The two operating systems dominate the market, with figures from Q2 2018 suggesting that Android OS accounts for an 88 per cent share and iOS holds around 11.9 percent. While the likes of Microsoft and RIM once had a place in this world, they have fallen by the wayside as Google and Apple’s unstoppable creations have marched to the top.

A number of differences

While the pair are now truly out on their own in terms of their performance in the market, they are different in a number of ways. For example, as this VPNbase article on the best Android VPN services outlines, Android devices are seen as less exclusive and arguably more flexible than Apple’s iOS-based alternatives. While the site states this is a “wonderful thing”, it does also warn that this can open Android systems up to a range of risks.

On a more technical level, another key difference is how apps for the two systems are created. While iOS apps are stored on a file type known as an IPA, Android apps use the format known as APK. This issue, in particular, has caused a headache for many businesses in recent years, as this has meant it is not necessarily easy for them to quickly adapt apps for one OS to another.

However, could a major new toolkit created by developers at Google be about to change the game in this regard?

Introducing Flutter

At the start of December, Google announced the launch of its first stable release of the UI toolkit known as Flutter. The company describes the system as a way to build ‘beautiful, native experiences’ for both iOS and Android systems using a single codebase.

While this does not replace the traditional way of creating apps for the two operating systems, it is an engine that can be added to an existing app or used in a completely new one. Google said that Flutter’s set of widgets would ensure a “pixel-perfect experience” on both OSs, ensuring designers are able to achieve their vision without having to “water it down” due to any limitations.

The key benefits of Flutter were highlighted in comments from Capital One’s senior director of engineering Michael Jones, who said the service would mean the company can now think about features “not in an ‘iOS or Android-first’ fashion, but rather in a true mobile-first model”.

Exciting new development

The release of Flutter is an exciting development which could change the game for everyone involved in mobile marketing, with hopes being high that it will make it easier for developers to create apps for both iOS and Android.

While the two biggest mobile operating systems in the world have fundamental differences, Google’s new toolkit has arguably brought them closer than they have ever been before.

The post How Flutter Looks Set to Transform Android and iOS App Development appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

As for the juiciest details of the report, the key findings of the global mobile analytics market, according to Technavio media and entertainment researchers, include:

• In 2016, the iOS segment dominated the market by occupying almost 63% share
• The Americas dominated the global mobile analytics market with 54% share in 2016
• Adobe Systems, Amazon Web Services, Google, IBM, and Microsoft are the leading players in the market

The growing adoption of data analytics is a major market driver, the report summary notes.

To maximize their profits, increase revenue, and reduce costs, organizations use data analytics. It helps in eliminating the major work involved in understanding customers and data tracking processes. Data analytics also helps in attracting new customers and analyze the historical data patterns to provide insights into retaining the existing customers.

Data analytics, the Technavio team adds, also helps in understanding the consumer and providing them with customized services. Through data and customer analytics, insights can be gained about buying patterns of new customers. These insights can be used to strategize and plan ways and means to boost sales and revenue.

Want to know more about the report? The whole shebang is available for purchase here.

The post Technavio: iOS to Dominate the Global Mobile Analytics Market appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

With iOS 11.2 adoption now past 42%, this bug is wreaking havoc on text messaging, particularly for brands seeking to prompt direct responses from consumers.

Unfortunately, due to the bug that continues to multiply across the iOS userbase, non-clickable links are taking a toll on SMS campaigns, likely resulting in a serious dip in conversions.

Derek Johnson, CEO of Tatango, tipped off the mobile marketing community to this issue earlier this month following the discovery of the bug, which is negatively hindering the mobile marketing efforts of prominent brands like Subway and Baskin-Robbins, to name a few.

“As you can imagine, this is causing major issues for brands using text message marketing, as many of their messages are promotional in nature, like ‘Save $5 when you spend $20.’ The timing is not good either, as many brands are sending more text messages than normal, due to the holidays,” Johnson recently told Mobile Marketer.

