Falling Smartphone Prices Means Greater Penetration

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

Where can you buy the world's cheapest smartphones?

I'll share that answer in a moment. First, though, it seems that most discussions about smartphones have been about iPhones, Android or Android vs iPhones. A host of new producers, though - some of whom have been building other brands' smartphones for years - are driving down handset prices. And the story set to dominate this week's Mobile World Congress is the advent of inexpensive smartphones.

For many consumers, smartphones are finally becoming affordable!

Publisher Alert : High Latent Demand Among Advertisers

In this advisory, we highlight markets where there is a strong latent demand among advertisers. Demand is particularly high in Indonesia, Thailand and South Africa where competitive bids are driving maximum bids upwards. This is also true in key markets in Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Guatemala) where maximum bids are in the double digits as more advertisers vie for audiences.

Demand is not expected to ease in the first half of 2014 as more campaigns are deployed in our network with the direct benefits to publishers and ad supported mobile services.

Please download the latest advisory for a full list of high-earning markets.

The BuzzCity Report - Vol.4, Issue 1 (Jan 2014)

In the latest edition of The BuzzCity Report, we look at how the robust return of mobile content players over the past twelve months has driven up advertising spending.

The opportunity to engage consumers via their handsets is driving mobile commerce. In some markets mobile commerce grew in step with e-commerce while in others, m-commerce streaked ahead.

In the BuzzCity Report, we look at consumer surfing behaviour as well as planned purchases over the next year. We also cover the fourth quarter of 2013 during which time The BuzCity Network delivered more than 72 billion paid ads.

We look at hotspots that have attracted advertising dollars and are likely to continue doing so in the months ahead. We also highlight a few countries outside the Top 10 that we think may interest advertisers.

Read more in Volume 4, Issue 1 of The BuzzCity Report.

Consumers Surf Less; How To Reverse The Trend

By Hisham Isa, Vice President (Marketing)

Fact #1: Carriers have discontinued unlimited mobile surfing packages in many markets.

Fact #2: Mobile surfers are spending less time online.

Surprised?

Less consumer time online means missed opportunities and potentially lower revenues for all sorts of mobile players, from advertisers to publishers and merchants.

We are seeing creative attempts though - mainly in the form of partnerships between telecoms and Over-The-Top (OTT) players like Facebook and Google - to counteract this trend and encourage more surfing. To really be successful though, carriers need to look beyond a few big-name brands and embrace mobile merchants as well.  At the same time, they should take a fresh look at pricing plans to make them clearer and more predictable.

Let's take a closer look.