And, the International Data Corporation says that the worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow by 49.2% in 2011. This is more than four times faster than the expected growth of the overall mobile phone market, suggesting that current feature phone owners are rapidly switching to smartphones, while non-cell phone owners are jumping directly to smartphones with their first cell phone purchase. According to the Exact Target May 2011 survey:
Although Blackberry pioneered the development of smartphones, the industry landscape is changing rapidly. Although Android is a relative newcomer to the smartphone market, its popularity eclipses even the iPhone, likely due to its relative affordability, opines the report. Overall, one-third of US smartphone owners have an Android phone, followed by iPhone and Blackberry.
Smartphones Owned | |
Smartphone | % of Respondents |
Android | 33% |
iPhone | 25 |
Blackberry | 19 |
Other | 18 |
Windows | 5 |
Source: ExactTarget, June 2011 |
The smartphone has become a modern day Swiss Army knife, says the report, putting marketers not only in a multi-channel environment, but a multi-purpose environment as well. usage is likely contributing to the arrival of Mobile Dependence Day in households nationwide.
According to a new survey from Prosper Mobile Insights, some 52.9% of smartphone owners say they use all the functions of their smartphone, saying that "It's my life." Another 30.4% say they use all the basic functions of their device, plus a few apps. And just 16.7% use their smartphones exclusively for calling, text messaging, and email.
People actually use their smartphones to make phone calls. In fact, calling is actually the most common smartphone use.
Texting Texting seems to be something of an "all or nothing" proposition, people who text tend to do so quite frequently, says the report.
Email is the third most common among smartphone activities.
Web browsing on-the-go is also a common activity among smartphone owners.
Although ot as popular as the smartphone functions mentioned previously, Facebook is the only social media outlet used by a majority of smartphone owners on a daily basis.
Smartphone Capability Frequency of Use | ||||||
Capability | % of Use | |||||
| Constantly throughout the day | Several times a day | Once a day | Weekly | Monthly | Less |
Telephone | 31% | 38% | 18% | 10% | 1% | 3% |
Text | 38 | 28 | 11 | 13 | 3 | 6 |
29 | 24 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 17 | |
Browse Internet | 18 | 22 | 19 | 17 | 8 | 17 |
17 | 18 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 35 | |
Listen to music | 12 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 40 |
Games | 9 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 11 | 37 |
Watch Video | 6 | 6 | 8 | 22 | 19 | 41 |
Maps | 4 | 4 | 10 | 22 | 19 | 41 |
5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 78 | |
Source: ExactTarget, June 2011 |
Smartphone capabilities are constantly expanding, with new features, functions, and applications introduced on a near-daily basis. And although not all of these are readily adopted by smartphone owners, the study shows a few front-runners that seem to be gaining popularity. Location-Based Services (LBS) "Checking in" using location-based services on a mobile phone is still not a mainstream activity, but adoption is definitely increasing
Quick Response (QR) Codes and Barcodes are just slightly less popular than check-ins. 24% of smartphone owners (10% of the overall online population) report having scanned a QR code or similar barcode to obtain more information about a product, business, or event.
Push notifications, an emerging capability, allows companies to send messages directly to their app users, even when the app is closed. Push notifications are especially useful for conveying timely information like breaking news, exclusive sales, and sports updates.
Overall, 16% of smartphone users say they've made a purchase as the result of a marketing message they received on their smartphone. Android users are the most likely to report making a purchase after receiving a message on their smartphones (21%), followed by Windows smartphone owners (19%), iPhone owners (17%), and Blackberry users (10%).
Email is the most effective mobile purchase trigger. Marketing messages delivered through email and read on a smartphone have driven more consumers to purchase than any other method. 55% of those who've made at least one purchase based on a mobile message report acting on an email. Text messaging (41%), Facebook (35%), and shopping apps (32%) also show a strong ability to drive purchasing behavior.
More than half of the 16% of consumers who've made a purchase after receiving a mobile message (about 9% of the total US online population) report that they've completed at least one purchase on their smartphone itself. (This includes purchases made through the smartphone's browser, directly through an app, or through the app store.) It illustrates how consumers' comfort level with mobile purchases is increasing, while also highlighting the fact that people who buy as a result of mobile messages are likely to complete these purchases through multiple channels.
Source of Message Leading to Purchase | |
Source | % of Respondents |
56% | |
Text message | 41 |
35 | |
Shopping App | 32 |
20 | |
Telephone | 18 |
Location based social network | 15 |
Source: ExactTarget, June 2011 (Percentages are based on the 16% of consumers who have completed a purchase as a direct result of a marketing message received on their smartphone) |
The report concludes by noting that mobile is not a channel, but a series of platforms that allow for on-the-go communications through Email, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, apps, etc., Each of these channels plays an important role when developing a mobile strategy
For more information, please follow the study by accessing the PDF file here.