There have been a slew of mobile statistical sources issuing updates to their numbers recently. I know many of my readers like to receive these. Here are the big ones that I've spotted. (Also remember, on Twitter as @tomiahonen I will always comment and retweet any new stats that I find from any source, and very often they are not found by me but are stats that are sent to me as spotted by my followers).
Unique mobile subscriber count has been updated by the World Bank for 2015. This is the elusive number, we find easily the total subscriber count for the planet (now more mobile subscriptions in use than humans alive) but many of us have two or more accounts, so what is the actual unique user count. The World Bank now says 5.2 Billion human beings. That number is 72% of all humans alive, of any age including babies. It is utterly unprecedented for any technology including the internet, PC, TV, radio, even the wristwatch. Mobile is the most widely spread technology humans have ever experienced, used in places that have no electrical grid, no running water. It even extends beyond literacy as even an illiterate person can talk on a mobile phone.
And what do we do with the mobile? How about some internet stats? The ITU has updated their internet numbers for 2015 and now count a total of 3.2 Billion internet users in total. Most of those are of course now from mobile phones as I was the first to predict in my book back in 2002. But how many is that? The ITU tells us. The number of fixed internet users is down to 800 million so mobile internet migration is at 75%. Yes, no wonder Google prioritizes mobile-optimized websites ahead of traditional large-screen PC websites, when 3 out of every 4 internet users globally uses a mobile phone to get to the internet.
Mobile money and banking is a hot topic (and my 11tth book was the first in the world publiished solely on mobile money and banking). How big is the mobile banking user base this year? Juniper reports that this year 2015 is the moment when the planet passed the amazing level of 1 Blilion users of mobile phones for their banking. For context, the total number of banking accounts globally is 2.9 Billion so already more than one in three banking users worldwide, uses (at least part of the time) a mobile phone to access the banking services. Yeah, this is THE cannibal of cannibals, among any industry that ever was. Not the internet, but mobile.
Talking about mobile data services, how about the gorilla? The largest data service that humankind has ever seen. The one that utterly dwarfs Facebook or Whatsapp or Instagram or Twitter. The one thats almost twice the size of the total internet? Larger in active users than the total AUDIENCE of television or FM radio even when the shared use of those technologies, a large family watching one TV, is included. Larger in reach than the READERSHIP of newspapers even when the shared newspaper is read by several. What is the biggest data service that ever was (and keeps growing still). Yes, my readers know, its of course SMS text messaging. Portio has just counted the total active SMS user base for 2015 and they have it at 6.2 Billion. Note the clear difference with the unique user number reported before. Of course this count allows multiple subscriptions by one individual (often two phones) to be used where both have SMS traffic. Like our multiple eMail accounts or our multiple ownership of smartphones. But yes, that is a monster, monster number. 6,2 Bilion active SMS users worldwide. You thought Facebook was big? SMS reaches an audience four times larger! You like Whatsapp? SMS is six times bigger by active users. Can you now underestand why I keep harping about SMS all the time? (Oh, and my latest 'everything you ever wanted to know about mobile messaging' blog, with all the stats and 29 case studies - with numbers - is here.)
Portio gives us more. The relevant part of SMS for you, reading this blog, unless you work for a big telco, is not the person-to-person SMS (if you wanted to launch a competitor to that, you'd be more interested in Whatsapp and its peers). No, for most reading this blog, who are in marketing and advertising, or business development, or digital money, or customer service, or retail, or government or education or healthcare, etc, then you want the 'premium SMS' stats. The service that is called A2P and/or P2A in SMS (Application to Person). Sending us an alert when someone used our credit card. Requesting a password when we get blocked out of an internet service while travelling. Paying for parking, voting for TV, that sort of thing. How big is that part of SMS. Portio tells us. 22% of all SMS text messaging traffic this year is A2P or P2A traffic, ie 'premium SMS' traffic. Wow. And growing madly. Do not for one minute think that YOUR opportunity in mobile, is being killed by Whatsapp. Mobile first is always SMS first. If you are reading this blog, you have to understand the only gorilla in the room, in our industry. That is SMS. Yes, Mobile First always starts with SMS. Its not just what I've said for nearly two decades now, and still say every time I meet my clients. Its what essentially every expert in the industry is now saying, plus most of the major global corporations who win all the awards for best mobile innovations, from Coca Cola to Unilever to Mastercard to McDonalds. Did I mention I have the perfect primer for you with all the stats and case studies in SMS?
