FierceMobileContent

T-Mobile USA's Brad Duea on Bobsled's accelerating momentum

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:00:31 -0400

with Brad Duea, SVP of value-added services at T-Mobile USA

Brad Duea

With over-the-top voice and data services emerging as a major disruption to conventional carrier business models, T-Mobile USA decided that if you can't beat 'em, you may as well join 'em. Last spring, the operator introduced Bobsled, which enables users to place free Internet calls over almost any data connection across devices including iOS and Android smartphones and tablets; the app, powered by voice services provider Vivox's VoiceEverywhere technology, is available for download from Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store and the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play storefront.

T-Mobile USA followed up Bobsled Calling with the cloud-based Bobsled Messaging, developed in conjunction with HDmessaging and released in January 2012. Available for download solely from Google Play, Bobsled Messaging allows Android users to share rich media messages with other Android device users as well as iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry smartphones and even most feature phones. So far, so good: On the eve of the recent CTIA Wireless 2012 conference, T-Mobile announced that more than a million consumers are using Bobsled services, which are available to consumers on any wireless operator network across the globe--in fact, 95 percent of Bobsled Calling users are not T-Mobile subscribers, and 80 percent of calls originate from international numbers.

What does Bobsled's success mean for T-Mobile USA's business moving forward? FierceMobileContent spoke to Brad Duea, the carrier's senior vice president of value-added services, to discuss the evolution of the mobile data ecosystem.

FierceMobileContent: Let's start with Bobsled. Are you surprised at the acceleration of adoption and the usage you're seeing, or is it about what you expected?

Brad Duea: Not surprised by it, but we've taken a different path. Instead of developing a service and putting it front and center of our marketing and immediately bundling it on all of our phones, we've done agile development to iterate the product to get it to where it was first on an Android phone and then to a tablet. Then we went iOS, including tablets. It's now to a feature set on both that we're excited about, and now consumers are showing their excitement as well.

We ran one quick, closed test of what we could do with some international outbound calling, and the usage was through the roof. So we're very excited about some of the promotions that we'll put into the market coming up.

FierceMobileContent: Where does Bobsled fit within the larger T-Mobile ecosystem? Is it more of an anomaly, or is it representative of where voice and data services on the network are going to move?

Duea: There are a few key parts of our Bobsled initiative. When you look at value-added services, communications is an important area for us, and a big bet. We used to say "T-Mobile: Communicate from anywhere," and it was "Take your phone anywhere." Now we truly want to power your communications anywhere, from your Mac, from an iPad, from a tablet, from your PC.

Instead of traditional models, we're trying to embrace the new models and new ways of development. On the new models, it's ad-supported models, it's sponsor-based models, it's free with a premium upgrade. We think a lot of those elements will be relevant in many services and we like how we're combining the best of IP and traditional.

If you ask where communications services are going, I think if you can take the best of IP and the capabilities there and the flexibility it gives the consumer, with traditional network capabilities--so that if someone doesn't have the client on the other side it defaults to SMS--along with quality of service and reliability, you really get the best of all worlds. We're trying to do that by unifying communications across devices, operating systems, networks and communities. We don't want to build a closed, separate Bobsled community--we want to unify other communications communities.

FierceMobileContent: Is that kind of thinking consistent with T-Mobile's perspective throughout its evolution as a company, or is it more of a paradigm shift compared to how you looked at services as recently as 18 or 24 months ago?

Duea: T-Mobile has traditionally been at the forefront with many firsts, including firsts related to openness. We were first with an Android device, we were first with nationwide BlackBerry, and we were the first to open our mobile portal and allow you to go beyond. We wanted to encourage content partnerships and make sure there was something there for people to go see.

We like openness and we like being first, so when you look at services, there are really three threats coming in. You have the operating system partners--they're all trying to own services, including communication services. You have the OEMs that are trying to own some of those same services, and then you have the over-the-top players. But from the consumer traction around IP and the desire for services, we see it as a big opportunity. Instead of running scared, it's more about embracing it and trying to go after the opportunity with new models and combining the best of the new and the traditional methods.

FierceMobileContent: How are you marketing Bobsled? I haven't seen a lot of promotion, but obviously a lot of people are signing up for it.

Duea: We've got at it with much more of an Internet, software and iterative approach than maybe a traditional product launch--"Let's do the waterfall development, here's all the features, let's release it and support it with marketing." We've done over 70 different sprints and releases, some of those just internal in the development of it. But it's been an agile development process. We've done it with partners--it wasn't all developed internally. We did it with a new brand so that we could go over the top on other networks and not be confusing to consumers.

Now we're getting to where the functionality is there and we can start to bundle it onto our handsets and tablets, and include it in more of our marketing and do a better job of bringing it to life for consumers. The best part is when you're getting usage before you do that--that's the best type. Some of the additional tests we've been running are very viral in nature, so we'll do some promotions and things coming up that will further accelerate the adoption.

FierceMobileContent: Only the sender of the Bobsled message needs to have downloaded the app. Do you have metrics on those people who don't already have the app on their phone--after they receive Bobsled messages, are they going to get the app themselves?

Duea: I mentioned we've gone at this from a different process development-wise--agile, with partners, and the different sprints and releases. We've also done a lot with real-time metrics, so our product manager can log on to any PC, Mac or website and see all the real-time dynamics of where calls are being made, where there are dropoffs in the funnel--all that. So now we can start to look at the viral nature, but some of the benefits are that if I call you, you can receive a call and we can connect--after you've had that successful experience, we offer you the chance to download it. Similarly, if I send you a text message and you don't have the client, you'll still receive it and it will say "I'm on Bobsled." You can click and see what that is, see video overviews online on your mobile phone, and then download it. That viral aspect is an important one, and one that we're just starting to include. But we do have the metrics to follow it.

FierceMobileContent: Looking at the bigger picture, where else do you see cloud services like Bobsled fitting within T-Mobile's business moving forward?

