marketers initially say they want to spend 'X' amount per month. When they track it down to the return on investment side of things they will come back and say 'buy as many of the words as you can'."
Digital convergence The current surge of technological development appears to point in the same direction -- convergence -- as devices such as the PC, phone and TV morph into an all-purpose device.
It is no accident that IT and electronic giants such as Samsung and Microsoft are talking less about the software or hardware that they once specialised in and are using more the all-embracing term of digital technology. Microsoft's new Beijing-based advertising research and development centre, adLab, recently showcased prototypes of ad solutions, including online, video, television and mobile. Companies such as Now Broadband in Hong Kong, StarHub in Singapore and True in Thailand, crisscrossing the boundaries of a telco and a broadcaster, are well positioned to capitalise on this.
What that means for marketers is convergence of another kind -- the blurring of techniques and disciplines developed for both traditional and 'new' media, with the ability to fuse the best of both worlds increasingly important for brands planning to remain relevant to consumers in the future. Longer term, as technology becomes more focused and 'individual', all previous forms of advertising will be considered spam by future generations. Marketers uncomfortable with the technology tools at their disposal may find the marketing they do increasingly misses its target.
Handset makers have already turned the mobile into much more than a phone, adding a range of applications from portable entertainment to internet access, with other roles, such as a surrogate TV set or debit card, already a reality in leading edge markets such as Japan and Korea. Can next generation mobile technology -- 3G and beyond -- transform people's lives again?
When will this become mainstream? The new designs and cutting-edge enhancements keep coming, but consumers as a whole have proved reluctant to upgrade, with poor marketing often blamed for the low uptake. Even now, with more 3G phones on sale and a more concerted promotion underway, it is still considered too early to see to what degree buyers will take to the full suite of functions -- often the next generation elements are never switched on. Nevertheless, a recent study from TNS showed that consumers from Hong Kong and Korea are among the most avid users of the extra functions, from sending SMS to playing MP3s, in the world. Next generation mobile phones will never attain true mass appeal however until someone, somewhere works out how to exponentially boost the power of the battery -- current incremental improvements are not enough to keep up.
Soaring phone sales in the key Indian and Chinese markets, where PC ownership rates are low, however, will see mobile becoming a key part of the digital landscape in these markets. A recent Synovate study showed that mobile ownership surpassed PC access in all nine key Asian markets the agency suveryed.
What's new? The latest mobile telephony, 3G, allows for more data that can be sent at faster rates. This means, for example, that video on a mobile phone is far more easily accomplished than before. This rich content will radically change what is viewed on the device. The next generation, 4G, promises data transfer speeds that match present broadband speeds, though it is worth remembering that most such promises have rarely delivered. Manufactuers, meanwhile, have already equipped phones with an extra receiver, allowing users to watch TV as it is broadcast, rather than have to download shows in advance.
What will this mean for marketing? As long as the mobile plays a central role in people's lives -- and current trends point to people becoming more dependent on their phones rather than less -- its future as a marketing channel is guaranteed. The intimate relationship people have with their phones makes it unsuitable for mass marketing. Consequently, agencies see its role as an element of integrated campaigns developing much faster than as a discrete marketing channel. Some key developments point the way ahead. Nokia's soon to be released N91 phone promises wi-fi capabilities enabling users to bypass the phone networks and get online with less hassle. A recent patent filed by Google, where a click on an ad results in a phone call to the company, has also caused a stir, demonstrating the possibilities when search engines and mobile phones become compatible. Established methods of mobile marketing, meanwhile, including the humble SMS, haven't seen their day, while agencies are still coming up with clever ways to use the mobile in campaigns. In Japan, a campaign for NorthWest Airlines by Ogilvy & Mather and MindShare saw people with camera-enabled phones taking pictures of a special code on posters around Tokyo and being automatically directed to a website on their phones. Digital TV There has been some confusion over what digital TV is -- used to describe both a better quality signal as well as broadband TV -- but one thing is for sure: it is the television of the future. In Asia, TV's role as the gateway to the mass market looks secure. TV, meanwhile, shows every sign of playing just a dominant role in people's lives in 2010 as it does now -- though it may not be just the passive box we are familiar with today.
