MARKETING RESEARCH

Marketing Research

Executive Summary

The convergence of the internet and wireless technology in the late 1990s has produced a revolutionary telecommunication service: mobile internet. Global mobile operators are now accelerating technological transition from 2G to 3G, while by June 2004 active users of wireless data applications exceeded 115 million worldwide. The main factor affecting the consumers' decision to participate in mobile marketing is institutional trust, which is a significant factor in all three countries and with no gender differences. The influences of other antecedent factors are less pronounced. I have found that the more experienced consumers become with mobile marketing, the less influence perceived control will have on permission.

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION4

Wireless Media and Technology4

Aim of the Study6

Significance of the Study6

Research Questions7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW9

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY13

Methodology13

Questionnaire Items and Measures13

Multinational Corporations14

Telephone Survey16

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND ANALYSIS17

Conducted Interview17

Results19

Analysis19

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS21

REFERENCES23

APPENDIX30

Chapter 1: Introduction

Wireless Media and Technology

The convergence of the internet and wireless technology in the late 1990s has produced a revolutionary telecommunication service: mobile internet. Global mobile operators are now accelerating technological transition from 2G to 3G, while by June 2004 active users of wireless data applications exceeded 115 million worldwide (Smith, 2004). This figure will reach 1.72 billion by 2007, with aggregate subscriber revenue of $584 billion (Yankee Group, 2003). Such spectacular growth will change not only how we live, but also how firms advertise.

Short message services (SMS) has become a new technological buzzword in transmitting business-to-customer messages to such wireless devices as cellular telephones, pagers, and personal data assistants (PDAs). Many brands and media entertainment companies include text message numbers in their advertisements to enable interested consumers to obtain more information. This mode of advertising takes advantage of valuable channels of wireless communication to enhance customer relationships, and to carry out direct marketing and promotional activities (Frolick and Chen, 2004).

The adoption of SMS in marketing campaigns is sufficient to demonstrate that e-mail is the wireless application most used by consumers. According to personal knowledge, the name of Ba-bi.com in Hong Kong is famous due to its advertising business, marketing and mobile game. The messaging frame of “Ba-Bi” is now being extended to include multimedia message services (MMS), which combine pictures, video, and sound. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in Japan, where on an average day one Japanese cellular phone company, NTT DoCoMo, carries between 900 million and 1 billion e-mails to its “i-mode” subscribers (Scuka, 2003). On i-mode, DoCoMo offers a “one-stop-solution” of mobile internet services, which enables users to engage in multiple tasks in one portal: e-mailing, instant messaging, data search, and internet. Users who access i-mode can use SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)-based e-mail with a message of up to 500 characters, in comparison to 160 characters in SMS (Eurotechnology, 2003).

By 2003, i-mode subscribers had reached 40 million, and it is now expanding to European markets through license contracts and partnerships, with such operators as E-Plus (America), KPN Mobile (The Netherlands), BASE (Belgium), Bouygues Telecom (Spain), Telefonica Moviles (Spain), and Wind ...