Duea: Generally, with our communications services in the cloud, it's meant to be across devices. I put it on my phone and I can now get messages on my tablet or get them all on my PC--it's very easy, and it all looks like it's coming from my phone. That's a great example of going across devices and then across operating systems--to iOS, to Android and you'll see us do some things with Windows Phone and with BlackBerry.

Some of our partners want you to buy "X" brand of handset and buy your next handset of the same brand--as a carrier, we need to take care of the customer, and they might move from "X" brand to "Y" brand. We want it to be seamless, so if you come in with 'X' brand and all of your contacts are in the cloud, we can light you up on your new phone with 'Y' brand, and all of your services are there.

Some of the things we've done are contacts in the cloud, your pictures in the cloud and making your photos and videos automatically uploadable. You might choose "I only want to do it in Wi-Fi," or "I only want to do it when I say so," but it's a way to put it all in the cloud so you know it's safe and you know it's secure and you know it's accessible from any device. When it's in the cloud, you can log on to any PC or Mac and see all your photos or all of your contacts. With your Bobsled messaging features and calling features, all of your contacts are there. We're making it really easy across multiple screens and trying to make it agnostic so if you have brand "X" handset, brand "Y" tablet and brand "Z" PC, it all works.

FierceMobileContent: Will we see additional services under the Bobsled brand?

Duea: We've been trying to keep Bobsled on communications and cloud communications. We have Bobsled Calling, we have Bobsled Messaging--we've done some things in video, so you can imagine the Bobsled video aspects. But for other services, like T-Mobile TV, that's a front-and-center T-Mobile brand. With other services, we haven't put an additional T-Mobile or third-party brand, like our visual voicemail service.

FierceMobileContent: Let's shift gears to mobile entertainment services. Within the last few months you've expanded T-Mobile Music Hub to include Shazam and TuneIn. What's the bigger vision for Music Hub?

Duea: With music we've done some things to improve the sound quality. When we launched our G-Slate tablet and the G2x phone we had some simulated surround sound audio in there, and when you have your earbuds on, you can hit it and get a volume boost. So we're looking at the quality of the experience and we're looking at what other elements we can bring with music. In a carrier's position we can do things like Caller Tunes and that, but we can also do full-length tracks. In partnership with Google we said "Take all of your music, and with Google Play, it's backed up in the cloud and stored for free and streamed on any device." We're trying to look at the quality of the music and how we can extend the experience on a device and then extend it across devices.

The tricky part about music is that much of it is free. The margin pressure in music is somewhat different than in other spaces like TV. But we see some great opportunities to improve the customer experience in TV and do some interesting models in TV.

FierceMobileContent: Such as?

Duea: For example, our 2GB plans or higher come with T-Mobile TV, and you get 15 live and on-demand channels. We then put on the handset, a TV widget to show the customer new programs and new TV shows they might like. They can stream them live for free, and get them on demand for free. We want them to have a great data experience and see that TV is a reality on handsets and tablets, then let 'em upgrade. "Do you want a sports package? Do you want a Hispanic language package? Do you want a kids content package?"

We've also been building out a T-Mobile channel. We can show the latest overviews on our devices and give device tips. You can see that extend to a full-time channel.

The capabilities we have within TV are very exciting. It used to be very expensive to start a cable channel, but now, individuals can do it on YouTube and we can highlight some of that content in our own channel.

FierceMobileContent: Is there a content production element to this as well, or is it about curation?

Duea: Right now, it's primarily curation. We're doing our own commercials and device overviews, so there is some production there, but we're doing it for customer care reasons and then pulling it into our channel. But it shows you how the capability is there to do much more. We can even bring models where channels are sponsored by a partner. I think we're just getting started.

When you look at TV, most customers are frustrated by the size of their cable or satellite bill and that it's limited to one screen in their home. How can we disrupt that model, give a better experience to customers and do some pretty innovative things in the meantime?

FierceMobileContent: It seems like the popularity of tablets is creating a market for mobile TV that didn't exist in the pre-iPad era.

Duea: Yeah, it's interesting--we have a 700 percent growth in our TV business in the last year. The actual revenue that comes from high definition is higher than standard def. So when you see what the network, device and service can do together, it's pretty incredible. The screens on these devices are better than the screens you can get on a TV in your living room. We're bringing that to life and showing the customers what a rich experience it can be, and whether you want it on your handset or your tablet, the bigger screen definitely results in more video consumption.

FierceMobileContent: When we talk about video consumption it's inevitable that we talk about the kind of bandwidth that requires. Is that something you struggle to reconcile?

Duea: The interesting thing is that when it's one of our services, we can work with our partner to optimize it. If you're on the edge of a cell, we'll give you lower bandwidth but have you have a continuous experience, rather than pixelated or something. We can cache content within the network. There are a lot of things we can do to improve the experience of our own video services or those of our partners like Google. That's where it's exciting to see what can be done within the network, and when you really look at it, it's the device, the network and the service all working together.

FierceMobileContent: Working more closely with partners to optimize services seems like the only logical way to move forward. The ecosystem can't exist as individual islands--everyone has to collaborate.

Duea: Yeah, and I think part of it is putting the experience for customers first and then, secondarily, there are interesting things on optimization. Showing people that Netflix could be streamed on our network from anywhere was a great demonstration for consumers. When we started doing video calling--and showing that you could do it from anywhere in the network--it was a big "wow" for consumers. We weren't keeping you in Wi-Fi, and we weren't cordoning you off. Literally anywhere on the network, you could have a live video call. That was a great way to demonstrate what can be done when you take a great network, device and service.

With Google Play, streaming your music anywhere from the cloud--that's a great "wow" experience, too. We're constantly looking for experiences, powered by partners, where we can say "That is a great experience that we want to bring to consumers." Once we identify those, then we can say "Is there a unique value that we can give that might cost the consumer something on a different network that we could include in that experience?" Then we look for some optimization or some elements that we can do to make it work better. That's where we start.

