A new study from Frank N. Magid Associates, which surveyed a nationally representative sample of 4,734 cell or smartphone owners between the ages of 12 to 64, found that 58 percent of American consumers now use smartphones. That is a substantial number that becomes even more substantial when the sample size is limited to those under the age of 44, where the survey found smartphone penetration to be 76 percent.
The survey also found that over the last two years, tablet usage has grown from zero to 34 percent. The survey points as well to both smartphones and tablets showing strong continued growth through 2013: the smartphone audience will increase 53 percent from 99 million to 151 million users; and the tablet market will grow from 51 million to 106 million users – more than doubling its size. Will this prove an inflection point in terms of when PC sales might begin to decline in non-trivial numbers?
One obvious conclusion of course is that demand for mobile-optimized content will continue to grow at unprecedented rates as well. A second conclusion – amplified in our article “Mobile Commerce – Very Real, Soon to be Huge” – is that mobile commerce will continue to grow unabated with the anticipated surge in mobile device usage. Both the anticipated growth as well as the current levels of usage the Magid survey notes should be a wakeup call to any retailer that lags it its mobile planning.
The survey results also provide insights into key mobile trends, behaviors and activities, and shows that Americans have already shifted to the mobile platform to consume a wide array of content including social media, gaming and video – including full-length TV shows and movies.
Mobility is evolving into a ubiquitous presence – as Magid’s Executive Director of Mobility, Tom Godfrey points out: "There's no such thing as distinct mobile content anymore. What publishers, advertisers and retailers have to realize is that most content going forward will be consumed on a mobile device and that it must be accessible and optimized for that platform."
The survey also found that Android has extended its lead on the smartphone platform – 48 percent to 32 percent over iPhone. Those overall numbers are in line with a recent Strategy Analytics survey, which found that Apple’s iPhone market share had increased to 33 percent while Android share had declined about 5 percent points to 56 percent share.
According to the Magid survey, Android is also apparently encroaching rapidly on the iPad in the tablet arena. The iPad now makes up only 50 percent of the installed tablet base, down from 72 percent in 2011. Among consumers planning to purchase mobile devices in the next 12 months, 51 percent and 75 percent are already tablet and smartphone owners, respectively, demonstrating consumers' desire to own the latest devices.
The Magid survey doesn’t distinguish between consumers and business users. This growth in Android tablet share, at least according to ChangeWave Research, which has conducted numerous surveys from both ends of the spectrum strongly suggests that iOS – especially on the tablet side – will retain a huge advantage over Android in the enterprise.
We wonder as well how much the Kindle Fire (which is a modified Android device) influenced the gap reduction between iPad and Android tablets in the survey. We don’t consider the Kindle Fire to be an iPad competitor, and including its numbers in the Android mix, probably skews them toward Android more than should be the case.
It’ll be interesting to see how the iOS-Android numbers end up comparing, should Apple deliver a downsized iPad, as current rumors suggest.
Want to learn more about today’s powerful mobile ecosystem? Then be sure to attend the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo, collocated with ITEXPO West 2012 taking place Oct. 2-5 2012, in Austin, TX. Co-sponsored by TMC Partner Crossfire Media the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo provides unmatched networking opportunities and a robust conference program representing the mobile ecosystem. The conference not only brings together the best and brightest in the wireless industry, it actually spans the communications and technology industry. For more information on registering for the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo click here.
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Tony Rizzo has spent over 25 years in high tech publishing and joins MobilityTechzone after a stint as Editor in Chief of Mobile Enterprise Magazine, which followed a two year stretch on the mobile vendor side of the world. Tony also spent five years as the Director of Mobile Research for 451 Research. Before his jump into mobility Tony spent a year as a publishing consultant for CMP Media, and served as the Editor in Chief of Internet World, NetGuide and Network Computing. He was the founding Technical Editor of Microsoft Systems Journal.Edited by
Braden Becker 
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