Mobile Money a Hit in Emerging Markets

The array of financial services possible via mobile phones is proving so attractive that some developing countries are seeing unprecedented penetration levels of up to one in two mobile subscribers within two to three years from launch.

So says Juniper Research in a new report, Mobile Money Transfers & Remittances: Markets, Forecasts & Vendor Strategies 2011-2015. Regionally, the report identifies that some developing regions will achieve a rate of one in five money service users over the next two years, which, the analyst notes, is a remarkable level of adoption for such new services.

The report cautions, however, that prospective users can be discouraged to join such services if the KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements are too onerous, or simply not achievable.

"Our research found that money transfers, bill payments and airtime top-ups constitute the typical top three mobile money services in an operator's portfolio, says Howard Wilcox, senior analyst at Juniper, and author of the report. “Increasingly though, merchant payments are being offered, and operators can, via partnerships with supermarkets for example, enable people to pay for their shopping this way."

The report also reveals that domestic transfers, airtime top-ups and bill payments account for at least 60 per cent of all mobile money apps. And it forecasts that, following the recession, international mobile money transfer users will more than double by 2013, driven by migrant workers, with services launched by MNOs and remittance hubs for country-specific migration corridors.
The report contains five-year forecasts for all key market parameters, including users, transactions and values for domestic and international transfers, and sophisticated mobile financial services. Additionally the report highlights the conclusions from Juniper's analysis of 22 vendors addressing the market, and provides assessments of regional market attractiveness.

Make Money Online Today With Mobile Marketing

With the increasing popularity of cell phones and other hand-held devices that can be used on the go, there is no surprise why mobile marketing is becoming the hottest trend in the technological world. If you have not yet looked this new form of internet marketing, then you must do so if you want to make money online today.

Mobile marketing offers a personal method for advertisers to promote their products and services. People are spending more time using their cell phone to browse the web, and internet marketers are picking up on this new trend. What if you were able to reach hundreds of thousands of people by placing your ad on their cell phone? This is the main idea of this form of advertisement - reaching as many people as possible with as little expense required.

Since a cell phone is a personal thing, it is important that the content of your messages be relevant and meaningful. Many people will ignore your ad without a second thought if it appears to be too spammy or promotional. However, if you can touch base with a potential customer by offering value, you will have them checking into your advertisements the moment they see your ad.

Mobile marketing can be seen as the most effective method of media promotion. With television, people tend to move away from the set when the commercials are airing, missing the opportunity for you to advertise your items. With newspapers and magazines, the ads can be overlooked by those who skim the pages for stories and content. However, with cell phones and other hand held devices, the recipient is more likely to at least read the message before deleting it. This offers more exposure to your promo than other forms of marketing.

The key to mobile advertising is being able to create mobile optimized squeeze pages that will appear correctly on the screen of a cell phone. Easy to use software available to do this, allowing internet marketers to set up an effective mobile marketing campaign.

Mobile marketing is quickly becoming the preferred advertisement method for many business owners. The ads sent to cell phones and other items are allowing people to make money online today. Mobile optimized ads are effective because they offer a more personal communication with the consumer. Advertisements that are provided in this manner are often considered over other forms of social media marketing.

Why mobile search is different than typical search

Internet Marketing 101: Why mobile search is different than typical search

Although still quite different a new whitepaper from the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) indicates that the gap between mobile searchers and Internet searchers is lessening. Meaning that marketers should begin to see some overlap between mobile and Internet campaigns; however, this is not an indicator that a 'one size fits all' approach to search marketing is in order.

Perhaps of highest news value is that optimizing search campaigns is relatively the same in both the online and mobile space. Plus, in the mobile marketplace, mobile sites don't currently have an advantage as far as search placement. This could change in the future, but for now online and mobile sites are ranked equally.

The paper further finds that:

• 64 million US wireless subscribers surfed the mobile web in May 2009
• iPhone and iPod Touch users represent just over half (60%) of the mobile consumer base
• Mobile click-throughs are between 5% and 15%, whereas Internet click-throughs average 2%

The 2% click-through versus mobile's potential 15% click-through will likely cause some search marketers to consider doing more in the mobile marketplace, but you must remember that although the click-through rate is lower on the Internet there are more consumers there than in the mobile marketplace. Meaning that mobile clicks, while very important, should not overshadow online clicks.