FierceMobileContent: Are you actively looking at partners and thinking "What can they do for T-Mobile?" or is the thought process "We want to do this--who is the partner that helps us?"

Duea: Both. Part of the way we pick our partners and segments is researching what consumers are saying they want, and particularly looking at different adoption curves. For those of us who are techies, we've had smartphones for years--we might already know where to find these apps and experiences. But new adopters want the experience right there and very easy. So turn-by-turn navigation is included free, TV is very easily accessible--that's what we work on.

We just brought Amazon shopping on board. Customers said "I love the Amazon shopping brand, and I would love that experience on my mobile," so we worked closely with Amazon to bring that to our handsets and tablets. We're always looking at categories, and we love it when partners come to us and say "We've got this 'wow' experience." That's how many of our partnerships are established: By proactively reaching out to us and saying "You gotta see this."

Yelp was one that we researched and said "We want to show consumers what GPS and location can do," particularly for consumers in another city that don't know where things are. The app's there--with one click, you're finding exactly what you want. I was just down in Portland,Ore. and my son said "Dad, do you think I can get a Timbers jersey?" I pulled up Yelp and clicked, and it was a mile walk. We walked there, got his jersey, and everyone was happy.

FierceMobileContent: It's also about working with partners that are synonymous with the kind of experience you want to deliver. Yelp is synonymous with the user experience you just identified.

Duea: Right. The interesting thing is that with some of the brands, it takes a while to get them preloaded on the phone, so they might not be cutting-edge to many folks by the time we get them loaded. We're trying to look at ways to improve that. With our Bonus Apps widget, we show customers you get $150 worth of value with your data plan. You get free turn-by-turn navigation, free magazines on Zinio, free television channels, etc. That allows us not only to explain to the consumer what services they get, but next week, we can push down a new service and give that to our customers as well. We also can get to market faster if [the customer] goes to [Google Play] and downloads the app first instead of having to preload it.

You'll also see us giving a greater overview and better explanations. You'll soon see video tutorials on our services. We're just getting warmed up on what we can do to explain the services. It's all about showing [customers] what data can do for 'em.

Zynga credits its massive growth to mobile

Sandhya Raman — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:49:30 -0400

The booming social gaming market has been kind to Zynga, according to its CFO Dave Wehner. While speaking at the 40th J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference Wednesday, Wehner reported that Zynga is seeing a larger share of its revenue coming from mobile games for iOS and Android, with its own core games experiencing organic growth quarter-over-quarter.

"We're really excited about what we're seeing in mobile," Wehner said, adding, "There's a ton of connected wallets out there, people who are available as potential players and payers."

Only 2 percent of Zynga's montly unique users were paid users in the last quarter, and Wehner sees this as an opportunity to "increase payer penetration." He cited the millions of users with iTunes accounts, who already have mobile wallets built into their devices as a way to increase paid MUUs.

Zynga's revenue from mobile is three-pronged, with revenue coming from downloads, in-app purchases and in-game advertising. Wehner confirmed that in-app purchases are the "No. 1 driver" in revenue, despite the fact that one of its most popular titles, Words with Friends, is advertiser-based.

"We're building our own direct ad sales force both in mobile and on the Web," Wehner said. He noted the success of virtual goods tie-ins, including Cityville's McDonald's themed branded business available last year.

Wehner also broke down the differences in Zynga's audience on mobile devices and the Web. In mobile, it excels at turn-based apps, like its "With Friends" series, whereas on the Web its "ville" branded titles are more successful.

He attributes much of this growth to the changing gaming market. "I think the largest shift that we're seeing in our business as it relates to the gaming industry is that Zynga is bringing a whole class of gamers into the game space that weren't there before," he explained. And while shifting demographics of mobile gamers isn't new--mobile analytics firm Flurry noticed this trend last year--it does provide some insight into which types of games are popular now and will continue to be popular in the future.

Wehner reported the largest increase in Zynga's popularity in mobile comes from two genres: casino and casual games. Building on that trend, the company launched a bingo name, Slingo, in the first quarter and saw its daily average users jump to 4 million.

For more:
- listen to this webcast
- read this Hollywood Reporter article

Who were the winners and losers at CTIA Wireless 2012?

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:13:20 -0400

When trade association CTIA announced last year that it planned to break with tradition and move its annual spring trade show from late March to early May, many in the industry breathed a sigh of relief. The move brought a welcome break after the Consumer Electronics Show in January and the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain in February. At the time of the announcement, CTIA said the move was intended to help vendors at the show take advantage of back-to-school and fourth quarter retail cycles. Was CTIA's move to May a success? The Fierce editorial staff has the answer. Special Report

Android buries the competition in Q1 smartphone sales

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:10:00 -0400

Worldwide mobile phone sales reached 419.1 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 2 percent drop compared to year-ago figures and the first handset sales decline since the second quarter of 2009, according to research firm Gartner.

Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner, credited the slide to slowing customer demand in the Asia-Pacific market. "The first quarter, traditionally the strongest quarter for Asia--which is driven by Chinese New Year--saw a lack of new product launches from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better smartphone deals arriving later in the year," Gupta said.

Smartphone sales continue to drive the mobile market's momentum, exceeding 144.4 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 44.7 percent year-over-year increase. Samsung sold 86.6 million units during the quarter, including 38 million smartphones, to claim the worldwide sales lead over Nokia (NYSE:NOK) at 83.1 million, a 22.7 percent decline over the first quarter of 2011.

Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system powers 56.1 percent of all smartphones sold in the first quarter and now represents 36.4 percent of the worldwide smartphone market. Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS fuels 22.9 percent of first-quarter smartphone sales and accounts for 16.9 percent of the global market. Symbian remains in second place overall with 27.7 percent international market share, but fuels only 8.6 percent of all smartphones sold during the first three months of 2012.

Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) also continued its sharp decline, selling just 9.9 million BlackBerry phones in the first quarter and falling to 13 percent global smartphone market share. The manufacturer is expected to release its overhauled BlackBerry 10 operating system later this year. "RIM desperately needs to deliver winning BB10 products to retain users and stay competitive," Gupta said. "This will be very challenging, because BB10 lacks strong developer support, and a new BB10 device will only be available in the fourth quarter of 2012."

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) continues to struggle as well. It sold just 2.7 million Windows Phone devices in the first quarter and controls just 2.6 of the worldwide smartphone market.

Based on overall first quarter sales metrics, Gartner expressed caution over the remainder of 2012. "The continued rollout of third generation-based smartphones by local and regional manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Yulong and TCL Communication should help spur demand in China," said Annette Zimmermann, principal research analyst at Gartner. "In addition, the arrival of new products in mature markets based on new versions of the Android and Windows Phone operating systems, and the launch of the Apple iPhone 5 will help drive a stronger second half in Western Europe and North America. However, as we are starting to update our market forecast we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable."

For more:
- read this release

Facebook acquires Android photo-sharing app Lightbox

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:19:42 -0400

A month after acquiring photo-sharing application Instagram for $1 billion, Facebook has scooped up the similar Lightbox, which enables Android devices users to snap, filter and share images across multiple social media platforms. Financial details were not disclosed.

Lightbox co-founders Thai Tran and Nilesh Patel confirmed the deal on the firm's blog, stating that Facebook is acquiring the development team behind the app: "Facebook is not acquiring the company or any of the user data hosted on Lightbox.com," Tran and Patel stated. Lightbox is no longer accepting new users and has been removed from the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play storefront; existing users can continue accessing the app through June 15, and may download their photos here. "In the coming weeks, we will be open sourcing portions of the code we've written for Lightbox and posting them to our Github repository," Tran and Patel added.

While the Lightbox acquisition may seem redundant following the Instagram deal, the two apps feature some significant differences. TechCrunch notes that critics have called the Instagram platform too siloed, limiting user engagement with photos to mobile apps and social networks. By comparison, the cloud-hosted Lightbox service allows consumers to access and comment on photos across any user interface, including mobile and desktop websites; adding the talent behind the app should enable Facebook to expand and enhance cross-platform user interactions moving forward.

The Lightbox deal represents Facebook's latest attempt to boost its mobile presence in anticipation of the social network's May 17 IPO. Facebook will look to mobile advertising as a major revenue source moving forward, promising significant investments in its mobile platform during a recent video recorded to drum up Wall Street support for the IPO. Facebook CFO David Ebersman said Facebook is even willing to make moves that have a negative impact on the company's operating margins: "While we aspire for Facebook to be a high-margin business over the long run, we won't hesitate to make additional incremental investments needed to drive user engagement," Ebersman said. "Mobile is a good example of this investment approach."

Last week, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said improving the social network's mobile application is his "first priority" for 2012. Speaking in front of about 200 investors, Zuckerberg said engineers are putting the final touches on new products designed to drive revenue from Facebook's 488 million mobile users, but he did not divulge specifics on the company's plans.

Facebook released the sixth revision of its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, admitting that increasing its mobile base and shifting users away from its ad-supported desktop services could negatively impact its business model and long-term revenue outlook.

"We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered," states the revised S-1 filing. "If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected."

Facebook plans to raise as much as much as $16 billion with its IPO, announcing Wednesday that it will sell a total of 421.2 million shares, up from previous projections of 337.4 million shares. Facebook is expected to price the IPO between $34 and $38 per share.

For more:
- read this Lightbox Blog entry
- read this TechCrunch article

Mozilla updates Firefox for Android with Adobe Flash support

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:17:06 -0400

Mozilla released a revamped version of its Firefox for Android browser that introduces support for third-party plugins including the Adobe Flash runtime, promising a smoother, more seamless mobile web experience.

Firefox for Android beta supports third-party plugins.

The new Firefox for Android beta also features a native user interface that replaces the previous UI, which was based on the XML-based coding language XUL. Mozilla first announced the native UI late last year; writing in October on the mozilla.dev.platforms.mobile Google Groups forum, the company's Director of Firefox Engineering Johnathan Nightingale explained the move is designed to accelerate and improve the Android user experience.

"A native UI can be presented much faster than a XUL-based UI, since it can happen in parallel with Gecko startup," Nightingale wrote. "This means startup times in fractions of a second, versus several seconds for a XUL UI on some phones." The native UI also brings a substantial reduction in memory usage, Nightingale noted.

The latest Firefox for Android redesign additionally includes an upgraded Awesome Screen offering users more efficient access to their most-visited sites, bookmarks, history and desktop Firefox tabs. The refresh also touts a new start page highlighting Top Sites, larger fonts to improve readability and a new panning/zooming architecture for improved touch responsiveness.

Firefox for Android is available as a free download from the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play storefront. The browser supports smartphones running Android 2.2 and up. Mozilla notes it will roll out the new features and enhancements to Android tablets in the near future.

For more:
- read this Mozilla blog entry

Special Report: Mozilla's Boot to Gecko: Fewer headaches than iOS, Android?

Forrester: How do the top U.S. banks rank in their mobile services?

Peter Wannemacher — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:16 -0400

Wannemacher

Mobile is the new black: In 2011, the number of smartphone subscriptions in the U.S. grew by about 50 percent. Today, U.S. smartphone penetration is approximately 40 percent. This technological sea change is having an impact on the banking industry: In the past five years, U.S. mobile banking adoption has more than quadrupled, hitting 17 percent by the end of 2011. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 33 percent.

