Global Marketing News – 6th June 2016
China tightens mobile phone real-name policy
The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has announced a clamp down on real-name registration for mobile phones in the country.
By July 2017, everyone in the country with a mobile phone must have their real name registered against the SIM card, including foreign visitors.
Since the plans were originally proposed in 2010, it has taken six years for laws to be put in place that would force people to comply with the suggested plans.
However, with 100 million people still using phones registered to another name, the enforcement standards will be increased to ensure that 100% of SIM cards will be registered with Chinese state ID.
This comes only a matter of weeks after there were calls in Russia to force online commenters to register their real names with their passports, which itself came just days after the country was reported to have asked for assistance in tightening its internet censorship from China.
Indonesia lifts foreign ecommerce restrictions
Ecommerce opportunities have increased in Indonesia, as several sectors have had their restrictions on foreign investment lifted.
Whilst aspects of the last set of regulations meant that e-retail businesses were completely off limits to foreigners, the new rules mean that companies that fall under any of the specific business models mentioned in the legislation are now open to foreign ownership.
This means that any online business dealing in food or household goods is open to the new oppotunities, whilst those dealing in alcohol are not.
David Alexander, a spokesperson for the Indonesian ecommerce association, said that “foreign investment brings positive impact to the ecommerce industry in Indonesia”, which he added would bring experience and knowledge to the local market.
A quarter of downloaded apps are only used once
New research on 37,000 apps from both the Apple App Store and Google Play have shown that a quarter of downloaded apps will only ever be used once.
The study was carried out by analytics firm Localytics, whose data also showed that 62% of users will use an app less than 11 times.
Whilst apps with messaging services see a retention rate of 46%, overall there is a downturn in app interest from consumers, developers and subsequently investors, leading Localytics to report that it is “not a sustainable business model.”
The decrease in app interest is already showing, with the relative lack of new releases for the Apple Watch and Apple TV, which for every 1,000 new iOS apps only see around 10 apps and 1 app released, respectively.
Google is combatting this downturn by working on Instant Apps, which allow users to instantly use a new app without downloading it.
Mobile gains importance for video advertisers in Canada
A study in Canada has shown that the largest share of video ad campaigns in Canada include impressions from desktop, laptop and mobile.
The research, performed by Videology in the first quarter of 2016, showed that 39% of campaigns served to all three platforms, whilst 37% only served to desktop and laptop.
Another 10% included all three platforms but added television to their rosters by including OTT devices.
This adds to evidence that mobile is increasing in importance to marketers as was suggested by an additional study from Videology that showed that mobile use had a growth of 6.3% from last year in Canada, whilst desktop and laptop use decreased by 1%.
Facebook clone briefly appears in North Korea
And finally, a copy of Facebook, called StarCon, appeared briefly on the internet in North Korea, before being removed after it was hacked from outside the country.
StarCon was discovered by Doug Madory, a researcher for the network management firm Dyn, who said that the site was unfinished but had Facebook-style aspects such as newsfeeds, messaging and personal pages.
Once the site was hacked, parody accounts were set up of Kim-Jong Un, all visitors were redirected to a YouTube video and 300 accounts were set up by outsiders, before the site went offline completely.
However, Madory said that he did not believe that the website was complete or intended to be available from outside North Korea, and was “sure that no North Koreans ever really used it for a social network website, despite the fact that it was hosted in North Korea”.
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