Category: Mobile Commerce

Internet giant Google has settled with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) in regards to its antitrust lawsuit that allows smaller players in the mobile industry access to mobile patents. The move is said to lower the amount of suits related to patent holders.

Google’s hold on patents

Philip Solis, of ABI Research in Oyster Bay, NY, stated that concerns have been raised about Google buying ‘standard essential patents’ from Motorola, essentially giving Google the ability to greatly suppress smaller competition. This settlement states what Google has said all along – that they would not use the patents in such a manner.

“It could start a trend around standard essential patents not being used for offensive purposes,” Solis said. “That is a good thing because it means potentially less litigation.” He goes on to say that bigger companies are not effected by having to work around patents in the mobile industry, but smaller companies lack the resources to do so.

What it means for competitors

Smart phones, gaming consoles, tablets, and even online search advertising are all affected in this settlement. Google will allow competition to license patents on what are called critical standardized technologies for all of the above. When Google acquired Motorola Mobility, it gained hundreds of different patents. Many of these are for most basic functions like device internet connectivity.

Google agrees to allow use of standard patents and thus the number of patent-related lawsuits should drop. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement that Google has made a step that allows consumers to enjoy the benefits of competition in the online marketplace as well through the gadgets that they buy.

“This doesn’t remove the patents issue in general,” Solis said. Overall, he believes that this agreement opens up markets in both advertising and the mobile device market. Google has agreed not to use patents to delay other companies from releasing new products in a timely manner. It is not perfect, however.

Online Advertising

Google is known as an online giant in search and also in search related advertising. As part of this agreement, Google will give those that advertise online more flexibility to use their program as well as the advertising programs of their competitors. The company also promises that any site can remain excluded from Google vertical search results while still remaining visible under their standard search.

A recent survey has shown that shoppers want to use mobile commerce while in store.

The results of a study conducted by an ad agency named Moosylvania have now been released, revealing that consumers want to be able to use mcommerce to discover more about products before they make their purchases while in-store.

The survey showed that 80 percent of smartphone owners want better optimized product information.

The report, which was entitled “The Shopping Experience in a Smartphone World”, included the responses of 1,874 American adult smartphone owners. The results from this study showed that among the participants, 97 percent had access of some kind to a desktop computer (including at home, at work, or in another location). At the same time 43 percent had access to a tablet.

Moosylvania’s study determined that product information is among the most wanted mcommerce features.

Norty Cohen, the CEO and one of the founders of Moosylvania, stated that speed is “beyond the essence,” for consumers when they are seeking to make a purchase of a product or service. He went on to explain that consumers “are researching reviews, comparing prices, photo sharing and making purchases in seconds, and prefer doing so equally online and in-store,” through the use of mcommerce and other features on their smartphones.

The survey indicated that owners of smartphones have been using apps and mcommerce sites in order to assist in the purchasing process. They have been using these resources to inform themselves before they make their final decisions to buy. Other findings that were produced by the survey include the following:

• 13.4 percent said that they use mobile devices to research products on the weekends.
• 2.7 percent research product information using a mobile device on holidays.
• 10.9 percent stated that they use mcommerce to look into products while they are at work.
• 30.1 percent of the study participants said they were typically away from home when they performed most of their mcommerce product information searches.
• 19.6 percent said that they have used their mobile devices to look into products while watching TV.
• 12.4 percent use their smartphones to research products while they are in-store.
• 10.9 percent of smartphone owners do not use mcommerce resources to obtain product information.