Android Is Suffering From An Identity Crisis

Mobile Insights is a daily newsletter from BI Intelligence delivered first thing every morning exclusively to BI Intelligence subscribers. Sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today.

Android-Powered Devices Are Suffering From An Identity Crisis (PocketNow)
Android-powered smartphones and tablets are suffering from a brand identity crisis. Despite the fact that Android has over 50 percent of the market, it’s not really Android that can claim that crown. Instead, the statistics would better reflect the percentage of Samsung Galaxy devices, DROID devices, and then everything else that’s powered by Android. If you were to do that the numbers would be significantly lower than 50 percent.

via PocketNow

Does it matter? Look at the chart. Apple and Microsoft are brand names, and while Research In Motion is now BlackBerry, it's still a strong brand. Android, however, is an architecture and ecosystem that powers devices by various manufacturers. Each of which has their own brand name. And brand fragmentation ultimately leads to brand irrelevance. Read >>

Nokia Controls ~75 Percent Of The Windows Phone Market (TNW)
Usage data from AdDuplex, an ad network for Windows Phone, indicates that Nokia controls around 75 percent of the smartphone platform’s OEM market. It’s not surprising that Nokia is as dominant as it is, given its close work with Microsoft, home-grown, and well received applications, and strong hardware.

AdDuplex

The same data set indicates that Windows Phone 8 is present on roughly 25 percent of all Windows Phone handsets, leaving Windows Phone 7 and it variants with a roughly Nokia-esque majority. Read >>

Mobile Will Aid 79 Percent Of Valentine’s Day Shopping (Mojiva via Mobile Marketer)
In Mojiva’s latest study, In Love with Mobile: A retail m-commerce snapshot, the company looked at how consumers plan to use their mobile devices to help with Valentine’s Day shopping this year. According to Mojiva, 79 percent of the consumers surveyed said that they had engaged with a mobile ad in the past six months. This is split between 80 percent of men who said that they had interacted with a mobile ad and 77 percent of women. Forty-seven percent of the consumers said that they would choose to shop via mobile instead of going into a bricks-and-mortar store to find a Valentine’s Day gift. Read >>

The World's Top Innovating Companies In Mobile (Fast Company)
Put together by the Fast Company staff, here are the top innovators in mobile:

1. Uber
2. Evernote
3. Kiip
4. Azumio
5. Square
6. SwiftKey
7. eBay
8. Voxer
9. Gigwalk
10. Apptopia

Look at eBay go. One of the only companies that has been around the block. Read >>

Only 16 Percent Of Marketers Have A Mobile Strategy (CMO via MarketingWeek)
The CMO Council’s latest mobile advertising report reveals that mobile relationship marketing (MRM) was “the single most investigated, tested and piloted” marketing activity of 2012. However, concerns over the ability to measure the effectiveness of mobile marketing activity has raised doubts over its ROI according to the poll of over 550 senior brand marketers. The CMO Council, whose 6,000-strong membership controls $300 billion in annual spend, also highlights research stating that only 16 per cent of client-side marketers have a mobile marketing strategy in place. Meanwhile, the majority of marketers (77 percent) report a key impediment to investing more on mobile is the lack of case studies demonstrating best practice available to them. Read >>

Cheaper iPhone Coming This Year (Topeka Capital via Forbes)
Apple will launch a lower-priced iPhone in 2013, according to Topeka Capital analyst Brian White. He says a cheaper version of the phone will open up "attractive new growth opportunities in China and elsewhere around the world." White writes that he is “now confident that a lower-priced iPhone will be launched by Apple in 2013, possibly as early as June." He suggests the phone could be called "iPhone mini" or "iPhone Air." White adds that the new phone could have an unsubsidized price in the $250-$350 range, which is well below the $649 price for an unlocked 16 GB iPhone 5. Doesn't Apple already have a cheaper iPhone in the form of earlier models? Read >>

iPhone Reselling Helping Apple In Emerging Markets (Business Insider)

GazelleIsrael Ganot, the CEO of Gazelle, a startup that buys used iPhones tells Business Insider that people are surprised to find out their old iPhone is actually quite valuable. His company's research shows 51 percent of people just stick their iPhones in a drawer or a closet. Another 31 percent give away their phones or recycle them. But in emerging markets, even a used iPhone can be more expensive than a new Android phone. A used iPhone is an iPhone. It's still a status symbol. And it still works as well as an Android, and it's much better than a Chinese clone knock-off of an iPhone. This phenomenon is giving Apple an entry to markets it's currently limited in. While it might not be hundreds of millions of users, it's thousands of new iPhone users who are signing up for iTunes and getting locked into Apple's ecosystem. Read >>

There's A Lot Wrong With iOS 6.1 (MobileSyrup)
According to several carriers and thousands of users, iOS 6.1 is causing connectivity and battery issues for people with iPhone 4S’ and iPhone 5′s. A couple European carriers have even warned iPhone 4S users against updating to iOS 6.1 as Apple works on a fix for spotty 3G connectivity. While that particular issue seems to be limited to certain European 3G bands, users across the world, including many in Canada, are exasperated over battery issues with the new software version. Read >>