Sales of NFC-enabled devices are expected to accelerate from 2013 onwards, with the availability of a larger range of mobile NFC handsets and an improved contactless POS infrastructure, according to the latest report from Informa Telecoms & Media. Total NFC handset shipments are expected to grow from almost 44 million in 2011 to over 630 million in 2015, representing 40 per cent of all new handsets, up from 3.5 per cent at present.
Google’s entry in the mobile phone hardware market with the acquisition of Motorola Mobility seems to be the outcome of the company’s desire to acquire the 17,000+ patents that Motorola holds and compete more effectively with Apple and other smartphone/OS vendors. The acquisition will however, not only have an impact on the handset market but possibly will also have a big impact on the mobile services market. In particular, this may help Google to accelerate the growth of the m-commerce market.
Foursquare, a mobile location based social networking application that works on the iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, Android and many other mobile devices has now over 3 million users, and has also announced the version 2.0 of its iPhone app. The Foursquare mobile app is based on the ‘Mobile Proof of Presence’ (MPOP) concept. It encourages users to ‘check-in’ by sharing real-time details of their location-based interactions with restaurants, venues and businesses on the Foursquare social network. In return, users are rewarded with special product promotions and freebies.
In terms of generating substantial revenues for value-chain participants, 2010 still won’t be the year of mobile advertising. However, we are now seeing increasing examples of successful mobile advertising campaigns and market activity including in-house innovation, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. Media and FMCG brands are also experiencing growing consumer engagement on mobile and together these developments are starting to provide the much needed momentum the mobile advertising industry needs. This will no doubt lead to accelerated growth of mobile advertising in 2011 and beyond.
Disney has acquired Tapulous, a Silicon Valley start-up that makes music games for Apple’s App Store. The acquisition is aimed at strengthening Disney’s mobile games division, which is already seeing strong growth driven by the mobile apps market explosion.
Informa Telecoms & Media held its annual Mobile Financial Services conference on March 9-10 in London. The conference presented a good opportunity to hear views from leading industry experts on the status of the mobile banking and payments industry.
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