Smartphones, The Opiate Of the Masses?

So, we’ve officially crossed the 50% mark (according to Nielsen) of mobile phone owners in the US that are carrying a smartphone. This is an important milestone as it’ll be interesting to see how the second 50% of phone owners cotton to the idea of more expensive data plans, handsets and a new usage paradigm. Will we see adoption move as quickly as it did among the first 50% of smartphone buyers? Economic indicators would seem to point to the trend slowing, after all, the “average consumer does not have a rosy outlook on things, consider the following data points from October, 2010 to July 2012:

• Gallup Economic confidence index values
  • Oct, 2010 -28
  • July, 2012 -26
  • While still negative, the peak value of – 15 still seems relatively well out of reach compared to recent data, we’re not in the trough of despair we have been in this time period but we’re still pretty bearish on things.

• Gallup US Mood values
  • Oct, 2010 47
  • July, 2012 46
  • We’ve been happier, unfortunately, with the peak value in this time scale coming in at 67.

• Gallup Consumer Spending Index (14 day running average)
  • Oct, 2010 59
  • July, 2012 57
  • We’re a bit more thirfty than at our peak spending of 103, big spending is not an everyday occurrence

All of that in consideration, then, we’re a little down, cautious and slow to grab the wallet, all except when it comes to smartphones, which in the same period have witnessed steady growth from a penetration of 25% to 0ver 50% in the same timeframe (http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/smartphones-account-for-half-of-all-mobile-phones-dominate-new-phone-purchases-in-the-us/) are $500 smartphones the true opiate for the masses in these bleak times? Could be. One can argue they’re hardly necessary purchases for the average consumer.

What’s driven you to join the smartphone toting masses?

Economic data sources

• Mood: http://www.gallup.com/poll/106915/Gallup-Daily-US-Mood.aspx
• Spending: http://www.gallup.com/poll/112723/Gallup-Daily-US-Consumer-Spending.aspx
• Confidence: http://www.gallup.com/poll/122840/Gallup-Daily-Economic-Indexes.aspx