Ad Age has an article on the love affair between marketers and the iPhone, and how it may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
From Ad Age: {link no longer active}
But marketers would be foolish to see the iPhone as the end-all in mobile marketing. So when is it time to branch out? And what’s involved?
Ad Age goes on to talk about how development on the Google mobile platform Android and others are clear avenues for success when the iPhone route exhausts itself.
Of particular interest to marketers should be the actual usage these apps see on a regular basis.
Some marketers might do well to ask themselves whether they need an app at all. In many cases, the mobile web can accomplish what apps purport to do — and it can be accessible to a lot more users. Only 20 percent of U.S. mobile users carry a smartphone, and interest in apps can flame out quickly. In analyzing 30 million iPhone app downloads, analytics firm Pinch Media found only about 20 percent of consumers return to use a free app after the initial download; 30 days later, less than five percent are using it.
What has your experience been with iPhone apps in marketing to your audience? Worth the cost and effort or are you underwhelmed?
