Mobile computing is a critical tool to the success of every modern enterprise. As people embrace the use of mobile devices, advertisers have to find creative ways to advertise products on small cell phone devices. Moreover, a large percentage of consumers access the internet with mobile devices. Mobile computing also allows consumers to access the internet while commuting since they are portable and able to connect to the internet in a broad range of places. Since smartphones are highly portable and feature numerous personal computer (PC) functions such as access to the Internet, mobile computing is crucial to the success of organizations that market their products online.
Internet users are switching from using PC to smartphone devices. According to Elliott and Phillips (2007), the number of people accessing the internet with mobile phone devices has been increasing since the introduction of smartphones. For instance, Facebook’s shares were selling at $38 during the IPO in 2012 (Elliott & Phillips, 2007). However, the shares’ price was reduced by over 50% by 2013 (Elliott & Phillips, 2007). Zuckerberg, Safaricom’s CEO, attributed the revenue drop to the company’s failure to advertise on mobile devices. Facebook resolved to display ads on newsfeeds and the right-hand section where the commercials appear on PC screens. The company also launched a variety of other advertising platforms, such as sponsored stories and mobile ads, that allowed gaming app producers to encourage their clients to install their applications. Facebook’s adoption of mobile ads increased the organization’s revenue from $305 million in 2012 to $2.5 billion in 2014 (Elliott & Phillips, 2007). The bottom line is that mobile computing generates a significant amount of Facebook’s profit since many individuals access the website using smartphone devices.
Similarly, mobile computing is indispensable to the success of SnapChat because the majority of its users view videos and images using smartphones. The application emphasizes temporality and momentary messages – pictures and videos self-delete upon a recipient viewing them. The platform is popular among teenagers and 20-something youths because it allows young people to capture instant moments by taking photographs and sharing them online – with a limited lifespan. Entrepreneurs seeking to promote their products to youths will benefit much from creative graphic images and videos displaying their products to prospective clients – the platform enjoys limited censorship, which allows the circulation of content and ads that could be prohibited on other social networking websites (Rahal, 2020). According to Rahal (2020), 90% of USA’s youths between 13 and 24 years use SnapChat daily. Furthermore, the platform had over 238 million active users in 2020, which makes it a valuable digital marketing tool for enterprises targeting young people (Rahal, 2020). The company’s management has to find creative mobile computing techniques to help promote their products on the platform without losing the core marketing approach of Snap Inc.
Overall, mobile computing is crucial to the success of many modern organizations since many target customers access the Internet using smartphones. Mobile phones are also highly portable, which allows people to use gadgets more often than PCs. Businesses that target online customers are turning to mobile ads so that they can access a larger number of clients. In the same way that Facebook optimized profit generation using mobile ads, other business organizations have to follow the mobile computing strategy to increase their online revenue creation.
References
Elliott, G., & Phillips, N. (2007). Mobile commerce and wireless computing systems. Harlow, United Kingdom: Addison Wesley.
Rahal, A. (2020). Want to target Generation Z? You need a Snapchat marketing strategy. Forbes. Web.