Throughout 2009, Boost Mobile has been at the forefront of a prepaid resurgence in the wireless industry.  Boost’s distinctive “Unwrong’d” campaigns have been all over the media for much of the year, but have they helped Boost gain any traction in the wireless world?

As it turns out, Boost had the right idea.  Not only has its traffic increased significantly over the last year, but the prepaid market as a whole is experiencing a boom.  Based on Compete’s clickstream data, overall Prepaid Prospect Traffic (non-Customer traffic to Boost, GoPhone, VZW Prepaid, ToGo, Tracfone, Virgin Mobile USA) has increased 12% Y-o-Y.

Continue reading “The Economy Helps Boost the Prepaid Market” »

In the past, smartphones were synonymous with business - road warriors with Blackberries. But times are changing. Manufacturers are promoting their devices as tools for overall life management and fun as well as professional tools, like Research in Motion’s “Life on Blackberry” campaign. The iPhone has always been marketed as a multi-function consumer device, but do people really use it more for personal or business applications?

That was one of the questions that we set out to answer with the second wave of our Smartphone Intelligence product, released yesterday. The results of the survey show, once again, that the iPhone is used differently than other Smartphones, even as more similar devices go on the market.

In Q1 we surveyed over 800 smartphone owners, 102 of whom had an iPhone, and asked them questions about how they used their devices day-to-day. We found that iPhone owners are using their devices primarily for personal use, as shown in the chart below.

• 45% of these iPhone owners said a whopping 76-100% of their time on the device was for personal use
• Almost three quarters (73%) said that more than 50% of their iPhone time was for personal use

So iPhone owners are using the device to help them in their personal life. To learn more about what people are actually using their iPhones for, we asked them about what applications they added to their device once they took it out of the box.

According to Gizmodo, Apple announced this week that a whopping 1 billion applications have been downloaded. With Smartphone Intelligence data, we can break that down a bit and see what categories of applications iPhone owners have downloaded:

When we asked iPhone owners which 3 applications they actually USE most often, the answers were a bit different. The top 3 applications named in iPhone owners “top 3” were weather-related applications (39 percent); Facebook (25 percent) and Games (20 percent). Specific applications that iPhone owners highlighted were Shazam (7 percent), a music recognition application, and Lose It (5 percent), a calorie counting application. Both applications were featured in iPhone commercials during the time this survey was fielded, indicating the influence of media on consumers’ purchase and usage behavior.

When it comes to the iPhone, marketing and applications are some of the factors in how and why owners use it, and why so much of their time on the device is for personal use.

Apple’s iPhone has changed the game, and in 2009, it looks like more manufacturers will be stepping up to play.

Almost everywhere I turn, I see an iPhone: at work, on the soccer field, on the street. My boyfriend and Mom both have them. Clearly these devices appeal to a lot of people, and we’ve heard the iPhone described as “more than just a phone” by owners. But what does that mean? How else are people using their iPhones?

We explored these questions in the most recent fielding of Compete’s Smartphone Intelligence survey. Two areas where iPhone owners really used their devices differently from other Smartphone owners are coincidentally two of my favorite pastimes: shopping and travel!

Our latest results showed that iPhone owners are using their devices more than other Smartphone owners to help them make purchase decisions while they shop and to manage logistics/get information when on the road or considering travel.

Let’s start with a look at how Smartphone owners use their devices to shop.

The top half of the chart looks at the percentage of people who use their device to look at 3rd party product reviews when considering a purchase, while the bottom half looks at the percentage of people who use their device to check the price of item they are considering.

iPhone owners were about twice as likely to perform both of these activities, and do so much more frequently than other Smartphone owners.

Let’s look at the findings around travel. More than three quarters (77%) of all Smartphone owners said that they will either be planning or taking a trip in the next 6 months, the majority (81%) for leisure. We found that iPhone owners in particular used their devices in the planning and logistics of their trip.

The chart above shows the likelihood of respondents to use their mobile device for a variety of travel related activities during their next trip. The red bar represents iPhone owners, the blue bar other Smartphone owners . We can see that iPhone owners are more likely to use their device to help them with their travel plans in every way we asked about. For example, over half said it was likely they would use their device to get local information and check their flight, compared to about a third of other Smartphone owners.

Shopping and travel are two clear examples of how iPhone owners use their devices differently than other Smartphone owners. Even though iPhone owners are more likely to describe themselves as “technically savvy” than other Smartphone owners, we’ll be investigating how (and if) their behaviors change as more and more applications stores are launched in the months ahead. Still, one thing is for certain: the iPhone is more than just a phone.

