My first-half-of-2011 mobile predictions for iMedia Connection began with the belief that the carriers and retailers would pay us to take on a smartphone with a contract.
While that apparently didn’t happen, the movement of smartphones was a big part of the mobile story from January to June.
The half-full view of smartphone adoption is that, according to the Pet Internet project, more Americans own smartphones than hold a bachelor’s degree (that either speaks to the success of smartphones or the failure of the educational system to produce more graduates).
A half-empty view is that while many analysts predicted smartphone penetration in the U.S. to be 50 percent by the end of the year, highly-regarded wireless expert Chetan Sharma says that day will come in 2012.
If you recall, during the 2010 holiday season, BlackBerry and Windows 7 Phones, among others, were routinely presented to consumers for free. Even the iPhone 3GS sold for $24.95 at Radio Shack in a trade-in promotion.
To top that, in Canada, operator Telus gave customers a free X-Box 360 with a Windows 7 Phone in exchange for a three-year commitment.
Even with the number not tipping over 50 percent this year, brand marketing managers continue to need to plan for more sophisticated consumers with higher-end phones.
In today's post, I look at how I fared on my other predictions. http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/07/12/take-a-smartphone-please/