At Forrester, we predict this rapid growth will continue for years to come, putting mobile at the center of many customers' banking lives. In fact, one in 10 mobile bankers now use the mobile channel as their primary banking touchpoint--meaning they have not visited their bank's PC-based website in the past three months.

As such, executives and mobile strategists at banks are in a white-knuckle contest to out-do each other in the mobile space. This begs a very simple question: which firms are developing the best mobile strategies and building best-in-class mobile services?

To answer this question, and to take the pulse of the mobile banking market in the US, my team and I designed and applied our Forrester Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark to the four largest retail banks in the U.S.: Bank of America, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo. We found that these big U.S. banks offer solid, but not-yet-splendid, mobile services. In our inaugural ranking, the four largest U.S. banks posted an average score of 63 out of 100--above our minimum standards but far from perfect.

The Highlights

Chase led the pack overall with an impressive 74 out of a possible 100. Chase received the highest overall score among the four banks we evaluated. The firm scored an impressive 90 in our accessibility category, which measures the different mobile touchpoints customers can use to access their accounts and make transactions. But the critical win for Chase came in the transactional functionality category, where Chase earned a score 26 points above the average. The strong showing results from a wide array of mobile money movement options--transfer functionality, mobile bill pay and the ability to add a payee, among others--as well as mobile remote deposit capture and other features like mobile peer-to-peer.
Citi is moving fastest when it comes to tablet banking. Multiple firms now offer some type of tablet offering to retail bank customers-- Bank of America's native iPad app includes a nifty interactive calendar of upcoming transactions. But only Citi earned a perfect score in our tablet category. In July 2011, Citibank officially launched its first-ever native tablet banking app for the iPad. Citi boldly chose to build the app "from scratch," and the result was an exceptional tablet banking offering with simple, intuitive task flows and integrated personal financial management (PFM) tools that were not available on the Citibank website at the time. Citi has recently expanded with a native app for the Kindle Fire.

The Lowlights

Banks must enhance their mobile acquisition and cross-selling efforts. Just one of the four banks we evaluated offered any type of product research or robust cross-selling on its native iPhone app, and none take full advantage of the mobile channel as a marketing and acquisition opportunity. For example, firms lack basic product information available directly on apps or mobile websites, let alone valuable cross-selling tools like loan calculators or contextual offers.
Banks have room to improve when it comes to positioning mobile within a broader cross-channel strategy. Cross-channel strategies are as vital to banks' success as mobile strategies. It's all well and good to develop great mobile services and strategies, but bank customers move across channels and touchpoints regularly. As such, strategists at banks need to plan for cross-channel transitions. The big U.S. banks have started to put mobile-driven cross-channel initiatives in place--Bank of America's branch appointment scheduler on its iPhone app is one example--but they will need to broaden the options available to users and ensure that transitions are clear and consistent.

What's does it mean?
Our research reveals strengths and weaknesses of banks' current mobile offerings. But, we're still very early in the evolution of mobile banking, and future innovations will have a colossal impact on banks and their customers. Some of these--such as mobile remote deposit capture and mobile person-to-person payments--are already available on some mobile banking apps, while others--such as mobile rewards redemption for cardholders or mobile wallets and in-store payments--have murkier futures. But mobile banking will continue to expand, and the sophistication of a bank's mobile offering will affect the firm's relationship with clients, differentiate the brand and impact the bank's bottom line.

Analyst Peter Wannemacher covers eBusiness and Channel Strategies at Forrester Research. You can follow him on Twitter @p_wannemacher. For more about the report, see Peter's blog.

Nielsen: Smartphone apps per device is growing

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:19:27 -0400

U.S. smartphone owners now average 41 applications per device, up 28 percent from the 2011 average of 32 apps, according to new data from Nielsen.

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Consumers who own either Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone or Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android devices account for 84 million smartphone users nationwide and generate 88 percent of all app downloads, Nielsen reports. Smartphone owners spend an average of 39 minutes per day interacting with their apps, a two-minute increase compared to 2011 totals. The proportion of time devoted to the 50 most popular apps slipped from 74 percent last year to 58 percent in the current year, and the amount of time spent on apps compared to the mobile web increased from 73 percent to 81 percent.

Facebook remains the most accessed app in the U.S., followed by YouTube, Google Play, Google Search and Gmail. The dominance of Google services is a reflection of Android's market share supremacy: The Android operating system (which preloads apps like YouTube and Google Play) powers 51 percent of all smartphones nationwide, compared to 30.7 percent for Apple's iOS, according to the latest comScore data.

Nielsen adds that subscribers express growing anxiety about their mobile security. Seventy-three percent of smartphone owners indicate concern over personal data collection, up from 70 percent a year ago, and 55 percent are wary about sharing location information via mobile apps.

For more:
- read this Nielsen Wire blog entry

Zynga will 'absolutely' continue acquisition spree

Sandhya Raman — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:25:23 -0400

Mobile social gaming powerhouse Zynga is committed to acquiring new talent and startups, a key company executive said, indicating Zynga will continue its buying streak.

Zynga's Senior Vice President of Mobile Travis Boatman confirmed that more acquisitions will "absolutely" be in Zynga's future, and that they will play a big role in the company's expansion process.

"I think we've got a great mix of titles--some internal, some external--if you think about games like Zynga Poker, which is one of the top performing games of all time in mobile, is obviously not an acquisition. It's an original title. But, we also have acquisitions that we brought in house because we think they were great fits for our team," said Boatman in an interview with FierceMobileContent.

Zynga's most recent acquisition, Wild Needle, gives the company control of Shoptown Hero, which challenges users to build a larger, more successful retail empire than evil tycoon, Fat Ralph. The freemium game follows a similar model to several Zynga titles like Farmville and Cityville, which allow users to play for free but accelerate game play with in-app upgrades.

