When I began doing my research on the social impact of the smartphones, I thought I was getting into a fad subject, the one that goes away after a few months or a couple of years at the most.
The more I went into it, the more impressed I was with the social changes that were happening in this field. It is true, smartphones started as a cool device to have. For a while it was thought only the young generation was going to use it.
Today, that perception has changed dramatically.
What is a Smartphone anyway?
I went ahead and checked Tech Terms and found that a smartphone is defined as “a mobile phone that includes advanced functionality beyond making phone calls and sending text messages. Most smartphones have the capability to display photos, play videos, check and sen e-mail, and surf the Web.”
The Opportunity
As with all things in this capitalistic society we live in, smart electronic companies worldwide saw an opportunity to expand their reach and sales and started their billion dollar advertising campaigns to convince older generations that it was not only “cool” to carry one, but practical and helpful. And so they poured million dollar budgets into developing apps to make life easier for all members of society.
The results
As expected, smartphone sales took off and life has never been the same. The young generation as well as the older one, mainly the baby boomers, became mesmerized by all the possibilities of enjoying a better life. Nowadays, looking for a store map and finding your way to places has become common practice among the mobile users. Checking product and service reviews while shopping inside the stores, comparing prices with other stores and getting discounts showing the store coupons on their screens are only minor examples of what smartphones are capable of doing.
Commerce opportunities
Even when a lot of local merchants fear a customer checking the competition inside their very own stores, those who know what they are doing marketing-wise find this to be an excellent opportunity to grab a bigger piece of the local market pie, as long as they get help from professional services that specialize in mobile technology.
Why mobile phones are so attractive to consumers
On the final analysis, the biggest benefit is that mobile phones have become our personal computers, something impossible to imagine just a few years back.
Now, every day I hear a new game app being introduced to the market that could end the teenage boredom forever or a new health app that could improve and even save the life of the mobile owner, literally.
In summary
The complete transition from PCs to mobile devices would probably take a while, but presently, it’s hard to argue with how important those mobile devices have become to our day to day lives.