With today’s announcement of the iPhone coming to Verizon, you have to analyze the mobile market and wonder if it’s time to embrace mobile marketing (if you haven’t already).
The facts are that 85% (264 million) of the US population (307 million) has a cell phone.
Smartphones accounted for about 30% of all phones as of Oct. 2010 but that number is projected to overtake non-smartphones in 2011 per Nielsen. That would take the number of smartphone users to 132 million across all cell networks – almost 1/2 the population of the U.S.
Android and iPhone users account for about 1/2 the total number of smartphones in use but the iPhone accounts for 65% of AT&T smartphone subscribers. I’m expecting that the chances that the percentage of Verizon smartphone users who have an iPhone will approach, if not eclipse, the percentage that AT&T has. Assuming this holds true, the iPhone will end up accounting for 86 million smartphones with the Android comprising 30 million.
A large percentage of the US population will have, and be using, smartphones. According to Morgan Stanley, mobile internet usage will overtake desktop internet usage within 4 years (by 2014).
Getting the picture? This isn’t even accounting for web traffic originating via iPads, iPod Touches and Android-based tablets. It also doesn’t account for traffic generated through apps.
Bottom line is that you need to have a mobile website and/or make sure that you’re existing website is mobile-friendly, at the very least.
It’s time to seriously re-visit a mobile marketing strategy if you don’t have one. Don’t play catch-up later.
