Brace yourself; this might strike you as a something to worry about.  However, it is also proof that this is a great business opportunity if you are willing to embrace it.

Cisco Systems, the leading networking company in the world, estimates that the number of mobile devices will surpass the number of human beings on the planet by the end of 2012.  Cisco goes on to predict that in four short years, there will be over 10 billion mobile-connected devices on said planet, exchanging 130 exabytes of data annually, roughly equal to 33 billion DVD’s.  All that communicating will be done by only 7.3 billion earthlings in 2016.

And this growth will occur after mobile data traffic already expanded eight-fold in the last ten years.

The Internet may have seemed new in 2000, but it was already imbedded in our daily lives.  We have never seen an industry or a communication medium accelerate like this before.

Here is the most astonishing finding of the Cisco study:  Average smartphone usage almost tripled in 2011.

Other key points:

  • Smartphones represent only 12% of  handsets in use today worldwide, but they handle over 82% of total mobile data traffic.
  • In 2011, the typical smartphone generated 35 times more mobile data traffic than the typical basic-feature cell phone.

What’s in store for humanity when the machines overtake us in sheer numbers?  Only time will tell.  For now, let’s focus on the staggering opportunities the massive growth of the smartphone industry present for those of us who know how to capitalize on the fantastic power of mobile marketing and apply it to our own businesses.

Mobile devices will outnumber humans long before everyone has a smartphone, or even a cell phone.  How?  Multiples.

 There are already millions of people around the globe who have multiple mobile devices (maybe even you.)  According to Susan Teltscher, an analyst with International Telecommunications Union, the highest penetration of cell phone ownership tends to be in small counties with lots of foreign workers and visitors who tend to buy local phones to use during their stay.  United Arab Emerites currently holds the title of the most mobile phones per capita with 233 percent, followed closely by the tiny country of Montenegro with 210 percent.

Does the U.S. and China rank high on the list?  Absolutely not.  It turns out that there is plenty of room for growth in both cases. Statistics from the ITU show that mobile phone penetration holds steady at 91 percent in the U.S. and only 56 percent in Mainland China.

 Translate those numbers into growth potential for mobile marketers.  The smart marketers will grab these opportunities now so they can be leaders in the field when smart phones become even more pervasive in the worlds largest markets