comScore is reporting that during the 3 month average ending in January 2014, 68.8% of mobile subscribers in the United States now own a smartphone. Smartphone penetration is growing steadily in the United States, as it was only this time last year that smartphone ownership was at 55%, and 42.7% the year prior. comScore’s figures match up with Verizon’s report that 70% of their mobile subscribers are now on a smartphone. You can see the smartphone penetration by year in the graph below.
So how many smartphones does 66.8% of the US mobile handset market represent? Almost 160 million smartphones! Why does this matter for SMS marketers? According to a StrongMail survey, conducted by Forrester Consulting, it was found that 44% of smartphone users want to receive promotions to their mobile phones by way of a text message. This makes sense, as one of the top activities on a smartphone is text messaging.
