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mkodo Mobile Newsletter - March 2010

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Blue Square launch mobile Sportsbook for iPhone with mkodo

Online bookmaker Bluesquare.com and mkodo have launched a brand new iPhone web app today as part of Blue Square’s mobile phone sportsbook offering.

The Blue Square iPhone web app offers live prices which refresh automatically within the page. Customers watching live sporting events covered by ‘Betting-in-Running’ will have the updated information at their fingertips and will never miss a price. Combined with its simple design and easy navigation. The new web app, hosted and managed from mkodo’s Intelligent Mobile Platform has been specifically created to allow customers to place bets faster than ever before.


The web app features a pop-up log-in, an easy to use pop-up single bet slip and the ability to add the Blue Square icon to the iPhone homescreen. Punters can access the web app at the touch of a button whilst on the move, at a sports event or sat in front of the TV, enabling quick access to place bets.

Commenting on the launch, Simon Woolf, mobile product manager for parent company Rank Interactive said: “The iPhone has revolutionised the mobile industry and, in turn, the mobile gaming industry – it’s already five times more popular than other handsets on our existing mobile betting site. This product complements the iPhone’s ability to place your bet quickly with the ease of use on the increasingly popular ‘Betting-In-Running’ markets. We’re looking forward to offering our customers a brand new platform for quick and easy betting on-the-go!”

The iPhone app has been enabled by Blue Square’s mobile partner, mkodo. Mark Gibson, business development manager at mkodo, adds: “We are really pleased to be working with Blue Square to extend their market-leading mobile sportsbook offering into the iPhone space. At mkodo we anticipate that focusing on the growing iPhone customer base and rapidly refreshing prices for ‘Betting-in-Running’ will prove to be a great success in driving activity and stakes for Blue Square.”

Bluesquare.com is one of the largest interactive bookmakers in the UK. Offering a huge range of sports betting markets, it also provides a host of other gaming products including casino, slots and poker. Blue Square’s mobile service now represents around 10% of overall sportsbook stakes for the business, compared to 3% in early 2009.

The brand new Bluesquare.com iPhone web app is available NOW and can be accessed from an iPhone at iphone.bluesq.com or by texting ‘iPhone’ to 64555


Apps to be bigger than CDs by 2012!!

Independent app store GetJar has released a report that predicts that the global mobile applications market will be worth $17.5 billion (£11.5 billion) by 2012, a fourfold increase from its value of $4.1 billion in 2009. The report, commissioned by GetJar, also predicts the total number of mobile app downloads to increase from over 7 billion in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012 – a year-on-year growth rate of 92%. According to figures from the world music trade body, the IFPI, this would mean that the value of apps sold would be greater than the value of CDs sold in 2012. Given that most people under the age of about 30 barely know what a CD is, however, that’s a statistic that my not surprise many.

The report says that by 2012, off-deck paid-for apps will be the biggest revenue generator, accounting for almost 50% of all apps revenue. In 2009, on-deck apps available from mobile operators accounted for over 60% of all apps revenue, but this will fall significantly to just under 23% by 2012. Despite Apple’s dominance – the firm accounted for 45% of all app downloads by volume in 2009, GetJar points out that operators tend to offer must more paid app content, hence their strong showing in revenue terms.

The study outlines opportunities for both high end smart phones (such as BlackBerry and Android powered handsets) and feature phones (such as the Samsung Instinct/Jet and Nokia X6).


The report says that revenue opportunities in Europe are set to soar from $1.5 billion in 2009 to $8.5 billion in 2012, while in N. America, the figure will rise from around $2.1 billion to around $6.7 billion in 2012. Currently, apps are most popular in Asia, with the region accounting for 37% of global downloads in 2009. However, while Asia had the highest number of downloads, users in North America spent the most money on apps, accounting for over 50% of revenue.

Other findings from the research include:

Advertising-based revenue models have become increasingly popular. In 2009, advertising contributed almost 12% of the overall apps revenue. However, this share is expected to more than double to over 28% by 2012 – given the high proportion of prepay users in developing markets.

