Our friend Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley did her annual wake-up call to investors. We get to listen in.
Take a look at this year's 49 slides for assessments of the Internet marketplace and cautionary forecasts... her point is that we must evolve our business models to keep up with (local and global) competitors.
Yes, it's a $50 Billion online advertising opportunity! The above shot of the big-picture shifts in media buying is a great opportunity for those that change and charge ahead to what customers are REALLY doing with their time (... say "Mobile").
Here is another inspiring excerpt about Commerce:
"Wal-Mart in your pocket’…location-based services…group buying power…flash sales… deep discounts…transparent pricing…real-time alerts / ratings…virtual goods...immediate gratification… Products must be fast + easy + fun.
Have you ever seen ‘constant improvement’ in products like we are seeing now? Is your business keeping pace?
Is it? Well, this is exactly what we are helping companies do.
It's great to agree with Mother Mary!
More points:
- The iPad is one of the fastest-selling gadgets of all time (1mm in 28 days)
- Android smartphone shipments almost now equal iPhone shipments (Apple's app leverage may disappear fast)
- Global 3G wireless penetration just hit 20%, which is usually the inflection point to very rapid growth
- Mobile app and search usage is up 2X year over year
- iPad Internet usage is more similar to desktop usage than smartphone usage (more pageviews)
- Japan shows the potential for mobile advertising: Japan mobile ad spending now $11/user, up from $1 per user six years ago.
New company innovations to watch:
- Facebook – Real-time Communication / Social Graph / Credits
- Zynga – Social Gaming / Virtual Goods / Offers (Reward-Driven Marketing)
- Twitter – One-to-Many Real-Time Broadcast
- OpenTable / Yelp / Foursquare / Shopkick – Location-Aware Mobile Services
- Gilt / One Kings Lane / Rue La La – Time-based ‘Flash’ Sales
- Groupon – Social Group Buying
- Tapulous / Digital Chocolate / Booyah / Ngmoco:) – Social / Mobile Gaming
- Pandora / Spotify – Personalized Music
