According to comScore:
“In August [2010], 75.6 million mobile subscribers ages 13 and older used downloaded applications, with Smartphone users representing 60.4 percent, up from 43.6 percent in August 2009. For the same period, 80.8 million mobile subscribers used their browser, with Smartphone subscribers comprising 55.5 percent, up from 41.4 percent a year ago.”
If you built something for smartphones in the last year or two, you probably had the same conversations I had about if you were unnecessarily limiting your market to an elite set of users.
We would project future penetration and argue for being a forward-thinking leader in the field, but the counterargument would be to implement something that could reach the broadest base of potential customers.
The conversations are easier these days.
