It’s coming soon, that day where we throw off the corded shackles and declare our independence from all things hard-wired. No longer will we have to sit at our desk to get email, be at home to get our phone calls or lounge in front of the TV just to watch American Idol. Mobile Dependence Day is fast approaching and ExactTarget is here to tell us all about it. Subscribers, Fans and Followers #9 , gives you the inside look at all things mobile and it does it with a sense of humor rarely seen in statistical works. Hey, they make their pie-charts out of actual pies. They also made the nifty graphic you see here (I’m just borrowing it.) Their point, is that the mobile phone is a modern-day Swiss Army knife. An easily pocketed tool that can get you out of almost any jam. Though, I don’t think you can use it to open a bottle top, but you can us it to pretend drink a glass of beer . Within the space of fifteen years, we went from a fun gizmo that a few people had, to 89% of the US population over the age of 15. 41% is made up of smartphones and it’s expected to reach 50% by next year. According to the report, people mostly use their phone to call people and text, 53% check email at least once a day but only 18% use it to browse the web. What might surprise you is that 17% used their smartphone to read a book and 16% watched a TV show. It really is the ultimate, multi-purpose tool. Shopping on the Go 16% of smartphone users bought something as a result of a mobile marketing message. What’s funny is that 56% said that message came by email, which isn’t specific to mobile as they could have gotten the same message on their PC. The one I can’t fathom is the 41% who said they bought in response to a text message. Surely these can’t be marketing texts. They must be referring to texts from a friend. “Check out these boots!” Click. Nice. Buy. 35% bought from a Facebook message and 32% bought through a shopping app. There’s no longer any doubt. People will shop on their phones. It’s the modern equivalent of the Home Shopping Network, with its ability to grab hold when you’re bored. Terrible glare while you’re waiting for the bus. Time to buy those sunglasses you’ve been wanting. Above all, what ExactTarget wants you to get out of this report, is that the independence we got by cutting the cord, is actually leading us deep into a new dependence on 4G, wifi, Android, iPad and the like. As a marketer, you can’t simply keep up, you have to find away to get ahead and make mobile work for your business.
