According to IDC, China will push past the U.S. this year in smartphone market share, taking a 20.7% piece of the pie, compared to 20.6% in the U.S. So really, about the same, but China will continue to grow past the U.S. in the future, reaching 20.2% by 2016, with U.S. falling to 15.3%. I know, that is shrinking, not growing, but other parts of the market will be growing too. In fact, India will have a 9.3% share in 2016. And that is the three biggest markets in 2016. This is all based on shipments, not installed base. And the installed base is getting pretty big these days. But on the other hand, as all you app developers know, it is the new phone buyers that download the most apps. So China is becoming a serious opportunity. Better start brushing up your skills on that Ni Hao World app!
Another point to note, the report indicates that the lower cost smartphones are driving adoption in these markets. So the opportunity will be more in Android and other platforms more prevalent on the lower end smartphones, rather than iOS.
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If nothing else, remember these two things about mobile strategy:• Mobile is not just about mobile phones and apps – that is just the tip of the iceberg. Mobile can transform your entire enterprise, every aspect. And it can do these things now.
• Mobile is not just one field, it represents hundreds of technologies that can do a vast amount of different things across the entire enterprise that have little to do with each other. In other words – using mobile technology for marketing has little to do with using mobile technology for improving operational efficiencies. Make sure you are thinking in the broader context of how mobile can revolutionize everything you do at your organization and putting your resources where they will make the most impact first.
Keith Bourne is the Lead Mobile Strategist for Arbormoon, a premier mobile development firm located in Ann Arbor, MI.
This blog, and my life, is all about mobile. I've been active in mobile since 1998. The mobile world has changed a lot since those early days, but the most interesting events have come in the past 3-4 years. Really since January 7, 2007, to be exact. I have had been lucky enough to participate in mobile projects ranging across a wide variety of industries and disciplines, including retail, restaurants, education, government, software, operations, marketing, and many more. I built deep technical knowledge, even coding mobile apps on occasion for both iPhone and Android, and that has made a huge difference in my ability to determine the best strategic applications of mobile for my clients.
I have given many presentations and interviews on tech and marketing related topics including mobile strategy, mobile marketing, eCommerce, and social media, but this blog gives me an ongoing outlet to chronicle the growth of mobile in the enterprise and what I believe will be the biggest change agent in how business is conducted across all fields, and the greatest marketing channel ever created.
If these are interesting topics to you, follow my blog here and follow me on Twitter @keithbourne. Let’s make it a discussion and share whatever we figure out with everyone else.
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