June 3, 2014

mysms and Apple’s iMessage update

Posted in mobile news, mysms news by mysms

As you might know, Apple announced an update for its iMessage application at the WWDC yesterday.

 

Some of our users and supporters contacted us, because they thought Apple’s new functionality looks like what mysms has offered for years, and were wondering if this changes anything for mysms.

 

What’s important here is that Apples messages app is offered only to iOS users. Our goal has always been to bring cloud-based messaging to all your devices, and we don’t want to restrict ourselves to any platform or device. Nevertheless, mysms was often referred to as “iMessage for Android” in the past. Today, Android is still our top smartphone platform and mysms takes full advantage of the Android operating system with custom notifications, themes, plugins, widgets and much, much more. These features allow you to adapt mysms to your specific needs and this won’t change in future.

 

We have a lot more to show you in the upcoming weeks and are already looking forward to tell you more about it 🙂

Your mysms team

March 13, 2014

Living in a mobile world

Posted in mobile news by sgeier

How much time do you spend with your mobile devices? Could you even survive a day without them? Rising figures of sold smartphones and tablets as well as declines in PC sales indicate that our world is becoming more and more mobile. But will our behavior really change to mobile usage only? Let’s have a look on some facts on this topic and on where the future of digital is heading.

Mobile devices are gaining increasing popularity

Mobile devices are gaining increasing popularity

Smartphones and tablets are overtaking PCs

Mobile has always been much more than just technology. With the huge uptake of smartphones, technology and mobile experience grow closer together. The rise of smartphones and tablets clearly shows that there is a shift from desktop to mobile. While the sales of personal computers have a bearish tendency, the number of sold smartphones and tablets are booming. Especially smartphones are skyrocketing: The annual global sales increased from zero to 600 million within only a few years and in the US the smartphone penetration is already at 60 per cent. The tablet market is a few years behind, but still growing. Also wearables, such as smartwatches and smart glasses, gain increasing popularity.

Mobile devices are not just smaller or less powerful than computers – They are another way of thinking and a unique form of media that offer more interactivity. Altogether 3 billion people use the internet worldwide and more and more people already prefer to be online with mobile devices, rather than desktop PCs. Nearly 60 per cent of online devices are now smartphones or tablets. People like you and me have their mobile devices with them all the time and always on.

 

Changing consumer behavior

This development shows a change in consumer behavior. PCs are only semi-portable, mostly shared or often used at work. Nowadays, before upgrading or buying a new PC people are now rethinking the need of owning a PC and often decide not to purchase a new one. On the other hand, people use their mobile devices individually and mostly for talking, texting, social networking and visiting websites. Things like the address book and pictures are accessible for all apps, push notifications inform on news and the home screen icons make it easy to use and switch between apps – This makes mobile devices more interactive and social.

If we compare the different devices, it is interesting that each device has its own prime time. Computers are preferably used at midday, mobile phones in the afternoon and tablets in the evening. On average, people spend an hour a day with their smartphones and half an hour with their tablet each time they use it. Most important is the simultaneous use of multiple devices and screens. For example while watching TV, people are checking their emails, browse the internet, are active online on social media, searching for information or playing games. In this case the share of PCs is relatively small and overtaken by the boom of smartphones and tablets.

 

Apps and more

The most popular platforms for mobile devices are still iOS and Android, whereas Android currently is the most dominant one. About 80 per cent of smartphones and 60 per cent of tablets run on Android. However, iPad is a dominant player when it comes to web traffic. Moreover, people love apps. According to a study of Flurry Analytics, the use of apps increased by 115 per cent in 2013. Since 2009 the number of app downloads has risen to 50 billion for Android and 60 billion for iOS. Even though every app category has been showing growth within the last year, the categories messaging & social and utilities & productivity recorded an extraordinary growth. There are over 50 social messaging apps with over a million downloads on the Google Play Store (mysms belongs to this group, too :)). Even though this growth is mainly caused by the biggest messaging apps, it doesn’t mean that these apps enjoy a monopoly. Facebook for example has overtaken the social experience on desktops. But there is no service that has it overtaken on mobile yet. Each app is competing for attention against countless other apps. Users can easily look for their best option which meets their needs best. The criterion which often matters most is which apps or services friends use. It is valuable and convenient for people if they can combine all their needs and friends in one service. However, people still don’t really mind to switch between social apps on mobile.

 

It seems that our future will be dominated by mobile devices. So the question is: Should you be mobile only? Definitely not. The world is multi-screen, so it’s better to be mobile, too.

 

Sources: Benedict Evans, Flurry Blog, Business Insider, version one ventures

January 11, 2013

Would you ditch your laptop or smartphone for a tablet?

Posted in mobile news by sgeier

Tablets already enjoy a great popularity and the use of these touchable devices with a great variety of features is increasing steadily. But can a tablet completely replace your smartphone or laptop? Let’s have a look on what a tablet actually is and how people use it, first.

The rise of tablets

The rise of tablets

What exactly is a tablet?

Tablets are like portable computers with a larger screen than smartphones (usually 7” to 10”) and a touchable surface. There’s usually only a virtual keyboard, so it is handled with the touch of your fingertip or a specific pen. Since the first launch of the iPad, the range of tablets has increased through numerous new devices such as Nexus, Samsung or Asus. This expansion of brands has been driven by a higher consumer’s demand. As the majority of sold tablets are iPad, the mainly used operating system is iOS, followed by Android. If you’re likely to buy an Android tablet, you can have a look at the 15 best current Android tablets.

 

What kind of people own a tablet? What are they using it for?

Usually, women use technical devices less compared to men, but regarding tablets there’s no real difference in gender. However, the main audience is at the age between 25 and 44, which means that the ordinary user is older than the average person who owns a smartphone. An interesting point is that smartphone users are more likely to buy a tablet – according to comScore one out of four people already owns one.