"We have seen that the mobile industry is on a fast-track, with massive growth in mobile marketing, advertising and paid-content for users. But what is really leading this growth is the increase in quality devices and fast, affordable data. While smartphone ownership was once just a business tool, more consumers than ever are using smartphones in their everyday lives," writes Chris Quick, Client Services Manager, Mobile Media.

According to recent data from Nielsen Online, 26 million consumers are now smartphone users, an increase of 72% quarter-over-quarter. The bad news? Smartphone penetration is still under 20% of the total mobile consumer base. More men have smartphones than women, especially in the under-35 demographic and most smartphone users have smartphones for work purposes - catching up on email, staying in touch on business trips, etc.

The biggest obstacle for mobile search is the specificity of some devices. Some browsers are device specific, meaning that if a site opens for an iPhone user it may not open for a Blackberry user and so on. Because of this many marketers are staying away from mobile search. This is likely to change as the processing power of different phones and PDAs change.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to mobile, whether looking at search or mobile display, is the potential for targeting. A recent OgilvyOne report indicates that mobile may overtake other forms of advertising as quickly as the year 2020 because of the ability to personalize ads in the space. By using personal, albeit anonymous, information to better target ads marketers have a better chance to engage consumers and convert shoppers. Using not only geographic and demographic information but also past behaviors and even the context of mobile content, marketers in the space have huge potential as the mobile marketplace continues to open.

100 Top Mobile Media Applications

Bump:  This is a terrific application that allows you to exchange contact information, photos, social networking information and calendar events just by “bumping” your phone with another Bump user.

eBuddy:  Have friends on MSN, AIM, Facebook, MySpace and more?  eBuddy lets you chat with all of them on one integrated platform.

Facebook: You can update your Facebook page on the fly with their mobile version.  You can even update your Facebook Places profile, which lets people know where you’re eating, drinking, relaxing or just hanging out.

Foursquare: Ready to “check-in” to your favorite restaurant, bar, mall or retail store?  If you do it enough, you’ll become Mayor or be eligible for discount coupons.

Gowalla:  Much like Foursquare, Gowalla allows you to share your location with friends, all the while accumulating digital souvenirs that may be redeemable for real life rewards.

Hipstamatic:  This app, available on iPhone and Droid, allows you to take cool pictures with different lenses, flashes and films to achieve a unique look.  You can then share your photos with people on Facebook and Flickr or enter your photos into the Hipstamatic photo contest.

Hootsuite: Using HootSuite, you can manage your Facebook and Twitter accounts within an elegant, clean user interface.  HootSuite stands out from other social network managers for its extra features:  You can schedule updates, set columns to monitor keywords and hash tags, and translate updates in other languages                  .

iTookThisOnMyPhone:  One-stop shop for uploading your pictures and video to photo sharing sites, including Facebook.  All of your albums are hosted for free on the iTookThisOnMyPhone Website.

LinkedIn: Ready to exchange LinkedIn contacts just by bumping your phone?  Or perhaps you want read someone’s profile while you’re waiting for them at a restaurant.  If that sounds enticing, then this application is for you.

Loopt: Allows you to connect with your friends by sharing your location and status with friends.  With Loopt, you can find your friends on a map and view their photo and status updates in real-time.

Mass Text Message:  Text up to ten friends with just one click by downloading the Mass Text Message app and creating custom groups of contacts.

Photobucket: The Photobucket application lets you upload photos and videos from your Windows Phone handset to your Photobucket account.

Skout:  This mobile dating site enables your cell phone’s GPS to find profiles of other uses near you.  You can browse profiles and even use the site’s chat feature through your mobile phone.

Skype:  Verizon Wireless users can now use Skype through their phones with free Skype-to-Skype calling and IM without using their mobile minutes.  Users with other carriers can get a Skype To Go number that they can reach from any mobile phone.

Twitter: You don’t have to be sitting behind a desk to update your Twitter status.  The mobile version lets you stay connected wherever you are.

WordPress, TypePad or Drupal Blogging Platforms: Interested in writing a blog from your hammock, your sailboat or your private island?  You can do it with these mobile apps.  (But first you have to buy a hammock, a sailboat or a private island.)

Yelp:  This application can give you restaurant reviews on the fly.  Better still, their augmented reality mobile application lets you look through your mobile screen and places tags with reviews over the restaurants on that street.

News and Information Applications

ABC News Mobile:  This application is for all those who love to be in the know.  You can receive text alerts about breaking news, watch video, listen to podcasts or read articles all on your mobile phone.

AccuWeather:  Downloading the Accuweather app allows you to view your two-day forecast based on your GPS coordinates.

