There is finally enough information to try to give an estimate of the smartphone market as a subset of the overall phone market.

The chart to the left shows the overall picture.

To sum up: The smartphone market has now reached over 30% of shipments. Non-smart devices are at 69% of total. The individual phone platform shares are as follows:

1. Android (and Android-like): 17.6%
2. iOS (iPhone only) 4.4%
3. Nokia Symbian: 4.3%
4. BlackBerry: 2.76%
5. Bada: 1%
6. Windows Phone 0.5%

via asymco.com

Do you remember that Gmail for iOS app that popped up a couple of weeks ago — and then got yanked by Google for having broken notifications? It has made its (not-so) triumphant return to the App Store, and is now available to install on your iOS device.

The app isn’t really much of an app. It’s mostly just a wrapper for the Gmail web UI. The biggest additions are attachment support, a mailbox menu that can be accessed by swiping, and (some) push notifications. As with the web app, you will get a tablet-optimized version on the iPad, with the standard mobile UI on an iPhone.

The term “push notifications” should be used with several grains of salt here. This updated Gmail app will succeed in notifying you of new email, but with serious limitations. It doesn’t utilize iOS 5′s improved notifications, and will merely give you an icon badge and an alert sound. That means no banners, no lockscreen alerts, and no Notification Center presence.

Some users will surely find a use for the new Gmail app. There are those who just don’t like the stock iOS Mail app, and may want to mix it up. Fans of Google’s new web UI could appreciate the ability to have that same experience — only with the addition of badge notifications and attachments.

However, it’s hard to deny that this app is disappointing. When such a significant entry from Google is left out of the App Store for so long, you expect something exciting and top-of-the-line when it finally does arrive. Instead, we get the Gmail web app with a couple of extras. All of the negative press that the company will get for this app hardly seems worth it.

Download Gmail for iOS, via Google Mobile Blog

Then we have the operating systems. First, for those who may be here for the first time - remember, I am only counting smartphones, so where for example the iOS operating system also is used on iPad Touch and iPod devices, those are not counted as smartphones. Similarly Android tablets are not included in the Android smartphone numbers here, etc. Bear in mind that I have 'downgraded both Android and bada from the previous numbers, so you may find especially that my Android and bada numbers may be significantly different from numbers reported by some other analysts recently. But I trust my math, so here goes:

1. (1.)    Android (Google)                   56.4 Million    48% (40%)
2. (3.)    Symbian (Nokia)                   18.1 Million    15% (17%)
3. (2.)    iOS (Apple)                           17.1 Million     15% (19%)
4. (4.)    Blackberry OS                      10.7 Million       9% (12%)
5. (5.)    bada (Samsung)                     2.6 Million       2%  ( 2%)
6. (7.)    Windows Phone 7 (Microsoft)  1.3 Million       1%  ( 1%)
7. (6.)    Windows Mobile (Microsoft)     0.4 Million       0%  ( 1%)

(others 11.1 Million)

TOTAL        117.7 Million

For the first time ever, an iPhone is now more likely to show up in a conference room than a BlackBerry, a new Mobile Workforce Report from research firm iPass suggests. According to the report, 95% of mobile workers now own a smartphone, up 10 percentage points from 2010, and 45% of the enterprise workforce carries an iPhone, up from 31.1% last year. “BlackBerry has not really fallen from the top spot in so much as other smartphones have grown faster,” the report said. “BlackBerry market share has only declined slightly from 35% in 2010 to 32% today.” Read on for more.

Android’s market share doubled year over year to surpass Symbian with a 21% share of the enterprise smartphone market. 18% of mobile workers said they intend to purchase an iPhone in 2012, 11.2% are planning to buy an Android device and 3.6% want a Windows Phone. Only 2.3% of workers have plans to buy a BlackBerry next year. Several respondents reported owning multiple devices on different platforms.

The iPass study also found a number of other compelling tidbits: 40% of mobile workers would feel disoriented if they didn’t have a smartphone for a week, 34% would feel distraught and 10% would feel lonely. The iPass study was based on a survey of more than 2,300 workers around the world.

