Mobile opportunity is the key finding of Mary Meeker’s annual compilation of global Internet trends.
The influential tech analyst packs in 196 presentation slides worth of analysis in her report, examining not only on the top technology trends and investment opportunities, but also the changing behaviour of customers when it comes to what and how they’re willing to pay.
Her key finding? Mobile technology is growing fast.
From apps which facilitate e-payments while on-the-go, to drones collecting valuable data thousands of feet in the air, Meeker’s report forecasts a bright future for the mobile sector. The rise of mobile also presents equal opportunity for B2B companies to take advantage of, such as specialized applications which simplify traditional administrative functions and make clunky hardware and costly overhead a thing of the past.
Here are some of the report’s notable findings:
INSIDE THE $25 BILLION INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR MOBILE ADVERTISING
When it comes to the advertising market, radio and TV is expensive and oversaturated. Mobile ads in comparison are relatively cheap to produce and present great value for your money.
In 2014 U.S. companies spent $50 billion on Internet advertising of which only $13 billion was for mobile. Meeker sees a $25 billion opportunity in the U.S. alone for mobile advertising. Globally, mobile advertising revenue rose to $133 billion in 2014, and has consistently grown by at least 15 percent every year since 2009.
DITCH THE CASH REGISTER
Meeker finds a growing number of merchants accepting e-payment options in 2014, moving away from traditional platforms. Apps such as Stripe allow businesses to process online payments securely and quickly, without having to deal with clunky overhead or dealing with intermediaries.
Having a flexible and secure payment platform is especially crucial with more and more people opting for online purchases over visiting the shopping mall. And if your company markets to millennials you’d better have some kind of mobile option: they’re more likely to have a smartphone and spend more than two hours on their mobile every day.
RUN YOUR COMPANY ON YOUR PHONE
Company email, so often a bane to productivity, is gradually fading in enterprise as forward-thinking businesses turn to instant messaging platforms to communicate internally. IM providers like Snapchat and WhatsApp, which averaged 30 billion messages a day globally in 2014, are supplanting email.
But the innovation doesn’t stop there, and Meeker points to several apps which allow for the automation of typical company functions, everything from managing employee benefits programs to conducting background checks.
LOOK TO THE FAR EAST AND INDIA FOR INSPIRATION (AND CUSTOMERS)
Chinese Internet company Alibaba is one of the largest e-commerce providers in the world with a market cap. of $232.7 billion. Japanese messaging platform Line launched the same year as Facebook Messenger and grosses an estimated $922 billion annually. When it comes to mobile messaging, Asian consumers in China, Japan and South Korea enjoy options for food delivery, summoning a taxi and playing games all off their IM platform.
While Internet and smart phone subscription rates are slowing they remain strong in China and especially India, which is second in the world, trailing only Nigeria, when it comes to the highest mobile percentage of Internet traffic. Around 65 per cent of all Indian Internet traffic originates from a mobile device. India is the third largest Internet market with an estimated 232 million users in 2014. And top tech companies are noticing: in 2014 Amazon, the report notes, upped its investment in India by $2 billion.
IT’S THE AGE OF THE FREELANCER
Mobile technology has created more opportunities for finding jobs, although they lean more towards the precarious side of employment. Freelancers, whether working for themselves or moonlighting from their regular gig, rely on the Internet to secure employment, the report found.
On the downside, freelancers often have little or no access to employment benefits, limited training opportunities and no guarantee of income. The report lists services such as UpWork and Thumbtack which make it easy for employers to vet candidates and make hires far quicker than traditional recruitment practices.
What Net trends have you noticed affecting your B2B firm?
Photo via knowyourmobile.com
