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 …

Apple’s focus on security could be the holy grail of NFC

MEF members and industry experts have all weighed in on the potential of Apple's new payment system, unveiled last month in San Francisco, and most agree that the platform with some of the biggest names in finance behind it, could be a game changer. Here, MEF Chairman Andrew Bud expands on his initial reaction, and explains what makes Apple Pay different and how the company is meeting issues around privacy and security that have curtailed NFC uptake so far. The announcement at Apple’s big event that it is launching an iPhone that is NFC enabled and Apple Pay as its go-to-market payment …

Can the Apple Watch wind up the wearables market?

The Apple Watch  marks the first new product from Apple under CEO Tim Cook and as Apple's track record for re-energising established markets shows, could be the product to make wearable technology commonplace. Below, MEF Chairman Andrew Bud discusses the implications it may pose for the industry, and the hurdles Apple will need to overcome to succeed. Apple’s eagerly anticipated entry in to the wearable technology market has come in the form of its Apple Watch which combines various classic mobile functions like music and messaging with health and fitness monitoring.  It tracks the …

New Mobile Ecosystems – Mobile 3.0

The global mobile industry today consists of a complex series of dynamic, interrelated ecosystems.  It’s becoming an ecosystem of ecosystems. MEF Global Chairman Andrew Bud discusses this new phase in mobile's evolution - dubbed Mobile 3.0 - and outlines the opportunities and challenges facing the many new players coming into the industry from outside the traditional mobile space. Regardless of the focus of your mobile activities, you will have business-critical relationships with other technology providers, marketplaces, developers, brands and consumers.  You are part of an ecosystem – a …

After Personal Communications…

Ahead of MEF’s 4th annual CEO Summit, Global Chair Andrew Bud takes time out to reflect on the mobile industry’s ever-evolving journey. I was deeply moved by this week’s news of the purchase by Microsoft of Nokia’s mobile phone division, which those of us old enough remember as Mobira.  It felt like a final punctuating mark: the full-stop at the end of a script, in which Nokia was but one protagonist, lasting 30 years.The latter part of that long and glorious narrative engaged the whole of the mobile entertainment, content and commerce industry, and its end suggests both lessons, questions and …

A wakeup call for the app economy – mobile consumers want privacy

MEF Global chairman, Andrew Bud talks privacy and consumer trust, and why both will be crucial in sustaining the future app economy. User data has fueled the growth of apps in the mobile economy. Instead of buying digital goods, we are increasingly exchanging them for our personal information, such as our names, email addresses, browsing preferences, location and much more.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with this model but the long term viability of it depends on all parties coming together to ensure transparency across the value-exchange. That’s why MEF has recently launched its …

MEF TV : Global Chair Andrew Bud at MEF Americas 2011

In the first of our interviews filmed at MEF Americas 2011: Mobile Content and Commerce recently held in Miami, MEF Global Chair and the Founder and Chief Strategy Officer for mBlox, Andrew Bud speaks to Ben Smith of Tribal Labs for MEF TV.Andrew outlines the key themes of MEF Americas 2011's keynotes from Nokia, Coca-Cola and Sprint on app localisation, the innovative ways of using mobile to engage with consumers, 'the unbanked' and mobile commerce, noting we are in the midst of a time of great innovation and disruption.He goes on to share his thoughts on how trust, privacy and respect are …

Mobile Entertainment Forum’s fourth Business Confidence Index suggests economic recovery and growth

Mobile Entertainment Forum’s (MEF) fourth Business Confidence Index (BCI), compiled by KPMG, points to signs of recovery and a clear trajectory of revenue growth of 28% for the coming year.The latest BCI survey of the MEF Membership, representative of the whole mobile media entertainment value chain, demonstrates a fourth consecutive growth prediction since January 2009 and a clear trend that the industry consistently projects growth in the region of 25-35% for the next 12 months.Andrew Bud, the Global Chair of MEF commented: “Our industry has faced a difficult period, but these latest …