Americans traveling to the Olympics in Beijing and Hong Kong have been struck by the sophistication of Asia's mobile devices. While the Asian mobile market is technologically years ahead of the United States, the cause is likely more cultural differentiation than just a lag in U.S. technology. Tom Burgess, founder and CEO of Third Screen Media, (acquired last year by AOL Platform-A), suggests culture is also the driving force behind the convergence of mobile devices with other media. In an exclusive interview with JackMyers Media Business Report, Burgess argues that although Apple's iPhone has dramatically changed the American mobile market, it is unlikely the U.S. will ever become a truly mobile-centric culture.
"The Korean and Japanese markets and some of the European markets are, at least culturally, more advanced" said Burgess. "They are using their mobile devices to access digital media more than in the U.S. In Japan, the distribution of mobile phones far outweighs the distribution of home-based PCs. The mobile device is the primary data access or digital access device for those cultures. So those cultures tend to be more advanced as far as eyeballs using their phones."
India is a particularly thriving market with 10 million new mobile phones activated every month, according to Burgess. While Asian and European countries seem to be making the most technological progress, the development of mobile advertising largely remains within the United States.
When asked if he thought American culture would ever become as mobile-centric as others, Burgess was hesitant to make a prediction but did emphasize the revolution caused by Apple's iPhone, citing a statistic he recently heard that 75 percent of all interactions on an iPhone are digital media access and a mere 25 percent are actual phone calls. Despite the iPhone phenomenon, it is unlikely the iPhone will completely take over the market.
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