Since 1973, mobile has evolved from simple voice and text
communication (a restrictive marketing medium) to internet enabled
smartphones-increasingly dominating consumer’s interaction with organisations
(Dadwal 2013) Before the Smartphone phenomenon, internet access was restricted
to computers and laptops. Now the internet is portable, consumers have constant
access to the web, thus marketers have constant access to them – The digital
shop-front has become pocket size.
This year, past barriers to constant mobile internet access are
lifted, in the shape of the London Underground launching Wi-fi and black cab
Wi-fi imminent. This might see an increase in organisations exploiting
augmented reality in advertisement on modes of transport. Augmented reality
adds ‘a layer of mobile engage to offline content’ allowing consumers a
seamless transition to additional content. (Murphy 2013; Dadwal 2013) See Heat
magazine example below:
New
4G technology promising to increase the download speed on our mobile
devices–more than seven times faster than 3G. Although EE is the only UK
network provider offering 4G at the moment, others are forecast to follow suit
in the coming months. This will directly impact mobile marketing – ‘the amount
of rich media (e.g. video) advertising offered to mobile users’ is likely to
soar. (Hilton 2013)
References
Hilton, J., 2013. Mobile Marketing Trends in 2013. HuffPost Tech. 1 February 2013.
Available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/james-hilton/mobile-marketing-trends-in-2013_b_2597666.html [Accessed
17 April 2013].