4 billion-plus: Number of mobile phones globally
3 billion: Number of mobile phones that are SMS (Short Message Service) enabled
1 billion: Number of smartphones
600 million-plus: Number of Facebook users, with more than one-third of Facebook users using Facebook Mobile
200 million-plus: Number of all users (one-third) who access Facebook from a mobile device
200 million-plus: Number of YouTube views seen on mobile devices per day
165 million: Number of Twitter users, with more than 50 percent of them using Twitter Mobile
91 percent: of all mobile Internet use is to socialize versus 79 percent on desktops
86 percent: of mobile users are watching TV while using a mobile phone
29 percent: of mobile users are open to scanning a mobile tag to get coupons
35-54: Age range of women, who are the most active group in mobile socialization
2.7: Number of hours per day on average Americans spend socializing on their mobile device, more than twice the amount of time spent eating and more than one-third of the time that is spent sleeping daily
2014: when mobile Internet usage will overtake desktop Internet usage
2011: more than 50 percent of all local searches are done from a mobile device this year
Games: 64 percent
Weather: 60 percent
Social networking: 56 percent
Maps/navigations/searches: 51 percent
Music: 44 percent
News: 39 percent
Entertainment: 34 percent
Banking/finance: 32 percent
Video/movies: 26 percent
Shopping/retail: 26 percent
Dining/restaurant: 26 percent
Sports: 25 percent
Productivity: 21 percent
Communication (IM, VoiP): 20 percent
Food/drink: 18 percent
Travel: 18 percent
Health: 13 percent
Education/learning: 11 percent
Household/personal care: 6 percent
Sources: Microsoft, Digital Buzz blog
Marcia Whyte admits she has a problem.
The independent consultant for Transworld Systems is addicted to her smartphone and the apps she downloads.
“My husband suggested I enter a 12-step program. he doesn’t understand why I need all of this,” Whyte said as she scrolled the nearly dozen “screens” on her iPhone filled with apps. “I’m pushing myself to do more with my phone. you spend so much money on it. I can’t imagine my life without it.”
As more people go mobile, they’re taking the time to find new ways to make their life easier and fun through the thousands of applications available.
From project management and personal finance to shopping and entertainment, there is an app for just about anything and some users aren’t holding back.
“I certainly see it in action,” said Jay Witherspoon, director of advertising for Cellular Sales. “There’s all sorts of app crack out there. and it’s so diverse. you could be addicted to Facebook and you could be addicted to WebMD.”
A recent report by Nielson shows that 64 percent of users who downloaded an app in June downloaded a game.
Weather, social networking and apps that fall into categories of maps, navigation and searches are also very popular apps, followed by music and news apps.
There are hundreds of thousands of apps, and their availability varies depending on what smartphone you have.
Working for the largest Verizon Wireless retailer in the country, Witherspoon has seen how apps can dictate what type of phone a person gets. For instance, someone may opt for an Android phone over an iPhone or vice versa because that person can’t get the exact Scrabble app he or she wants.
A few months ago, Traci Cash switched from a Blackberry to an HTC Merge, an Android device for U.S. Cellular providers.
“I absolutely love it. I don’t know what I would do without my apps,” said Cash, a field marketing manager for U.S. Cellular who admits she’s an app addict. “The apps take it to the next level.”
Cash believes most people are interested in apps that simplify their lives and keep them organized. the more apps they have the more connected they feel and the more integrated the phone is in their life.
Rachel Duke, marketing and catering director for Brixx Wood Fired Pizza in Knoxville, said her iPhone — complete with a sparkly, bejeweled cover — never leaves her side.
“I can rule the world during happy hour,” Duke said. “It literally makes me more efficient. There’s an app for anything that I ever need and most are free.”
Duke’s first app was the Weather Channel. She now has more than 120 on her phone, though she’s still anxiously waiting for ORNL Federal Credit Union to create one.
Some apps are organized into folders, but the ones she uses the most, like all her social networking apps, are not.
Her husband used to tease her about her addiction, but then he would steal her iPhone until he finally got his own.
Because he travels, they often use Tango, a video chat app, so he can talk with his three sons.
“All my friends think I’m a geek,” Duke said. “But until you have a smartphone, you don’t understand how useful it can be.”
Rather than tote around a big planner, Whyte’s husband persuaded her 25 months ago to give up her Nokia flip phone for an iPhone.
Within eight weeks, Whyte had been bitten by the bug.
“When I saw all that it could do, I was hooked. It infected my whole body. my phone is always within arm’s reach, even at night,” she said. “It’s fun. It’s customizable, and it doesn’t hurt anybody.”
After an app passes her test, it gets moved to its rightful place. Her apps are organized neatly in alphabetical order spanning nine screens on her iPhone. She even has more than two dozen phone cases that she changes out every month. She downloads wallpaper from a wallpaper app to coordinate her phone and case.
“A lot of times I’ll be reading and I’ll learn about an app, so I’ll download it and look at it later. sometimes, if you get it and it doesn’t really do what you thought it would, you just take it off,” Whyte said.
She recently ran out of memory on her 3G iPhone and had what she called the “painful” task of deleting some.
Gone is the Kindle book reading app, the popular angry Birds game and Bump, the app that allows smartphone users to bump their phones together to exchange contact information.
“I grew up reading books,” Whyte said. “And I know angry Birds is like a cult phenomenon, but it did nothing for me.”
Whyte even has been known to put apps on her husband’s phone like the Walgreens and Handyman Sidekick apps.
“He’ll ask me if I put something new on his phone,” she said. “I just think he’ll find them useful.”
When Claire Presnall got her first smartphone several years ago, “it changed how I did everything.”
“I’m addicted. It’s pretty obvious when you see me,” said Presnall, a 33-year-old photographer who owns Rebecca Claire Photography. “It’s really convenient. I can have everything I would normally have on my laptop in my hand, in my purse. Pretty much everything is on it. I can’t think of anything I can’t do with it.”
A lot of the apps that come with the phone are really good, including the maps and voice recorder apps, she said.
She uses the free texting app Beluga so she doesn’t have to worry about exceeding her data plan, and she recently added the recipe-finder app BigOven. One of her favorites is Cheap Gas.
“You have to have your location turned on or you enter your ZIP code and it will find the cheapest gas in the area. I use it all the time when traveling,” Presnall said.
Richard Fung, director of health plan contracting for Summit Medical Group, initially dismissed the hype.
Fung has had his refurbished iPhone for six months and likens it to a Swiss Army knife.
He uses it to take pictures and video. he uses the notepad and even checks out books from the library using the Overdrive app.
“I thought it was unnecessary, but it’s been really useful,” Fung said.