March 26, 2013
If you’ve witnessed any of our “Search Engine Marketing 101” presentations, you may remember that I presented some eMarketer data that stated Canadian smart phone usage would surpass 50% of mobile phone users by the end of 2012. Well, the numbers are in. For ages 13+, 62% of Canadian mobile phone users use smartphones in December 2012.
The growth of smartphones in Canada at the end of 2012 can largely be attributed to the release of the highly anticipated iPhone5 and the popularity of Android OS smartphones, which are often more affordable than the iPhone5 and available across a variety of carriers and networks. In fact, according to ComScore, Android outpaced Apple and BlackBerry phones with a 40% share of the mobile phone market.
In my experience presenting mobile phone usage data to my peers and our partners, many people wondered how much of the 50% of smartphone users were under 18. In fact, teens aged 13-17 only accounted for 7% of mobile phone users in this ComScore study. Smartphone use was concentrated among adults. The province with the most smartphone users was Ontario, which accounted for 41% of users.
What type of activities are smartphone users engaging with on their devices? 60% of smartphone users use their phones to check the weather, which may be why many media planners target weather applications for their mobile ads. Coming in second at 57%, was of course mobile search. This further emphasizes the need for marketers to be agile in the mobile space. With mobile usage exceeding expectations, we need to keep mobile top of mind in our strategies, ensuring we are designing our landing pages to be responsive to various types of mobile devices.
If you’d like to discuss mobile trends further, please do not hesitate to contact me to chat.
Source: eMarketer, Smartphones take the lead in Canada, March 26, 2013