Recent research released by Strategy Analytics shows that there are now 1,000 million smartphones in the world. The number of smartphones in use increased by around 330 million from the third quarter of 2011 and by 79 million from the second quarter of this year.I remember reading a report last year which said that smartphones would reach saturation point by 2014 – it looks like it might reach that point sooner. As Strategy Analytics say, it took 16 years to gain the first billion smartphone users, however it is expected that only three years will be needed for that number to double to 2 billion. More smartphone penetration is expected in the future, specially in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa.
With such a number of people using smartphones, business owners will need to look at how they use this medium to communicate with their customers. It’s no longer about the phone and calling one person to another. It’s about sharing information, communicating easily and providing instant access information.
