Growing Mobile

Over the next few weeks we’re going to focus on smartphones. Experts have been have been saying mobile marketing is going to be huge for some time now. But why? And how huge? Here are few numbers to chew on.

I found these statistics in a March 2013 article from iStockphoto, a website that sells stock photography, called Pocketography: the democratization of photography.

There are 6 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide. Considering there are just over 7 billion people on the planet, I’d say that’s pretty good market penetration. Of those subscriptions, 1 billion are smartphones, and that represents an increase of 46.6% from one year ago.

There are 2.3 billion Internet users worldwide. That represents a 100% increase from 5 years ago. Perhaps not surprisingly, 65% of growth is in developing nations. So if we consider the growth of Internet users and the pace of smartphone mobile subscriptions, about half of all Internet users have the ability to browse the web from their phone.

The article, which goes on with more amazing numbers about photography, begins with this premise; “In 2013, smartphone sales are expected to surpass other cell phone sales for the first time ever.” The author makes a funny joke about being shocked this wasn’t already the case. But all jokes aside, the fact is this trend is why mobile marketing is already huge, and getting huger.

With that in mind, you won’t want to miss this month’s Suncoast Technology Forum Techbyte Luncheon which features a presentation by Ravi Ghai called Converting Ideas to Apps on Tuesday, May 21 from 11:30am to 1:00pm at Polo Grill and Bar in Lakewood Ranch.

If technology is not you’re speed, then you may want to join the Siesta Key Kiwanis Club for our End-of-School Beach Party for the kids in the Sarasota Middle School Builder’s Club and the Pine View Key Club for our third annual Rock Paper Scissors Tournament on Friday, May 24, 2013 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at the Siesta Key Beach Pavilion.

Until next week,

Matthew Anderson, President
Milestone Marketing Associates, Inc.