Jul

31

The application “Facebook” cannot be opened solution

Filed Under Apple | Comments

I recently kept getting this error when trying to launch the facebook iPhone application. I did some research and found that I was not alone.

It seems like the only solution to get it working again is to simply remove the facebook app completely from iTunes and the iPhone then reinstalling it from the App Store. I tried to restart the iPhone and that did nothing but you should try that first. When you go to download the app again, you may be prompted with this dialog box:

Just click OK and once it’s done downloaded, sync the iPhone and your done. It should now work and you will have the latest version. I have also been having several issues with downloading app updates and getting them to sync properly once they are downloaded. Hopefully these bugs will be fixed with the next iPhone software update.

I can also imagine this simple approach will work if you are getting a similar error message with other applications.

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Jul

15

Interesting mobile and SMS statistics

Filed Under Mobile, nextNY | Comments

I recently had to do some research on the mobile industry and I thought I would share some of the most interesting statements I found that caught my attention. The sources of these were either from a recent mobile market report or a recent article about mobile that was published within the past few months.

I think it’s safe to say that the mobile web, text messaging, and mobile marketing are seeing some dramatic changes while growing in popularity worldwide. Here are some of my findings in no particular order:

More people now have a mobile phone than an Internet-connected PC in the United States and globally.

There are more than 255 million mobile phone users in the U.S., roughly 85% of the U.S. population.

On average, small banner ads on mobile devices produce the same level of brand recall as the typical 30-second TV spot.

The number of monthly unique users of the mobile web increased 73% from May 06 (23.4 million) to May 08 (40.4 million).

Text messages are read by 94% of their recipients. (I think the other 6% are people that do not know how to check their text messages)

50% of SMS users are aged 35+, and 75% are aged 25+.

AT&T shattered its own record for text messaging during the 6th season of American Idol and recorded more than 78 million text messages, breaking last year’s record of 64.5 million text messages.

61% of downloadable mobile application revenues come from repeat purchases.

Smartphone devices represented around 10% of the global mobile phone market by units in 2007, with annual growth of 60% making them one of the fastest growing segments of the technology industry.

18 to 34 year-olds are the highest adopters of smartphones.

ESPN’s mobile NFL section at one point topped the PC NFL section’s 4.5m visits with 4.9m visits. The mobile site is seeing over 200% growth year over year.

Bank of America has tallied up more than 1 million unique active mobile banking customers since it launched its mobile-banking services last year, with over 100,000 people using their mobile services on peak days.

Almost two-thirds of 2,000 survey participants stated they would consider purchasing movie tickets, take-out food and travel tickets via a mobile phone.

If you come across any other interesting mobile statistics or studies, please post them in the comments.

Update: Most of these stats are now most likely outdated :)

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Jul

9

Insights from an advertising legend

Filed Under Advertising, Books, Marketing | Comments

In Chapter 4 of Phil Dusenberry’s book Then We Set His Hair on Fire, he lists twenty-four questions to help his readers think about how insightful they have been in the past and why those insights were successful. Answering all these questions should give you what he calls your “insight resume”. Three of the questions that stood out to me were numbers 9, 10, & 15. Here are the questions followed by his answers and some of my thoughts:

9. How would you characterize your ideas?

I’ve always been passionate about ideas that were simple and easy to understand because they were true. People could see the ideas and then see themselves.

This is always great advice in general when it comes to analyzing any business problem or idea. Entrepreneurs are commonly advised to think about whether they can see themselves using their product or service and also to reach out to family and friends during the initial research phase to see if they clearly understand their plans. Simple is almost always better.

10. What is your creative signature?

Advertising that speaks to the heart as well as the head. In a world of parity products and services, advertising that packs an emotional wallop definitely gives you a big edge.

His answer is specific to advertising and marketing. That emotional wallop, as he puts it, is very rarely missing from any great advertising or marketing campaign. If you are not in the advertising industry though, think about past achievements in your career and the general reasons behind why you were successful.

15. What criteria do you employ to judge the merits of an insight or idea?

I first look at it with my gut. How does it feel? Am I excited? Am I bored? Am I delighted? Once past that, I look at it on a business level. And determine whether it’s on strategy, whether it meets the essential objectives. And more important, whether it has the potential to lead to a great piece of advertising.

It’s important to note the order in which he first analyzes how he feels about the insight then moves on to the business details. Why waste time dwelling on an insight that your not excited about?

I would recommend this book to anyone in business or entrepreneurship, especially with a role involved in advertising or marketing. He goes over several examples of some of the most successful advertising campaigns he helped create and produce during his time leading the BBDO agency. Creativity and regular insights are essential in any profession and the advice above is only part of why he was so successful in advertising.

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