好使好用Report：Why the mobile web is disappointing end users

唔駛多講，自己link去睇下啦：

http://www.gomez.com/resources/whitepapers/why-the-mobile-web-is-disappointing-end-users/

iPhone: Phonegap有點進展和疑惑

我的強項不在Mac機，但經過一輪的試驗，終於在Mac機上開展了第一個iPhone App.

說真的，起初以為Phonegap好難，原來很簡單，仍然我的強項上HTML和Javascript，相信第一個Baby很快要面世了。

當然，離開要用Phonegap寫關於Geolocation仍有一段時間，相信日子不遠了。

開始用 PhoneGap, 有點不知所措

同意人家的說法，很多時是被迫著去學東西的，但沒有壓力，肯定很多時學不成的。

這一次是PhoneGap， 一個跨平台手機程式架構，聽落很專業，實際也有點艱辛，因為沒有一個正式的getting start，要發展iPhone的程式，也必需要用到Mac，那是我一直很抗拒的電腦系統。十多年前那段日子，總教我跟Mac保持著距離，而那個人可怕的 影子亦在心裡。

要跨出第一步很難，因為沒有Air Mac，也不想擁有。也許，有一天我會有一部iPhone，但至少今天仍然沒有，也未有計劃擁有。我不知用Hackintoch的可能性有多大，正在研究 中...

讓我感到興趣的，不是mobile apps，而是PhoneGap的理想，用Javascript去實踐，這是我所支持的。畢竟，大同世界，不應讓手機山頭主義，發展自己的程式，浪費 developer的時間我精力。

人生苦短，這是我所以學PhoneGap的動力... 嘻嘻

PhoneGap Simulator讓人開眼界

沒有iPhone和Antroid的「窮日子」，只得用Simulator，PhoneGap的Simulator建基於Adobe Air，很簡單直接，今人很精神。

但PhoneGap的Download卻讓人沮喪，很不清楚，還說：「Living on the Edge. This is the latest and greatest. Some problems my apply」，即係點?

要 開始的，還是要開始。開左個Simulator，發現好難關閉... poor

手機商務又進一步 Progressive enables insurance payments via mobile site, app

香港要等多久，才會出現手機支付呢？有沒有需要呢？

The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies has launched an iPhone application and a mobile Web site that let consumers pay for their insurance via their handsets.

By providing both a mobile Web site and an iPhone application, Progressive hopes to make insurance easier and more convenient for a broad range of mobile consumers. Both the application and the site are branded with the company’s perky commercial spokeswoman, Flo.

“Looking across the competitive spectrum, we’re the only one with an app that combines the various services such as policies, the ability to pay bills, insurance information, get quotes and find an agent,” said Matthew Lehman, Web experience director at Progressive, Mayfield Village, OH.

“When we looked across the spectrum, we saw individual apps with these services, but nobody had put them together to make comprehensive app to provide utility to customers,” he said.

Progressive has been in business since 1937 and is one of the country’s largest automotive insurance groups.

Simplifying with mobile
Many features of the iPhone application and mobile site are useful to consumers who are not covered by the auto insurance company, but who are shopping for a car.

On both the application and mobile Web site, consumers can see crash test results and recall notices, compare the relative costs of insuring different cars and find nearby agents’ offices on an interactive map.

Consumers can also request a quote, make insurance payments and see a copy of their insurance identification card.

On the mobile Web site, consumers can also sign up to receive mobile alerts for payment information such as due dates and electronic payment deductions.

Consumers can report claims from the iPhone application, sending the information directly to a Progressive claims representative and watch television commercials, plus a video clip that is not in rotation outside of the application.

Within the application consumers can make a payment using their billing information stored in their Progressive.com account.

The application also features a concierge service center locator and the ability to get a direct quote by phone for your car, home, motorcycle, RV or boat.

Consumer demand
Mr. Lehman said Progressive did research before launching its latest mobile properties and found that its customer base is likely to own a smartphone and were more inclined to perform transactions with them.

The auto insurer launched the mobile properties softly, with ads on the mobile site for the iPhone application and promotion via its social media channels.

Mr. Lehman said he expects full promotion to begin in two weeks to three weeks, with ads being featured on Progressive’s wired Web site, other sites and via paid search placement, as well as suppot from other mobile marketing tactics.

The mobile properties may show up in a TV spot, but there are no such plans as of yet.

Progressive is looking at other smartphone platforms individually to see if an application makes sense or whether the mobile Web site provides a compelling enough experience for consumers.

Mr. Lehman said Progressive extended its service to the mobile platform because of consumer demand.

“We know that’s where our customers and prospects are now and will be going to,” Mr. Lehman said.

“This is consistent with our history of being first-to-market, whether it is the first with a Web site quoting app, a WAP site, first with the ability to let consumers pay bills via mobile or get bill payment mobile alerts, we’ve been there early to help lead consumers to this type of functionality and we will continue to do that more on the mobile platform,” he said. “It’s in our DNA.”

真有咁勁? Mobile ad campaigns 5 times more effective than online

可以想像，下一步是手機上網與家用上網之爭：

Digital marketing research firm InsightExpress found that mobile ad campaign norms were four-and-a-half to five times more effective than online norms.

