The decision of whether or not to create an iPhone app is coming up with increasing frequency. One of the first questions that comes up is "What percent of our target has an iPhone?" And the answer is...
US iPhone Ownership by Age
We compiled the table above from recent stats published by AdMob and recent Census numbers. This table doesn't include stats on the iPod Touch.
Reading across, 6% of the 13.2 million total iPhone owners in the US are 13-17 years old. Of all 13 to 17 year olds, 3.9% own an iPhone. That is, if your target audience is 13-17 year olds and you create the Killer-iPhone-App-Of-All-Time with 100% download rate, you will have reached 3.9% of your targeted customers.
When looking at these numbers, a couple of things become pretty clear (but also make the decision of whether or not to create an app more difficult).
1. iPhone Users Span Every Age Range. The question is less about whether an iPhone app is right for your customers. As you can see, there are iPhone users in every age group. There's no easy go/no go decision here. (I can even make a case for the 65+ in that these are likely to be the influencers and opinion leaders in the community)
2. The Addressable Market is Not Large. Even with the largest group of adopters (25-34 year olds), over 90% of that audience do not own an iPhone. An iPhone app is not going to be a "reach" vehicle and regardless of popularity, will not be accessible to a significant percentage of your target.
With these numbers and your estimates of response, you can put together amodel that will help you answer the To App or Not to App question.
@margie thank you for this post. These numbers are eye opening considering the demand and hype.
Apple does not define the mobile space, however their press machine does. Since this channel is so fragmented is their a way to finding the right handsets (and or carriers in the US)to create a mass distribution channel?
These numbers seem to indicate that there is a strong brand value play going on here.
Posted by: Joanna Pena-Bickley | Friday, September 18, 2009 at 09:50 PM
Great question. In a post earlier this year, I drilled down on the global numbers (http://www.iwundernyc.com/weblog/2009/08/the-untapped-potential-of-mobile-apps-marketing.html).
As for US, recent #s show RIM far in the lead with 52% share of smart phone market (http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/smartphones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219400707)
Posted by: Margie Chiu | Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 08:31 AM