There are over 2 billion people with a phone but no internet connection

"Six billion cell phone subscriptions are spread across five billion of the earth’s seven billion people, says Suneet Tuli, CEO of Datawind, maker of the world’s cheapest tablet computer. Yet only two billion people are connected to the internet, which means three billion people have everything they need to connect to the internet—except a suitable device.
“Are they lacking electricity?” asks Tuli. “Of course not–if you’ve got a cell phone, you’ve got some way of charging it. Are they lacking networks? No. If you’ve got a cell phone, you’ve got some way of being connected to it. So what is really left? What is left is affordability. A computer costs three or four hundred bucks, and a cell phone costs thirty or forty bucks. But what happens if a basic computing device that’s reasonably usable gets down to that price point?”"
Source:  Quartz.com, 29th November 2012

Note - I think the recent Ericsson mobile numbers are more reliable, so I've used them in the heading; the idea remains the same

4.3 billion people have 6.4 billion mobile phone subscriptions

"Telecommunications giant Ericson has released a massive report on the state of the mobile world. And clearly, unless you live in the almost-fully-penetrated European and North American markets, everything is up and to the right.
China, the rest of Asia, and Africa together accounted for 75 percent of new mobile subscriptions in the third quarter of 2012, with 38 million in China, 31 million in the rest of Asia, and 25 million in Africa. That contrasts rather sharply with only one million new subscriptions in western Europe and two million in North America.
With 6.4 billion global cellular subscriptions and a world population just shy of seven billion, it would seem that almost everyone has a mobile phone or other mobile device connected to the internet. However, Ericsson, says, those 6.4 billion subscriptions are spread over only 4.3 billion people, meaning that many people have more than one plan … for example, a phone and a tablet, both with a cellular connection.
Which leads to a penetration percentage of well over 100 percent in some areas:
Mobile subscriptions penetration globally
40 percent of all phones sold in the third quarter, Ericsson says, were smartphones, but only 15 percent of the global installed base of phones is smartphones … so there is still a long runway for growth. In fact Ericsson is predicting smartphone subscriptions alone will reach 3.3 billion in 2018."

Source:  VentureBeat, 23rd November 2012

Full report is here

eCommerce sales rose 17% Y-o-Y in the US on Cyber Monday 2012

"Online spending rose 17 percent on the Monday after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest days of the year for Internet retailers, as tablets and smartphones let customers shop anytime and anywhere.
Consumers spent about $1.46 billion on so-called Cyber Monday, compared with $1.25 billion a year ago, making it the heaviest online spending day in history, research firm ComScore Inc. (SCOR) said in a statement today. U.S. retail e-commerce spending reached $16.4 billion in the first 26 days of the holiday season, a 16 percent increase from the same time last year.
The convenience offered by mobile devices, especially tablets, is boosting sales for online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and EBay Inc. (EBAY) Consumers are no longer waiting for Black Friday to shop and they’re starting as early as Thursday evening, which will help Internet sales reach $43.4 billion this holiday season, or 10 percent of U.S. retail spending, excluding gas, food and cars, according to ComScore.
“Mobile commerce as a whole has clearly gone beyond what it’s traditionally been, which is something primarily for the research phase,” Clark Fredricksen, vice president at researcher EMarketer Inc., said in an interview. “Tablets are the key driver in terms of the sales element. They’ve extended the length of the shopping day.”
More than 18 percent of shoppers used a mobile device to access a retailer’s website on Cyber Monday, an increase of 70 percent over 2011, according to a Nov. 27 report from International Business Machines Corp. Mobile sales almost doubled, making up 13 percent of total Web-based purchases, the company said.
Amazon’s sales on Cyber Monday increased 42 percent from a year earlier, while EBay’s rose 55 percent, according to ChannelAdvisor Corp., which provides services to third-party sellers on e-commerce sites.
EBay mobile sales volume more than doubled on Cyber Monday, compared with the previous year, and PayPal’s payment volume almost tripled, Johnna Hoff, an EBay spokeswoman, said in an e- mail. Consumers worldwide shopped most frequently from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. New York time, the company said."
Source:  BusinessWeek, 28th November 2012