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Tags: Apple, BlackBerry, corporate, iPass, iPhone, RIM, study, survey

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comScore published the latest data regarding US smartphone installed base. To summarize:

• Penetration reached 37.4%, an increase of 2.9 million or 1.24 points of percentage.
• Approximately 650k consumers switched from non-smart to smartphones every week during September
• Based on trailing average of six months’ growth, 50% penetration will be reached by end of September 2012, though the trend is for accelerated adoption (see chart below).

Of the platforms available, Android reached 39 million users, RIM 16.5 million, Apple 24 million and Microsoft about 5 million. Smartphone non-consumers dropped to 147 million. Among platforms, here are the shares and total users:

In terms of user gain/loss here is the tally:

Android and iOS have continued to increase consumption fairly consistently while RIM has moderated user losses. Microsoft has also shown the fourth consecutive month of usage increase having increased users by 440k since May. The new Windows Phones seem to have at least stopped erosion of user base though that base is still nearly a third of RIM’s.

Overall, smartphone non-consumption continues to be the largest competitor though one which is steadily losing.

Even though China may overtake it in the new few months, the US is the largest smartphone market and it’s a good leading indicator of the way the industry in evolving. It’s also being measured by multiple observers[1] and we thus have a better chance at understanding the rate at which change is happening.

—

Note:

1. Nielsen reports that 43% of the phones in use in the US now are smartphones in the US with Ages 25 to 34 having 62% penetration.

 

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Apple's transition from MobileMe to iCloud brings the promise of centralized, cloud-based storage for all your important data. Unfortunately, the transition hasn't been smooth for all users. Aside from Apple's servers being overloaded with MobileMe account transitions, some are having issues reconciling Apple's assumption that every user has a unique Apple ID and that every Apple ID is used for just one person.

People who never used MobileMe and only ever used one Apple ID for iTunes purchases appear to be experiencing a completely smooth transition to iCloud. We haven't heard of any serious complaints from users in this scenario. It's the users with more than one Apple ID, users who have shared an Apple ID with family members, and users transitioning from MobileMe, however, who have reported a variety of problems making the jump to the cloud. 

Though rumors popped up in the weeks running up to the iCloud launch that Apple was working on a way to merge multiple Apple IDs, such a process still is not publicly available. People who have used more than one Apple ID in the past may have a variety of iTunes song, video, app, and other purchases associated with more than one of them. While a Mac or PC can be authorized with more than one Apple ID at a time, only one can be associated with an iOS device in any 90 day period. Being able to sync past purchases from more than one account just isn't possible.

Other users are having the opposite problem. Some families have used a single Apple ID for iTunes purchases for mom, dad, brother, and sister (or various other combinations). While such a strategy may have made sense for a particular family's needs—especially if younger children were using iPod touches with parental approval—if that ID is used for iCloud, it could create headaches. Unless all devices are going to be synced to the same data store—with everyone sharing contacts, calendars, and other information—other users who were previously dependent on that account may have to re-purchase apps or music.

Thankfully, there's a partial solution to this. Apple allows for a separate Apple ID for the iTunes Store and iCloud; if everyone in a family creates and uses a unique Apple ID for iCloud, they could still share an Apple ID for iTunes. Even if the shared account has been used to set up iCloud for one family member, the rest could still use that Apple ID for iTunes only. Users will just have to be very careful that everything is set up properly; since everyone in the family will know the password, if another member inadvertently uses that Apple ID for iCloud during setup it could cause data syncing problems.

But wait, there's more

Still, users transitioning from MobileMe may experience one or more of several other reported issues. Apple's servers were inundated with MobileMe to iCloud transfer requests after iCloud became available last Wednesday. Apple had to throttle account transitions in order to keep up, and some users reported as late as Saturday that they had not yet been able to move an account over.

Even those who were able to successfully move a MobileMe account to iCloud found that e-mail servers would no longer recognize valid passwords. Apple did acknowledge the password issue on Friday, and as of late Sunday, Apple updated its iCloud system status to say that mail accounts and account transfers are now working as expected. If you still have a problem with mail servers recognizing your password, however, deleting the account from Mail and re-adding it is a known workaround.

