2012 Will Be the Year of Mobile Advertising

With estimates of half the population now accessing the Internet with mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, the year 2012 could be the tipping point for mobile advertising. Indeed, this is the year when combined tablet and smartphone access will reach the tipping point of 50 percent.

Although some studies had indicated that the tipping point would come last year, it didn't. Instead, 2012 seems to have been the point when:

50 percent of the population is using the Internet with devices other than computers, such as smartphones and tablets Tablets have gone mainstream. As they have, the law of supply and demand has kicked in and as the numbers of their sales have increased, their prices have come down Tablets are expected to replace PCs and laptops as the keys to ecommerce, news access, Web access and email High-end IT operations are going to have to optimize their facilities for Cloud computing and an almost insatiable desire for bandwidth. Social sites are going to continue to dominate and increase their use of spectrum and their Web traffic will increase.

The first firm to make a name for itself with a smartphone device, Research in Motion (RIM), manufacturer of the Blackberry that uses a proprietary operating system, looks like it may be in trouble now as firms like Apple, Google and Samsung are taking market share away from RIM. Apple's smartphone is its iPhone, another proprietary system smartphone, using iOS. The other major players include Samsung/HTC/Google, which use Google's open Android OS. RIM has a tiny window of relief, right now. You see, each of the other operating systems offers huge numbers of features, but if RIM finds the "killer app," it may be just enough to save the Blackberry from shriveling on the vine.

Aside from the usual applications such as streaming video, audio and apps that allow viewing of high resolution video offerings, the "killer app" could be contractless payments through NFC and the Virtual Wallet. It could, some analysts believe, do away with credit cards and like devices. Security analysts worry that storing so much information either in "the Cloud," the invisible drive where smartphones and tablets store their information or on the device itself, as part of the app, could lead hackers to try to access this goldmine of information. The jury is out on this.

A recent study put the pointed out that consumers will likely spend more than $15.9 billion in 2012 for social media applications.

What types of apps are consumers using? The study found they are using social media and the Internet primarily for streaming audio and video. For example, the Pandora app, written to stream audio to Apple products has become such a standard that non-Apple clone apps, written for Android systems, are offering Pandora routinely.

Meantime, though, there are more than 19 portals that have appeared this year and they are not only working hard to make themselves known, but they are also working with established sites so they can trade advertising space. And, in another twist, there are many firms that already recognize the value of localized advertising, and are using social media to get their message across.

For example, Chevrolet seems to have purchased a large block of media at the right hand side of many social media sites and then when their app sees the location of the device logging in, it presents you with a listing of the available cars and specials at your local Chevy dealer. It's a great idea and shows how, as they say, "the early bird does get the worm," because it is only now that other carmakers are following their lead.

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