SocialCam, Viddy & Draw Something have seen usage decline steeply

"When I look at retention on mobile today, a 30% monthly active user rate is much higher than what publicly available data tells us:
Socialcam: In June, Socialcam had 83.6M monthly active users connected to Facebook. Today, it has 4.3M. This is a decrease of 95% in 5 months.
Viddy: In June, Viddy had 20.9M monthly active users connected to Facebook. Today, it has 660K. This a decrease of 97% in 5 months.
Draw Something: In April, Draw Something had 36.5M monthly active users connected to Facebook. Today, it has 9.1M. This is a decrease of 75% in 7 months.
Path: In December, Path had 250K monthly active users connected to Facebook. Almost one year later, they have about 780K monthly active users. While the 2.0 version of their app led to much initial growth, it seems that growth hasn’t affected churn."

Source:  Blog post by Venture Capitalist Cristina Cordova on her blog, 25th November 2012

Note - on the Path number she says this in the comments:

"Pete Griffiths 

I am puzzled by the Path example. That's a 300% INCREASE isn't it?

Cristina Cordova 

Yes, it's an increase. However, an increase in the hundreds of thousands over a year is worrisome for an app that has been around for over 2 years and has several million downloads. 

Retention should be increasing significantly with growth in this case.

Get TinyVox & Say It

I think the point is that in this bunch, Path is a shining poster child of retention. I hate to admit it but I use it constantly on a daily basis. They possibly just need a solid ad campaign, because the retention thing they've got down, at least CONCEPTUALLY: "a way better mobile oriented news feed like thing". That's retention. .

Cristina Cordova 

I don't think they have it down. They hit 3M downloads in June and are at 780K MAUs 5 months later. That's a 26% MAU rate excluding any downloads they've had since June, which means it's even lower than 26%."

Amazon outscores bricks & mortar retailers in customer satisfaction

"A just-released Harris Interactive Poll of online retailers reveals that online-only Amazon outperforms all the brick-and-click retail competitors and on all measures. The study found that a majority of online US adults are satisfied with the overall online shopping experience; all retailers tested receive a rating of a 5 through a 7 on a 7-point scale. Also, all tested brands show positive recommendation likelihood scores.
The study examined 14 key retailers across numerous measures, including selection, ease of shopping, perceived value and likelihood to recommend, along with overall satisfaction.
This is more good news for Amazon which, according to comScore, was the most-visited online retail site on Black Friday, ahead of the brick-and-mortar-plus-online retailers Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and Apple. Overall, 57.3 million Americans visited online retail sites on Black Friday, up 18% from 2011.
Harris respondents give Costco Wholesale high marks among mass merchandisers for offering a good value, while Zappos and L.L. Bean share the top spot for selection of products in clothing and apparel. Online shoppers rate Kohl's website highest for ease of shopping within the department category."

Source:  Marketing Vox, 29th November 2012

Nine of the ten biggest smartphone manufacturers sell handsets with NFC chlps

"ABI Research analyst Phil Sealy comments that "2012 is the first time that ABI Research has raised forecasts for NFC-enabled handsets, up from 80 million units to 102 million for year-end 2012. Nine out of the top ten OEMs now have NFC-enabled handsets commercially available, with most housing an embedded secure element solution. We expect handset shipments to more than double next year with NFC inclusion likely to become a default technology integrated into flagship handsets.""

Source:  Marketing Vox, 21st November 2012

Americans spent $5.5 billion on Small Business Saturday 2012

"Not to be outdone by major retailers ringing up sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, small businesses generated $5.5 billion in sales during Small Business Saturday.
Results from the “shopping small” push, first launched by New York-based American Express Co. in 2010, exceeded expectations, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business and American Express.
Consumer awareness of Small Business Saturday jumped to 67 percent from 34 percent just two weeks ago. Of those aware, 47 percent shopped small business on Saturday. Those who were aware of the day spent a total of $5.5 billion, higher than earlier expectations of $5.3 billion.
American Express, which offered $25 rebates to cardmembers who shopped on Small Business Saturday, said cardmember transactions at small business merchants rose about 21 percent from last year."

