This chapter provides an overview of how mobile devices, technology, and approaches are currently being utilized by commercial market research. The chapter defines what it means by ‘mobile’ and highlights the difference between the ‘visible’ (projects where the use of mobile is seen as a core part of the project) and the ‘less visible’ (for example mobile devices being used to take part in online surveys designed for PCs). In commercial research the visible mobile projects get most of the attention in the media and at conferences, but the less visible is much larger in terms of the amount of data collected and the money spent.
The chapter then goes on to review the key uses of mobile, for example: web surveys, CATI, CAPI, mobile apps, passive data collection, in-the-moment research, and location-based research. The chapter next looks at the issues facing the use of mobile market research, such as the impact on the results, ethical issues, and the balance between the use of web-based and app-based approaches. The chapter concludes by looking at the near future.