Wait, there is still more from Portio. They have updated their count of MMS users. Yes, yes, yes yes, we all hate that picture-sharing service but its not called PMS. Picture Messaging Service. It is called Multimedia Messaging Service, MMS. Multimedia. That is EVERYTHING that SMS hopes to be when it grows up. It is THE most powerful step up, after you did your SMS campaign. Why because every phone works with it, no apps are required and it doesn't need to be a smartphone. Better yet, every consumer knows how to open and read an MMS, because it behaves EXACTLY like SMS. Even better, to respond to MMS, the consumer responds EXACTLY like - and usually with - an SMS. The open rates are astronomical, the response rates are lightling-fast and the conversion rates are BETTER than with SMS. Duh. Don't think of it as person-to-person picture sharing. That is dumb. Think of it as the best multimedia vehicle to get to every pocket. Most of MMS revenues are CONTENT, premium content, video clips of movies, samples of new songs released, previews of TV shows, airline boarding passes, offers and coupons, barcodes, that kind of stuff. How many people use MMS in the world in 2015. Yes, more than total internet again. How big is MMS? 3.5 Billion active users in 2015. The second largest digital interactive data service on the planet. The second biggest! Why are you not using SMS and MMS? Oh, and you want MMS stats and MMS case studies? They are of course in this massive article I wrote about the everything guide to mobile messaging.
One last bit. The big data industry. How big is the analytics industry when only measured within mobile and ignoring all telco internal stats, but only the new commercial side of consumer analytics via mobile? All that spyware, all the consumer surveys, all the metrics collected by the mobile ad networks and searches etc? And the analytics of our apps use, etc. Ignoring all the behavior data collected by older legacy industries from TV to the internet, just the mobile consumer analytics business. How big is that? We have for the first time a count of that. In 2015 it is worth $1.3 Billion dollars, as reported by Markets and Markets. Personally, I think that number is way too low, but hey, we have for the first time a global count of that number now. Oh, and if you were not sure how mobile factors in with 'big data' (I say Mobile is the Magical Measurement Machine) then the definitive article on everything you ever wanted to know about mobile and big data, is here.
Yeah, its an early Christmas to all propeller-heads with this many new stats out. Enjoy. PS if you need to see where this industry is headed, the most accurate forecaster for the mobile industry is still me, and my latest global mobile forecast out earlier this year, is here. Get the best data and be ahead of the game!
Ah! More numbers to play with!
Posted by: Wayne Borean | October 16, 2015 at 10:49 AM
@NO ONE:
"http://fortune.com/2015/10/16/apple-ibm-helpdesk/?xid=yahoo_fortune"
I already commented on this in another article. It's funny how everybody is drawing the wrong conclusion here.
It's not Macs vs. Windows that's more service friendly. It's the USERS that switch to Macs that are more service friendly. Because you can bet that these are people willing to invest time in the computer they are using, whereas a large number of people who stick with Windows are those who cry for help with the tiniest problem they encounter. These would also cry for help if they had a Mac. And most of these calls are not real problems but time wasters.
My brother-in-law works in computer support and from the stories he tells it's quite obvious that the vast majority of calls comes from people who do not know their way around a computer, regardless of operating system. But these are not the type that would exchange what they know with something they don't.
Posted by: Tester | October 16, 2015 at 07:05 PM
@Tomi
"Why are you not using SMS and MMS"
.
About MMS,
Perhaps price??
In some country the price for MMS is a lot higher than SMS, and co go as high as 1:10. If you do bulk, even a 1:2 i.e. $100,000 vs. $200,000 seems big.
