When Do Parents Give into Kids' Pleas for Devices?

From eMarketer Daily: Kids are most likely to receive a large majority of digital devices—from gaming consoles to digital music players to tablets—between ages 8 and 11. To get their hands on a PC or smartphone though, they have to wait until they hit the 12-to-14 age range. 

How Many People Are Mobile Addicts?

Some 280 million people worldwide are "mobile addicts" who launch applications on their devices 60 times or more per day on average, according to a recent report by Flurry from Yahoo.

The report was based on 2Q14 - 2Q15 Flurry analytics data measuring app usage on 1.8 billion smart devices around the world. The researchers viewed each device as a single "user," so a caveat to the report is that it does not account for the impact of owners of multiple devices.

Regular Users, defined in the report as consumers who use mobile apps between 1 and 16 times per day, on average, increased from 784 million to 985 million in time period period measured, a 25% year-over-year increase.



Read more from MarketingProfs

New Census App Helps Users Find Local Statistics on the Go

The U.S. Census Bureau this week released dwellr, a new mobile app that delivers on-the-go access to key demographic, socio-economic and housing statistics for thousands of places across the nation.
Powered by American Community Survey statistics, dwellr can pull up a list of U.S. locations that matches users’ preferences for such variables as city size, geographic region, job type and income. Users can also learn more about where they are by a simple tap of the screen that reveals educational levels, housing values and commute times.
“With dwellr, people considering a move, homebuyers, travelers and military families can easily access and explore information on U.S. towns and cities based on data compiled through the American Community Survey,” Census Bureau Director John Thompson said. “With dwellr and our previously released America’s Economy app, the Census Bureau is using 21st century technology to accomplish our centuries-old mission to measure America and make the results accessible to the public anytime, anywhere on any device.”
The customizable demographic and community variables featured in dwellr include:
• • city size
• • commute type
• • housing value
• • income
• •
• • educational attainment and
• • demographic variables including age, race, marital status and family type
The mobile app is now available for download through the Apple app store and Google Play store for Apple iPhones and iPads and Android phones and 10-inch tablets. Privacy protection is built into the app, and all information is stored only on the user’s device.

TV and Media: Identifying the Needs of Tomorrow’s Video Consumers

Source: Ericsson Consumer Lab (link)

Key Findings:

Mobile devices make up an increasing share of TV and video viewing
>72 percent use mobile devices at least weekly for video viewing. 42 percent do this outside the home.

TV is becoming a multiscreen and multitasking activity
>75 percent multitask by using mobile devices while watching TV. 1 in 4 even watch multiple video sources at the same time.

Even late adopters are becoming advanced video users
>As many as 41 percent of 65–69 year olds studied stream on-demand/time shifted TV and video content, including YouTube, on a more than weekly basis.

Video-On-Demand (VOD) is increasingly used for relaxation viewing while linear and scheduled TV is shifting to appointment viewing
>The value of linear TV is becoming more focused on live sports, events and other content with high ‘here and now’ appeal. Social viewing continues to be closely linked to this kind of content.

User-Generated Content (UGC) is becoming increasingly important
> It is not only being used for entertainment, but also for education, how-to guides and watching product reviews. In fact, 82 percent use YouTube or a similar service at least monthly.

We are witnessing the birth of aggregated, pick-and-mix TV solutions
> The quest has begun to become the first easy to use, à la carte TV solution provider that aggregates consumer TV and video needs. Consumers rank having an à la carte TV offering as the fifth most important aspect of their viewing experience.

Best publications for mobile apps

Someone from a listserv was looking for recommendations for publications (any format), Web sites, experts, and blogs that can keep the reader up-to-date on popular and innovative mobile apps, especially in business and higher education; inform about mobile computing trends; and/or provide insights about how mobile and cloud computing are disrupting existing business models and affecting socio-economic factors.

There were a number of responses, not all of which I have had a chance to check out:

The MaRS Market Intelligence team is actually putting together a Mobile Apps page on its Startup Library, an online resource created to help technology Entrepreneurs and startups, scheduled to launch on March 21. Here are "just a few of the resources (all free and publicly available on the web) that will be on that page." [Except *]

For General Mobile App trends & Statistics:

App Genome Report (Lookout) is a security survey of mobile apps, which by the start of 2013 had scanned and mapped over 500,000 mobile apps from multiple mobile platforms and app markets.

Distimo offers a free monthly publication, which provides industry metrics for all mobile platforms.

mobiThinking provides insight and information for mobile marketers offering analysis and interviews with leading industry professionals. Its extensive compendium of mobile statistics offers a section on mobile apps, app stores, pricing and failure rates.

Mobile Statistics is a simple, elegant website offers mobile and mobile app statistics through interactive graphs.

*MIT Technology Review. Heavy coverage of mobile.


iOS App Trends & Statistics:

iOSappStats houses relevant iOS app statistics, searchable by region, genre and paid versus free. This site also supplies news and reviews and a collection of compelling infographics focused on mobile app trends.

Android App Trends & Statistics:

AppBrain: Android Market Stats - This website offers stats on available Android apps as well as downloads, ratings, categories and more. Figures on Android phone use are also available.

Tracking Latest Developments in Mobile Apps:

Inside Mobile Apps publishes news and market research for the social application ecosystem. The AppData section of the site gives a weekly ranking of the top downloaded apps for iOS, Android and Facebook. Inside Mobile Apps is a part of the Inside Network which provides blogs and paid research products to clients in social media, mobile apps and social commerce.

TechNewsWorld publishes daily on major tech developments and news. It frequently posts articles on new app releases and developer profiles.

Blogs:

VisionMobile—blog

Xylogic—blog

BGR - Boy Genius Report

Mobile Wireless Competition Report (15th Annual)

Mobile wireless competition reports contain data and information that the FCC uses to analyze competition in the mobile wireless industry. This is the 15th Annual Report, which was released on June 27, 2011.

Interesting that the the 16th annual report is a bit late.

New media: increased news consumption; perils of classifying as public utilities

The State of the News Media 2012

A mounting body of evidence finds that the spread of mobile technology is adding to news consumption, strengthening the appeal of traditional news brands and even boosting reading of long-form journalism. But the evidence also shows that technology companies are strengthening their grip on who profits, according to the 2012 State of the News Media report by Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

More than a quarter of Americans (27%) now get news on mobile devices, and for the vast majority, this is increasing news consumption, the report finds. More than 80% of smartphone and tablet news consumers still get news on laptop or desktop computers. On mobile devices, news consumers also are more likely to go directly to a news site or use an app, rather than to rely on search — strengthening the bond with traditional news brands.

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The Perils Of Classifying Social Media Platforms As Public Utilities

Are social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter "information monopolies" that should be regulated as public utilities? While calls for social networking regulation are on the rise, there are good reasons why policymaker should avoid the rush and rethink classifying them as "public utilities." Public utility regulation has traditionally been the arch-enemy of innovation, and this could have lasting effects on such a dynamic industry. Treating today’s leading social media providers as essential facilities threatens to convert predictions of "natural monopoly" into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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The Future of Apps and Web

The Web Is Dead? No. Experts expect apps and the Web to converge in the cloud; but many worry that simplicity for users will come at a price.

Tech experts generally believe the mobile revolution, the popularity of targeted apps, the monetization of online products and services, and innovations in cloud computing will drive Web evolution. Some survey respondents say while much may be gained, perhaps even more may be lost if the “appification” of the Web comes to pass.