People who originally used .Mac or were early adopters of MobileMe are likely to have both @mac.com and @me.com Apple IDs. As far as Apple is concerned, these Apple IDs are interchangeable, but we've heard a handful of reports of display anomalies for some users. Logging in using me.com might show the Apple ID as mac.com on one or more devices, or vice versa. After consulting with MobileMe support staff, we are confident that the issue does not affect functionality, whatever the bug may be that causes the Apple ID to display differently on different devices.

Some users, however, may experience an error saying that a me.com or mac.com e-mail address cannot be verified and used with iMessage or FaceTime. The known cause for this problem is that a user's MobileMe account may have been added as an alternate e-mail address for a separate Apple ID account. (I personally experienced this problem; I had previously added a me.com account to a separate Apple ID to use FaceTime.) The fix for this problem is to remove the MobileMe e-mail address from the other Apple ID by going to appleid.apple.com. Once removed, you may have to wait up to 24 hours before activating iMessage or FaceTime using the account.

Given the numerous problems Apple saw while launching MobileMe, it's unfortunate that iCloud has gone through these transition hiccups. Despite the annoyance, some careful planning and a little patience can solve the problems for many users. It's definitely best to keep in mind that iCloud works best when each user has a unique Apple ID. There is still no fix for those who would like to merge multiple Apple IDs into one, but after talking with support staff, it looks like Apple might still be working on a solution.

Photograph by Cracker and Cheese

comScore Reports May 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

Smartphones Reach Key Milestone; Now Owned by 1 in 3 Americans

RESTON, VA, July 5, 2011 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending May 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.8 percent market share. Google Android led among smartphone platforms with 38.1 percent market share.

OEM Market Share

For the three month average period ending in May, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.8 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 21.1 percent share and Motorola with 15.1 percent share. Apple strengthened its position at #4 with 8.7 percent share of mobile subscribers (up 1.2 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 8.1 percent share.

Top Mobile OEMs 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2011 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
	Feb-11	May-11	Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Samsung	24.8%	24.8%	0.0
LG	20.9%	21.1%	0.2
Motorola	16.1%	15.1%	-1.0
Apple	7.5%	8.7%	1.2
RIM	8.6%	8.1%	-0.5

Smartphone Platform Market Share

76.8 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in May 2011, up 11 percent from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top operating system with 38.1 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers, up 5.1 percentage points. Apple strengthened its #2 position with 26.6 percent of the smartphone market, up 1.4 percentage points. RIM ranked third with 24.7 percent share, followed by Microsoft (5.8 percent) and Palm (2.4 percent).

Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2011 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	Feb-11	May-11	Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Google	33.0%	38.1%	5.1
Apple	25.2%	26.6%	1.4
RIM	28.9%	24.7%	-4.2
Microsoft	7.7%	5.8%	-1.9
Palm	2.8%	2.4%	-0.4

Mobile Content Usage

In May, 69.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Browsers were used by 39.8 percent of subscribers (up 1.5 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 38.6 percent (up 2.0 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.8 percentage points to 28.6 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 26.9 percent of the mobile audience (up 2.3 percentage points), while 18.6 percent listened to music on their phones.

Mobile Content Usage 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2011 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
	Feb-11	May-11	Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Sent text message to another phone	68.8%	69.5%	0.7
Used browser	38.3%	39.8%	1.5
Used downloaded apps	36.6%	38.6%	2.0
Accessed social networking site or blog	26.8%	28.6%	1.8
Played Games	24.6%	26.9%	2.3
Listened to music on mobile phone	17.5%	18.6%	1.1

In their monthly survey update on US phone usage, comScore reported¹ that by the end of April 74.6 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones. In the same period a year ago only 48.1 million did. The percent of smartphone users out of total phone users has reached 32%.

The following data points can also be deduced:

• 2.1 million or 474k people/week became smartphone users during April.
• 62% of smartphones in use in the US are either Android or iOS. The sum a year ago was 37%.
• There are about 20 million iPhone users and 27 million Android users in the US today. A year ago there were 12 and 6 million respectively.
• RIM’s US user base peaked at 22 million in Sept 2010. It is now 19 million and dropping.
• Usage of Microsoft mobile operating systems in the US is in steady decline dropping from 7 to 5 million users in one year.
• During April 475,000 people abandoned their Blackberries.
• Android and iOS gained 3 million users in April. One million switched from other smartphones and 2 million switched from non-smartphones.

