The World Goes Mobile And Mobile Is Moving Beyond The Phone

by Benson Agoha | Marketing

The world is going mobile or is it just marketing, but as mobile moves beyond the phone, will it ever look back?

In truth, our world goes back and forth in a sense, but advances in technology make us believe the world is headed in only one direction.

Take the mobile devices for example, we have moved from the initial giant flip phones to micro phones, only to head back up with smart phones with larger screens. And to prove that miniaturization isn't headed in only one direction, Apples iPad Pro is a reverse trend in size.

But whereas any attempt by marketers to define mobile was simply focusing on the mobile phones, recent changes are making a review imperative.

Today `mobile devices' now include, but not limited to the mobile phones, ipads, tablets, wearables like the apple watch or i-watch, car phones - enabled by blue tooths, and other fashion accessories, have made the list.

This new trend has had marketing experts redefining what is actually 'mobile' in marketing.

In a recent post titled "Why are digital ads so annoying?", Nigel Hollis, Executive Vice President and Chief Global Analyst at Millward Brown (A marketing and Market research outfit), wanted to know why even though people’s reaction to advertising content does not vary much by channel, they nevertheless dislike digital (or mobile) advertising more than other forms.

Perhaps, it was the content or context and as Mr Hollis concluded, very few people in developed economies regard the idea of advertising positively.

But he says, there is a lot of evidence that people dislike digital advertising more than most after an AdReaction Video found that people were more favorable to advertising on live TV than digital formats. Those were not the only formats tested. Autoplay and mobile pop-ups registered as the least popular formats.

In reality, although many of us rely on our smart phones for much of our waking days experience, few will prefer it to the TV set for the simple reason that contents registered better in their minds when seen on bigger screen.

Following the TV, will be the iPad Pro among mobile devices. So size really does matter, because besides being friendly to our eyes, it registers better in our brains too.

In truth despite the smartphones coming to dominate the desktop, it is only the convenience of movement that limits the later.

But with the upsurge of of wearables in recent months, it is expected that the smart phone will yet lose enormous ground in favour of wearables.

As E-marketer states, two in five internet users will potentially be using wearables by 2019 - that four years away. And set to drive the adoption of wearables will be Smart watches.

So, will watch manufacturers be incorporating elements of wearables into their phones? And at what point will issue of compatibility and harmonization of the different device types be resolved?

One thing is certain at least, as Ritesh Bhavnani  pointed our in Mobile Marketer, Mobile couponing has or will come of age in 2016, because if according to a survey by HubSpot, 44 percent of consumers are interested in receiving coupons and deals on their mobile devices, the introduction of beacons to product advertising will combine to bring a whole new experience that will encourage purchases.

Beacons and mobile marketing will then combine to help advertisers add the much needed spice to their product marketing.

It looks like mobile will not look back. What do you think?