Half of Americans now have smartphones
For the first time ever more Americans own smartphones than regular phones or feature phones, a new report says.
The report, put out by Chetan Sharma Consulting, shows smartphone penetration has crossed the 50% mark for the first time in the U.S.
And the trend is not exclusive to the United State’s top four carriers. As GigaOM points out, regional operators and other small carriers are also “tapping into the trove of cheaper smartphones in the market.â€
The new report backs up a claim made in May by Nielsen that also said smartphone penetration had crossed the 50% mark. But Nielsen gathered its information from a poll while Sharma’s comes from companies recent quarterly reports, which should make it more accurate.
And smartphone penetration should do nothing but continue growing. The Sharma report said smartphones made up 70% of the total phones sold in the U.S. during the second quarter.
Above all, this is great news for app developers as well as Apple and Google, which essentially get a new store for their content each time someone new gets a smartphone.
The number of smartphones could also get a big boost next month if iPhone 5 rumors hold true.
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