• 64.2 million U.S. smartphone users and 48.4 million EU5 smartphone users accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile devices at least once in December 2011
• It took less than 2 years for Tablets to hit the 40 million mark among the U.S. mobile population. It took smart phones 7 years to hit the same mark.
• By the end of 2011, nearly 15 percent of U.S. mobile users also had tablets
• 55.2% of the U.S. mobile population have used mobile media.
• 41.8% of U.S. mobile subscribers have a smartphone.
• In December 2011, mobile and connected devices were driving approximately 8 percent of observed Internet traffic
• Smartphone adoption continues to be stronger in Japan and Europe than in the United States.

There is also a little bit of history in the report, as comScore points out how volatile the mobile device market is.  In 2005, Palm led the smartphone market.  In 2006 Microsoft grabbed the lead, only to be replaced by RIM in 2008.  In 2011 Android became the #1 mobile device operating system.  Surprisingly, despite having by far the strongest selling single mobile devices, Apple has never claimed the top mobile device OS title.

To begin, Mr Barocas makes the mistake of misquoting a recent study by comScore.  He states that “only 14 million American mobile device users have interacted with a QR code. In essence, less than 5% of the American public has scanned a QR code.”  However, if you follow the supplied link and read the actual study, you can see that it doesn’t say that at all.  First of all, 14 million makes up 6.2% of the mobile community.  Second, this is a snapshot of the number of QR codes scanned in a single month - June 2011, not a cumulative total.  Earlier in the year, Compete provided another study that looked at QR adoption among smartphone users.  They found that over 28% of smartphone users have used QR codes, with Android users leading the way with 48%.  Apple followed with 39%, and Blackberry struggling at 14%.  We have also seen a very large adoption rate of QR codes as they become more and more mainstream, so these numbers will only continue to grow.

Mr Barocas believes that one of the reasons for the perceived lack of QR adoption is the lack of positive visceral reactions to QR codes.  His alternative is to use mobile visual search (MVS) technology.  With MVS, you scan an image like a company logo or a tagline, and it uses the image as the key to download and process the marketing information.  I absolutely agree that the emotional response to visual stimuli plays a major role in the purchasing behavior of consumers.  However, I disagree that an image associated to brand (like a logo) would necessarily provide a better consumer response.  The behavior already associated with a QR code is to scan it.  There is no such behavior associated with a logo or tagline. Retraining consumer behavior is one of the most daunting tasks in marketing.

Mr Barocas also claims that MVS technology is inherently more secure than QR codes, and this is just plain wrong.  The exact same malicious practices that people can use to exploit QR codes can be applied to an MVS enabled image.

Finally, there is simply no open standard in place for MVS, and considering the complexity of the technology behind it, it will always be a proprietary tech.  QR succeeds because it is simple and free to use.  It doesn’t require a cloud based server to do the decoding or processing, everything can be done on the phone itself.  This allows any company to develop and distribute the scanning applications for people to use.  Other proprietary 2D bar codes that do require cloud services and specific apps, like Microsoft Tag, exist.  And they provide features that a simple QR cannot.  But they are not even in the same usage ballpark as QR codes because the cost doesn’t consistently outweigh the benefit.  MVS will always be a paid, cloud based, proprietary service, and therefore will likely never see the widespread adoption rate that QR codes do/will.

This isn’t to say that MVS doesn’t have a future.  I actually love the technology, and I can see many uses for it.  Think of a branded mobile trade show app that interacts with the company logos of participating booths and vendors.  Or a branded mobile app that will interact with an advertised event, like the Super Bowl commercial, or even the Super Bowl itself.  Think about the application of MVS at live sporting events.  Or in tourist attractions like the Mall of America or Disneyworld.  There are some amazing possibilities for MVS technology that I am excited for.  But it will never replace QR codes.  Instead, MVS will be its own marketing channel that exists under the mobile enhancement umbrella, much like Augmented Reality.  And I am excited to use it in the future.

• Instruct Consumer Behavior
• Mobilize Your Content
• Incorporate Social
• Employ URL Management Strategies
• Avoid The Golden Hammer Syndrome
• Include Value in the Content
• And many more…

Intrigued yet?  Good.  You can expect to see the white paper sometime in late February, early March…

Common Sense Media put together a fairly comprehensive study on the patterns of media usage of children ages zero through eight in the United States.  Among the key findings was the revelation that more than half (52%) of the young children in the United States have access to a newer generation mobile device, with well over a third (38%) of them using them regularly.  The 5 to 7 age group led the way, with 52% of them using an app that one of their parents downloaded specifically for them.

What does this mean in the world of marketing?  Well, for starters it means that the upcoming generations will be as familiar with mobile as the current one is with online.  And that in itself should be a clear indicator as to the future of marketing.

The list includes:

• Use creative that is not branded with a mobile sized device in mind, or with logos that are too small
• Just using modified versions of the same ad used on other platforms
• Not including mobile placement with media buying contracts
• Using rich media strategies that only work on certain platforms (i.e. Flash)
• Using a click mentality versus a touch mentality when designing mobile campaigns
• Focusing on one platform and ignoring all others

The poster, which uses the Blippar App, has elements of the poster jump out and offer consumers discounts and menu options from Domino’s.  The screen shots below show a non-augmented and augmented view of the poster. 

Nick Dutch, the multimedia manager at Domino’s Pizza, said that the company had seen success with its QR campaigns, and AR was the next logical step.  Look for this trend to repeat as the mobile marketplace continues to mature in 2012.

According to IBM Coremetrics, “18.3% of all online sessions on retailers’ sites came from a mobile device, up from 8.4% on Christmas Day a year ago.” Mobile sales accounted for 19% of the December 26th sales.

The strong mobile sales are likely helped by the fact that mobile devices themselves are a hot seller right now.  Mobile device activations on Christmas day more than doubled the number activated on Christmas 2010.  Not surprisingly, app downloads also more than doubled, growing from 108 million to 242 million.

Look for this trend to continue throughout 2012, as mobile devices become more and more commonplace on our society.

• QR code campaigns that do not include a call-to-action
• Codes with no instructions
• Lengthy URLs
• Codes placed in areas with no signal
• Codes resolving to pages that are poorly displayed on mobile devices

Two of the specific mistakes include a Red Bull ad placed in a subway station, and Continental/United Airlines putting QR codes in their in-flight magazines.  It wasn’t all bad however, as Starbucks was highlighted for a successful QR campaign that featured a digital scavenger hunt.

Here are some of the more interesting findings from the report:

• 44% of U.S. mobile subscribers now own a smartphone device.  This is up from 18% just two years ago.
• The majority of mobile subscribers 18-24 and 25-34 have smartphones, with 53% and 64% penetration respectively.
• Android continues to eclipse every other smartphone platform, with 44% of the market.  iOS is second with 29%.
• Windows has completely failed to penetrate the market, showing just 1% to 2% in every age group.
• Google and Facebook are by far the most popular mobile websites among Android and iPhone owners.
• App Downloads have increased very significantly for Android in the past two years.  In 2009, only 4% of smartphone owners downloaded an app on Android devices. In 2011, 49% of smartphone owners have downloaded an app on an Android device.
• The percentage of smartphone owners who have downloaded apps has dropped in every other mobile platform over the past two years.

This is just a broad overview.  For more details, download the report itself.

According to Mobile Marketing Watch, Apple had exceeded its sales expectations by 7pm.  The iPad2 was the biggest draw, with the MacBook Air also selling very well.  Both were discounted for Black Friday.