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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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

How can you gauge the success of your mobile developments? Easy – how many times have they been downloaded? End of lesson.

Just kidding! Of course, just like anything else with digital technology, it’s not that simple. There are lots of things you need to think about. Here’s a sampling of some of the current wisdom in this area.

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There are always quick links and informal email conversations of new technology that get floated around the office. One that recently gained attention is the new HTML5 technology available on the iPhone and used by nextstop.

“Nextstop for the iPhone is a browser based application.”

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