Posted by: abdul muis | October 17, 2015 at 06:34 AM
@Tester, windows is just crap. For decades people have been subject to this crappy insecure unstable complex POS (WHY do you think these SAME PEOPLE don't buy the POS called windows phone??? ...hint they know windows is CRAP). When they try something else the are gone from microsoft. Apple and chromebook are much better alternatives than being spied on by microsoft. The answer is simple. microsoft software is just complex buggy CRAP! I would pester the IT departments too if I had to deal with windows all day long. It's NOT a pleasure to use.
All you microsoft astroturfers jump and down while yelling: NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS ON A PHONE!
Posted by: NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS | October 18, 2015 at 02:02 PM
The IBM report is about users who opted in to getting a Mac, ie. who already knew that the Mac would work better for them than Windows PCs. Also those users were informed enough to actually make that choice. Therefore it is not surprising that their number of support requests is lower.
I would be cautious drawing any conclusions before we see the migration complete to the planned extent. With knowledge of the total number of support requests (Win+Mac) combined before and after we could say more.
The only thing which we can say with the current data is that if you offer Macs as a non-default choice, the users who make that choice will cause a much lower number of support requests compared to those who don't.
Posted by: chithanh | October 18, 2015 at 08:48 PM
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2015/10/14/iphone-6s-fastest-adoption-japan/
"It’s not all good news for Apple, as the global adoption rate of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus is lagging behind last year’s release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The new handsets are on 2.7 percent of Apple’s total active devices, while last year’s models reached 4.0 percent in the same timescale. That’s down almost a third down year-on-year, although the increased size of the iOS device market should be taken into considered, along with Apple’s own sales figures of thirteen million devices."
Device sold percentage
New iPhone 6S/6S+ -- 2.7%
Old iPhone 6/6+ ---- 4.0%
The new iphone is NOT selling well....
... according to Forbes / Ewan Spence
Posted by: abdul muis | October 21, 2015 at 05:39 PM
@abdulb muis
> About MMS,
> Perhaps price??
Be aware that Tomi is talking about targeted opt-in marketing. This is not sending out unsolicited bulk messages, companies expect orders of magnitude better response rate here.
Posted by: chithanh | October 21, 2015 at 07:58 PM
Hi Tomi.
Great to read a blog that touched on media and advertising again.
It's been way too long between blogs... :-(
How about some more "boomers" like you used to do?
eg http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2012/03/some-cases-of-mobile-advertising-excellence-from-around-the-world.html
Bring it on
Posted by: Henry Sinn | October 22, 2015 at 06:54 AM
@The shit poste (i.e. NO ONE WANTS...)
Get some tranquilizers, dude. High blood pressure is not healthy! :D
How about trying to do some serious discussion for once, insteaf of constantly bashing dissenting opinions or outright insulting others? (Oh well, I forgot, you are incapable of acting like a civilized being...)
Going through your diatribe:
"windows is just crap."
Highly debatable, but ultimately just your personal opinion. If it was 'just crap' nobody would use it anymore.
"For decades people have been subject to this crappy insecure unstable complex POS (WHY do you think these SAME PEOPLE don't buy the POS called windows phone??? ...hint they know windows is CRAP).
Wrong conclusion. Windows Phone failed because it was NOT Windows! It was 100% incompatible in the beginning, unable to create any synergies at all.
And when some attempts of bridging the gap were made, they were utterly misguided, resulting in the Windows 8 disaster. Windows 10 is too late to fix the error.
Yes, WP7 was indeed crap. WP8 failed for other reasons than being 'crap', but it'd take too long to list them all.
"When they try something else the are gone from microsoft. Apple and chromebook are much better alternatives than being spied on by microsoft."
Yes, instead they get spied upon by Google and Apple. Great trade! And a Chromebook isn't even a fully functional computer, so urgh! Guess why I use Firefox as my webbrowser and not Chrome!
"The answer is simple. microsoft software is just complex buggy CRAP! I would pester the IT departments too if I had to deal with windows all day long.
