My job at VistaComm affords me the ability to talk to quite a few of our clients about their mobile device strategy. Often we find during those discussions that they haven’t given any thought to it, and if they have, they feel that there isn’t any need at this time. Although I understand their reasoning, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Nielson’s newest study of mobile phone users is out and the statistics are staggering. I remember reading a Nielson study about a year ago (Source), and the percent of Americans using smart phones was only 28%. From then until now, the number has almost doubled to 48%.

Adoption is Increasing

The least surprising part of those numbers is the way the percentage of smart phone owners increases as the demographic gets younger. Two-thirds of the key demographic of 25-34 year olds now owns a smartphone. Disposable income, plus both the desire and ability to search for information on the mobile web, comparison shop on their phones, and spend a lot of time surfing the Internet, means you can no longer afford to ignore these users on your mobile device.

The other number to pay attention to on the graph above is the percentage of recent acquirers choosing to buy a smart phone. Overall, 69% of people who purchased a new phone in the last 90 days chose to purchase a smart phone. That number goes as high as 80% (HOLY CRAP!) for people ages 18-24 and 25-34, although every demographics recent acquirers percentage is higher than their existing subscriber number. Therefore, every demographics percentage of smartphone owners is going to increase in the coming months and years. I am still searching for forecasts of these numbers, but I can state with certainty that over 50% of American mobile phone subscribers will be smart phone users by the end of this quarter.

Income Plays a Part

The other statistic that warrants discussion is the percentage of smart phone users when compared to income level. While all ages and income levels are important, the most valuable users (those with income over $100k) have a significantly higher smart phone penetration percentage, with a difference of up to 14% over the $75k-$100k income range.

With numbers like these, it just leaves one question to be asked: What are you doing about your mobile web strategy? You definitely need one sooner than later.

Drop your thoughts below. I’d love to discuss it with you.

Source: Nielson study