AP Mobile: The Associated Press mobile app helps you keep up-to-date with what’s happening anywhere, in your hometown and across the globe.  AP Mobile offers the world’s news at your fingertips.  Personalize your news to meet your needs.  You can select local news from your trusted local newspapers and broadcasters.

ArseBlog:  Crazy about the Arsenal Football Club?  You can now read the internationally popular soccer blog on your phone.

At Bat:  Created by the MLB, At Bat offers one free live streaming game per day, game schedules and highlights, breaking news, and background audio playback so you can listen to the game while using your phone for other things.

Caffeine Finder:  The name says it all.  Perfect for people who need their daily (or hourly) fix.

ESPN Mobile:  Recently named Mobile Marketer’s mobile publisher of the year, ESPN’s offering of mobile media applications has something for every sports fan including games, articles and live TV.

Fast Food Finder: Wouldn’t it be great if there were an app called “Healthy Food Finder”?  Until then, there’s Fast Food Finder.

Google Books: Interested in re-reading the Declaration of Independence or Dante’s Inferno?  Download Google Books to your smartphone and you’re ready to roll.  I’m reading Ben Franklin’s Autobiography on Google Books right now and it’s fascinating.

Google Maps: What would men do without Google Maps?  They’d have to ask for directions, which, of course, will never happen.  Fortunately, Google invented their Map app for guys (like myself) who are too stubborn to stop and ask directions.

The Huffington Post:  The mobile version of this popular news and opinion online newspaper features breaking news, blogs and original content.

iHound:  This application enables the GPS and WiFi on your iPhone or Android so that you know the location of your device at all times.  You can find a lost phone by sounding an alarm or opt-in to automatically check in at locations on Facebook and Foursquare.

Kindle: You can use your smartphone to preview books that you might like to buy later.  Clean and customizable, the app permits you to preview the first chapter, as well as to add bookmarks, notes, and highlights.

Layar Reality Browser: The Layar Reality Browser is an AR (augmented reality) app that overlays information about such subjects as restaurants, public transit options, and apartment-search information on the view from your smartphone’s camera.  You can even see the tweets from people posting to Twitter within your camera’s field of view.

MobiTV:  Missing your favorite TV shows is no longer an issue.  With MobiTV you can watch shows whenever and wherever on your mobile phone.

NPR News: Even if you can’t catch all of the news from NPR at home or in the car, you can still start your day with NPR News for your smartphone.  You can listen to national news stories on demand, or allow the app to use your smartphone’s GPS to pinpoint local content.

Pandora: Are you a music lover?  Then you’re probably already familiar with Pandora.  Pandora allows you to create your own radio station based on your specific tastes.  Check out the Liberace Channel!  (Kidding).

Planets:  Essential for any aspiring astronomer, this app is a 3D guide to the solar system featuring constellations, moon phases, and sun rise and sun set times.

Qik:  A new, faster way to share videos with all of your friends, Qik allows you to record and instantly upload videos to the internet or stream live video straight from your phone.  You can also 2-way video chat or send  video mail.

Realtor.com: The application lets you access over 4 million real estate listings and helps you find local listings based upon your location.  You can view pricing information, property details, multiple photos and more for each listing.

RunPee:  Have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the movie?  Check RunPee to find the best time to go without missing any of the good parts.

Stitcher: This mobile application lets you get your news on the go by streaming up-to-date audio content about business, sports, politics and entertainment.

Viigo: This application allows you to check on news, weather, sports, entertainment and other stories you’re interested in.

Weatherbug: The location-aware WeatherBug app has detailed weather forecasts, radar maps, temperature maps, satellite views, and a cool sliding interface.  You can configure it to appear as a home-screen widget, too.

The Weather Channel:  The Weather Channel’s app and the mobile version of weather.com provide up to date weather information, text alerts, animated maps and more.

Windows Live Messenger:  You can chat with your friends on Windows Live Messenger on the go with their mobile application.

Games

Angry Birds:  This addictive game, where you get revenge on the green pigs who stole the bird’s eggs, has reached the #1 spot for paid apps in over 60 countries.

Brain Trainer:  Playing one or more of this apps 7 different “brain games” for just minutes a day can help increase your mental abilities and memory.

Doodle Jump:  Guide Doodle the Doodler up a piece of graph paper using tilt controls, pick up jet packs, avoid black holes and blast opponents using nose balls.

FaceFighter:  In this game, you can take photos of your friends, put them on cartoon bodies and then link your phones to fight head to head for bragging rights.

