The iphone Nano is on it's way

Mobile Technology: Thursday 5th February 2009

It's been a rumour for a while. In fact the Daily Mail predicted that the iphone Nano - the name expected by most people - would be in the shops for Christmas 2008.

No so fast, but now it's been confirmed (almost) that the next version of Apple's iphone will be in the shops for June 2009. The source originated from a report that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) and United Microelectronics (UMC) that they are set to get the contract to make chips for an iPhone Nano. This was reported in Cnet News and picked up by a number of online sources.

The iphone 3G made history as the fastest selling phone in the UK. Although Apple has yet to release the details, this summer's offering will be both smaller in size and capabilities. Some fear that many current apps will have to be rewritten to deal with the Nano's smaller screen size.

Successful though the iphone has been, it still represents less than 2% of the total UK handset market. Apple cannot rest on any laurels when it comes to it's Nano phone. Way back in April 2008, The Times Online reported that the iphone's success had also created more BlackBerry sales as people realised the potential of smartphones.

The handset market has always been particularly faddy. Two years ago the Motorolla Razar was the UK's best selling handset. It's usability was poor, but it was slim and came in hot pink! Before that it was the Sharp GX10. Much of this was thanks to David Beckham's use in the advert for Vodafone Live!, which was not promoting that handset as such, but the company's mobile web portal.

For mobile marketers the iphone represents some interesting issues. Whilst it only represents a small number of users, they do significantly more mobile browsing than other mobile users. Admob, the mobile advertising network reported that 16% of their total clicks were from iphone users. This represented over 40% of their smartphone users. They also download many more apps than anyone else, which is supported by figures from Apple's AppStore. iphone users represent the early adopters and opinion formers that many advertisers are trying to reach. The 2008 'ipint' campaign from Carling was the perfect illustration of how the influence of the iphone can be significantly more that it's market share.

This, however, raises many dilemmas for marketers. Should applications be developed for the iphone? Vouchering and ticketing, which often relies on MMS, cannot work in the same way on the iphone. Bluetooth proximity marketing is no good for iphone users. Will the smaller screen Nano present the same issues as any other smaller phone?

Article Links
Cnet reports on the iphone Nano
Daily Mail report on the Nano
BlackBerry profits double on iPhone success April 3, 2008
The iphone's impact outweights it's market share