Smartphones in mobile-first markets: it’s complicated

It’s one of the great truisms of the mobile industry: smartphone ownership is rocketing in developing markets. But is it true? Well, kind of but not really. At least according to the operator panel convened at the MEF Global Forum for Mobile First Markets earlier this summer. The event in Bangalore brought together Vodafone India’s Prakash Sayini, Turkcell’s Tahsin Akar, Ooredoo’s Thomas Chevanne and Etiselat Nigeria’s Adia Sowho to debate this question: Are mobile first markets ready for the smartphone revolution? The panellists answers would surprise anyone who has only read …

Interview: how Ola is building an ‘Uber for India’

All over the world, ride-sharing apps are taking on powerful local taxi businesses. But in India, the situation is a little different: there are hardly any local firms to take on. So the challenge is more about establishing a market in the first place. Mumbai-based Ola Cabs is leading the charge. Anand Subramanian, director of marketing communications at Ola was interviewed by Shradha Sharma of YourStory Media during MEF Global Forum Mobile First Markets in Bangalore, and shared some of the company’s strategies and goals. In March of this year, Ola raised $400 million in Series E funding. It …

MEF Global Forum Mobile First Markets in Pictures

The MEF Minute team have just landed back from Bangalore, India where the inaugural MEF Global Forum Mobile First Markets took place. 200+ members and delegates came together to learn fascinating insights into the mobile opportunity across South East Asia, Middle East, Africa and of course India. In the week that saw the launch of the new Indian Government’s Digital India Week #MEFGF Bangalore gave delegates access to some of the exciting innovations happening locally and across the region. 50+ speakers including Amazon, Micromax, Ola, Baidu, Deezer, Twitter, LINE, Mozilla, Yahoo and …

Lucky 13 for MEF – a new name in the year of industry evolution

CEO Rimma Perelmuter reflects on an eventful Mobile World Congress, where MEF unveiled a new identity to reinforce its expanding remit to represent the ever-broadening mobile ecosystem. This year’s 13th MEF Connects MWC in association with American Express marked a significant milestone in our history. MEF was established in 2000 to help create a new ecosystem around Mobile Entertainment when music, games and apps were not quite so ubiquitous. Mobile and MEF have certainly come a long way since these early days. Today of course it’s impossible to imagine an area of our daily lives that …

2014 – MEF Year in Review

2014 was another landmark year for the mobile industry – a year which saw groundbreaking new handsets and form factors, more ways to pay as well as lots of hype around verticals such as mHealth and wearables. 2014, was also a pivotal year for MEF as we continued our mission to connect and share knowledge across the ever-expanding mobile ecosystem. Here are some of the highlights of another memorable year in a round-up of events, insights and initiatives from around the globe. Quarter 1 >       Quarter 2 >         Quarter 3 >         Quarter 4 > …

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MEF identifies 10 key mobile trends for 2015

MEF looks at the year ahead to predict the ten key mobile trends that will shape the global mobile landscape in 2015. The predictions leverage the expert and diverse insights from MEF’s Global Board of Directors as well as its recently published fourth annual Global Mobile Consumer Survey which studied responses from 15,000 consumers in 15 countries to understand the major mobile content and commerce trends from wearables and mHealth to mobile payments, consumer privacy and trust. Vertical market ecosystems will drive the adoption of wearable technology. MEF’s Global Consumer …

Worldwide Consumer Trends: Who’s doing what on mobile?

MEF has published a handy infographic highlighting the different consumer profiles worldwide when it comes to mobile content and commerce.  South Africans are 'mad for' apps, Brazilians are the biggest spenders in 2014 and Indian consumers lead the take up of education on mobile. The data is taken from MEF's annual Global Consumer Survey , which looks at the  consumer behaviour patterns of almost 15,000 mobile media users in 15 countries across five continents, including mHealth, mobile education, banking, the apps economy and entertainment. The study, now in it's 4th year was launched …

MEF Global Consumer Survey 2014: growth economies driving mobile adoption

Global mobile content and commerce activity grew slightly from 65 to 66 per cent in 2014, fueled by strong gains in growth markets. A lack of trust remains the industry’s biggest obstacle, increasing from 30 to 34 per cent year on year Download the executive summary here MEF has published the results of its annual Global Consumer Survey at MEF Global Forum held in San Francisco this week which brought together nearly 400 global mobile leaders, the hottest start-ups and industry executives. The study now in it's 4th year is the largest ever, surveying almost 15,000 mobile media users …

15 stats that show how mobile money is taking shape globally

Earlier this month we created this Mobile Money Landscape diagram - a who's who of the companies that are booting up the mobile money ecosystem. Take a closer look at the statistics below which we've picked out to illustrate how mobile money is pushing out in every direction, bringing mobile service providers in to direct and collaborative relationships with regulators, banks, and retailers, creating a powerful mix of companies that are all committed to making a secure and sustainable future. Understanding how mobile money is taking shape in growth and established economies will also be …

Industry Views: Is even digital music ownership a thing of the past?

