Those of us who were watching TV in the 1980s probably remember sci-fi shows about bionic humans with all sorts of awesome appendages. From microchips underneath the skin to titanium limbs, the human of the future was indeed a sight to behold. You might say that time has already come! Except, future ideas of arms made of precious metals have been replaced by the current reality of hands holding rose gold cellphones. The mobile phone really has become a superhuman bodily extension that enables us to overreach the limitations of our earthly bodies.
So what exactly on the mobile phone enables us to do so much more today than yesterday? One could argue it was initially the phone’s early voice capabilities, followed by email and web functionality that suddenly enabled us to work from anywhere, make travel arrangements on the fly and all the while access Internet banking in a flash to make sure we could pay for our new connected lifestyles!
However, mobile browsers are becoming seriously old school as apps built by mobile specialists like InTarget and its partners become the new superhuman, standout feature of the cellphone. A recent survey by eMarketer found that in 2017 most connected adults in developed economies will use mobile apps on their cellphones for at least 2 hours per day. That’s a healthy 10 plus percent increase over last year.
Interestingly, what’s also true is that while mobile app usage is increasing, and that’s good news for mobile marketers, the number of apps people tend to use is declining. For anyone who has ever opened a shiny new Android or Apple device and immediately started downloading such seemingly useful apps as spirit levels and maps of the night sky, that’s no surprise. I’d say 90 percent of downloaded apps are never actually used.
Mobile marketers need to focus on developing consumer-friendly solutions for the core of apps that people actually use, every day. In 2017, that is still the usual suspects like Facebook for sure. Overall, app time will make up close to 20% of total media time this year in the U.S, eMarketer found. What’s also clear is that video use continues to climb so combining apps and video really does seem to be a winning formula for mobile marketers.
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