Canada is behind the times with regards to all forms of digital marketing but that is because consumer awareness and adoption of online and mobile formats is much slower than in the United States and Europe.
Only about 70 per cent of Canadians currently own cellphones, while far fewer own high-end smartphones. By contrast, wireless penetration rates in some European countries are over 100 per cent.
And steeper prices for internet and wireless might also be a substantial contributing factor to why adoption rates are so slow. Rogers believes that the Google Android phones from HTC and the newest iPhone are the beginning of a revolution, along with the limited time only $30 data plan.
“It’s mostly about taking away the discomfort.”
Rogers recently reintroduced its $30 for 6 gigabytes plan for a limited time in conjunction with release of new Google Android-powered devices and the latest version of the iPhone, which will go on sale later this month.…
“It’s the beginning of something that will revolutionize the industry.”
A limited time only plan is not really the best way to get the slow adopters to partake in the smartphone revolution. I suspect that the Canadian services and tools on mobile need to be developed first to provide consumers with an incentive to participate – currently very little is available for the Canadian market. So why would we bother? To be pushed more American content? Companies have an opportunity, in Canada, to be first to the table and provide Canadian consumers with quality online content. Consumers want value – and where they are getting none, there is an opportunity to outshine competitors.
According to market forecasts from the IE Market Research Corp. the “total subscribers in Canada will increase from 21.6 million in 2008 to 29.7 million in 2013.” They believe that Rogers will dominate this growth, but that growth will slow after five years.
So the time is nigh for companies to start considering what kind of mobile relationship they want to have with their shoppers. Tools that make their lives easier are always good, an exact replica of what as a website is not so good.
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