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Every day we are barraged by articles, blogs, and research about media and technology.  It’s easy to miss something important amidst all the new gadget releases and pundit observations.

That was the case with a recent MediaPost email I received.  Buried at the bottom was this headline: “Smartphone sales up 80%.”

The piece itself was just a few short sentences, summarizing that first quarter sales of smartphones were spiked by the rush of new models.  Overall, nearly 100 million units were sold in Q1, almost doubling the same quarter last year.

We also know that in that same quarter, Apple sold 18 million iPhones, which accounted for about one-fifth of these sales.

Holy crap!  What goes up 80% these days?  Not even gas prices.  But that speaks to the ongoing meteoric growth that is occurring in the smartphone sector.

So what does this mean to those of us who are developing mobile strategies, and for those of you who have built and developed apps for your station or company?

First, think of these new smartphone owners as new cumers moving into your market. Radio programmers know the challenge of building new listeners, but in the case of smartphones, thousands of these consumers are showing up in your metro every month.

Second, they are excited about their new purchases and, in most cases, they can’t wait to “test drive” them, download apps, and find out what their friends and family members have been talking about.

Third, they are new to these devices, and may not have previously dealt with the app store experience.  They may not totally “get” what an app is and what it does.

Fourth, they have probably forgotten that YOU have an app. That’s because you probably promoted it when the app first went live, but now you’ve likely replaced those promos with your 9-to-5 contest, your music festival, or your “Rock Girls” promotion.

jacAPPS has now designed and built more than 425 apps generating upwards of 9 million downloads in less than three years.  We track app downloads every month, and we can see the close relationship between stations that regularly market their apps on their air versus those who have moved on to talk about the morning show’s charity jello jump.

Stations that have a strategy for app promotion and marketing, connect the dots for listeners, and embrace the mobile technology have steadily rising app download metrics, which will in fact translate to better revenue generation as well as stronger engagement with listeners – most of whom appreciate that the station “gets it” by launching a mobile application.

But stations need to provide the basic A-B-C’s of how to use and when to use apps.  It’s the same for streaming.  Just because your audio is available via a stream doesn’t mean that your audience has gotten the message about all the new locations and situations in which they can now access your content.  So often, programmers take it for granted that listeners simply inherently know what to do. There is benefit in providing simple, helpful explanations.

One thing that we have learned as app developers is that not every brand has a radio station connected to it. When you think about it, radio truly has an advantage when it comes to getting the word out.  At jacAPPS, we are also building applications for non-media brands – companies and entities that do not have a built-in megaphone.  Not surprisingly, these businesses often struggle to get the word out about their apps, having only word of mouth and email marketing as promotion vehicles.  When it comes to self-marketing, radio has it pretty good – if it uses its genetic assets strategically.

Radio’s powerful cume, brand equity, and trust via personalities and shows make the medium the perfect candidate to not just participate in the mobile experience but to thrive within it.

Use it.

Google has just released a new study – “The Mobile Movement:  Understanding Smartphone Usage” – that provides important findings for any brand that has ventured into the app space, especially radio and other media.   For radio stations that merely have an app that streams, there is data that suggests much greater potential for the melding of radio and mobile.

While it’s in Google’s best interests to promote mobile advertising and search (and this study has some great data on the revenue generation potential of smartphones), one particular data point caught my attention near the end of the survey.  It’s under the header, “Cross Media Exposure Influences Mobile Search.”

When asked about what motivates mobile search (a function that two-thirds of these mobile respondents report doing), four in ten credit radio as the source.  This is just a shade behind television (43%) among traditional media sources.  This underscores that the potential for radio and mobile synergies is strong.

And it reinforces the notion that a timely radio message can drive behavior – especially among consumers with mobile phones.  We see this every day in our jacAPPS download statistics.  Stations that regularly promote their apps always excel in driving more listeners to the various app stores.  Radio remains very influential.

This is a huge finding for radio, and supports what our jacAPPS team has been telling its customers since the beginning – a mobile app for radio needs to be more than a Walkman.  The data in this study illustrate how consumers are using their apps for shopping and a myriad of other activities.

And with Groupon and Living Social crowding the industry’s ability to attract traditionally non-radio businesses, this reinforces the need for radio to think of apps in multiple dimensions.  Back in the day – 2008 – a great radio app provided a logo, the stream, and perhaps artist and title information.

Today, apps need to do more.  That’s why we will soon be announcing a major partnership with a group that has created its own version of Groupon that radio stations will easily be able to incorporate into their apps.  This will allow individual radio stations to integrate mobile into their retail advertising arsenals.  And as the Google study shows, the marriage of mobile and commerce should be a long, happy one – based on current habits and behaviors.

Google has posted the study on a web site along with an introductory video.  Take the time to watch it, and absorb the data, and then think about ways that your brand’s mobile strategy can be upgraded.

You can access the study by clicking on the “Studies” link on the navigation bar.

Smartphone ownership is growing at a rapid pace, and so are consumers’ expectations.  It’s time to get out of the “radio box” and truly take advantage of the opportunity that’s in front of the radio industry.  Groupon and Living Social aren’t going away, but radio – and its locality, personalities, cume, and brand loyalty – is in prime position to fight back, compete, and even thrive.

The Walkman is dead – and while the mobile movement enables radio to become a bona fide portable medium again – it is essential that radio companies take a more expansive view toward building mobile tools that can satisfy consumers, advertisers – and yes, an even better bottom line.