The following chart shows the evolution of installed base share of platforms among users of smartphones in the US.

The impressive share gains for Android are apparently at the expense of RIM and Microsoft. Over the period shown, Android gained 25 million users while RIM gained only about 2.8 million.

Although perhaps comforting to see some growth overall, the situation for RIM is more grim than that. During the first half of the period (December 2009 to August 2010) RIM had gained 4.6 million users. During the second half (Sept 2010 to April 2011) RIM lost 1.8 million users.

The net user gains and losses for the various platforms is shown in the following chart:

Note how RIM (green bars) went from being a consistent net usage gainer to a consistent net usage loser during this 16 month period. In addition, note how Microsoft’s platforms (yellow bars) have had a very poor showing with very small gains during four months and moderate losses during the others. The losses in usage even increased after the release of Windows Phone late last year suggesting no traction whatsoever for Windows Phone.

The other point to be made is that if we assume smartphone users remain smartphone users, then those platform losses are gains by other platforms. In other words, the areas less than zero in the chart above represent smartphone “churn” or switching between platforms (As a percent of all smartphone users that number represents 1.35%.) That number is far lower than the total smartphone gains, so it’s safe to say that most of the iOS and Android gains were at the expense of feature phones rather than other smartphones. And since iOS share is consistent (and supplies are constrained), few if any Android gains are at the expense of iOS.

There are many interesting patters to observe in the data, but I think the most evocative is the erosion of Blackberry usage. If the Blackberry peaked, and a follower platform not yet in sight, the question is how long will RIM survive?

OpenTable iPhone app

SAN FRANCISCO – An OpenTable executive who spoke at ad:tech said that 10 percent of the company’s online reservations are booked via mobile and stressed the importance of having a mobile-optimized Web site.

During the “Mobile Marketing: Big Changes Brought on by Little Apps” panel, the OpenTable executive discussed how mobile creates incremental booking opportunities. The session was moderated by Tina Unterlaender, account director at AKQA Mobile, San Francisco.

“Mobile is driving real restaurant businesses,” said Scott Jampol, senior director of consumer marketing at OpenTable, San Fransisco.

“Before mobile, you used to walk to a movie theater and you looked to the left and saw a Chinese restaurant and you look to the right and it’s a diner and you decide where you can eat,” he said. “Today you open up a mobile app, secure a reservation and look at the device’s map functionality and walk there.

“There are new use cases where consumers are not by a computer and booking reservations.”

Opportunities
OpenTable rolled out is first application for Palm devices in 2000.

Mr. Jampol said that companies looking to enter the mobile space should see how their Web site looks on a device and if it is not optimized then that should be their first step.

“Forget about mobile apps until you work on a mobile site,” Mr. Jampol said.

When developing a mobile site, companies should definitely include the basics such as an about us section, directions to the restaurant and a contact us and reservations tab.

They are the main use cases that consumers are searching for when making reservations, per the executive.

“Our goal was to get consumers to use our mobile site,” Mr. Jampol said. “We also made sure that folks who are looking for us on mobile can find our app.

“This is just a good example of what kind of experiences that you’re delivering to people,” he said.

Mr. Jampol also said that it is important to embrace feedback.

The executive said that the company answers every question it gets regarding its mobile products.

“If you’re helping them solve problems, your apps become more important,” Mr. Jampol said. “We have dedicated people that answer these questions and this goes into our roadmaps and we prioritize what needs to be updated.”

Mobile change
According to Patrick O’Neil, managing director of brand and advertising at Charles Schwab & Co. – who also participated in the panel – apps have the power to change the way that people engage with their money.

“We see our client base taken to our app in droves,” Mr. O’Neil said. “We certainly weren’t the first ones out of the gate with a client app, but they’re able to engage with their money in terms of seeing their banking and mortgage.

The beauty of this is not only its simplicity, but that it’s also fast and secure,” he said. “It removes that complexity.”

Additionally, the company using its social channels to gain input on how they can improve their applications.

