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This is the decade of mobile: ThinkMobile keynote

NEW YORK - Mobile technology's impact on marketing and communications is a top priority of ad agencies, according to a keynote address at MediaBistro's ThinkMobile conference.

Ad agencies have taken notice of the tremendous growth of the mobile sector. Mobile marketing is projected to be a $7.3 billion industry by 2009 and a $19 billion industry by 2012, according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, or the 4As.

"It seems as if each year there's a headline screaming ?This is the year of mobile,' but I think it's safer to say that it's the decade of mobile," said Nancy Hill, president/CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, New York.

"In 2020 when we look back, I predict that the second decade of the 21st century is the decade when mobile truly takes off, when mobile is fully integrated into other media," she said.

By 2020, mobile will be the primary Internet device among consumers worldwide, according 4As.

"There are 3.4 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, and there are few relationships as intimate as the one that consumers have with their mobile phone," Ms. Hill said. "We carry a mobile device with us all day long -- we check it when we wake up and before we go to bed.

"What I have on my phone, music playlists on Shazam and Pandora, Yelp and social networks represent a clear, precise snapshot of who I am as a consumer and a professional today," she said. "The success of the iPhone is providing access to new forms of mobile content, and consumers are rapidly expecting -- no, demanding -- 3G-plus connection speeds."

Ms. Hill also stressed the need for real-time analytics across all digital platforms to provide proof, accountability and in some cases instantaneous metrics to get more brands to experiment in mobile and invest in it.

While Google's entrance into mobile market with Android did not garner the same level of attention as the iPhone, Ms. Hill sees it as part of a growing trend of Web-friendly mobile devices marrying Web content with the convenient features of mobile phones.

"Google has its eyes on the prize of mobile search and advertising," she said.

However, Ms. Hill professed to be a converted iPhone user -- a "recovering BlackBerry user."

"When I had a BlackBerry, I used it for email, as a phone and moderate Web surfing," Ms. Hill said. "When I got an iPhone, though, it was like going from a black-and-white TV to color -- it changed the way I interact with media.

"Rather than simply using the mobile phone as a work appliance, it's become an indispensible part of my everyday life -- my personal life," she said.

Thirty-four percent of Americans say they recall seeing a mobile ad, while 41 percent of iPhone users recall seeing a mobile ad, according to 4As.

162 million consumers use text messaging. Ten percent of mobile phone users use location-based services, while 55 percent use mobile services other than voice.

"We're seeing a natural evolution of consumers' habits, how and what they use their phone for," Ms. Hill said. "In a survey of young people, women and baby boomers, each group showed varying degrees of engagement with mobile.

"Millennials have a different relationship with mobile devices than older generations," she said. "The young are focused on social networking, while baby boomers still consumer traditional media like newspapers and prime-time TV."

However, regardless of age, gender and socio-economic class, all groups use mobile phones, according to 4As.

"While young people all but declared the death of print media, the cross-generational consensus was on mobile: everyone can't live without it," Ms. Hill said. "Older demographics are utility users, while younger demographics are more likely to access social networks and text.

"In all cases, mobile is a part of their everyday lives -- it's the only medium consumed by everyone," she said. Mobile went from new to much-used, and there's a growing mobile audience for marketers to reach, many of whom understand the exchange of information for mobile content."