Latest mobile breakdown from the US of A

I don't normally post on US stats, as stats bore many people and US stats aren't UK stats. However, I have included these as they go some way to explain why I keep harping on about my dislike for people to equate 'Smartphones' with 'iPhones'. Increasingly (and in the US, rapidly so), 'Smartphones' should be equated, if with anything, with 'Android'. Additionally, people have a preoccupation with Apps. The second table reinforces the fact that SMS/texting is still far and away the most common function used on mobile phones (how much SMS/texting does Macmillan do?). Other research I've seen also notes that somewhere between 80 and 90% of all downloaded Apps are either games or social media Apps - so although there is an App phenomenon, it isn't a business-related one as yet. As UK trends do often reflect US trends (in the longer term), this really should make anyone stop and think before creating an iPhone App (and then decide not to!) and really should encourage us at Macmillan to more fully explore what SMS/texting services we can put together to meet some of the more practical (but perhaps less glamorous) needs of PABC.

Smartphone Platform Market Share
78.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in June 2011, up 8 percent from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 40.1 percent market share, up 5.4 percentage points. Apple strengthened its #2 position with 26.6 percent of the smartphone market, up 1.1 percentage points from the prior reporting period. RIM ranked third with 23.4 percent share, followed by Microsoft (5.8 percent) and Symbian (2.0 percent).
3 Month Avg. Ending Jun. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Mar. 2011. Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+. Source: comScore MobiLens

Mobile Content Usage
In June, 69.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 1.0 percentage points. Browsers were used by 40.1 percent of subscribers (up 1.5 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 39.5 percent (up 2.2 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.8 percentage points to 29.1 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 26.9 percent of the mobile audience (up 1.2 percentage points), while 19.0 percent listened to music on their phones (up 1.1 percentage points).
3 Month Avg. Ending Jun. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Mar. 2011. Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+. Source: comScore MobiLens

Latest mobile trends

Went to a Mobile conference on Tuesday.

Picked up some stats and trends: comScore data mine is my favourite resource.

This infographic really clearly demonstrates the way mobile operating system sales are going.

A US stat, but we do tend to loosely follow the US example in many mobile respects.

The current thinking is simply that the range of handsets offering Android positions it as the operating system for the masses (1000% growth in sales over the last year), whereas Apple's iOS (used for the iPhone) tends to position itself as a top-end device, rather than a device that anyone can aspire to own (*only*(!) 200% growth).

Research also indicates that in terms of social media, mobile Facebook users are spending on average 46mins/day whereas desktop Facebook users only spend 31mins/day. Similarly mobile Twitter users are spending 16mins/day vs 6mins/day for desktop Twitter users. This kind of statistic greatly supports our move towards social media integration, especially with the Online Community, I think.

Latest update on mobile market changes

If you're thinking of buying a new mobile...

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This is a US view, but as I've said before, there are parallels with the UK.

In simple terms the Blackberry (RIM) is a dying device in the US. Only two years ago it was by a country mile the most popular mobile platform in the US.

The Android (Google) operating system is now eating it alive. See second table in the link.

And although Apple (iPhone) is there or thereabouts, growth-wise, it's stagnating (better than Blackberry's freefall though!).

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In Europe, where Nokia (Symbian) has historically ruled, it's marketshare is also being torn to shreds, predominantly by the Android, but also, for the time being the iPhone...

Is this the beginning of the end for the iPhone?

SMARTPHONE PLATFORM MARKET SHARE.

Latest stats from comScore in the US show that for the first time, Android has overtaken Apple in the smartphone market. Now just RIM (Blackberry) stands in its way and one more quarter should see it take pride of place as the the smartphone platform of choice in the US. This is a trend that is likely to replicate itself over here with a 6-12 month lag.

See second table on this page: http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/comScore_Reports_November_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

One has to wonder: how many texts is the average teenager actually capable of sending?

Some almost current stats on mobile trends by age group

3000 texts/month = 100/day = 6/waking hour
I think this figure can still go a lot higher ;-)

Interesting stats on mobile internet usage up from 40% to 49% among teens between Q2 2009 and Q2 2010.

Animated Twitter

An agency Annie and I met with yesterday mentioned a feature on the Guardian which animated twitter activity with growing / shrinking circles for each world cup game. I don’t think I’m explaining it very well, but just looked it up, and its pretty cool!

TrendsMap

A local twitter trends map. Could be interesting to see where people are talking about Coffee Morning on Friday.

• http://trendsmap.com