The iPad – is it really mobile?

May 11, 2010

Andy Bovingdon is vice president of product marketing at Bango

By Andy Bovingdon

In some recent mobile marketing meetings the topic of iPads has come up – probably not too surprising given the media industry’s current unnatural obsession with all things Apple. After all, it is the saviour of publishing.

But given that my recent meetings have been focused on mobile marketing, the lead question has always been whether the iPad is a mobile device – say what you may, it is somewhat bigger than a phone and you cannot make calls on it.

The argument for the case states that the iPad uses the iPhone operating system and has an app store crammed full of familiar iPhone applications. The device is designed to be carried about, is great for browsing the Web and the latest version even has 3G mobile broadband capabilities.

From a marketer’s perspective, it is simple to include iPad users alongside iPhone and iPod touch users: those pages and applications your banner ads appear in will be seen both by iPad and iPhone users.

The argument against the case points out that the iPad is hardly an always-on personal device – not unless you have very big pockets.

It is likely to be used in a very different way from accepted mobile devices, in ways more similar to netbooks or laptops.

The iPad is not a communications device, so all those ads that point at click-to-call pages simply will not work – not even with the latest 3G version.

Defining moment
So whether the iPad is mobile ultimately it depends on your definition of mobile.

On the one hand, mobile is about personal access to communication and information, a convenient device that is always with you and always on.

In this sense, the iPad is portable but not mobile – you will not see everyone carrying one around the streets.

On the other hand, mobile can refer to any portable, connected device that gives you access to information and services.

This much wider definition would naturally include the iPad. But it should arguably also include other connected devices such as netbooks, ebook readers such as the Amazon Kindle and handheld gaming consoles including the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable.

In fact, pretty much every device built these days is connected, with built-in Wi-Fi or mobile broadband. We are living in a very complex world of diverse devices with complex connections, which is much easier to write than say.

So is it mobile? The answer has to be a yes.

Soon everyone will have at least one mobile device of some form. For most of us this will be phone-sized, but there will always be a section of the market that will have something bigger hidden in their bag or big pocket.

The key thing to ask here is not whether something is mobile but how big is its marketing effect – what is the size, reach and viability of the device?

From a marketing perspective, it simply comes down to ROI again – will the time and cost involved in doing something specific for an iPad or any other device reach my audience and give me the return I am looking for?

Sizing up
To help put things in context here are some relative sizes.

To start, Nintendo has shipped well in excess of 100 million Wi-Fi enabled DS gaming consoles worldwide. It is huge, but a market that is hard to reach and tends to be a younger audience.

Meanwhile, DisplaySearch reports that more than 5 million ereaders were sold in 2009, of which 3 million-plus were Amazon Kindles.

StrategyAnalytics estimates that more than 30 million netbooks were shipped worldwide in 2009.

In comparison, Apple has just sold 1 million iPads since its launch – a much smaller number, but not bad for just one month of U.S. sales. About 12 million iPad applications were downloaded in that period.

How these devices affect your business and the opportunity they present depends on the products you produce and the audience they are designed for.

So before rushing out to dominate the new iPad opportunity, it is important to understand your market and measure your traffic.

See what your target audience is using and how many are starting to use iPads, Kindles, iPhones, BlackBerrys, netbooks or other devices. You can then make an informed decision on where to focus your effort and budget with confidence.

Andy Bovingdon is Cambridge, England-based vice president of product marketing of Bango, a provider of mobile billing and mobile analytics services. Reach him at .

Comments on "The iPad – is it really mobile?"

1. Sam Gronner says:

   May 11, 2010 at 7:14pm

   Very valid point, and indeed there is a distinction between portability and mobility. Let's also not forget that mobile ads need not always be visual now require iPad-sized displays. In the right context, creative SMS/audio mobile campaigns have shown to yield great response at lower cost.

2. ed hewett says:

   May 11, 2010 at 8:44am

   It seems like the real point of many discussions regarding whether the iPad is a mobile device distill back to how services should be delivered/customized for iPad users. That question has to be answered using analytics as it varies depending on the business. For example, marketers should find out if iPad users are more engaged on their standard site or the mobile optimized version of their site and then deliver the most engaging experience to iPad users. Check out this blog post for more detail:
   
   http://blogs.omniture.com/2010/04/20/ipad-users-twice-as-engaged-on-desktop-websites/