MyTown: 3.3 million people are competing to unlock rewards, level-up and earn cash to buy their favorite real-life stores and hangouts in this location-based social game.

Pac-Man:  Take the old school arcade game with you on the go.

Paper Toss:  The object of this simple but addictive game is to toss a crumpled up piece of paper into a small trash can.

Tap Tap Revenge:  Similar to Guitar Hero, this game tests your rhythm as you tap out beats and shake left and right as the arrows fall.

Words with Friends: This crossword game allows you to match wits with your friends or one of the millions of people in the Words with Friends community.

Culture/Fun

Britain’s Got Talent App:  This popular app allows fans of the show to view video, backstage footage, gossip and photo galleries.  It also features an X buzzer so you can X your friends when necessary.

Fandango:  This movie-lover essential allows you to search movie show times, buy tickets and watch trailers.

Happy Hours: Displays the best food and drink deals going on near you at any time each day.  You can filter results in a number of ways including by day, time, location, type of cuisine and special features like free wi-fi and outdoor seating.

Magic 8 Ball:  Can’t make a decision?  Download the Magic 8 Ball app and all of your answers will just be a few shakes away.

Onion News Network: The Onion News Network app keeps you connected by giving you access to the Onion archives and delivering all Onion videos to your smartphone.

RunKeeper:  You can track your workouts in a fun, easy to understand way with RunKeeper and then share them with friends.

Shazam: Often find yourself wondering what song is playing right now?  Shazam not only identifies the song, it also allows you to purchase it straight from your phone.

Wikihood: Wikihood blows away many traditional travel guides by organizing and displaying all of the Wikipedia information for any place in the world.

YouTube:  You can now check out the latest YouTube craze straight from your mobile phone.  You can search for and watch videos or record and upload your own videos.

Shopping

Amazon Remembers: If you’re at a trade show or in a meeting and someone mentions a great new business book, wouldn’t it be great to order it right at that moment?  With Amazon’s free mobile phone app, you can order it on the fly.  (Shameless plug:  If you’re on Amazon looking for books on social media, check out my new book called, “How to Make Money with Social Media”).

eBay:  No need to lose a bidding war because you’re on the go.  With eBay mobile you can search, buy, pay and check the status of your eBay activity on your phone.

Scoutmob:  This website allows you to get coupons for local stores and restaurants sent to your phone that you can redeem by simply showing the cashier the text message.

Shopkick:  This app allows you to collect Kickbucks for simply walking into stores or scanning products in the store with your phone.  The Kickbucks can then be redeemed for cool prizes like giftcards, iPads, music downloads and more.

ShopSavvy:  You can use your phone’s camera to scan any bar code and receive a list of prices and inventory information for the same product at local stores and online retailers, ensuring you get the lowest price every time.

Mobile Browsers

Opera Mini:  The Opera mobile browser is available on a wide variety of phones, and works well on both touch screen and keypad phones for a good user experience regardless of device type.

Safari:  Safari’s mobile browser was created by Apple for the iPhone and is the only browser currently available to iPhone users, though the Skyfire browser is pending approval in the app store.

Branded Apps

Barclay’s Waterslide Extreme:  Barclaycard allows you to interact with their latest TV commercial, in which a man takes a waterslide home from work, by downloading an iPhone app where you too can take a waterslide through the city, racing to get the fastest time.

Bank Of America: Mobile banking now available from BofA.  Check balances, pay bills, transfer money and locate BofA ATMs and banking centers.

Kayak: Kayak.com’s branded app that lets you easily search for flights, hotels, car rentals.  Includes trip itinerary and flight tracker information.

Netflix: Part of your existing Netflix unlimited membership.  Get Netflix on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.  Instantly watch TV and movies streaming from Netflix.

Travelocity: The application lets you check flight and hotel information from your mobile phone.  You can check flight status, airline schedules, and Airport delay information from the FAA.  The application also grabs your GPS co-ordinates to find local hotels and lets you read reviews, check room rates, and even make a reservation from your handset.

Virtual Zippo® Lighter:  This realistic virtual lighter sways with you as you move and even reacts when you try and blow it out.  You can choose from several different lighter images or customize your own.

Productivity

CamCard: Let’s you scan business cards and automatically add that information to your phone’s contact list and/or your Outlook or Gmail account.

Evernote:  After you create a text note, photo or audio note, you can synch them to your pc or to the web.

Instapaper: Through Instapaper you can save Web articles you browsed on your iPhone for later reading, using a browser bookmarklet.  The Instapaper Website reformats your saved articles (sans Flash ads and clutter) for quick reading on the desktop.

