Click below to
find interesting
information from our
January 2012
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Mobile
advertising?
Ha! Try
roaming!
Gartner
recently
estimated mobile
advertising (the
market that
Google and other
big-time players
are targeting)
as being worth
$3.3bn in 2011.
Hefty
money, you might
think. But not
compared to the
$42bn revenue
networks creamed
off travellers
for global
roaming in 2011
(according to
Informa).
That's a
significant
impost on
international
travellers - you
pay for it
either directly
(yet often
unknowingly) or
by the cost of
being out of
contact when
travelling.
Save more on
roaming
when you
use our vSIM
post-paid
alternative.
Travel
The new
business
traveller
Airlines
invented
many of
the
principles
and
practices
of
market
segmentation
(offering
a
somewhat
different
product
at a
different
price to
customers
with
different
characteristics).
An
interesting
change is now
underway in
airlines,
involving
low-cost airline
carriers (LCCs).
The "classic"
LCC is the
pioneer
Southwest
Airlines, which
invented many of
the LCC features
(point-to-point
high-frequency
service,
one-class
cabins, low
fares with extra
services charged
for).
Research from
Cristian Huse of
the LSE shows
that the
"business
traveller"
segment has now
split into two -
the traditional
high-service/high-price
traveller, and a
cost-sensitive
lower-service
segment.
Apparently once
some traditional
business
travellers
experience an
LCC, they
reassess their
willingness to
pay for the
frills. Hence
Southwest (and
other LCCs) are
carrying more
business
travellers, as
traditional
airlines carry
less.
Interestingly,
the research
also shows that
the difference
in product
between the
legacy airlines
and the LCCs are
diminishing. We
see both effects
domestically in
Australia with
Virgin Australia
carrying a
larger amount of
business travel
(and Qantas
losing some
share), and
business-type
features being
added to
Virgin's product
(lounges,
premium seating,
included meals
etc).
Mobile phones
Mobile payments
Many retailers
are partnering
with banks,
payment
processors and
Google (among
others) to let
shoppers use
their mobile
phones (with NFC
technology)
instead of
swiping their
credit cards to
pay for goods.
A
KPMG study
released in
December found
only 23 per cent
of consumers
were willing to
use their mobile
phone for
payment.
That means that
the hopes of
retailers
becoming more
efficient at
checkout and
banks finding
another revenue
stream will be
delayed -
retailer payment
terminals need
to be installed
almost
universally,
banks and mobile
networks have to
sort out how it
all works
together and
shoppers doubts
about security
have to be
overcome first.
It will still
take another few
years for
widespread
adoption,
according to
potential
participants in
the mobile
payment
industry.
One of the
possible
candidates for
universal mobile
payments is
Google Wallet.
Google has
signed
agreements with
Visa, Amex and
Discover, and
hopes to include
those cards in
Google Wallet.
Despite the
delay, there is
a sense of
inevitability
about mobile
payments.
"You're more
likely to leave
your home
without your
wallet or your
cigarettes than
you are your
phone. And I
mention
cigarettes
because the
phone has become
more addictive
than the most
addictive
substance out
there,"
Mastercard
executive Mario
Shiliashki said.
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