If I had to sum up the themes for smartphones in 2011, I’d likely point to dual-core chips, front and back cameras and high-definition video capture. This year is already shaping up to improve on those features as we now have quad-core phones hitting the market bringing improved multitasking and better performance without sacrificing battery life. This year is when 4G will become the norm in a phone as well. But what about the future?
New chips, sensors and potent graphics processors for more immersive gaming are likely on tap as software applications follow the hardware advances. Symphony Teleca gathered up various data points and technologies in this infographic that helps explain what features to expect.

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In a report last September, Yankee Group dubbed Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook the “Four Horsemen” of what it called the mobile content revolution. The mobile-focused research firm has since updated its findings, estimating that more than half the collective $200 billion in revenue of the four tech giants came from mobile sources.

Considering that Apple’s portion accounted for the vast majority of that $100 billion-plus in mobile revenue, however, Gladys Knight and the Pips might be a more apt metaphor. Still, the companies together drove three-quarters (76%) of worldwide mobile app downloads and ad revenue last year. The big payoff is yet to come, with mobile content revenue expected to grow at an annual rate of 35% in the next three years, from $10 billion in 2011 to more than $43 billion in 2015. That compares to only 10% annual growth for mobile device sales.

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The mobile video ad market will surpass the online video ad market later this year. That’s a bold prediction, but it’s one Tod Sacerdoti, CEO of ad network BrightRoll is making based on ad requests he’s seen. “It’s happening fast and people are not quite comprehending the speed. By the end of this year we are pretty confident that more than half of all digital video ads will be mobile,” he said.

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Though still early in its development, mobile is emerging as the most imbalanced medium in terms of ad spending versus share of time spent, at 1 percent versus 10 percent, per recent data from eMarketer.

As a marketing professional, I spend a lot of time learning and educating on digital trends. With the current rate of growth, mobile marketing has been one of the most exciting to monitor. The data on user adoption is changing almost daily, with consumers actively changing the way they consume, share, and publish. To keep up with these changes, brands and media companies are regularly making advancements that impact our industry. For this column, I spent some time with my agency’s mobile strategy team to define the top four current trends.

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The rise of the mobile Internet is a worldwide phenomenon with distinct local manifestations. Significant differences from country to country argue against imposing a monolithic, global approach to mobile media – tactics or practices that work well in one market may not prove optimal in others. However, there is much to gain from comparing the evolution of mobile in different markets and from cooperating and sharing information across countries. With that in mind, last year the Interactive Advertising Bureau (where I work) established the mobile committee-global.

The rise of the mobile Internet is a worldwide phenomenon with distinct local manifestations. Significant differences from country to country argue against imposing a monolithic, global approach to mobile media – tactics or practices that work well in one market may not prove optimal in others. However, there is much to gain from comparing the evolution of mobile in different markets and from cooperating and sharing information across countries. With that in mind, last year the Interactive Advertising Bureau (where I work) established the mobile committee-global.

We all know about the rising tide of tablet purchases fueled by the recent release of the Apple iPad 3 and the multichannel surfing behaviors that consumers display now that they’re armed with a portable, convenient consumption device. It appears to be a bigger and more transformative shift than just the consumer world of surfing, chatting, and shopping, though. Tablets are also changing the business world.

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If I had to sum up the themes for smartphones in 2011, I’d likely point to dual-core chips, front and back cameras and high-definition video capture. This year is already shaping up to improve on those features as we now have quad-core phones hitting the market bringing improved multitasking and better performance without sacrificing battery life. This year is when 4G will become the norm in a phone as well. But what about the future?

New chips, sensors and potent graphics processors for more immersive gaming are likely on tap as software applications follow the hardware advances. Symphony Teleca gathered up various data points and technologies in this infographic that helps explain what features to expect. Now that I think about it, many of these are part of Samsung’s new Galaxy S III, which debuted today. Talk about good timing!

There were sides to the marketing coin that were the main topics of discussion: how mobile manufacturers can differentiate themselves in such a fragmented and nascent market, and how other brands can utilise mobile to raise the volume on their marketing strategies and get closer to consumers.

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