Late last night, in the mean streets near Taskmaster Towers, I witnessed something truly shocking. A fellow entrepreneur reached into their bag and then proceeded to pull out a heavy, solid, blunt object and point in my general direction. It was dark, but at first glance, it appeared like they had just pulled out a brick.
Now, Old Taskmaster has been known to be a little opinionated or competitive from time to time. This has been known to rub some people the wrong way. However, what happened next was completely and utterly uncalled for.
They checked to see if they’d missed any calls on their mobile phone. From the looks of it, an old Nokia brick from the late ‘90s – the kind with replaceable snap-on covers and a creamed spinach-coloured screen with black text.
In shock, appalled at the very sight, I asked them if they owned a smartphone or a tablet. Perhaps they had dropped it somewhere? Or accidentally put a paving stone in their bag the last time they visited Great Aunt Mavis’ house?
“No, I don’t need a smartphone. This old thing works just fine,” says the entrepreneur. “Anyway, I’m not good with computers and wouldn’t know how to use one anyway.”
How, exactly, they plan to become familiar with smartphones without using one was never explained. Perhaps they anticipate, if they wish upon a star, Tinkerbell will wave some magic dust in their general direction that will magically make them familiar with Android?
The objective fact of the matter is Australia has one of the fastest smartphone adoption rates in the world – as of May 2012, 57% of all Australians owned a smartphone. This is significantly higher than the UK (53.1%), France (40%), Italy (39%), US (38%), Spain (37%), or Germany (32%). Of Australian consumers with a smartphone, 62.2% have gone with Android rather than Apple.
And increasingly, if your business doesn’t appear on people’s smartphones and tablets, or your website isn’t compelling on mobile devices, your business is bricked out as an option for consumers.
There’s a reason why Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer gives her staff free Apple iPhones or Samsung smartphones, while Facebook is encouraging more of its staff to “eat some Droidfood”. After all, if you don’t know what your mobile website looks like, how will you ever improve it so it is compelling to your consumers?
That’s why, if you’re a smartphone hold-out with a 10-year-old flip-phone, you really need to upgrade.
Get it done – today!
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