The Handbook of Mobile Market Research: Tools and Techniques for Market Researchers

15 Researching the Mobile Ecosystem

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the rest of this book the term ‘mobile market research’ has focused on using mobile devices to conduct or aid existing market research, for example using mobile market research in concept testing. However, the term ‘mobile market research’ can also be applied to market research into the mobile ecosystem.

The term ‘mobile ecosystem’ encompasses every aspect of the mobile world, including:

• Devices, such as phones, phablets, and tablets
• Telephony and internet services
• Operating systems and apps
• Mobile shopping and commerce
• Mobile marketing and advertising.

The scale of the mobile ecosystem is immense. The world is moving to a point where every economically active adult who wants a phone has one, and there are already about 7 billion mobile phones in use. The growth of mobile phones is being followed by several other adoption waves, including mobile internet, smartphones, tablets, and mobile social networks.

As well as being immense in terms of the number of people who are using mobile devices, the mobile ecosystem is immense in terms of service provision, manufacturing, R&D, finance, shopping, entertainment, and advertising. In December 2013, Forbes' list of the World's Most Valuable Brands had five companies with significant roles in the mobile ecosystem in its top nine: Apple, Microsoft, Google, Intel, and Samsung – the other four being Coca-Cola, IBM, McDonald's, and General Electric.

This chapter starts by reviewing ...