While a few million people still cling to their feature phones, the truth is they’re slowly dying. For the first time, according to a new report by Neilsen, this February half of all cellular customers owned a smartphone. This shouldn’t really be much of a surprise, as carriers (at least in the U.S.) have been heavily pushing smartphones in stores and in advertising. Think about it, when is the last time you saw a commercial for a feature phone?
Since the February 2011 (just over a year ago) feature phones have dropped 12%, while smartphones have grown by 10%. If this trend continues, March should mark the first time smartphones will eclipse that of feature phones and in one year, feature phones should only amount to about 40%.
To quote Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a changin.”