About the Mobile Revolution

Smartphones have become our mobile task managers and pocket planners, holding all our information in one portable package. Learn more about the mobile revolution through some surprising stats gathered by Ripple Mobile.

The Expansion of Smartphones

Smartphones are the fastest growing segment of the mobile phone market, which comprised 234 million subscribers in the U.S. at the end of February.

• In comparison, in 2009, 53 percent of total U.S. households report owning a high definition television, an 18 percentage point increase in ownership over 2008.
• Four percent of U.S. households now own tablet computers.

In the U.S., the Apple iPhone OS has practically caught up to the RIM Blackberry OS, with 28 percent and 30 percent marketshare respectively. Meanwhile, Google’s Android OS is now at 19 percent and growing.

In the U.S., Android's operating system (OS) was installed in 44 percent of all smartphones purchased in Q3, an increase of 11 percentage points since Q2; Apple iOS held relatively steady versus last quarter, rising one percentage point to 23 percent; RIM OS, fell to third position, declining from 28 percent to 22 percent.

Twenty-eight percent of U.S. mobile subscribers now have smartphones. Among those who acquired a new cellphone in the past six months, 41 percent opted for a smartphone over a standard feature phone, up from 35 percent last quarter.

There are 292.8 million US wireless subscriber connections, which has grown from 194.5 million in June 2005; up approximately 50 percent in five years.

Over a 10-year period (June 2000- June 2010) in the U.S., wireless penetration has gone from an adoption rate of 34 percent of the population to 93 percent.

In June of 2005, 7.7 percent of U.S. households were wireless only. Five years later, in June 2010, nearly a quarter (24.5 percent) of all U.S. households were wireless only.

Google’s Android-enabled devices now reach more than one in five U.S. smartphone subscribers.

Of American consumers in the market for a smartphone, 17 percent are considering the purchase of an android-supported device in next three months, compared to 20 percent indicating they plan to purchase an iPhone, and 51 percent thinking about purchasing a Blackberry.

As of October 2010, 29.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones that run full operating systems. The most popular smartphones are the Apple iPhone and RIM Blackberry, which are caught in a statistical dead heat with 27 percent of smartphone market share in the U.S. Twenty-two percent of smartphone owners have devices with the Android operating system.

Among users planning to get a new smartphone, current smartphone owners showed a preference for the Apple iPhone (35 percent), while 28 percent of both smartphone and featurephone planned smartphone upgraders indicated they wanted a device with an Android operating system as their next mobile phone.

Apple’s iPhone and devices with the Android operating system were the “most desired” among likely smartphone upgraders, with Apple showing a slight lead among those age 55+, 18 to 24, and 25 to 34.

Women planning to get a smartphone are more likely to want an iPhone as their next device, with slightly more males preferring Android.

Nearly 1 in 5 smartphone owners are Hispanic, the second largest ethnicity next to Caucasians (62 percent) using smartphones.

The Smartphone Market: Globally

Worldwide mobile device sales to end users totaled 325.6 million units in the second quarter of 2010, a 13.8 percent increase from the same period in 2009. While owners of Android smartphones tend to be younger than those attracted to other operating systems – 50 percent of Android owners are under the age of 35 – Apple has the most smartphone users under the age of 44, while Blackberry has the most users 45 and over.

Apps: United States

14 percent of mobile subscribers have downloaded an app in the last 30 days. Last year (2009) consumers downloaded some 2.4 billion applications from app stores. The download rate will accelerate over the next few years until in 2013 when smartphone downloads are expected to peak at just below seven billion. Apple’s app store will continue to lead the field. Google Maps provides street maps and a route planner. It is one of the five most popular downloaded apps among smartphone users: Android (67 percent), iPhone (47 percent), Blackberry (34 percent). Nearly 50 percent of mobile phone users discover new applications by trying the preinstalled apps that come on the phone. Twenty-five percent of respondents in an August 2010 national survey said that the kinds or quality of applications pre-loaded or pre‐installed on their mobile handset was a factor in their purchase decision.

Apps: Globally

The worldwide smartphone application market is estimated to grow from $1.94 billion in 2009 to $15.65 billion by 2013. The application market’s growth is driven by the widespread push of advanced handset capabilities by the mobile industry and the increasingly-connected global consumer base. This trend will continue, seeing global smartphone users numbering 970 million by the end of 2013.

Other interesting facts and figures:

Microsoft dominates the e-mail and calendar system market. There are more than 500 million users on Facebook. Currently, more than 200 million (40 percent) active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices. As of October 2010, the Foursquare mobile application had over 4 million users worldwide. Nearly one in four U.S. adult consumers uses mobile location services, with usage highest among Apple iPhone owners (63 percent of Apple iPhone owners use location services at least once a week). Nearly half of those who noticed any ads while using location-based services took at least some action.