Tablet usage: Time spent per category

Time spent per category

The range of features is huge. Most people use their tablets for playing games, but also accessing social networks, entertainment (e.g. surfing the net, watching videos, listening to music), managing e-mails or reading the news are popular interactions. On average, tablet owners use apps on tablets less frequently, but for longer periods and mostly at home in the evenings.

 

Is it a replacement for computers/laptops or smartphones?

This question is hard to answer as there’s no general solution for it. It really depends on your individual needs to find the right mix of digital devices that are able to solve your problems. Basically, it’s possible to do similar things on your tablet as on your smartphone. However, in most cases the user experience on tablets is much better, because of a better battery performance and the larger screen. For example, if you just want to quickly check your e-mails, a smartphone would be sufficient, but if you also want to compose an e-mail in a convenient way, a tablet would be the better choice. Furthermore, according to Frank Gillett (a Forrester Research analyst) tablets won’t replace PCs. However, the rise will oblige developers of PC operating systems to evolve. Windows 8 is a great example for that development. Specifically, if you need a mouse, a physical keyboard or a USB slot, you will still use a PC.

 

I personally use my tablet in my daily routine for almost everything I need to do on a digital device. I check and respond to my e-mails, surf the net, compose and edit documents, process some images and I also write my texts on it, of course ;). It’s much more convenient and easily portable compared to my laptop. However, if I’d like to make phone calls, I usually go back to my smartphone, expect for Skype calls. Moreover, for overcoming complex documents, image processing and so on, I still prefer my laptop. Consequently, my tablet is indispensible, but I guess it won’t replace any of my other devices – at least not in the near future.

 

What about you? Do you own a tablet? If so, what do you use it for? Would you be able to replace some other digital devices with your tablet? Let me know in the comments!

 

Sources: Flurry, comScore

December 3, 2012

Happy Birthday, SMS!

Posted in mobile news by mysms

Congratulations! Text messaging celebrates its 20th birthday today. Hard to believe that it’s been already 20 years, when it was possible for the first time to send 160 characters via a mobile phone. Can you imagine living without text messaging? In this case you wouldn’t be able to send short updates when coming too late or arrange meetings without making a phone call. Text messaging makes us more flexible in our day-to-day communication. But how did it all start and what will be the role of SMS messaging in the future?

Let's celebrate!

Let’s celebrate!

 

The origins reach back to 1984, when a Finish engineer started a discussion about the idea of a messaging service at a mobile telecom conference in Copenhagen. However, the first text message was sent on 3rd December 1992 by the Vodafone technician Neil Papworth. “Merry Christmas” were the words he sent via the new transmission technology Short Message Service (SMS). These two words were the foundation for a service which people can’t imagine living without nowadays.

 

Texts or short messages (SMS) are a way of communication to exchange messages via mobile phones or from a computer to mobile phones. The word “short” stands for the maximum of 160 characters that could be used at its start. At the beginning text messaging was free of charge and mainly used to inform subscribers about waiting voicemails. As you can see on the chart, it took a while until texting became the most popular form of communication. From the first sent message in 1992 SMS traffic increased steadily up to over 8 trillion texts in 2012. Nowadays, every single user of a mobile phone is able to send and receive texts. And with the emerging trend towards using smartphones instead of simple feature phones (and the associated constant internet connection), new technologies like instant and OTT messages are becoming increasingly important. Just like with mysms friends, it is possible to transfer messages worldwide for free via data connection. In addition some implementations for the keyboard, like T9 or Swype have been relieved the handling of text messaging and made it more convenient over time. Furthermore, you are able to send even more than 160 characters and you could send them via any device nowadays.

 

When we started with mysms our goal was to bring the advantages of both worlds (SMS and instant messaging) to one single product. By using our app you can send not only texts via your mobile carrier, but also instant and multimedia messages (mysms friends messages) to other mysms users via data connection. In addition, times where you have to write messages on a small keyboard on your phone are also enhanced by the possibility to write texts and messages on your computer or tablet as well.

 

Despite the fast moving world of technology, texting is still the world’s most used form of digital communication, over 8 trillion texts are sent every year and it still connects more people than every other messaging service e.g. Facebook or Twitter. Moreover, text messaging has been proven to be as addictive as smoking cigarettes. We believe texting will continue to be popular in the future and will be endorsed by instant and OTT messages.

We are looking forward to congratulate the SMS to its 30th Birthday.

November 23, 2012

Will the mobile web really replace desktop internet?

Posted in mobile news by sgeier

What kind of device do you use to surf the net? Are you still mainly using your computer or have you switched to your mobile gadgets? It seems that the importance of desktop internet will fade into the background, as the mobile internet usage has been increasing dramatically in recent years. Since many people own smartphones and tablets nowadays, it is becoming easier to access the internet from any place you are. However, will mobile internet really overtake the desktop use by 2015 as recent forecasts suggest?

The Rise of the Mobile Web

The Rise of the Mobile Web

There are a few indicators that demonstrate mobile internet is becoming more and more popular. Nearly half of the world’s population has access to 3G mobile networks now, and also the connection and downstream speed is improving. Based on the fact that more smartphones and tablets are being shipped compared to desktop and notebook PCs, it’s not surprising that the monthly global mobile data traffic has doubled within the last year. In some emerging countries like Egypt, India or South Africa, a high percentage of people only surf the net via mobile web. But interestingly, also one out of four US Americans rarely or never uses a computer to access the web.

Have a look at this infographic to form your own opinion about the mobile web. By the way, I am very curious on which device you’re reading this blog post 😉

The takeover of mobile internet
The takeover of mobile internet

 

Source: sixrevisions.com