While there’s no timeline confirmed for a fix, Tatango is urging mobile marketers to stay clear of including dollar signs in their text messages until further notice.

The post Dollar Sign Signals Headaches for Mobile Marketers with Unresolved iOS 11.2 Bug appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Founded in June of 2000, TeleQuery invents, develops, markets, and sells secure telecom services, broadcasting, consumer/business/government databases, a patented motorcycle towing device, and other specialized products to the US, Europe, South America, and Austral-Asia.

PDX has begun testing its advertising platform via Google Adwords, marketing existing TeleQuery iOS product “Who’s Calling Me? ”. Who’s Calling Me? is an iOS telephone number reverse 411 directory look-up service app that currently has over 2,000,000 downloads. The mobile app was introduced to the iTunes App Store in 2010.

“By Using Google AdWords and Facebook to identify new downloads and sales of user credits, we are anticipating high-multiple returns,” said CEO Patrick Johnson. “We look forward to the analytics results derived from our Google Adwords advertising spends over the coming month,” he said.

To learn more, check out PDX Partners here.

The post PDX Partners Inc. Kick Starts Online Advertising Program for iOS Product appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

We’re told, the offering is lightweight and comes with ad quality control functionality, “allowing mobile publishers to choose the highest earning mobile ad formats.”

According to a provided release, the company’s SDK integrates iOS applications with SmartyAds’ SSP, allowing app developers to offer advertising inventory to demand partners worldwide instantaneously.

SmartyAds SDK for iOS Version 1.0 is easily customized and uniquely designed for each client. The SDK offers robust monetization tools for app developers, allowing them to manage advertising space, choose best-performing ad formats and optimize configuration settings. The IOS SDK is only 2.5 MB, helping to reduce app size and minimize discrepancies in mobile app’s load time.

“Apart from the newest iOS SDK, SmartyAds offers Android SDK for mobile ads,” an emailed statement concludes. “With ultra lightweight Android SDK, clients can easily leverage custom banner ads, interstitials and a variety of VAST video ads that enhance user experience. Using SmartyAds SDKs for iOS and Android, app developers can sell inventory programmatically through the SmartyAds ad tech platform.”

The post Smarty Ads Rolls Out iOS SDK for In-App Advertising appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The latest smartphone OS sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Android sales declined in the US, GB, and France, as iOS continued to make gains across most regions in the three months ending November 2016.

“For Android, this marks the sixth consecutive period of decline in the US, at 55.3% of all smartphone sales, down from 60.4% in the same period a year earlier,” the Kantar crew says. “In Urban China, iOS was down year-on-year at 19.9%, but continued strong period-on-period growth with sales from iPhone 7.”

iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone 6s were the three most popular smartphones in the US at the beginning of the holiday period, for a combined 31.3% share. The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge were the fourth and fifth best-selling phones in the US, with Samsung capturing 28.9% of smartphone sales.

“Verizon booked nearly a quarter of all US smartphone sales during the Black Friday period, playing a vital role for all brands, including Apple and Samsung,” reported Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “Buyers were motivated by Verizon’s promotions on both Apple and Samsung’s top phones, including offers of free iPhone 7, 7 Plus and Galaxy S7 phones after trade-in and purchase requirements were met.”

The post Kantar Shows Renewed Mobile Momentum for iOS appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Reporting key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry for December 2015, comScore says the dominance of iOS and Android once again told the whole story while Facebook ranked as the top individual smartphone app.

But the really interesting facts of note involve the smartphone OEM Market Share.

197.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (79.3 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in December.

Apple ranked as the top OEM with 42.9 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Samsung ranked second with 28.4 percent market share (up 0.8 percentage points from September), followed by LG with 9.9 percent (up 0.5 percentage points), Motorola with 5.3 percent (up 0.5 percentage points) and HTC with 3.3 percent.

Android ranked as the top smartphone platform in December with 53.3 percent market share (up 1 percentage point from September), followed by Apple with 42.9 percent, Microsoft with 2.9 percent and BlackBerry with 0.9 percent.