When will this become mainstream? Digital TV is set to take hold over the next five years, with penetration set to reach 85 per cent and 95 per cent in Japan and South Korea respectively, and around one in five households in India and China, according to estimates by eMarketer. Take-up in the latter markets is also set to accelerate should rules regulating foreign content be relaxed. "For digital TV to really grow, it's all about choice," says Alice Manners, regional COO of Group M Interaction. Other Asian markets too are progressing to a digital future. The Malaysian Government, for example, is to launch a free trial later this year, as part of a plan to cease analogue transmissions within 10 years. Meanwhile, Asia already houses the one of the most advanced internet TV markets in the world, in the form of Hong Kong's Now Broadband, which has signed up almost half a million subscribers -- more internet TV viewers than any other country in the world. However, one of the major viewing innovations promised by digital TV -- downloading programmes on demand -- is not yet widely available.
What's new? The difference between analogue and digital signals can be seen as the difference between video tape and DVDs. The digital signal does not degrade in the way the analogue one does. Another aspect of digital is that more information can be included. This, in turn, enables such things as high-definition as well as meta-data, or information other than picture and sound.
What will this mean for marketing? Digital TV itself isn't going to change how marketers use the medium anytime soon -- more immediate concerns forcing a major evaluation on how to advertise on TV are changing attitudes to advertising and the profliferation of channels created by deregulation. Consumers, however, are unlikely to switch wholesale to customised viewing. TV schedules still have a future, albeit in a dfferent form. "You can put a lot of choice in front of consumers, but they're not necessarily ready for it all the time," says Pushkar Sane, Starcom's director of IP Northeast Asia. One big change will be on what device people watch TV -- in the future, consumers are increasingly likely to watch TV on the move via their phone, notebook or music player, as they are at home.
Search engines The rise of the search engine has changed the face of the internet, and stands to change the face of online marketing too. Analysts predict that the budget allocated to search marketing is likely to swell to half of a company's interactive marketing budget in Asia over the next five years -- equating with one in every 20 marketing dollars spent on search by the year 2010.
When will this become mainstream? Search is already an integral part of the internet -- now nearly two-thirds of people who go online use a search engine. Japan, which already has the world's second largest online advertising market, is said to be about to experience a huge boost in search, with 2006 tagged as Japan's 'year of search engine marketing' according to a PwC report cited by 24/7 Real Media. While global players such as Google, MSN and Yahoo dominate the headlines, the search space is evolving, with smaller specialised players starting to find their niche. "There is no lack of technology development in terms of search and Asia- based companies are quickly developing servcies that cater to a specific market or interest," says Kevin Huang, CEO of Pixel Media Hong Kong, citing travel specialists such as Chinese service Qunar.com or Singapore site Fare.net.
What's new? Companies like Google use enormous computing power to monitor and index almost everything that happens on the internet. The data can then be searched in seconds and it is also possible for these companies to analyse this to determine trends in world-wide searches.
What will this mean for my marketing? There are two ways to get the most out of search -- buy search terms or push the website up the search rankings organically with modifcations and programming tweaks. Marketers' use of search is lagging behind consumer uptake, however, due to a shortage of specialists in this area and low levels of understanding among marketers. Agencies are confident however that the pay-per-click model used by search engines will strike a chord with brand-owners under pressure to demonstrate ROI. Group M Interaction Asia-Pacific COO Alice Manners says: "We'll see marketers initially say they want to spend 'X' amount per month. When they track it down to the return on investment side of things they will come back and say 'buy as many of the words as you can'."
Digital convergence The current surge of technological development appears to point in the same direction -- convergence -- as devices such as the PC, phone and TV morph into an all-purpose device.
It is no accident that IT and electronic giants such as Samsung and Microsoft are talking less about the software or hardware that they once specialised in and are using more the all-embracing term of digital technology. Microsoft's new Beijing-based advertising research and development centre, adLab, recently showcased prototypes of ad solutions, including online, video, television and mobile. Companies such as Now Broadband in Hong Kong, StarHub in Singapore and True in Thailand, crisscrossing the boundaries of a telco and a broadcaster, are well positioned to capitalise on this.
What that means for marketers is convergence of another kind -- the blurring of techniques and disciplines developed for both traditional and 'new' media, with the ability to fuse the best of both worlds increasingly important for brands planning to remain relevant to consumers in the future. Longer term, as technology becomes more focused and 'individual', all previous forms of advertising will be considered spam by future generations. Marketers uncomfortable with the technology tools at their disposal may find the marketing they do increasingly misses its target.
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