Barcelona Rumblings

[Posted by Neil Strother]

The quiet rumblings out of Barcelona shook the mobile marketing landscape this week – a little. If you weren’t paying close attention to goings on at Mobile World Congress, though, you likely missed it. Some highlights:

 

• GSMA’s interesting mobile marketing metrics for Europe: Search (Google), social networks (facebook) and news (BBC) are among top mobile sites, and use is consistent throughout the day, with early morning hours (7 to 10 a.m.) the heaviest

 

• Recognition the mobile Web has arrived – thanks to smartphones and that handset from Apple

 

• More brand advertisers spending on mobile – AdMob reported more than a doubling in number from last year

 

All encouraging. And props to the Euro operators involved in the GSMA feasibility study. So where are the U.S. carriers and those in Asia or Latin America on this?

 

Clearly, much work needs to be done to remove the friction involved in mobile marketing and there’s a need for greater understanding of the ROI. Yet these rumblings signal some growth, and the next jolt might not be so imperceptible.