The battle of the app stores is well underway - in 2009 the number of app stores leapt from eight to 38. The number of app stores is expected to further increase during 2010.

The price of mobile applications can vary from $0.99 to $999, however the average selling price in 2009 was approximately $1.90. This is predicted to decrease by 29% over the next three years, although advertising revenue derived from apps is likely to stay relatively flat.


Top 10 tips for Retail Mobile Services

With mobile commerce set to boom over the next few years, mkodo look at some of the key issues that retailers should be thinking about when it comes to planning their mobile strategy.

Sometimes, it might seem like there are so many mobile tools available to retailers that it's hard to know where to start. So, here are 10 things to be thinking about when looking at how best to engage with your customers through mobile.

1. Reach - more of your potential customers own a mobile than a PC, more own a mobile than a landline. Mobile communication is your best chance for engaging a customer and continuing that conversation

2. Build - try to acquire mobile numbers (build mobile database) where you can - easiest thing to do is add a ‘mobile phone’ field to your web data capture

3. Relevance - make sure there's a reason behind every SMS communication, the customer should be clear about its benefits and relevance to him/her

4. Be consistent in your use of mobile. If you have the space use a mobile call-to-action across campaigns - it will help you build a better profile of your customers. Use mobile to knit together various strands and campaigns

5. Mobile commerce - use mobile web as transaction tool. mobile vouchers are a very effective generator of sales, and are also a good driver of high street and online footfall

6. Mobile is as an ideal platform for crm – time, location and topic targeting

7. Use SMS as a channel for feedback (ideal for on-site response)

8. Mobile is an excellent means to measure and evaluate campaign performance across various media and channels - helping you maximise RoI

9. Always build a .mobi site and not just a web site. Not everyone has an iPhone (in fact only 3%) and the vast majority of handsets do not render standard websites at all well.

10. The power of the brand - the power of the app, recent stats suggest 50 billion apps will be downloaded within two years. Apps are a great way to build relationships with customers for long-term benefit


MX Telecom acquired by Amdocs for $104m

Amdocs, owner of US messaging aggregator OpenMarket, announced, at CTIA this week, that it has acquired the UK’s leading messaging aggregator MX Telecom Ltd. for approximately $104 million USD

MX Telecom will become part of Amdocs' OpenMarket, a business of Amdocs that operates a market leading mobile transaction hub. The acquisition accelerates OpenMarket's plans for global expansion into key markets. The joint OpenMarket MX Telecom business will provide a hosted platform to extend mobile payment and messaging capabilities through an integrated network and product portfolio.

Alex Moir, Managing Director of MX Telecom, stated, "We are delighted to be joining forces with OpenMarket. OpenMarket's mobile payments platform is highly synergistic with MX Telecom. This acquisition will enable the combined organization to better serve our customers and accelerate our global growth plans. Our employees are proud of what MX Telecom has accomplished, and we look forward to continuing to shape the industry as part of the OpenMarket team."

Amdocs generated almost three billion dollars in revenue last year with net income of c $326m. In the current climate $104m is an excellent number for MX’s founders and the acquisition is also a good match with OpenMarket’s US reach.

MX's full Press Release


AdMob release mobile ad stats for Feb

AdMob has published its February set of mobile advertising metrics, which show strong growth in smartphone ad requests on its network from iPhone and Android handsets.

The iPhone increased its share of smartphone requests from 33% last February to 50% this February. In the same period, Android grew from 2% to 24%. With Android growing someone need to be the loser, %-wise, and it looks as though it’s Symbian down from 43% in 2009 to 18% in 2010.

It’s no surprise that smartphones have increased their share of mobile ad requests, worldwide up to 48% now. Interestingly, access through non-phone devices (iPod touch, PSP, DSi., etc) is now up to 17% of traffic

In terms of the UK, the iPhone and iPod Touch are number 1 and 2 by some distance accounting for nearly 70% of all requests between them. Two of the next 3 most successful devices, by Admob’s count, are HTC androids but we are still talking only 2.5% of overall market for the HTC Hero at No. 3

The full February 2010 AdMob Metrics report can be read here.