Prior to this acquisition, Zynga acquired its largest company to date, OMGPOP, for a reported $180 million, with an additional $30 million in employee-retention payments. Most of Zynga's acquisitions resemble companies like Wild Needle, startups with much smaller pricetags. Other than OMGPOP, the company's only other large acquisition was Newtoy, which made Chess with Friends and Words with Friends before selling to Zynga.

While Newtoy's "With Friends" series has grown to include two additional titles, Scramble with Friends and Hanging with Friends, some are questioning the staying power of OMGPOP's Draw Something. Forbes reported that Draw Something has lost 5 million daily active users (DAUs) after Zynga acquired OMGPOP. The loss brings the total from 15 million to 10 million, which could be problematic for Zynga's investors.

For more:
- see this Forbes article

Study: Tablets generate triple the data traffic of smartphones

Jason Ankeny — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:09:48 -0400

Mobile operators may want to carefully monitor the number of tablet users they have using their wireless network. According to a new study from video optimization firm Bytemobile, tablet users drive three times more mobile data traffic than smartphone users: Apple iPad users browse 33 Web pages per session, generating about 160 percent more mobile Web usage per session than iPhone users. Bytemobile notes that operators might want to watch this trend, particularly as adoption of tablets by both consumers and enterprises accelerates. The report also provides some interesting insights into consumer mobile video usage. Article

Muve Music doubles catalog to 10M tracks via CDBaby, TuneCore deals

Jason Ankeny — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:05:36 -0400

Leap Wireless' (NASDAQ:LEAP) Cricket Communications unit is adding content from independent digital music distributors CD Baby and TuneCore to its Muve Music service. According to Cricket, the new partnerships will double the size of the Muve catalog to 10 million tracks by the end of 2012.

The CD Baby partnership adds up to 4 million new tracks from more than 300,000 indie label artists across 850 different musical genres. In addition, the deal enables artists to upload their content directly to the Muve Music catalog, without the need for third-party record label involvement. Over the last 12 years, CD Baby has paid participating artists more than $200 million in revenues derived from premium downloads, streaming music subscriptions and CD sales.

TuneCore distributes music to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes, Spotify, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play, eMusic, AmazonMP3, Deezer and other sites for a flat fee, and claims no rights and no revenues from tracks sold through its network. The company touts more than 700,000 artist and label account holders, with over 600 million units sold in the last two years, generating more than $300 million in gross music sales and songwriter revenue. The TuneCore deal expands the Muve catalog by another 2 million tracks; per terms of the agreement, Cricket will obtain the rights to both the recordings and songs represented by TuneCore and will pay royalties directly to the company.

Cricket also plans to integrate content from independent music and video distributor The Orchard. The carrier said a phased rollout of tracks from all three distributors will begin immediately.

Cricket launched the all-you-can-eat Muve Music effort in early 2011, trumpeting songs from all four major labels (Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music). The service leverages a SanDisk solution that enables DRM-free over-the-air downloads--content is stored and protected on a special flash memory card, which according to Cricket skirts conventional DRM requirements and translates to an improved user experience, enhanced handset performance and extended battery life.

Muve Music is available on Android smartphones as part of Cricket's $55 flat-rate monthly service package, which includes unlimited nationwide calling as well as unlimited messaging, mobile web access, data backup and video. As of January 2012, more than 500,000 Cricket subscribers were using Muve Music.

For more:
- read this release

The Economist's mobile chief explains move to Apple's Newsstand, HTML5

Sandhya Raman — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:04:39 -0400

Nick Blunden

with Nick Blunden, Global Publisher of Digital for The Economist

The Economist, while only a weekly publication, has surpassed a number of daily outlets in its reach. On its mobile side, the publication offers a mobile Web experience, mobile applications for multiple platforms and even an HTML5 product. At the head of the Economist's digital strategy is Nick Blunden, Global Publisher of Digital for The Economist. Blunden recently spoke to FierceMobileContent about The Economist's success in these endeavors and what it takes to bridge content from print to mobile.

FierceMobileContent: What are some of the differences in strategy in developing content for mobile versus for tablets?

Blunden: Broadly speaking, we differentiate in terms of our experiences between the "lean back experience" apps and the "lean forward experience" of the Web. To that degree, our apps are relatively consistent across iPhone, Android phone and tablet devices, and our iPad app and our iPhone app are broadly consistent, although clearly screen size is very different.

From a mobile perspective, we see two sides to mobile. We see the lean back experience of our apps but we also see an interesting alternative mobile experience which is the mobile Web experience. We don't strictly differentiate between tablets and phones.

FierceMobileContent: What are some of the challenges for a weekly publication moving from print to a mobile experience?

Blunden: We are relatively fortunate in terms of the fact that we are not in the breaking news business--as you say we're a weekly--and we're in the analysis business. And what we found is that the apps particularly and the tablets particularly have given us this really interesting opportunity to take the experience of reading The Economist in print but bring it to life in a digital way that reinforces the value of the product.

That's our strategy when it comes to the apps. We have taken what we consider to be the best parts of our print product and that people tend to spend a lot of time with and they tend to read it habitually and tend to have a habit that says they sit in their favorite chair or even sit in the bath and read their copy of The Economist and they tend to spend a lot of time with our content.

And what our apps have enabled us to do is bring that to life in the digital world. That's very different--that lean back immersive experience that's in our tablets and on our iPhone apps is very different to what we consider to be the lean forward, much more social experience that is on economist.com, whether you choose to access it from the desktop or even the browser on your iPad or the browser on your mobile phone.

FierceMobileContent: The Economist has obviously been very successful in its digital presence, surpassing other media outlets with larger print subscription bases. What do you think accounts for its success with mobile and tablet users?

Blunden: Well, I think that, one, we have a brand that translates very well across multiple channels, although many people associate The Economist with a print publication. Beyond that our brand stands for, or resonates, with people who are intellectually curious and actually that enables us to quite easily extend the brand across multiple channels. It is quite easy for people to think "I can relate to The Economist on the mobile phone or on the Web or through an app just as easily as I can in print." And I think that's an attribute of our brand.