To learn more, check out comScore’s announcement here.

The post comScore: U.S. Smartphone Ownership Nears 200 Million appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In fact, IBM just announced that the company has delivered more than 100 IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps, as part of its partnership with Apple, to transform work across 14 industries and 65 individual professions.

The sectors include everything from wealth advisors to flight attendants, first responders, nurses, and retail buyers.

“Additionally, the companies are expanding the portfolio to new markets including consumer products, automotive, aging, and chemicals and petroleum,” according to IBM.

The apps integrate IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities with Apple’s legendary consumer experience to help companies achieve new levels of efficiency, effectiveness and customer satisfaction — faster and easier than ever before, according to IBM.

Current clients include Air Canada, AXA, Coca-Cola, Amatil, Japan Post, and Vodafone Netherlands — among the first to choose IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps designed for iPads and iPhones.

“We see the transformation of our customers’ experience as a strategic differentiator for our insurance and financial advice business,” said Nicolas Moreau, Chairman and CEO of AXA, member of the AXA Management Committee.

“We’re going to combine the sleek experience of an Apple Genius Bar with the expertise of our advisors to not only give our customers the experience they want, but an experience that dramatically exceeds their expectations,” Moreau added.

The post IBM Announces #100 MobileFirst for iOS Apps in Partnership with Apple appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

But things may be changing. This year, those Black Friday shoppers stayed on the couch instead of getting behind the wheel.

“Mobile shopping accounted for well over a third of all online shopping on Black Friday 2015 in the U.S., some 36.1 percent according to e-commerce analytics firm Custora,” reports Forbes. “That’s up from 30.3 percent last year. Keeping with the longstanding trend for mobile commerce, the vast majority of those mobile customers were also iPhone users.”

Reportedly, 77 .6 percent of all orders made on mobile devices took place on iPhones or iPads, while only 22.1 percent were placed via Android devices.

“The good news for Android is that its share of the pie is up slightly from 19.5 percent of orders last year,” noted Forbes.

Google may lament that Apple mobile devices are in the lead for the buying of goods and services (despite Android’s dominance of global market share for smartphone platforms).

But — “iOS is for selling product, and Android is for advertising,” suggests Forbes contributor Ayo Omojola.

In short, mobile is making inroads — the kind that could turn the classic definition of Black Friday on its head.

And what about sales?

“In retail stores, sales on Black Friday dropped to $10.4 billion this year from $11.6 billion last year, according to shopping analytics firm ShopperTrack,” according to Forbes.

The post Black Friday Stampede? Maybe — But On Mobile appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“Android has 1.4 billion monthly active users on its smartphones and tablets thanks to its enormous selection and ability to appeal to numerous segments of the smartphone consumer market,” reports BusinessInsider this week.

The problem? Perhaps an age-old one: with proliferation come vulnerabilities.

“Due to its open-source variants, the Android ecosystem is highly fragmented, which presents numerous issues in terms of security and app development,” according to BusinessInsider. “As key smartphone markets shift from developed regions like the U.S. and China to emerging markets like India and Brazil, Google will try to maintain its control of Android via its Android One project, while third-party vendors will push regionalized versions of Android to better cater to new consumer markets.”

In fact, a new report from BI Intelligence sizes up the current Android platform and examines its greatest opportunities and challenges in key markets.

“We also explore the effects of fragmentation on Android, the limitations it presents to growing segments of the Android ecosystem, such as Android Wear and Android Pay, and discuss how its massive growth is presenting challenges to mobile advertisers and app developers looking to reach Android’s large user base,” notes BusinessInsider.

Some pressing issues?

“Fragmentation is the platform’s greatest challenge. One-third of consumers with Android devices are still using versions of the platform released in 2012 or earlier. The lack of a cohesive platform complicates app and security development.”

The full report is now available. To learn more, click here.

The post Android May Be World’s Monster Mobile Platform, But Issues Could Hurt Future Success appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.