If you want to learn more about Compete’s Smartphone Intelligence product, please contact Danielle Nohe or Dave Kalil to arrange a meeting. Look for Danielle and Dave at CTIA (April 1-4).

Over the last few weeks, Sprint announced significant company-wide cost cutting measures and substantial layoffs. The company is faced with making hard, but necessary, business decisions to try to put them back on course. But what else is going on and is there a more positive side to this story?

There is a silver lining for Sprint: the Online Channel. Sprint.com looks like a sure bright spot for Sprint- they have seen improvement over the past year as a result of online acquisition / retention related changes on their site. Let’s dive a bit deeper and see how this impacted their traffic and sales.

Sprint is driving more Wireless Prospects (i.e. potential Sprint customers) to the website, and getting more of them to convert, as shown in the chart below.

In December 2008, Sprint saw 46% more Prospects come to Sprint.com than in December 2007 (blue bars). These consumers, in the market to do some Holiday shopping, appeared to be driven to Sprint.com via online ads – the percentage of Prospects entering the site through ads was up 115%, year over year.

However, Sprint.com’s greatest improvement since December 2007is where it counts the most – online gross adds. December 2008 online gross adds were up 72% from the same time the year before (red line). People are not only going to Sprint.com, but they are buying, driving Sprint’s online conversion rate up 17%, year over year.

One factor that could be contributing to this phenomenal online growth is that the emphasis on value in Sprint’s 2008 messaging resonated with consumers. In December 2007, Sprint focused on the SprintSpeed campaign. While there was one free phone promoted (the M300), the majority of the advertising was done on higher end phones like the BlackBerry Pearl ($199) and the Muziq by LG ($99).

With the 2008 holiday season, Sprint took a much different approach – emphasizing value in tough economic times. They also offered higher end phones– like the Palm Centro and the Rumor by LG - for free.

(Screenshot 1: Sprint holiday ad featuring Free Palm Centro, $149.99 LG Lotus, and Free Rumor by LG)

On plan comparisons – they went head to head with the competition: one holiday ad stated consumers could “save at least $480 annually over comparable AT&T and Verizon plans”

(Screenshot 2: Sprint holiday ad featuring a head to head comparison on potential savings over other Carriers)

The takeaway here is that the online channel can be a bright spot in tough economic times and companies, like Sprint, can get a clear sense of their advertising‘s effect. Sprint now sees that results can be achieved by sending a message that encompasses the potential Customer’s needs (i.e. high end phones, “Everything” plans) at a price point that they can handle.

We are all looking for value right now, and the online channel is a great means to find it in 2009.

I was recently reading a press release published by mobile marketing company HipCricket that talked about the Hispanic segment leading the way in mobile data usage. It said that this segment was watching more videos, sending more photos, and using SMS more than the general population.

Some wireless companies have taken notice and are running specific media campaigns to reach this segment. For example, Sprint sponsors Colombian pop star Jaunes, running a multimedia campaign earlier this year that allowed fans on the Sprint network to watch video mobisodes on their Sprint device and download Juanes content like ringers, tracks, and screensavers.

Last week we used Compete’s Behavior match to look at the young adult segment, and this week I used it to see which music sites Hispanic Wireless Prospects over-index on versus the general internet browser population. Not surprisingly they mainly fell into two categories: music video sites and sites to download mobile musical content. By understanding the traffic makeup to these types of sites, Sprint (and other mobile marketers) can make their campaigns even more effective at reaching and engaging the target audience.

So, where are these Hispanic Wireless Prospects hanging out on the web?

• Jamster.com (Hispanic Wireless Prospects are 6x more likely to visit than IBP) Jamster offers content from around the world including music, mobile games, and original content made exclusively for mobile phones.
• Imeem.com (5.4x more likely to visit): A social network where millions of fans and artists discover new music, videos, and photos, and share their tastes with friends.
• Veoh.com (4.7x more likely to visit): An Internet TV service that gives viewers the power to discover, watch, and personalize their online viewing experience.
• Rhapsody.com (3x more likely to visit): Rhapsody is a digital music service that lets you listen to whatever you want for a monthly fee or download tracks and albums at an online store.

For companies like Sprint who are trying to make a play for the Hispanic segment, these four sites may be worthwhile media buys for promoting Hispanic initiatives. But how do you decide which one is the best?

From a numbers perspective, it appears that Imeem.com and Veoh.com would be great sites to place a targeted ad trying to reach the Hispanic Wireless Prospects – they got lots of traffic, and visitors are spending more time and looking at more pages. Adios!