The trend is inevitable, as we've said many many times. Now the latest Pew Internet and American Life Project study dated March 2008 reports on American their latest survey completed December 2007. I found the study as our friend Giff Gfroerer, the CEO of 12SMS posted the story at Forum Oxford (thank you Giff). If you want to read the study findings, they are at this link
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Mobile.Data.Access.pdf
First, an interesting reversal of order during the past five years. In 2002 the cellphone was last among four major technologies that the US consumer would feel they needed, the landline phone was most important (this still in 2002 in America, how quaint) with TV and internet the others. Now in 2007 the cellphone is most important, with the internet edging TV and the fixed landline phone falling to last of the four. How times change. In five short years, the last place cellphone jumped to most necessary; and the previous must-have fixed landline fell to last of the four.
For any American readers who may shake their heads and think, yeah, maybe that is happening now - please note that this happened a decade ago in advanced parts of the world. The whole industrialized world has discovered the exceptional utility of the cellphone and surveys find cellphones the most needed gadget in all major markets. It is no fluke it also happened in America. And now think of the iPhone - the cellphone is emerging as the 7th Mass Media - the importance of the cellphone will only get more, not less, over the next few years.
Then about one of my pet interests - SMS text messaging, the most widely used data application on the planet (over 2.4 billion active users, over twice the total users of email worldwide). The fastest way to communicate ever invented by man, and also the most discrete way to communicate electronically. A service proven to be as addictive as cigarette smoking. Pew reports that in December 2007 the American SMS usage had reached 58% of subscribers who say they have used SMS text messaging. And already three in ten use it daily. Yes, welcome to the 21st century, Americans. The rest of us 3.05 billion cellphone subscribers around the world average 2.8 SMS text messages sent EVERY DAY. You still have a long way to go, ha-ha, but yes, this is good progress.
The Pew study also breaks information down by age. The SMS usage is very revealing. For those age 18-29 already 85% use SMS (The European AVERAGE across all ages is 85%). For ages 30-49 it is already over half, at 65%. Then those waiting to retire, 50-64 year olds it falls to 38% and among the senior citizens in the USA, above 65 year olds, SMS text messaging is used by only 11%. These numbers will all increase every quarter, like in every other country, because SMS is addictive. It is addictive because it is the fastest, and the most discrete (secret) way to communicate. Every person on the planet can use a faster way to communicate and every person will at times want to send discrete messages, if for no other reason, than to arrange a surprise party to the beloved for whom one has no secrets, ha-ha...
And Senior Citizens? Yes, they soon learn that their grandkids prefer to communicate via SMS. It is often Grandmom first, who learns how the grandkids send text messages, and then teaches her husband to join in the fun. There is no age limit to texting.
Comments