Insightful articles, opinion and commentary about mobile and web.

In my last couple of blog posts I have thrown around a few statistics that demonstrate the explosive growth of the mobile web and smartphone penetration in Australia.

Now I am a proud Apple user and rely on several devices powered by iOS in my professional and personal life. I’m not alone – iPhones make up 45% of smartphones sold in Australia, one of the highest market shares in the world.

But the mobile world is changing rapidly, even more rapidly than other market sectors. Despite the continuing success of Apple, you cannot discount the presence of its competitors, most notably Google.

In the US, for example, Android phones (powered by Google) now have a 40% market share, almost 15% ahead of the iPhone, according to the most recent Comscore report. Meanwhile, according to Canalys, Android’s global mobile phone market share is 48%, compared to only 19% for the iPhone.

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HotHouse managing director Simon van Wyk talks to Lucas Challamel, ANZ sales manager for mobile web software company Netbiscuits, about how to develop effective mobile applications in a world where there are more than 6,000 devices to design for.

Listen to the podcast below.

 

 The rise of mobile web applications: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By Simon van Wyk

It’s the question on every marketer’s (and CEO’s) lips: How do I know if my marketing efforts are working? When it comes to digital healthcare activities, there are a number of options available, but as with so many digital areas, there is no easy answer as to how to measure marketing success.

Looking specifically at mobile marketing activities, you need to balance the numbers. On the plus side, the explosive growth in smartphone and tablet use, particularly among healthcare professionals, opens up a wide audience. On the other hand, you need to consider that there are currently about 8,000 health-related apps in iTunes and hundreds (soon to be thousands) available for Android.

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By Simon van Wyk

As discussed in my previous article and this month’s podcast, mobile apps are proving incredibly popular in healthcare – and why wouldn’t they, with the promise of a health calculator/monitor in your pocket?

Here are some links to reviews of some of the most popular/innovative/successful health apps available:

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The only certainties in life are death and taxes, and avoiding death by seeking health information online has proved a lot more popular than using Internet info to avoid taxes, as Simon van Wyk writes.

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