UMTS: Alive and Well - 4G Americas

and author of the report explained, "This is equivalent to 8.5 percent of all mobile subscriptions, up fromthe current 2.5 percent level." 167In a first quarter 2009 survey of 1,100 AT&T wireless customers, 57 percent said that they played gameson their mobile devices. The advent of the iPhone and its App Store has made the download and usageof mobile games easier than ever, and the mobile gaming industry is expected to grow more than 10percent per year to hit $6.3 billion in user spending by 2011, according to a report from Gartner. 168 Thesurvey found that one-third of respondents were “somewhat” or “very likely” to buy a game for their cellphones in 2009, with 26 percent of those surveyed having actually bought one. Those who had boughtgames purchased an average of 7.2 of them, with slightly more than a quarter saying that they hadbought four or more games in the last year. Additionally, 76 percent of people who had played mobilegames said that they played free mobile games that were pre-installed on their phones. The most popularmobile games included Tetris, which was named as the most frequently played, with 20 percent ofgamers naming it as one of their favorites; Bejeweled followed at 18 percent and Solitaire at 17 percent.Regarding mobile advertising, in a study, Openwave found that while AdMob, which was acquired byGoogle in November 2009, served the most ads (nearly seven times more than the nearest competitor), italso had a lower Click-Through Rate (CTR) in comparison to Buzzcity and Microsoft. AdMob’s lower CTRcould be the result of generic ads that are not targeted or relevant to the subscriber. The study suggestedthat operators can play a vital role in the mobile advertising value chain by providing aggregated data onsubscriber behavior and preferences to ad networks, which could result in better targeting of subscribersthat could lead to high eCPM rates and better results for publishers, advertisers, operators and,169ultimately, the subscribers.One out of every seven minutes of media consumption today takes place via mobile devices, according toresearch from IPG's Universal McCann and AOL; and with mobile usage expected to grow by 60 percentover the next two years (2011), marketers must devise appropriate ways to communicate about theirbrands with mobile users or they risk missing out on huge opportunities. 170 Among specific activities, 73percent of respondents reported searching for maps and directions while 55 percent said theyparticipated in social networking or sought out restaurant and movie listings or reviews. Forty-four percentreported seeking national news and information. Mobile users are surprisingly accepting of advertising,noting that 38 percent of respondents said they had taken action based on mobile ads. Almost 30 percentsaid mobile ads had led them to share information, while 22 percent said mobile ads had influenced apurchase decision. 171Thirty-eight percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers recalled seeing advertising on their phones in the firstquarter of 2009, with ad recall rising to 59 percent among smartphone users, according to a studyconducted by market research firm GfK Technology on behalf of social networking service providerBrightkite. 172 While a majority of feature phone users consider SMS as the dominant advertising channelon their devices, smartphone users saw most of their ads on the mobile Web. In addition, 20 percent ofsmartphone users saw ads in mobile social networks and 15 percent encountered ads in mobile TV/videoservices. According to GfK, the number of smartphone users who saw ads inside a location-basednetwork had almost tripled in three months to 15 percent, and the firm suggests that at current formats,167 Mobile Video Service Subscriptions to Grow Five-Fold by 2014, Pyramid Research Says, Cellular-News.com, 4 June 2009.168 Cell Phone Gaming on the Rise, Digits Technology News and Insights, Marisa Taylor, 5 May 2009.169 Ibid.170 Mobile Media Usage Soars, Opens New Vistas for Marketers, Adweek, 8 July 2009.171 Ibid.172Mobile Advertising Growth Fueled by New Ad Formats on Smartphones, Cellular-News, 14 May 2009.www.3GAmericas.org February 2010 Page 139