“You’re going to see a flurry of releases this summer across iPhone, iPad and Android devices,” Mr. O’Neil said. “We see a lot of potential with mobile.”

 

Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily and Mobile Marketer. Reach her at rimma@mobilemarketer.com.

 

 

Visa Ends Australia NFC Test

American Banker  |  Thursday, April 14, 2011

By Ankush Chibber

Visa Inc. last week completed a trial of mobile contactless payments in Australia in collaboration with ANZ Banking Group Ltd., Vipin Kalra, Visa's country manager for Australia, said.

"ANZ Bank staff were issued specially designed Apple iPhone cases that incorporated [near-field communication] technology via the inclusion of a microSD card and antenna within the case," Kalra said.

Visa is evaluating the results of the trial, but initial findings suggest it was successful, Kalra said.

Isis payments will be available to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile customers who have mobile-payment-enabled phones and who shop in stores equipped with Isis checkout terminals. The carriers, however, have not revealed how much you'll be able to purchase via Isis, which stores will offer Isis checkout or what kinds of interest charges and fees might apply.

These are crucial questions. According to Internet Retailer, "The long-standing barrier blocking wireless providers from launching mobile payments has always been credit. A carrier might feel comfortable letting a consumer buy a cheap digital download like a ring tone or a game and charging it to a phone bill, but they are leery of extending big lines of credit."

In order for a system like Isis to take off, it has to be a good deal for merchants as well as consumers. Participating merchants will undoubtedly have to pay to outfit their checkout counters with Isis terminals. Plus, as Aaron McPherson of Financial Insights recently told Digital Transactions, merchant fees for Isis transactions "really must be a jaw-dropping deal."

 

There’s a lot of talk about the possibility of consumers paying with their mobile phones, communicating with payment terminals using the wireless technology known as Near Field Communication, or NFC. A coalition of three of the largest U.S. wireless carriers is getting ready to test out the concept.

Isis, the NFC-focused mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, has signed an agreement with the Utah Transit Authority to allow passengers to pay for fares with their phones using Isis. Isis also says it will pilot its mobile commerce program with merchants in Salt Lake City starting next year. 

NFC is a wireless technology that enables devices to exchange information over a short distance, including encrypted payment card data. For example, consumers could use NFC to pay for goods in stores with their phones or tap a card on a special terminal to pay for a subway ride. Putting an NFC chip into a mobile phone bridges the gap between the mobile phone network—with its connections to the Internet—and physical world devices, such as payment terminals and advertisements.

“We are pleased Isis mobile payments will be available throughout the Salt Lake City area starting with the relationship with UTA, and we look forward to many other merchants throughout the county offering this exciting mobile commerce service,” says Peter Corroon, Salt Lake County mayor.

Isis, which launched in November, generated much buzz as an NFC-based payment system that might finally gain traction in the U.S. after years of discussion about the wireless technology. NFC is used to a degree in Japan and Europe, and Isis plans to expand it in the U.S., but may face an uphill battle. Despite the technology being around for years, NFC has yet to take off in North America with consumers, the banks that issue credit and debit cards,  or merchants.

However, consumers in such major cities as Washington and Chicago are accustomed to paying transit fares with a tap of a plastic card, using contactless smart card technology that provides the underpinnings for NFC. The Utah Transit Authority offers this as well, and soon, consumers will be able tap an Isis-enabled mobile phone to pay.

“Partnering with Isis is a critical step forward in widespread mobile contactless acceptance throughout the Salt Lake City area,” says Michael Allegra, general manager at Utah Transit Authority. “Isis allows us to build upon our existing ‘tap on, tap off’ system, and provide our customers with a new, more convenient way to use public transportation using only a mobile phone.”

Observers say Isis offers more hope for success than other NFC programs because it is backed by three wireless carriers that collectively provide services to more than 200 million consumers. Isis also said in its announcement it is investing in infrastructure to enable m-commerce nationwide and to make Isis available to all merchants, banks, payment networks and mobile carriers.

