iPad 2 Reactions: What does Marco Veremis of Upstream think?

Here’s a few words from Marco Veremis, Chairman of the Board for Upstream, a world leader in mobile marketing solutions, reaching over 500 million consumers in more than 40 countries.

“The iPad 2 is undoubtedly a better version of the original. It’s lighter, thinner, faster and sticks to its original features – it’s screen size is still large despite competitors going smaller.

“For the time being at least it still tops anything else in the market by a long way. Certain more subtle additions also reinforce its ability to bring together the Audio, TV, PC and Smartphone worlds to produce something decidedly more magical and sexy than any other individual category – that rare device you thought you didn’t need but now can’t live without!

“The iPad 2’s front and rear camera’s may do the trick in making mobile video calling truly appealing for the first time – this could increase its share of mobile telephony usage against smartphones. Its better connectivity with big screens (TV’s or monitors) actually makes it an even more of a visual device and a more potent competitor to TV. The three-axis-gyrometer which allows for rapid tracking of movement in all directions can really boost the quality, usage and proliferation of augmented reality applications.

“The bottom line it seems even more capable of ‘stealing’ face time from other devices (PC’s, Mobile, TV and Audio devices) but most importantly creating entirely fresh usage of its own.

“The iPad created a category of its own: tablets (or for most people simply iPads). This category, whilst sharing some features and usage with smartphones, remains entirely distinct. Marketers (mobile or otherwise) should not be confusing their mobile phone marketing strategies and practices with their iPad/tablet advertising plans.

“The mobile phone has a small screen, short engagement times and is highly personal and intimate. Recent YouGov research has shown that display advertising on mobile phones can prove a major turn-off for consumers with 32 per cent saying that they find mobile banners to be an irritation and only three per cent are actually being receptive to them (compared to 15% for SMS). All evidence points to the fact that consumers still prefer marketing on their phones to be through brief text messaging, at a very low frequency, and according to Deloitte’s ‘Addicted to Connectivity’ report only to receive ‘exclusive bargains’. Phones may not live up to the dream of brand advertising but can certainly be the definitive direct marketing device.

“On the other hand the iPad 2 seems to be the natural home for iAd, with its reasonable ambitions—to my mind—to grab significant advertising spend from TV over time. The same is true for many other rich media driven display advertising initiatives and marketplaces, which are all currently meeting, unsurprisingly, with very low response rates on smartphones. The iPad, more than any other device, is likely to effectively grow rich media display advertising and open truly creative avenues that can increase its effectiveness.

“Perhaps it’s time to admit what is already abundantly clear: mobile phone marketing needs to be approached as an entirely different category to iPad/tablet advertising. Placing both under the general umbrella of mobile marketing and advertising will only confuse and disappoint marketers.”

Thank You Marco!