Mobile advertising comes to fore as smartphones take off

Smartphone penetration in the UK and around the globe has reached record levels, highlighting the hugely important role that mobile advertising can play in the modern marketing mix.

According to new research from Kanta Worldpanel ComTech, the vast majority Britain's mobile phone owners have a smartphone.

The firm claims that 71.4 per cent of mobile sales were smartphones during the 12-week period to January 22nd.

Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said: "For the first time ever, you are now in the minority if you don't own a smartphone.

"With more people jumping on the bandwagon, there is huge opportunity for both retailers and manufacturers."

The investigation showed that Android-based handsets were the most popular, with Android phones enjoying a market share of almost 50 per cent.

Apple, on the other hand, benefited from a much more modest increase in market share and its mobile devices now account for 34.1 per cent of total smartphone sales.

News about the rapid increase in smartphone adoption comes hot on the heels of announcements from both Google and Apple that they are actually lowering the cost of mobile advertising on their services.