For merchants, the cost of deploying the special contactless terminals needed to accept Isis NFC payments remains a big obstacle. Merchants have taken a wait-and-see attitude because banks haven’t issued pay-with-a-wave NFC cards in large numbers as they are much more expensive to produce than magnetic-stripe cards. And where they have been issued, consumers have shown little interest. David Eads, director of product marketing for mobile app platform developer Kony Solutions, estimates there are some 750,000 contactless payments terminals in the U.S. today.

A good sign for Isis and NFC payments in general is that the newest version of Google Inc.’s Android mobile operating system, Gingerbread, is designed to work with NFC technology. Google, however, has not touted payments with NFC in Gingerbread, instead focusing on how the technology could be used to interact with items such as stickers, movie posters and T-shirts. For instance, a consumer could wave her phone near a movie sticker with an embedded NFC chip to see a schedule of upcoming showings or to download a discount coupon.

Several reports and industry experts also say Apple is working on adding NFC mobile payment capabilities to the forthcoming iPhone 5.

    Online Sales: Growth: See More Online Sales: Growth: See More

March 30, 2011

According to a new mobile video report from The Nielsen Company, the number of U.S. mobile subscribers watching video on their mobile devices rose more than 40 percent year-over-year in both the third and fourth quarters of 2010, ending the year at nearly 25 million people. These mobile video users watched an average of four hours and 20 minutes of mobile video per month in both the third and fourth quarter of 2010–a 33 percent and 20 percent year-over-year increase in each quarter respectively.

The growing popularity of mobile video is due, in part, to the rapid adoption of media-friendly mobile devices, including smartphones. Whereas in Q4 2009 only 23 percent of US mobile subscribers had smartphones, by the end of 2010 smartphone penetration had reached 31 percent. Over time, it also has become easier to find, view and share mobile video, either via mobile apps or the mobile web.

Learn more: Download State of the Media – Mobile Usage Trends: Q3 and Q4 2010.

The worldwide smartphone market is growing. And fast.

According to the latest projections by the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the global smartphone market is expected to grow 49.2% in 2011.

The growth will be driven by an ever-widening pool of consumers and enterprise users turning in their feature phones for more sophisticated smartphones.

The IDC’s research finds that smartphone vendors will likely ship more than 450 million smartphones in 2011 compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010.

 “Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC. “Last year’s high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from what we saw in 2010.”

The smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market.

With regard to which smartphone maker will most likely come out on top, IDC says it’s Android.

“Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing into the number 2 position in 2010,” says Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

“For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party. This year will see a coronation party as these same vendors broaden and deepen their portfolios to reach more customers, particularly first-time smartphone users.”

 

84% of consumers who have conducted a mobile transaction via their mobile device in the last year have experienced problems, a new study finds.

While the mobile web and apps are different from the conventional web in many significant ways, the problems consumers are experiencing are not, says the Mobile Transactions Survey by Tealeaf Technologies, an online customer experience technology and services firm. Harris Interactive surveyed for Tealeaf 410 consumers who have conducted a mobile transaction in the past year. These mobile transactions were in the shopping, financial, travel and insurance sectors.

34% of respondents encountered an error message during a transaction; 29% said the app or mobile site was confusing and difficult to navigate; 23% reported trouble logging in; and 16% encountered insufficient, incorrect or confusing information.

Of adults who have experienced problems while conducting a transaction on their mobile device, 58% say a problem makes them feel “frustrated” and 49% say they feel “disappointed.” 25% say a problem makes them feel “angry.”

This is not good in the mobile medium, where consumers generally expect an experience that matches or exceeds experiences in other channels. For example, 47% of those who conducted a mobile transaction in the last year expect the experience on their phone to be better than the experience in-store.

“Smartphone users are so dependent and so married to their devices that they have very high expectations. And they buy into Apple advertising that says there isn’t anything they can’t do on their device,” says Geoff Galat, Tealeaf vice president of worldwide marketing. “Twenty years ago people had never done e-commerce before, so there was a significant learning curve. But today, as mobile has been adopted over the past few years, people already know how to do e-commerce handily and have just shifted e-commerce expectations over to mobile, which doesn’t afford mobile a learning curve at all because people’s expectations are so high. And this doesn’t give merchants a window of time to learn anything. They have to offer a near-perfect experience from the start.”

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