A recent report that surfaced in the Wall Street Journal indicates that Apple’s iTunes (the world’s largest record shop) is encountering a downturn in music & entertainment sales with a 13 – 14% decline from the start of this year. The irony is that this is probably because of a problem that Apple is in part responsible for creating: the ubiquity of smartphones and apps that let us stream music anywhere we are, from an almost limitless music library. In short we are moving away from digital forms of music and entertainment ownership, and replacing it with the subscription model. We …

MEF Global Board Elections reflect growth and diversity of the mobile ecosystem

Last week, MEF held the annual Global AGM in London where members gathered to elect the new Global Board for the 2014/2015 term. Candidates representing MEF’s regional chapters (EMEA, LatAM, Asia and NA) contested four seats on the Board, reflecting the organisation’s diverse membership and key focus areas in an expanded mobile ecosystem, which captures publishing, content, engagement, consumer trust, education and mobile money. The four newly elected board members are: Judith Bitterli – CMO, AVG Technologies Mark Harding – Media and Digital Content Director, KPMG Thomas Chevanne – …

Finalists announced for 11th Annual Meffys

MEF today revealed the finalists for the 11th annual Meffys – the international awards for measuring success and rewarding innovation across the mobile ecosystem. The awards this year attracted over 250 entries from 30 countries across the 13 award categories, which includes new categories for mHealth, Mobile Education and Big Data. They are judged by an independent panel of 40 journalists, academics, analysts and VCs from around the globe. The 2014 winners will be unveiled in San Francisco on 19th November at a glittering gala dinner as part of MEF’s annual conference, MEF Global Forum …

Industry Views: Can Apple Pay finally make mobile payments mainstream?

The announcement that the new iPhones and Apple Watch feature the NFC powered Apple Pay under the hood has been in the making for some time. With some heavy-hitting partnerships revealed, this of course gets Apple in to the mobile payments space in a big way, both in store and online. Apple Pay sits neatly alongside the Passbook which groups loyalty cards with coupons and other retail items in a digital wallet. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is how Apple is working hard to differentiate itself from other payment services around consumer privacy. Unlike Google Wallet for example, …

Industry Views: One Third Of Users Don’t Download Apps – Have We Lost Our App-etite?

According to a recent report from Deloitte, smartphone owners' appetite for new apps is declining with almost one third of respondents not downloading a single app in a typical month.  The study which looked at users in the UK (considered to be early adopters) also indicates that almost nine in 10 smartphone owners never spend money on apps or other smartphone content. At the same time King Digital Entertainment which owns top ranking games such as the massively successful Candy Crush Saga is experiencing a faster than expected decline in downloads whilst its other apps are failing to make …

11 Facts That Demonstrate The Global Impact and Growth of Mobile

Don’t panic! the deadline for entering the 11th annual Meffys has been extended to 8th August. To celebrate here’s 11 essential mobile facts from across the mobile landscape representing some of the categories that will be awarded in Silicon Valley later this year. Categories include Mobile Money, Entertainment & Life Tool Apps, Social Responsibility and Consumer Trust as well as four new categories Big Data, Innovation in FinTech, Mobile Health and Mobile Education. 1. 90% of all data has been created in the last two years.  The proliferation of smartphones is accelerating this growth.  …

The 11th Annual Meffys Is Open!

It’s that time of year again, the official launch of the 11th annual Meffys – MEF’s global awards for mobile content and commerce.  Last year saw entries from over 25 countries from across the mobile ecosystem. The final will again take place on the world technology and investment stage in San Francisco as part of MEF’s Global Forum (17th – 19th November). We take a look at the new categories for 2014 and what the judges are looking for As the mobile opportunity has shifted in to an era of mobile 3.0 and has grown to meet the demand for more mobile services from new vertical sectors, so the …

MEF’s Global Leadership share their MWC 2014

With the relentless meeting schedules and latest announcements of Mobile World Congress behind us for another year, MEF CEO Rimma Perelmuter and Global Chair Andrew Bud reflect on this year’s Congress week and what it means for the mobile content & commerce community. MWC 2014 was another incredibly busy and productive show for the MEF member community. Years of practice (and vitamins) mean we just about kept up the pace between elections, MEF Connects, member briefings and meetings, plus MEFTV at Gran Fira as part of the usual action packed week. Day One kicked off with the AGM …

MEF Webinar Podcast – The Year Ahead

Last week MEF hosted a webinar to discuss the findings of the recent Global Consumer Survey in-depth, as well as offering predictions for the mobile commerce and content market in 2014. Moderated by MEF Global Chair Andrew Bud, our expert guest speakers included analysts and journalists from around the world: Olivier Bernard, Vice President, EMEA - AppAnnie Tim Green, Editor in Chief - Mobile Money Revolution David Gosen, European MD Digital, Online and Mobile - The  Nielsen Company Fernando Paiva, Editor - Mobile Time, Brazil We’ve captured the panel discussion as a podcast for …

MEF Global Forum 2013. Inside out. Outside in.

Rimma Perelmuter, MEF’s CEO, looks ahead to the inaugural MEF Global Forum 2013 in November and shares insights on the industry’s shifting dynamics and how the international gathering will look to advance global innovation, growth and monetisation in mobile. The mobile industry continues to grow and morph at lightning speed.  Platforms, services and business models are constantly evolving and in parallel new industry sectors such as banks and publishers are embracing mobile as the primary touch-point for their customers; all eager to leverage the mobile platform for discovery, engagement and …

Dropbox and Magister Advisors to speak at CEO Summit 2013

MEF has announced the first stimulus speakers at this year’s one-day CEO Summit in London as Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen and Victor Basta. Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen is Head of Mobile at Dropbox and is responsible for mobile strategy and consumer electronics partnerships, including the global deals that ensure Dropbox is embedded on handsets across 300 mobile operators worldwide. Victor Basta is the MD of Magister Advisors, an M&A advisory firm to the technology industry and was responsible for some landmark deals including the sale of mapping company C3 to Apple for $250 million and LoveFILM's …