And with that great quote, Yogi Berra once again provided perspective for all of us trying to get a grasp of where it’s all headed. Our rapidly changing technology and its impact on media (and our lives) is moving at breakneck speed.  But even with all this change, there are certain trends that are undeniable.

Recently, MobiTV created a huge infographic that does a great job of summing up mobile’s past, present, and future.

You can look at the entire infographic here, but the part that really caught my eye was the look down the road – in fact, the not-too-distant future of mobile’s trajectory.

So I pulled out the piece you see below.  It shows how mobile will have an even more incredible impact on our personal and professional lives in the next few years.

In the near term, half the U.S. should be carrying around a smartphone by the end of this year.  Our own tech surveys tell us just how powerful this stat is.  In our recent Public Radio Tech Survey 3, for example, we juxtaposed smartphone owners and standard cell phone users.  And the contrasts are staggering.  In every dimension – besides talking – the smartphone group does everything more often.

In less than three years, the prediction is that 76 billion apps will be downloaded, generating more than $35 billion in revenues.  While smartphone owners love new stuff and breakthrough apps, it is also true that some of the most popular apps have been built by existing brands – brands that users know and trust.

But the app development process is challenging – believe me.  Just creating an app is not what this opportunity is all about.  A great mobile strategy is required.

And think about this projection: By 2020, more people will use the Internet via mobile phones than with computers.  That says a lot about how we’ll be living our lives and doing business.  Our smartphones will do it all, functioning as e-wallets, allowing us to make purchases, board planes, and do just everything else.

(Of course, this morning I bought a cup of coffee at Starbucks with my iPhone, and then used it to board my plane home.)

Wonder what kind of smartphone Yogi carries.

Thanks to Chris Brogan for recently tweeting about this infographic.

The scene: The Ad Age Digital Conference last week

Bob Pittman to radio: “Be wherever listeners are with the products and services they expect.”

Fred Jacobs to Bob Pittman: “Good point and it’s great to hear a top broadcaster say this. But we’d better first figure out where our listeners are and what it is they want.”

And with that, we’re wrapping up the field work on our Techsurvey 7.  Now I realize that the industry is inundated with research studies, all designed to provide timely information about media and technology usage.  And Edison’s “Infinite Dial” series, the most recent of which was presented just last week has done a great job of tracking the nation’s tastes and habits.  In fact, Pittman referred to it in his talk at the aforementioned conference.

Our survey asks many of the same questions.  But there are two key differences.

First, we’re talking to the radio audience. In fact, because the lion’s share of our 20,000+ sample comes from radio station email databases, we’re doing a deep dive on radio’s most important customers.

These are the people who are fans of radio – the kind that Pittman is talking about.  They are consumers who have traditionally listened to radio but are sampling many of the other offerings at the digital smorgasbord.  Learning what they’re doing is crucial in the quest to better transition radio.

As Arbitron will tell you, PPM is driven by that same core 30% of the audience that contributes in the neighborhood of 70% of listening.  To understand that core group and to better serve them is at the heart of our annual research initiative.

While radio has a myriad of challenges, Mission #1 is to gain an understanding of what the audience is doing right now – and where they will be headed in the future.  That’s how you put together a viable game plan to assess how your audience is accessing content today while anticipating what’s coming down the road.

But the other element has to do with relationships. Techsurvey 7 isn’t just about whether they own a smartphone, subscribe to satellite radio, or determining how many hours a day they spend on the Internet.

It is also about engagement with our brands, and this year’s survey explores the how’s, why’s, and where’s that define how radio connects with its fluid audience.  Do they want to “like” our Facebook page, have a texting relationship with the station, and follow our DJs on Twitter?  We cannot connect with the audience unless we first understand where they are, what they want, and how our brands integrate with their lives.

It’s this research that motivated us to build jacAPPS, radio’s largest creator of smartphone apps.  And why we’ve recently hired social media strategist Lori Lewis to help provide guidance and clarity to this space.

Pittman is a breath of fresh air at Clear Channel – a company that has traditionally taken a top-down attitude toward consumers.  As he well knows, it is no longer about what’s good for us – it’s about what’s good for the customer.  Until radio focuses on that priority, it will be out of sync with companies like Google, Pandora, Apple, Groupon, and Amazon – our new competitors.

We look forward to presenting Techsurvey 7 early next month, and we hope Mr. Pittman tunes in to see the data for himself.

P.S. Today, Paul and I are at RAIN Summit West in Las Vegas.  I’ll be speaking on mobile, and we’ll both be tweeting from the event.  Join us on Twitter. @fnjacobs @pauljacobsmedia

No, not Waldo.  Radio.

In the MyFord Touch video below, you’ll see a 1:50 walk-through of their Sync system – climate control, the USB port, turn-by-turn directions, etc.

 

 

>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW MYFORD TOUCH VIDEO<

But do you see radio anywhere in this demo?

Hint: At the :30 mark, there’s a shot of the entire screen (that resembles Bloomberg News), and on the left-hand side, you’ll briefly see the AM/FM and Sirius – along with the other array of entertainment options.  Watch quickly because it’s not on for long.

To win the consumer’s share of mind in one of these vehicles, radio is going to have to work hard to get and hold her attention.

In your first car, the entertainment “module” probably looked more like this:

Those were the days.

P.S. Thanks to Radio-Info for featuring us in their series. In this guest column, I talk about "best practices" for going to school on mobile. Hope you like it. You can copy and paste the link here: New Media: The Future Is Now

http://www.radio-info.com/new-media/the-future-is-now/think-mobile-first?utm_source=Subscribers&utm_campaign=5beb405027-TRI_02-18-2011&utm_medium=email