FierceMobileContent: Apple introduced Newsstand late last year as a way for content providers to sell single issues and subscriptions of publications. The Economist originally opted out of Newsstand but it is now moving into this medium. What caused the change?

Blunden: I think well we originally wanted to see how it would play out so we weren't the earliest adopter of it. But, we wanted to see what impact it would have and just spend a little time thinking what impact it would have on our readers and the experience of consuming The Economist. We came to the conclusion that there were enough benefits to our readers to justify to moving into Newsstand. Our implementation in Newsstand is not complete yet. We are still rolling out additional Newsstand-oriented functionality, but what we like about it particularly is that when fully implemented I think the auto download feature is a very strong feature of Newsstand.

I also think that it does aid discoverability. ... We also have found in mobile and digital that we have been incremental in our ability to reach out to new customers, so a significant portion of new digital subscribers have never had a print subscription to The Economist. They are, as it were, new to our business, and I think Newsstand provides a wonderful opportunity for media organizations like The Economist that have a well established brand to be discoverable to a whole group of new people through Newsstand.

FierceMobileContent: Last week you announced The Economist would be the first weekly magazine to release a Consolidated Media Report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. How does the traffic and UMVs vary from mobile Web to mobile apps?

Blunden: That's a very interesting question. We were very keen to be helping to drive the transparency of this increasingly multichannel world.

What we're seeing, interestingly enough, is that we see differences in terms of time of day, particularly between mobile app usage and mobile Web usage. We still have quite high traffic from mobile devices to economist.com, so it tends to happen at different times of day. So during the day we we'll see more mobile Web traffic to economist.com. On the evenings and weekends the app traffic tends to ramp up, and that's partly, I think, as you know I'm sure, in the app world we are weekly. So we release our content on a Friday which partly drives consumption.

But I also think it speaks to these two different user experiences: the snacking--because I've got a few minutes I just want to find out what The Economist thinks about the U.S. presidential election or the French presidential election or you know what's going on in Sudan--through to this more leisurely experience that people tend to do at night when they get home from work or late at evening when they're lying in bed. Or over the weekend when they tend to want a more browsing-based experience that is particularly suited to our apps.

So it's not like we have people who just use print or who just use the website or just use apps. Increasingly, our customers are doing some of all of those things.

FierceMobileContent: In January, The Economist released a tablet-only, HTML5-based Web app, Electionism, currently available for the iPad, Kindle Fire and Galaxy Tab. Do you see HTML5-based apps as the future for access to publications on multiple devices?

Blunden: It was an opportunity for us to experiment with HTML5. It was an opportunity for us to partner with companies we haven't partnered with before. It was an opportunity to create a product that brought together editorial content from different parts of The Economist group. So, in our view, it's been a very interesting piece of experimentation, we've learned a lot from it and it's been well received. And it worked particularly well for the product, the Electionism, which was a combination of information from different sources including social sources and curation, and I think HTML5 was a good canvas for that and particularly for that new product that was distinct from our other applications.

Going forward, at the moment our view is that HTML5 doesn't quite have the same capabilities to create a compelling user experience as native apps in iOS and Android have. It is much harder in HTML5 to create that really compelling immersive lean back experience and over time that will change. There are companies that are pushing the boundaries of HTML5, and in the future it will be a technology that enables publishers to very efficiently and effectively publish content across different platforms. I just don't think we're there yet. So I think we're going to try to push it as hard as we can, but our view at this moment of time is that you can create a more compelling experience in native apps.

FierceMobileContent: The Economist hinted it would be bringing Electionism to the BlackBerry Playbook in the near future. Is that still happening and will support for other RIM devices follow?

Blunden: We have a rollout plan that will see us take our apps, our core Economist apps, out across an increasing number of platforms. The sequence of them and the priority of them is really determined by the pickup in those markets. So although I cannot comment on specific platforms, certainly we have a plan that has us moving out into spaces like PlayBook for our core apps, and other versions of Android. Currently with Android we're on smaller screen devices, and we'll be moving out into the Android tablet space as well.

FierceMobileContent: The Economist's mobile app is available for the iPad, iPhone, and Android-enabled devices. Are there plans to bring native apps to other operating systems such as Windows Phone or BlackBerry or will users remain limited to accessing the mobile version of the website?

Blunden: You know we have a roadmap, and we do plan to extend our coverage in terms of other devices, other platforms. But we look at it at very much a market perspective, that says we need to focus on where the pockets of demand are, so we constantly reassess what's next on our priority list, in terms of rolling out new versions of the applications. Because of course like any publisher, we also have to balance off time and investment in new platforms against increasing the functionality of our existing applications. That's always going to be a challenge for publishers--how do you get that right balance of increasing the functionality of your current apps vs. continually rolling out new platforms? HTML5 is an opportunity that may well make that trade off or decision-making process easier.

FierceMobileContent: How will The Economist's website and mobile apps change to better complement each other?

Blunden: We take the view that there are two distinct experiences. There is our app experience, and there is our Web experience. And we believe that they are complementary, but we do have a very consistent, clear and well articulated strategy, which says the apps are about this lean back immersive experience. The Web is about a social community lean forward experience.

So to a certain extent, we are going to preserve the distinction between those two experiences.

And of course the advertising opportunities on tablets are only just beginning to be explored. I think from an advertising perspective our clients are very excited about what the advertising opportunities are.

So we will continue to pursue a strategy that optimizes or focuses on leveraging the best points of the Web, whether that's fixed or mobile Web or tablet or phones

FierceMobileContent: From your position in the industry, do you have any predictions in terms of trends or new ideas in mobile publishing that you expect to see in 2012 and beyond?

Blunden: I think that the device market is looking really interesting. The structure of the market is interesting for a tablet perspective. The iPad has such a large percentage of the market and now you have the Kindle Fire sort of getting quote a lot of traction.