The Mobile InsightNorms study measured unaided awareness, aided awareness, ad awareness, message association, brand favorability and purchase intent. The study included a comparison of mobile media types and verticals to the effect of online advertising, and these findings continue to show the power of mobile as an advertising channel.

“Mobile continues to prove that it is an effective advertising medium,” said Joy Liuzzo, senior director of marketing and mobile research at InsightExpress, Stamford, CT. “Now, when we’re able to look at performance by the type of mobile advertising technology, we understand the strength even more.

Digital marketing research firm InsightExpress found that mobile ad campaign norms were four-and-a-half to five times more effective than online norms.

The Mobile InsightNorms study measured unaided awareness, aided awareness, ad awareness, message association, brand favorability and purchase intent. The study included a comparison of mobile media types and verticals to the effect of online advertising, and these findings continue to show the power of mobile as an advertising channel.

“Mobile continues to prove that it is an effective advertising medium,” said Joy Liuzzo, senior director of marketing and mobile research at InsightExpress, Stamford, CT. “Now, when we’re able to look at performance by the type of mobile advertising technology, we understand the strength even more.

“Far from being a one-trick pony, mobile is effective in rich environments like mobile video, minimal environments like SMS and the area in between covered by mobile display,” she said. “Add to this the findings that all verticals are seeing mobile impacts greater than online campaigns and the arguments for not adding mobile to a media plan fall away.”

InsightExpress is a provider of digital marketing research specializing in the measurement of advertising effectiveness across online, mobile and other media.

Mobile vs. online
The study used norms developed in online ad testing as a benchmark to draw conclusions around the performance of advertising on mobile devices.

InsightExpress compared mobile and online using InsightNorms, the company's normative database containing more than 1,000 online ad effectiveness campaigns and 100-plus mobile ad effectiveness campaigns.

Mobile InsightNorms are based on InsightExpress' flagship mobile brand effectiveness platform, Mobile AdInsights, which employs a test/control design to measure the brand impact of mobile advertising campaigns.

Ms. Liuzzo said that online campaigns continue to offer exceptional reach, flexibility and variety.

However, the high levels of engagement, the explosion in technical capabilities, low levels of clutter and the novelty of mobile advertising all likely contribute to increased brand impact, according to InsightExpress.

A comparison of three different mobile media types—mobile Internet, SMS and mobile video—revealed that the mobile Internet is the current powerhouse.

Mobile Internet campaigns resulted in increases of 9 percentage points for unaided awareness, 9 percentage points for aided awareness and 24 percentage points for ad awareness.

SMS is also effective at increasing upper level purchase funnel metrics such as awareness measures.

SMS campaigns generated increases of 5 percentage points for unaided awareness, 10 percentage points for aided awareness and 18 percentage points for ad awareness.

Mobile video is still emerging, but shows campaign impact on par with SMS across most key brand metrics.

This channel drove especially strong results against brand favorability.

With an increase of 13 percentage points, compared to 12 percentage points for Mobile Internet and 7 percentage points for SMS, mobile video is demonstrating promise as a way to move the important brand favorability measure.

The analysis next examined mobile brand metric norms by vertical—consumer packaged goods, entertainment, automotive, travel, technology and retail—to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the campaigns, once again comparing mobile norms to online norms.

Per the study:

Mobile CPG purchase intent effect is three times higher than online CPG purchase intent.

Mobile entertainment purchase intent effect is four times higher than online entertainment intent.

Mobile travel purchase intent effect is five times higher than online travel purchase intent.

Mobile technology purchase intent effect is seven times higher than online technology purchase intent.

Mobile automotive purchase intent effect is four times higher than online automotive purchase intent.

Mobile retail purchase intent effect is eight times higher than online retail purchase intent.

“This has more to do with how retail is performing online,” Ms. Liuzzo said. “What this tells me is that retail campaigns should absolutely be including mobile as part of their strategy to reinforce their online efforts.”

Ms. Liuzzo said that the effect that mobile campaigns have on key brand metrics proves that mobile continues to move quickly from supporting player to co-starring role in the digital advertising universe.

All about engagement and context
Mobile advertising’s greater effectiveness when compared to online advertising is due to several factors.

Mobile has the advantage over online when it comes to the engagement people have with the device and the environment the ads are being served in.

“We’ve discussed for a while now our findings about how engaged people are with activities on their mobile device, oftentimes more engaged than when they are doing these same activities on their computer,” Ms. Liuzzo said.

“The environment, or context, the ad is displayed in weighs in with a lack of clutter on the page, typically only one ad in sight at a time, and ad units that are proportionally larger to the screen,” she said. “These two elements merge into one powerful medium for advertising.”

While it may not have been reflected across the board in their 2009 mobile spends, brands and agencies are aware of this trend.

“In conversations we’ve had, brands and agencies tell us they are using these results to educate up their clients, their bosses,” Ms. Liuzzo said.

“Mobile is also being brought up sooner in the strategy-planning process, leading to more integrated campaign efforts and quite honestly, better mobile and online results,” she said.