It's a Smart Smart Smart Smartphone World

It's no longer just those with a white-collar job; today, more than half of the adults in the U.S. own a smartphone, according to a new Pew report. In fact, the cost of not having a smartphone is becoming higher than the cost of owning one, said analyst John du Pre Gauntt. Social norms are being revised accordingly -- and smartphone services are about to take off.

 

More than half of the adults in the United States now own a smartphone, constituting a new milestone in the history of the device, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Specifically, smartphone adoption has grown to 56 percent of American adults, according to Pew's Smartphone Ownership 2013 report released this week.

That's the largest percentage since Pew began tracking smartphone adoption two years ago and represents a significant jump from the 46 percent that owned one in February of last year and the 35 percent from two years ago. 

  

 A New Era 

Pew's data confirms the statistics that many tech industry watchers have marveled at for the past few years. Namely, smartphone adoption has been remarkably swift, said John du Pre Gauntt, an analyst at GigaOM Pro.
"What we call a smartphone is basically a handheld computer that makes phone calls," du Pre Gauntt told TechNewsWorld. "The idea of spending US$99 on one was unthinkable even in 2006 or 2007, but now it's very ordinary."
It's so ordinary, in fact, that the cost of not having a smartphone is becoming higher than the cost of owning one, he said.
It's not just professionals in tech-savvy fields that need a smartphone anymore; several jobs in service industries now require workers to be connected via an app, to facilitate mobile payment services or to be able to access navigational services via their device.

"We're getting a cost of nonparticipation with smartphones," du Pre Gauntt said. "If you want a job with a professional organization and you walk in with a cheap phone, they're going to look at you differently."
That's not just true in white collar fields, either: "Several positions such as roofers or other blue collar jobs are responding to e-mails in the field or using location services to get to job sites," he noted.

Staying Safe and Social 

Of course, the new abilities come with a new set of risks, Anna Bager, vice president and general manager at IAB, pointed out.
Specifically, the more a person uses a smartphone, the more personal data it contains -- especially if consumers are taking advantage of mobile banking or commerce applications -- making the consequences of a cyberattack potentially more threatening.
"Clearly, mobile users are leaning into their devices for personal finance assistance wherever and whenever they happen to have a need," Bager told TechNewsWorld.
"Most financial apps already contain rock-solid security, but consumers seem not to be as plugged into the fact, and that knowledge gap can make all the difference in driving further usage and adoption."
In addition to security concerns, the rise of smartphones also means that people are changing the way they interact with other humans, suggested Chetan Sharma, president at Chetan Sharma Consulting.
"As with most things, there are downsides," Sharma told TechNewsWorld. "We as a society are so glued to these devices that we are changing some social norms -- for example, people checking their e-mails while having dinner with a friend or significant other.
"Instead of talking to their kids, parents routinely just hand them their smartphone to quiet them down," he added.

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