Receive our updates
sharing market insight,
analysis and expert opinion.

Mobile Life: The Outlook for 2012

Be prepared for 2012 – make sure you’re aware of our top six forecasted trends that are set to affect how businesses will support consumers’ mobile life:

1.      Searches from mobiles could exceed PCs

2012 will be no exception to the exponential growth in using mobile devices to search the web. In just two years, the number of worldwide searches has increased five-fold, with users making hundreds of millions of searches with their mobile every week. Google expects mobile searches to exceed those from PCs by 2013 – though the crossover may well happen in 2012.^[1]

Fuelling the surging rise in mobile search is the explosive demand for Smartphones, which are now outselling PCs.^[2]Crucially, research by Gartner shows that mobile web users make fewer clicks than PC users, so websites optimised for smaller device screens will be vital for a positive and satisfying user experience. This means that most websites which are not yet optimised will need to be rebuilt and their content reformatted^[3]. This will enable brands to take full advantage of mobile opportunities to connect with consumers.

2.      Tablet sales to grow 62.5 per cent

In 2010, Apple shipped 14.6 million tablets out of a total 18.6 million. This year, tablet sales have more than trebled to 64 million, with Apple commanding a 73.4 per cent market share. In 2012, Gartner forecasts tablet sales to increase a further 62.5 per cent to 104 million, selling 18 per cent as many units as PCs.

It is only after 2014 that Gartner sees Android, which is already available from a wide range of tablet manufacturers, gaining more than a 50 per cent share over Apple, which presently only offers their iPad and iPad 2 models.^[4]

Significantly, with iPad sales included, by mid-2012 Apple will overtake Hewlett-Packard as the world’s biggest PC vendor^[5] – knocking the giant off its five-year rein at the top spot and significantly changing the dynamics of the PC industry. Reflecting how fast the technology market moves, the latest figures (year ended 2010) for the leading global PC vendors show Apple didn’t even rank in the top five.^[6]

3.      Location-based and context aware services will play major part in supporting mobile life

Berg Insight estimates the number of active users of location-based services (LBS) and apps, such as search/information, social networking and mapping/navigation,more than doubled in 2011 with approximately 20 per cent of mobile subscribers in Europe being frequent users.^[7]

This trend will continue throughout 2012 and by 2015, Gartner forecasts that context, which centres on observing patterns, including location, presence and social interactions,will be as influential to mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the web.

Gartner says that, where as search provides the ‘key’ to organising information and services for the web and is essentially a ‘pull’ of information, context will provide the ‘key’ to delivering hyper-personalisedexperiences and will in many cases ‘push’ information to users.

Crucially, web, device, telecom service providers, social platforms, communication infrastructure vendors and enterprise software vendors are all now competing to become significant context providers,^[8] with the advantage of being able to build better profiles of their customer behavioursand interests. In turn, relevant marketing communications and promotions can be distributed to meet the needs of consumers’ individual lifestyles. Ad-funding is already the main source of revenues in many consumer LBS categories, withrevenues in Europe expected to double over the next five years to €435 million in 2016.^[9]

4.      Cloud computing will create more data security issues

Cloud computing, which stores content online rather than on your computer, has been used for many years. Hotmail and Gmail are examples that most people are familiar with. Spurred by Apple and Google however, cloud computing is now more popular than ever with increased services for document sharing and editing leading to more sensitive data being stored “in the cloud”.

Unsurprisingly, there have also been unprecedented levels of hacking with even responsible companies suffering attacks and data leaks. What’s more, new and untested vendors, which pop up daily, often have no real security plan in place,^[10]and are putting unsuspecting consumers at risk.  If the popularity of cloud computing is to continue to grow throughout 2012, then it will be essential that vendors keep private and sensitive data safe.

5.      Cyber threats will rage

Following on from 2011’s dramatic increase in malware, research indicates that 2012 will see new and increasingly sophisticated means to capture and exploit user data, as well as escalating battles over the control of online information. The threats could well compromise content and erode public trust and privacy.

Specifically, we are likely to experience: “search poisoning”, where attackers use search engine optimisation techniques to optimise malicious links; “mobile web-based attacks”, that capitalise on the tensions between usability, security and device constraints, that are making it difficult to solve mobile web browser security flaws; and “stolen cyber data use for marketing”, where botnets capture private user information shared by social media platforms and sell it directly to legitimate business channels.^[11] Android malware in particular is projected to grow by 1,320 per cent.^[12]

6.      4G broadband will drive more mobile TV

Research shows that 35 per cent of UK tablet owners already use their devices to watch video-on-demand content. With the arrival of 4G broadband in the UK towards the end of 2012 however, even more TV will be watched through mobile devices. The change will further cannibalise PC and TV-based consumption and necessitate advertisers to readdress their marketing mix.^[13] Notably, the US is already experiencing rising numbers of people cancelling or foregoing TV subscriptions, which is being partly blamed on cheap internet video.^[14]

As proven by 2011, due to the rapid speed of change in the mobile device market, it’s difficult to predict exactly what will happen in 2012. To help you stay ahead of technology-driven trends and keep your business and your consumers protected however, Lifestyle Services Group has a wide range of products and solutions.

Keep an eye out for future editions of our Insight broadcast to keep up to date with the key developments which impact our mobile life.

You may also be interested in reading MobileLife: The Key Events of 2011

What's new...