The Lunch Pail

If you are a casual observer of smart phone industry news, you may believe that the iPhone is the most popular model on the market simply based on the media coverage it gets. There are a couple reasons the iPhone continues to get a lot of press - interface innovations, iTunes apps, and the ability to pour a fake beer out for your homies with the integrated accelerometer. Lately, the iPhone is hot - literally. But, by no means does it own the smart phone market.

That honor goes to Research In Motion (RIM) and the ubiquitous Blackberry. According to IDC’s Mobile Phone Tracker the Blackberry represents over 55% of the smart phone market, while the iPhone’s share is 19.5% as of the first quarter of 2009. Despite its business-based reputation, RIM claims that half of all Blackberry users are now consumer users.

When looking at smart phone sales by model, the Blackberry Curve is still on top with the iPhone following a close second. The Blackberry Storm and Pearl followed by the T-Mobile G1 (based on Google’s Android OS) round out the top five in that order.

These numbers are changing as I write thanks to the recent release of the iPhone 3Gs, which sold over 1 million units within the first three days of its release. The Palm Pre has sold roughly 300,000 units (well beyond expectations). These sales figures reinforce the competitive nature of the industry as innovations and new entrants continue to drive the market.

If we take one step back from the mountain we may see it as a molehill, compared to the potential market out there. Smart phone penetration in the mobile market is estimated at 19% in the U.S. and 11% globally. That means 81% of mobile phone users do not own any of the smart phones mentioned. Additionally, we know that most consumers still use their phone primarily for voice and secondarily for texting (SMS).

So, when I hear a marketer get excited about building an iPhone app – or one for the Blackberry or Palm Pre for that matter – I really do understand the excitement. I say let’s do it. But, nearly 100% of the mobile market can interact with your SMS campaign in a meaningful way and at a meaningful time. Apps for the iPhone are great, but SMS has a better reach.