Marketers cannot simply tick off the mobile box, Google warns

Google has urged marketers to prioritise multi-screen this year as the internet giant releases new research painting a picture of weekend smartphone use.

Mobile and tablet search queries have grown by 138% since last year and 74% of Australians with a smartphone will not leave home without it, according to Google data.

The new infographic (below) shows that weekend morning queries are dominated by weather searches with mobile search starting at 7am and peaking at 9am.

Travel is top of mind at 10 am on Sunday, from 11am sports dominate mobile search with social network activity increasing at 10pm Saturday and from 8pm on Sunday.

Other key details for advertisers include a spike in deal searches before weekend afternoon shopping and the fact that roughly one third of mobile searches are local.

Jason Pellegrino, head of mobile ads for Google Australia, said mobile is not just a box marketers should tick off.

“It affects the way you plan your whole campaign,” Pellegrino said.

“This is what advertisers and marketers need to get right this year. They have to prioritise multi-screen and build digital-led content and campaigns that work across all screens.”

Meanwhile, Android operating systems (OS) dominate the local market with a 58% market share ahead of Apple’s 36%, new research from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found.

The dominance of Android puts the Australian marketplace in a similar situation to that of Europe, while the circumstances are reversed in the US where Apple commands the largest share.

Locally, Blackberry claims just 4% of the market. BlackBerry unveiled its new handset earlier this week but before the launch mobile experts told B&T the new OS was taking the best of both Android and Apple but they still questioned whether it could claw back share.

The report, Smartphones and Tablets: Take-up and use in Australia, found that 9.2 million Australians used their mobile to go online and 4.4 million access the internet via a tablet in the six months to May 2012.

Chris Chapman, chairman of ACMA, said it is crucial the development of 4G services remain a focus.

“The extraordinary rate of adoption and greater usage of smart phones underlines the critical and increasing importance of mobile and 4G services,” Chapman said.

“To support these wireless services, high speed mobile broadband, "fit for purpose" spectrum frameworks and availability, and efficient infrastructure are the new essential.”

4G services are currently restricted to metropolitan areas but Telsyte has forecast that by 2016 there will be almost seven million 4G connections.

Declining profits from traditional revenue streams, including voice and SMS, represent a threat to mobile service providers.

According to the ACMA report the number of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) users rose by 133% between June 2011 and 2012 to 616,000.

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