TNS Compete Reveals iPhone Success Secrets to Smartphone Industry

Boston, MA - November 17, 2008 -- TNS Compete today unveiled a new service, Smartphone Intelligence, by highlighting findings from the service’s inaugural survey that unlocks the secrets of iPhone’s success. Smartphone Intelligence delivers behavioral and survey-based insights on iPhone and other Smartphone users. This provides carriers, handset manufacturers and marketers with a complete picture – through comprehensive quarterly data and recommendations – of how to reach mobile consumers effectively.

“The iPhone has raised the bar for mobile interactivity, and this has sparked tremendous creativity by other manufacturers, carriers and advertisers on the mobile platform,” said Ryan Burke, managing director of telecommunications and media. “Our inaugural results show that there is a real opportunity for the industry to reach and engage consumers as they use their phones.  Not only are iPhone users downloading more applications and doing more on their phones, but owners of these devices are also more receptive to advertisements; something that marketers, carriers and OEMs should consider when devising their strategies.” 

Key inaugural findings include:

• iPhone owners are twice as likely as other Smartphone owners to be comfortable with advertising within the applications on their device
• 33 percent of iPhone owners use maps and GPS more than ten times a month, compared to 13 percent of Smartphone owners.
• Almost twice as many iPhone owners than Smartphone users complete at least one financial transaction on their mobile device each month.
  
• 93 percent of iPhone owners have added an application versus only 66 percent of Smartphone owners.
  

“It's quite apparent that consumers are more ready than ever to embrace mobile devices into their daily lives. What isn't as apparent, however, is the responsibility the mobile industry has to get their act together and make use of this,” said Greg Kumparak of TechCrunch.

About Smartphone Intelligence

TNS Compete’s Smartphone Intelligence combines consumer insights (through surveys) with behavioral data (through online click stream data) to reveal how Smartphone owners are using their phones, the sites they visit on the Web and what they like and dislike about their phone and internet experiences.  Smartphone Intelligence subscribers will receive comprehensive quarterly reports with fresh data about Smartphone use and behavior, as well actionable recommendations tailored to their business.

Smartphone Intelligence also enables clients to go deeper with custom research addressing specific business questions relevant to unique segments of smartphones owners.  Today’s findings, for example, reveal that iPhone users are more receptive to ads than users with other smartphone owners.  Is this because of the device or because of the typical profile of the iPhone user?   Only TNS Compete can bring in the online behavior of millions of consumers through click stream data to help answer these questions.  

Learn about Smartphone Intelligence in a live webinar
TNS Compete is hosting a webinar on Thursday, November 20th at 2:00pm EST to present the inaugural findings from Smartphone Intelligence. To be among the first to learn the secrets of iPhone’s success register for free at the following URL: http://compete.na3.acrobat.com/smartphoneintel/event/event_info.html.

Compete, a unit of TNS media, helps the world's top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading marketers such as Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Hyundai Motor America, Upromise, Chrysler, and Verizon Wireless rely on Compete's services to create effective online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns.  Compete's online behavior database - the largest in the industry - makes the web as ingrained in marketing as it is in people's lives.

Compete was founded in 2000 and is located in Boston, MA, with offices throughout the U.S.  For more information about us, please visit http://www.competeinc.com/, or to join the conversation visit http://www.compete.com/.

About TNS media

Established in more than 30 countries, TNS media explores all the media - print, radio, TV, Internet, social media, cinema and outdoors worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a full range of insights, analyses and audience measurement services.

TNS media combines the deepest expertise in the industry to provide media and marketing intelligence including advertising expenditure monitoring, advertising creation monitoring, audience measurement, market influence analytics, online consumer behavior tracking, news monitoring, sports sponsorship evaluation and more.  The TNS Media companies track more than 3 million brands and provide vital market intelligence to 16,000 customers in the world. http://www.tnsmediagroup.com

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The Kantar Group

The Kantar Group is one of the world's largest research, insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20 specialist companies – including the recently-acquired TNS – the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group’s services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.  The Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP Group plc. For further information, please visit http://www.kantargroup.com