Author: Lucy

Advertisers have yet to warm up to this technique as they have yet to be convinced of the receptiveness of consumers.

Despite the fact that the rate of smartphone ownership is skyrocketing throughout the Middle Eastern region, and while mobile ads do seem to provide a tremendous amount of opportunity for marketers, those firms remain hesitant about its use as they have yet to receive adequate evidence to suggest that consumers will be entirely receptive to it.

This has led advertisers in the region to hold a lukewarm opinion of mobile marketing, at best, so far.

According to the Arabnet digital hub founder, Omar Christidis, “Mobile is probably the underserved segment and it is probably the most over looked opportunity in the market today.” This, even though the use of mobile ads is growing at an extremely rapid rate. However, when compared to other channels, there is still a considerable difference in the amount of money and resources that are being dedicated to marketing over smartphones and tablets.

It is only recently that spending growth for mobile ads has started to close in on other channels.

Christidis also pointed out that “If you look at time spent on media versus ad dollars, the largest gap will be seen in mobile. This was the gap that existed even in developed markets until recently.” However he reminded that if the stats are examined, then it would show that the amount of for every ad dollar spent, there is more time spent viewing the advertisement is notably lower among mobile device users than it is among print readers.

Gartner has recently released a report that showed that by the end of this year, the amount of money spent on mobile advertising would reach the $18 billion mark. However, in the Middle East, that figure will be only $20 million. This is a measly statistic when taking the penetration of smartphones into consideration for that region.

However, the Criteo managing director of Eastern Europe and MEA, Dirk Henke pointed out that “It is very similar to advertising on desktop when it started.” Mobile ads appear to be following the same path as the original online advertising when it was in its infancy.

The outgoing chief financial officer, Kevin Rauckman, thinks that this sector will be vital.

Kevin Rauckman, the outgoing CFO of Garmin Ltd, has recently discussed the importance of the wearable technology sector to his company, saying that this will be a very important to its ability to continue growing.

Even though the automotive GPS devices market is lagging, the company sees a future in wearables.

Rauckman, who has been working for the GPS device maker, Garmin, for 15 years, explained that it will be the outdoor and fitness segments that will be the future of the company and that it has been these areas that has allowed the company to continue to grow and succeed even though its flagship automotive navigational devices have been lagging.

The CFO explained that wearable technology is the latest in the company’s diversification efforts.

He explained that “Garmin has always been a diverse company,” and added that “We’ve offered many different solutions to the various outdoor needs. We feel like the value proposition is purpose-built devices around whatever activity you want to do — whether it’s marine, cycling, hiking, rock climbing — we’re going to deliver an innovative solution to help you with your active lifestyle.”

The outdoor segment has been growing for years and the company has not failed to notice that it, as well as the fitness segment, will be some of the areas that will be seeing the fastest growth over the next few years. Garmin intends to grow its engineering workforce with those areas in mind.

The increase in work on wearable technology is the direct result of the company’s identification of a rising number of people who are seeking to incorporate mobile devices and electronics into the activities in which they are taking part while outdoors. Rauckman stated that more than half of the company’s business during the most recent quarter no longer had to do with automotive products.

In the outdoor activity segment, one of its newest and most promising wearable technology products even steps away from humans. It is called the “BarkLimiter”, which is “very popular” and is meant for tracking dogs.