Find out what’s happening in mobile around the world.
African sees boom in mobile banking
Banks in Africa are experiencing a boom thanks to African consumers’ rapid adoption of mobile banking.
The vast majority of Africans have no access to bank accounts but that’s quickly changing as cheap mobile networks are set up across the continent, which still has limited landlines.
According to Time, some estimates suggest new mobile bank accounts could funnel as much as $59 billion into African banks.
As mobile networks spread across the country and untapped capital floods into African banks, there will also be new opportunities for reaching a similarly untapped consumer market.
[Read more via Time]
Luxury car brands reach Indian consumers on the iPad
Luxury carmakers in India are moving out of the showroom and onto the iPad. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi have created interactive iPads to target upscale consumers in the Indian market.
The global companies are using these apps to market their products to consumers who live in areas without showrooms.
Debashish Mitra, director of sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz, told the Times of India that traditional marketing techniques, such as brochures and test-driving, are becoming less relevant to today’s consumers.
“(Today) customers are more networked, tech-savvy, digitally engaged, and with preferences changing, we want to reach the customer faster,” Mitra said to the paper.
[Read more via the Times of India]
Huge growth for Australian mobile ads
Australian mobile ad expenditures grew a whopping 212% in the past year. Between June 2011 and June 2012 $49 million (CAD) was spent on mobile ads in the country, according to IAB Australia.
Paul Fisher, CEO of IAB Australia, is quoted in Marketing Magazine Australia, saying that mobile offers great reach at relatively small investment.
“The growth in mobile advertising over the past 6 quarters shows that for a minor investment relative to TV, print and other media spends, marketers can add mobile audience reach and executions to their online search and display campaigns,” Fisher said.
This is the first time that overall online ad spending has cracked $3 billion in Australia.
[Read more via Marketing Magazine Australia]
