With all the advancements in the mobile arena, many people claim that we have reached our limits. “What else is left to be done?” they ask, and the truth is, over the last few years, we have taken giant steps forward. Having said that, there is always room for more. The mobile space will continue to move forward at an increased rate, both in terms of enhancements to the technology we already have, and the introduction of new and exciting technologies.
Of course, these new technologies will benefit first and foremost the end user when it comes to how they interact with their phones. There is, however, another realm in which new mobile advancements will change the world. Mobile advertising is already a booming industry and advertisers are now realizing that spending their resources on traditional marketing such as newspapers or billboards, might not be as effective as reaching audiences on their mobile devices.
Mobile advertising is already advancing at an extreme pace and new technologies will only act as a catalyst to speed up the process. A reality in which the majority of the world’s marketing campaigns are implemented on mobile devices, is a reality that is much more believable than it was just a few years ago.
The following are five new technologies that are already showing their face and will have a great impact on the mobile advertising universe:
- 4G Networks: As you probably know, 4G broadband is already making waves in the mobile world. Phones like the new HTC Thunderbolt with LTE support are outselling the popular iPhone at Verizon. It is important to remember that without the accompanying infrastructure, 4G is useless. Based on current predictions, within a few years, 4G will be available globally and our phones will access the Web significantly faster than today. This will of course have a major affect on mobile advertising. One consequence we can expect to see is a higher average CTR on mobile devices since the process of clicking an ad, viewing a landing page, and going on with whatever you were
- doing, will be shortened significantly.
- NFC: Near Field Communication, a technology already integrated in some high end mobile devices such as the Nexus S, is expected to go mainstream in the near future. Recent reports claim Apple is considering NFC integration into iPhone 5. Once again, without the infrastructure, NFC is not worth much, but from what we hear, certain Asian countries have already implemented this technology and NFC has taken off. In terms of mobile advertising, the effects are obvious. Imagine a world in which you hold your mobile device near an ad in a magazine, and the ad then becomes interactive on your device’s display. Such a campaign would once again generate more clicks due to its interactive nature. NFC will change the mobile advertising world as we know it.
- HD Displays: Whether the displays of the future will be HD as we know it, there is no doubt that after the iPhone 4′s Retina display, screen resolutions will only continue to get higher. One of the many features experts are predicting in the next generation iPhone as well as iPad is a higher resolution screen. Of course, the higher the resolution of a display, the more life-like the content on the screen appears. This will also have a real impact on mobile advertising, and will give advertisers a whole portfolio of options that were not available in the newspaper or billboard eras.
- 3D: Companies like Samsung and others are already bringing 3D technology to TVs and other devices. Nintendo just released their 3DS device, which offers 3D graphics on a gaming console without any glasses. Of course, with all the buzz and competition surrounding the mobile market, it won’t be long before we have a full fledged 3D experience on our mobile phones. How will this affect mobile advertising? I think the question is, how will it not affect mobile advertising? The potential is endless.
- Interactivity: We have already seen interactive Youtube videos, interactive online marketing campaigns, and even an interactive Facebook campaign (which was later removed by Facebook). With HTML 5 hitting mainstream, we can expect to see full interactivity on our mobile phones very soon. When that day comes and we begin interacting with our phones the way we interact with people, that is the day traditional marketing companies can close down shop. The advantages of a mobile phone being accessible to billions of people at all times, combined with rich media and interactive abilities will truly change the mobile advertising world forever.
Of course, this is just a short list, but there are many more technologies that will provide more abilities in the mobile advertising space. Then there are the ones we do not even know about yet. The bottom line in all this is, the world of mobile marketing is an exciting place to be right now!
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