Tuesday’s introduction of the iPad Mini is being met with no small amount of enthusiasm from those in and around the mobile ad space.
Glenn Kiladis, vice president and general manager, FreeMyApps, Fiksu:
“Apple’s iPad Mini will certainly provide an array of tablet marketing opportunities. The smaller form factor and lighter weight increase the likelihood that this tablet will be taken off the couch and into the world, so while tablet favorites such as games, entertainment, and shopping are likely to be popular, some of the focus will shift to those apps designed for ‘snacking’ or on-the-go usage. We also think it’s likely that as Apple ships millions of these devices and app developers spend on consumer acquisition to get in front of those users, overall competitiveness in the iPad section of the App Store will increase.”
Ravi Kamran, CEO of Trademob, an app marketing platform:
“Compared to the smartphone app market, the tablet market is an open playing field for app marketers and developers. There are only about 275,000 apps specifically optimized for the iPad, as compared to 700,000 iPhone apps. With an influx of new users and a relative lack of competition amongst apps optimized for the new iPad resolution, the iPad Mini presents an excellent marketing opportunity for app developers. Seeing that bigger screens encourage more high-priced purchases and that the iPad is mostly used at home, as just confirmed by a recent study by Google, the smaller screen of the new iPad mini might open up new business opportunities, encouraging more higher-priced purchases on-the-go.”
John SanGiovanni, Co-Founder and VP of Product Design at Zumobi, a mobile media company:
“A high-volume smaller (7/8 inch) tablet would be an awesome format for brand advertisers! In my 13 years in working in the mobile space and six years designing mobile UI at Zumobi, I have learned that this category is all about lean consumption of media and content, so brand experiences need to be engaging and long form. However, campaign-specific branded apps will likely be less appropriate for this format than they might be on phones. For small tablets rich media campaigns and integrated brand experiences will be the way to go.
“What I foresee really working at this size is video and long-form content with news and gaming apps at the forefront of consumption. On the flip side, snackable apps and bite-sized content will not work for the iPad mini. For advertisers, mobile banners will be the death of digital advertising at this size.
“Not coincidently a smaller (7/8 inch) tablet size fits nicely in a hand/shoulder bag, whereas the additional heft of the current tablets means it sometimes get left at home. As Apple and others explore new sizes and form factors of computing devices users will find entirely new ways to consume the content they love. Brand advertisers will have to be savvier than ever to reach consumers wherever they are to truly engage and connect with them on this new mobile platform.”
Kurt Hawks, general manager, Greystripe, a mobile ad network reaching 40M users (customers include Burger King and Buick):
“What’s important to marketers about the iPad mini is this: there is going to be an increase in high-quality mobile users as a result of the iPad mini’s debut. We know from industry studies that 56% of tablet owners make over $75K, and 46% have made a purchase after interacting with a tablet ad, so this creates a new, potentially very lucrative frontier for digital marketers.
“One of the biggest benefits of the iPad mini for marketers has been the ability to provide rich, full-screen interactive experiences on a large screen. We’ve seen outstanding results on iPad, with a recent breakfast bar campaign yielding a 19% interaction rate and an average of 31 seconds spent with the ad. We expect these results will be repeated with the iPad mini.”
Greg McAllister, co-founder and CEO, PushPoint Mobile, a mobile commerce solutions provider:
“The iPad mini is the ‘Goldilocks’ device for mobile marketing because it’s just right – not as small as a smartphone with the limitations a smaller screen creates, but not as large as current tablets, whose size makes them less portable.
“What excites me about the iPad mini is that it should give marketers genuine mobile conversion. Right now, some studies show that up to 90% of mobile conversions come from tablets, but that’s not necessarily true. Those conversions could come from someone sitting on their couch (and in most cases, probably do), so labeling those transactions as ‘mobile’ is a misnomer. The iPad mini’s portability means that mobile tablet conversions will be, for the first time, truly mobile. This will open up an entirely new level of conversion analytics, and in turn, the potential for a much deeper understanding of the consumer.”
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