After the introduction of the iPad it has become clear. The iPhone and smartphone hype is over. Why I am stating something so obvious? While we are awaiting the much hyped tablet, the iPhone is ready for it’s fourth meaningful operating system update. Competing operating systems like Android are growing rapidly with hardware partners like HTC and Samsung. The entire smartphone industry is evolving from a niche market to a 180 million units per year business (Gartner).

OK, we have growth, a serious market. There is some healthy competition. Last summer 25% of all phones sold in the Netherlands were smartphones (or internet centric phones as this Dutch article states). We can agree that customers are enjoying internet on their phones. Whether it is through apps, email or the mobile web browser, having “the internet” always with you makes live a little easier. Whenever I advise companies on the use of the mobile channel I try to point out that focus: Make live easier for your customer!

Once you started advising companies on a developing channel you realize the need of good metrics. One of the most heard questions during any presentation or talk is: “How many of our customers are using smartphones? While this will always be a difficult question to answer it does bring up the obvious need for reliable intelligence. If you work for a major company I would always advise you to do your own research. Start with your own logfiles, measure clicks in your emails, include questions about mobile in your running surveys. And keep doing this with frequent intervals. Believe me, you are going to be happy with this data in a year. It will help you convince your managers that they need to invest in the mobile channel.

Nice. You have started with building up this reliable stream of information of your own mobile visitors. There is one more thing you might want to start gathering to include in your research and reporting. It is important to know what the entire market is doing. Globally and nationally! From operating system to firmware version! To top this it is interesting to know how your industry is faring compared to the mobile industry.

There are a few platforms where you can find (free) information. For a worldwide view with a very general perspective it is interesting to look at the metrics of AdMob. This mobile advertising company was recently acquired by Google. AdMob is receiving their data from the AdMob advertising network. This does mean that the statistics of a lot of mobile websites and applications that do not contain advertisements are not included. Comparable advertising networks like Mads and InMobi use the same technique for their metrics reports.

Forrester research or Gartner are interesting if there is a budget for general intelligence. Since you usually pay a pretty hefty fee for a research paper it is interesting to look at this free but very interesting presentation by Morgan Stanley.

If you have gathered your information it is important to interpret it right. Not just the general trends in the worldwide market. Focus on the area where your customers are. Western Europe metrics are not always representative of metrics in France.

On Mobile Metrics we will try to add value and be a resource for you by looking at more local results. We will use our network to gather our own metrics. We will look at small and undiscovered niches like mobile email metrics. And we will interpret it for you and give you personal insights in the market. Cheerio for now!