Yeah, the answer is simple: You are merely a troll. Working for Apple and promoting their overpriced product for a change???
"It's NOT a pleasure to use."
You know what? That's MacOSX for me! Not a pleasure to use because it's sorely missing some things I absolutely NEED for quick work on a computer. I'd rather use Linux than Mac if it was actually usable for doing the things I do for work.
@chithanh:
"The IBM report is about users who opted in to getting a Mac, ie. who already knew that the Mac would work better for them than Windows PCs. Also those users were informed enough to actually make that choice. Therefore it is not surprising that their number of support requests is lower."
Precisely that. But in the name of propaganda this evident conclusion gets conveniently ignored.
Just so to say, I never had to call support for my Windows work PC - but the Mac I use for iOS development started to act up really strangely after updating the OS to El Capitan, and I'm desperately waiting for Support to fix it. Having a boot-up time of 10(!) minutes is certainly not fun.
Posted by: Tester | October 22, 2015 at 01:11 PM
@Tester about you pathetic attempt to defend microsoft CRAPPY software! (your -sort of - what's wrong with WP question) "it'd take too long to list them all" ...the list IS the VERY DEFINITION of why windows is CRAP!
Most of the intelligent people reading this blog know the CRAP called WINDOWS IS THE LIFE BLOOD OF THE VIRUS INDUSTRY!!! PERIOD!!!! ...and everyone else knows it too and the result NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS ON A PHONE!
Now microsoft wants to spy on you and force updates (we know from experience how that will work based on microsofts past AND the extensive experience of all users of microsoft crappy products already know windows 10 is just more microsoft abuse)
...and YOU are suggesting people and companies should put up with forced updates to this unstable, privacy invading, insecure CRAP! ...now isn't that special :-)
There is simply no other word for windows but CRAP except for TOTAL CRAP. :-) Apple and Chromebook are much better alternatives as the market moves away from the windows CRAP and in case there is any confusion ....I mean CRAP!!!
microsoft astroturfers jump up and down while flapping your arms and yell: NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS ON A PHONE!
Posted by: NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS | October 22, 2015 at 04:01 PM
WHY Windows is CRAP? I couldn't say it better :-) Crank up the volume and enjoy! ...the first link (below) systematically tells it like it is ...in words the even our dumbest microsoft astroturfer will understand!! There are multiple videos for every windows version, such windows popularity ...now isn't that special!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Qo_2I0NvQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_FWpr8BX8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GU5uv28a3I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbD2HlERpvs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2NBQKCjUGA
...etc. There are lots and lots more
Windows 10 spying is become very well known and even more abusive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOZ-mwaDhlo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lndslWef6M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWs6mk-HWLk
..etc lots more if you want
...and yes astroturfers please tell us again just how much the public loves windows ...NOT!
Check out Facebook LoL!
https://www.facebook.com/Microsoft-Windows-is-a-piece-of-crap-130289456981449/
and more love of windows "CRAP" at:
http://doncharisma.org/2013/07/18/windows-8-is-crap-rubbish-awful-terrible-horrible-slow-a-disaster-a-flop/
http://lifehacker.com/384545/superior-alternatives-to-crappy-windows-software
http://dottech.org/94027/this-hilarious-video-explains-why-windows-8-sucks-video/
For more, just search "windows" and "Crap" and enjoy LoL!!!
Hey microsoft astroturfers climb up to the top of your roof and shout: NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS ON A PHONE! LOL!
Posted by: NO ONE WANTS WINDOWS | October 22, 2015 at 05:58 PM
@NO ONE...
Take a chill pill dude, Windows may have it's flaws, granted. But have you seen the Android security nightmare lately? Windows is certainly not the only virus-infested platform out there.
However, I for one won't mourn the day when Windows finally loses it's grip on the desktop. It's only a matter of time now, and I do know very few systems will screw it up as badly as Windows did. But, their slip will be slow driplets for the next decade or so, and 2025 we might see 12% Linux and 8% OSX on the desktop... :)
Posted by: Per "wertigon" Ekström | October 22, 2015 at 08:52 PM
I think the day will come sooner. Not tomorrow, but maybe in 5 years rather than 10.
