San Francisco-based JiWire [1]’s latest Mobile Audience Insights Report shows that almost 90% of its On-The-Go Audience is likely to use location-based Apps for the holiday shopping season.
[2]The report, which examines Wi-Fi trends, mobile device usage and adoption in location media and mobile Apps, found that, when searching for local content, 61% say that finding store locations is the most valuable feature of location-based media. Other findings include that:
- 36% plan to find product reviews;
- 33% plan to discover current inventory at nearby stores;
- 26% plan to connect with social networks through location-based features;
- 30% are willing to travel more than five miles to redeem a mobile coupon.
Further, JiWirefound that: 62% have used a ‘find a store location’ features within an ad; 21% have redeemed mobile coupons in the past 90 days; and 49% of the is open to checking-in on mobile Apps, with 29% looking for deals and 17% simply wanting to share location.
“It’s becoming clear that there is a huge opportunity with location, well beyond the check-in,” says David Staas, senior vice-president of marketing at JiWire. “Consumers are demanding a wealth of location information that spreads across branding, product detail and discounts, allowing brands to build bigger campaign strategies. This is great news as we head into 2011 – unlocking big brand budgets and even more opportunity in location-based media.”
The proliferation of Wi-Fi and the impressive growth of mobile apps have been driven by the demands of mobile consumers, especially by the business traveler. Their need to stay connected while out of the office leads 88% to actively seek Wi-Fi while traveling. Additionally, 68% consider mobile Apps very important in making their lives easier while on the go, with more than 50% regularly using Apps in public Wi-Fi locations. The most popular mobile Apps, most of which are location-based, include travel, weather, news and social networking – The Weather Channel [3] and Facebook [4] Apps topped the chart.
Accounting for nearly 7% of mobile ad requests, Android continues to grow. Three new Android phones launched in the top 10 mobile devices in Q3, shifting market share from Apple but also changing the position of other devices on the market. While Android OS has seen 3.3% growth this quarter, the only device that has remained a top mobile device is the Motorola Droid, rising as the fourth most popular device. The iPad’s market share increased 16.3% this quarter, while the iPhone and iPod declined.
In the U.K., Android devices are growing much faster, with 12.8% market share with devices such as the HTC Desire, Wildfire, Magic and Hero. Apple still holds the top three spots with 82.1% of the market share. JiWire recently launched its presence in Europe with an office in the U.K. and a new partnership with British Telecom [5], expanding its Wi-Fi media channel.
Wi-Fi usage in the U.S. continues to grow, with an 18.4% increase in Q3 alone, as well as continued increase in the number of hotspots. Cafés saw impressive growth of free venues with a 36.9% increase as stores, such as Starbucks [6], switched from paid to free Wi-Fi.
Also in the U.S., Brooklyn and the Bronx, which each increased more than 100%, took over the first and second spots as the top Wi-Fi usage cities. This sent New York City and San Francisco to third and fourth place. This change is due to Comcast Xfinity [7] increasing its Wi-Fi network on the East Coast, as well as a general increase in Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices.
JiWire’s sixth Mobile Audience Insights Report is based on data from approximately 315,000 public Wi-Fi locations, as well as a survey of 1,200 customers randomly selected across JiWire’s Wi-Fi Media Channel from July-to-September, 2010. JiWire serves advertisements to over 30,000 public Wi-Fi locations in North America and records data from every ad request. This report is based on the ad request data collected from the same July to-Sept. period. Quarterly public Wi-Fi location rankings and business model distributions are based on the final day of the quarter.