And my view is that actually the tablet space will become more dynamic and more competitive, albeit with the iPad continuing to have significant market share. And from a publisher's perspective that's interesting because it will force or push publishers to continue to think about what how do you bring your product to life in the best possible way within those different tablet experiences or within those different operating systems.

Macy's, Foot Locker join Isis as mobile wallet merchant partners

Jason Ankeny — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:16:48 -0400

Isis, the m-commerce network spearheaded by Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA, will offer its mobile wallet services across hundreds of national and regional merchants when consumer trials begin this summer.

Isis will initially test its Near Field Communications-based tap-and-pay platform in the Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas regions. On Tuesday, the company announced it will roll out services across Aeropostale, Coca-Cola Company, Champs, Dillard's, Foot Locker, Jamba Juice and Macy's locations in those markets. Isis also will support mobile wallet access across dozens of local, independently owned businesses ranging from restaurants to retailers to professional sports venues. Isis adds that all merchant partners are already equipped with compatible point-of-sale terminals.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA first announced Isis in late 2010. In addition to mobile payments, the platform will enable consumers to redeem coupons and present loyalty program credentials via smartphone. Financial services providers Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express have committed to supporting the Isis initiative, affording banks the flexibility to enable any major network payment card while giving consumers the choice to decide which cards to load into their digital wallet.

Six device manufacturers--HTC, LG, Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI), Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), Samsung Mobile and Sony Ericsson--have committed to introducing products that support the Isis platform. Late last year, Isis announced a partnership with digital security firm Gemalto to boost safety around mobile payments and related services, and in March, the firm inked agreements with point-of-sale terminal manufacturers VeriFone, Ingenico, ViVOtech and Equinox Payments to integrate Isis into current and future product lines. According to Isis, retailers will become Isis-enabled through a combination of new payment acceptance systems and NFC add-ons--merchants can also leverage remote software upgrades of selected devices already in the field.

Isis faces competition from a host of rival m-payment services, including the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Wallet tap-and-pay application. Another formidable rival is Square, which enables small businesses and other users to accept credit and debit purchases by swiping cards through a small dongle that plugs into the device's audio jack. Square said last month it is now processing mobile transactions at an annualized rate of $5 billion.

Mobile payments for digital and physical goods, mobile money transfers and NFC-enabled contactless transactions will almost triple from $240 billion in 2011 to $670 billion in 2015, Juniper Research forecasts. The firm credits the accelerating adoption of mobile ticketing, NFC contactless payments, physical goods purchases and money transfers in both developed and emerging markets as the catalysts behind the expected growth, adding that the number of mobile money users will double by 2013.

For more:
- read this release

Millennial Media posts $4M loss in first quarterly results since IPO

Jason Ankeny — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:21:42 -0400

Millennial Media reported net losses of $4 million in the first quarter of 2012, the mobile advertising network's maiden quarter as a publicly traded company. Millennial recorded losses of $23,000 in the first quarter of 2011, blaming the year-over-year increase on rising operational costs.

Millennial Media posted first quarter revenues of $32.9 million, a 53 percent year-over-year increase. "Overall, there is a mix and a shift toward more targeting and engaging ads, which have driven prices up for us," Millennial CEO Paul Palmieri said on the firm's earnings call, according to TechCrunch.

Millennial now serves 300 million monthly unique users worldwide, with approximately 140 million users located in the U.S. Its ads run in more than 30,000 mobile applications across operating systems including iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. Looking ahead, Millennial expects total second quarter revenues to approach $38 million, with full-year 2012 revenues on pace to range between $173 million and $176 million, up 68 percent over 2011. Analysts are nevertheless expecting 2012 revenues of $202.8 million, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Millennial Media started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in late March, raising $132.6 million after offering 10.2 million shares of common stock at an opening price of $13 per share. The company raked in 17.7 percent of U.S. mobile display ad spending in 2011 according to recent eMarketer data, behind Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) AdMob at 24.8 percent and Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iAd at 18.0 percent.

For more:
- read this release
- read this TechCrunch article

American Express launches My Offers mobile deals service

Jason Ankeny — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:32:07 -0400

American Express introduced My Offers, a mobile deals platform that recommends and ranks merchant offers based on a consumer's spending history and location.

My Offers leverages American Express' Smart Offer technology, which connects shoppers and merchants across the Facebook, Twitter and foursquare platforms. Consumers who download or update the AmEx iPhone app may click the Offers Available for You button to access recommended deals; to redeem an offer, cardmembers add it to an eligible American Express card and then use the card to complete the qualifying purchase. Savings are automatically credited to the user's account within three to five days.

My Offers also includes a user dashboard spotlighting all offers added to the cardholder's account, indicating which promotions have expired and how much money the user has saved thanks to the program. American Express will launch My Offers as a pilot program concentrated within the New York City and Los Angeles markets, although select merchant partners like Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin' Donuts will run deals across their nationwide footprints.

My Offers signals American Express' latest move into the fast-growing mobile commerce segment. Last year the financial services firm introduced the Serve digital payments and commerce platform, which unifies online, offline and mobile payments into a single account that consumers can fund from their bank account, debit, credit or charge card, or by receiving cash from another Serve user. In addition, AmEx issues each Serve subscriber a reloadable prepaid credit card linked to their account, which they can use at any merchant or ATM that accepts American Express.

Last week, Isis--the nationwide m-commerce network spearheaded by Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA--said it will support American Express' U.S. Consumer, OPEN Small Business and Serve Cards when its mobile wallet service begins consumer trials later this year. AmEx officially joined the Isis network in mid-2011 alongside rivals Visa, MasterCard and Discover but is only now linking its cards with the Isis wallet, which allows consumers to conduct point-of-sale transactions, redeem coupons and use store merchant loyalty cards via Near Field Communications-enabled mobile device.

For more:
- read this release