ChromeOS already has roughly the same share in the PC market that Windows has in the smartphone market. And ChromeOS is rising while Windows Phone is declining: Microsoft earnings report from today said they sold only 5.8 million Lumias last quarter (down from 9.3 million a year earlier).
Posted by: chithanh | October 23, 2015 at 01:09 AM
A lookback:
A History of Android Market Share: How Google's Mobile Operating System Dominated the Globe
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/10/25/a-history-of-android-market-share-how-googles-mobi.aspx
Apple may make some modest gains in the quarters to come, but unless it launches a low-cost iPhone (something it has stubbornly avoided), it won't capture the emerging market masses.
Perhaps one day we'll move on to a different computing platform. Until then, it's an Android world.
Posted by: Winter | October 25, 2015 at 03:14 PM
@Winter
It's very probable that Apple will release a low cost model once the growth of the current market has reached the limits. Currently maybe 20-40% of people who can afford an iPhone are buying one.
Posted by: Lullz | October 25, 2015 at 05:13 PM
@Lullz
It depends on how you do the math. Does hand-me-down & buy used phone count as 'can afford'?
Posted by: abdul muis | October 25, 2015 at 06:03 PM
@Lullz:
Where is the low-cost PC/iPad then? Apple doesn't do low-cost, but yes that option still remains to them. It's doubtful such a move is in their best interest though.
Posted by: Per "wertigon" Ekström | October 25, 2015 at 07:03 PM
@abdul muis
New phones.
Apple is currently selling maybe 40% of the phones sold in the price segment iPhone is sold. That covers the 40% range. Then again it's possible only half of the people able to afford that expensive phones are actually buying an expensive phones. That covers the 20% range.
@PWE
Has there been a real need for a low-cost Mac or iPad? The mid range devices have covered that area. If a less expensive iPhone is not in Apple's interests, does gaining the market share really matter or not?
Posted by: Lullz | October 25, 2015 at 07:31 PM
@Lullz:
"If a less expensive iPhone is not in Apple's interests, does gaining the market share really matter or not?"
That depends what 'Apple's best interest' is.
Right now their interest seems to be to gobble up as much money as they can with the least amount of work possible.
But this coin has a flipside: Many current Apple users who are not strongly devoted to Apple are slowly starting to realize that Apple is no longer the company that was led by Steve Jobs, the Apple of 2015 is not really interested in leading innovation, they are merely interested in leading profits. And this will crumble - such a business is not infinitely sustainable. And when that happens and Apple has no wide reaching market share the business may implode faster than anyone might think. In mobile most players who developed problems followed the same pattern: lazy execution that was more interested in protecting the bottom line rather than the actual product. This went well for quite some time in which the rot could take hold until it was too late, and when it came to the surface the business crashed down like a house of cards. Yes, I see Apple right in the early stages of that trajectory right now.
Posted by: Tester | October 25, 2015 at 11:47 PM
@Lullz
"New phones.
Apple is currently selling maybe 40% of the phones sold in the price segment iPhone is sold. That covers the 40% range. Then again it's possible only half of the people able to afford that expensive phones are actually buying an expensive phones. That covers the 20% range."
1. I don't know how you got the 40% number.
2. While I agree that "it's possible only half of the people able to afford that expensive phones are actually buying an expensive phones", you also need to consider that there's a lot of people who can't really afford expensive phone, but buy it anyway. There is a lot of waitress and barista ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OBJjxWBMtc ) who were on minimum wages, but opted to have the greatest and latest iphone.
3. Don't discount the hand-me-down market share. If (random number, let say 30%) of apple user is a kid with hand-me-down iPhone, that means iPhone reach 30% of segment that were for, let say, $100 smartphone. Which also means that apple already targeted the cheap segment.
Posted by: abdul muis | October 26, 2015 at 09:27 AM