Source:  New York Business Journal, 27th November 2012

eBay & Paypal had record breaking mobile levels of activity on Black Friday 2012

"Both eBay and PayPal have reported record-breaking levels of mobile activity on Black Friday (23 November).
While it is not quoting actual revenues, eBay says that mobile-transacted volumes in the US on Black Friday were more than 2.5 times that of Black Friday 2011 – 153 per cent more, to be precise. eBay also posted a 135 per cent increase in mobile-transacted volumes on Thanksgiving Day, compared to the same day in 2011.
Meanwhile, PayPal says that Black Friday was its biggest mobile shopping day to date. The company saw a 173% per cent increase in the number of customers shopping through mobile on Black Friday 2012, compared to the previous year. It also witnessed a 193 per cent increase in mobile payment volumes on Black Friday 2012, compared to Black Friday 2011."

Source:  Mobile Marketing, 26th November 2012

Samsung's Facebook ads reached 105 million people and generated $129 million in sales

"Everson [Carolyn Everson, Facebook's head of global marketing] offered proof points of the value that Facebook's ads bring from working with Datalogix, a market analytics firm that is measuring how often Facebook's users view advertised products on the site and then make purchases. The data indicated an average three- to five-time return on Facebook ads. A recent ad campaign for the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone, amid the iPhone 5 frenzy, resulted in an even larger return on investment. The three-week campaign reached over 105 million unique users, and generated $129 million in sales, a 13-times return on a $10 million ad buy, she said. Samsung now has more than 20 million fans on Facebook to market its messages."

Source:  Cnet, 27th November 2012

Note - This is Facebook's version of events; it's likely that Samsung also used other media, point of sale etc...

Foursquare users have checked in 3 billion times

"Foursquare has seen phenomenal growth over usage of its service. This week, it announced that it counted its 3 billionth check-in. Not bad for a service with just over 25 million users worldwide.
Two years ago, the location-based check-in service said it had experienced its biggest growth in history which was marked by more than 380 million check-ins, the Rally to Restore Sanity, and a single check-in from space. Now, 24 months later, the number of check-ins has increased exponentially — the company recorded its 1 billionth check-in September 2011, just 9 months later after its 380 millionth check-in.
Last September, the company stated that it had 2.5 billion check-ins counted. In that three month period, it averaged 167 million check-ins, or around 6.2 million per day. To get this number, TNW found the difference between November and September numbers and divided it by the days since (81) and that resulted in 6.2 million daily check-ins."

Source:  The Next Web, 21st November 2012

Earlier - 1.5 billion announced in February 2012

Popular websites are using more cookies

"The number of third-party cookies -- little pieces of software set on users' machines to track web users for ad targeting or site analytics purposes -- rose from 1,887 on the home pages of the most-popular 100 websites [in the US] in May to 2,324 in October, according to research from the University of California at Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. That's a 23% leap.
The Center's Web Privacy Census, conduced each year, crawled the most-trafficked sites on October 24, measuring the number of first-party and third-party cookies spotted on the top 100, top 1,000 and top 25,000 sites. In addition to checking website home pages, which it calls a "shallow crawl," the census project conducted "deep crawls," checking up to six random links on the same sites.
The privacy census measured the top sites as reported by Quantcast. According to the Quantcast site, the top 10 U.S. sites are Google, YouTube, Facebook, MSN, Twitter, Yahoo, Amazon, Wikipedia, Microsoft.com and Huffington Post. Others in the top 100 include Weather.com, eBay, ToysRUs.com, Walmart.com, IMDB, WebMD, Politico, Flickr, BuzzFeed, BarackObama.com and Time.com."

Source:  AdAge, 27th November 2012

Gangnam Style is the most viewed video on YouTube

"Gangnam Style, the dance track by South Korean pop phenomenon Psy, has become YouTube's most-watched video of all time.
It has notched up more than 808m views since it was posted in July.
The video pokes fun at the consumerism of Gangnam, an affluent suburb of the South Korean capital Seoul.
[...]
It holds the Guinness World Record for the most "liked" song ever - currently with a little under 5.4m likes on YouTube.
Previously, Justin Bieber's 2010 teenybopper hit Baby held the record for the most YouTube views.
Bieber's manager Scooter Braun was the first person in the US to tweet a link to the Gangnam Style video."

Source:  BBC News, 25th November 2012