Yammer: Yammer brings together all of a company’s employees inside a private, secure enterprise social network.  This enterprise platform lets businesses set up a Twitter-like service allowing for the open exchange of ideas, links, and documents within enterprise communities.

Financial Tools

Bloomberg Mobile: Use this app when you’re on the go to access financial news, stock quotes, company descriptions, market leaders and laggers, price charts, market-trends analysis, customized lists of stocks, and more.

CNNMoney: With breaking business stories and complete in-depth market coverage in a customizable format, CNNMoney provides real-time reporting of financial news and analysis, as well as data and charts.

Expensify: Takes some of the hassle out of creating expense reports by allowing you to report expenses as they happen while you’re on the move.

iStockManager: For continuous access to – and control over – your TD Ameritrade account, use iStockManager.  You can get equity and option trading, streaming data, real-time balances and positions, news, and more on your mobile device.

XE Currency: Convert the currencies of more than 180 countries at up-to-the-minute rates.  The app saves the last conversion just in case you may need to repeat it offline, too.

Organizers/Time Savers

1Password: To maintain your usernames and passwords on your iPhone in one place, try 1Password.  The mobile app syncs with the desktop version, as well.  If you wish, you can use it to store other personal information, too, such as your Social Security number and credit card numbers.

Barcode Scanner: Barcode Scanner handles bar codes – including 2D QR codes – and lets you look up the associated product or URL for instant price checks and comparison shopping.

Craigsphone: Search and browse Craigslist posts near your current GPS location, and bookmark relevant listings, with Craigsphone.  The app also has tools for posting your own listings with photos and maps.

PageOnce: Use PageOnce to track credit card transactions, check your bank account status, monitor frequent-flyer miles and itineraries, and get alerts when bills are due and itineraries change.

Utilities

Analytics App: Full mobile service for your Google Analytics data.  You can check everything from reports to specific data, and the tidy interface makes it even easier to navigate than the web-based service.

AntiDroidTheft: If you lose your phone, AntiDroidTheft turns on remote GPS tracking so that you can determine its location.  You can also trigger the phone’s camera to shoot an image that might help you locate the handset.

AndroZip: The powerful AndroZip File Manager works with archives, including 7ZIPhone, BZIP2, GZIPhone, RAR, TAR, and ZIPhone files.  You can use it to create GZIP, TAR, or ZIPhone archives, too.  Free.

Fring: Really cool mobile app that lets you place free calls or chat with anyone from your Skype, ICQ, Google Talk, MSN, Twitter, or SIP contacts.

Gas Buddy: Locates the most affordable gas station closest to your present location in both the United States and Canada.  Includes maps and a “price freshness” guide to let you know when prices were last updated.

Line2: Brings a second line to your phone (with a special number).  Calls on that line connect as free or cheap VoIP calls over a Wi-Fi or 3G data connection, but they can move to a cell network (which costs you plan minutes) when such connections are unavailable.

Photoshop.com : Adobe’s Photoshop.com Mobile gives you an arsenal of tools to use on your Android phone.  You can crop, rotate, color-correct, or change images to black-and-white with a beautifully intuitive interface.

SmrtGuard: Can remotely track – and lock – your smartphone if it goes missing.  The Pro version lets you perform automatic wireless backup and restore.

Soonr: Need to access your PC directly from the handset?  Enter Soonr, a free mobile client that brings remote PC access to your phone:  search files, view documents, check emails, run programs and more.

Talk to Me: Originally, Talk To Me translated only English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian, with its speech-to-speech functionality.  Now it has many other languages from which to choose.

Vlingo: Replaces every instance where you have to type on your smartphone with voice commands.  It covers your phone’s basic messaging functions, voice calls, Facebook updates, and personal notes.  On Android and BlackBerry, the app will even read your incoming messages to you.

Wi-Fi Analyzer: Want to find the least-crowded Wi-Fi channel?  Wifi Analyzer shows a graphical representation of Wi-Fi SSIDs’ signal strength, plus which channels are being used.

Wi-Fi Finder: A must-have for travelers, Wi-Fi Finder is a directory of paid and free Wi-Fi hotspots in over 280,000 locations in 140 countries.  You can filter results by provider or by location (restaurant, café, and so on).

Did we miss anything on our list? If so, just provide the name, description and URL of your favorite mobile phone in the comment section below. We’ll acknowledge your contribution with a link back to your site in future updates.