Last year was the year of the iPad. It was the hottest gadget out but it lacked competition. This year, manufacturers will be striking back with their own tablet PCs.
Now the mobile market consists of not only phones but these tablets and their toned down cousins, the e-readers (which have vastly evolved from the primordial Kindle). In 2010 85% of American adults owned a cell phone while about 4% owned a tablet PC or e-reader.
With further competition between manufacturers, these devices will continue to be improved in both performance and price and we predict they will continue to grow in ownership throughout the country as well. After all, when cell phones first came out only rich kids like Zack Morris could afford one but eventually they took off and became a huge deal.
What does this mean for marketers? It means there will be plenty of new mediums on which to market your product or brand. Developers can already include advertising within applications they develop for Apple’s lineup of products and we are certain there will be more of that to come with the release of these new devices.
Overall, the mobile market is a virtually untapped resource but continues to expand which means exciting new opportunities for us marketers to develop creative and innovative ways to reach consumers.
Looking forward to tons of great mobile announcements at CES this week. Will be some good inspiration for the year!