U.S. Will Never Become a Mobile-Centric Culture

Americans traveling to the Olympics in Beijing and Hong Kong have been struck by the sophistication of Asia's mobile devices. While the Asian mobile market is technologically years ahead of the United States, the cause is likely more cultural differentiation than just a lag in U.S. technology. Tom Burgess, founder and CEO of Third Screen Media, (acquired last year by AOL Platform-A), suggests culture is also the driving force behind the convergence of mobile devices with other media. In an exclusive interview with JackMyers Media Business Report, Burgess argues that although Apple's iPhone has dramatically changed the American mobile market, it is unlikely the U.S. will ever become a truly mobile-centric culture.

"The Korean and Japanese markets and some of the European markets are, at least culturally, more advanced" said Burgess. "They are using their mobile devices to access digital media more than in the U.S. In Japan, the distribution of mobile phones far outweighs the distribution of home-based PCs. The mobile device is the primary data access or digital access device for those cultures. So those cultures tend to be more advanced as far as eyeballs using their phones."

India is a particularly thriving market with 10 million new mobile phones activated every month, according to Burgess. While Asian and European countries seem to be making the most technological progress, the development of mobile advertising largely remains within the United States.

When asked if he thought American culture would ever become as mobile-centric as others, Burgess was hesitant to make a prediction but did emphasize the revolution caused by Apple's iPhone, citing a statistic he recently heard that 75 percent of all interactions on an iPhone are digital media access and a mere 25 percent are actual phone calls. Despite the iPhone phenomenon, it is unlikely the iPhone will completely take over the market.

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This post originally appeared at JackMyers.com.

Comments

[jfoxx]

That headline seems like a pretty bold and generalizing statement. Given the fact that the US has invested so much more money in a traditional land line infrastructure, it's not surprising that it is difficult to transition. The countries where mobile is most prevalent are only so because for many of the citizens, it's their only option. To say that the US will NEVER be mobile centric is overly dramatic, and I think, wrong. My 60-year-old in-laws cancelled their landline and only use cell phones while at the same time won't order things off the interweb because hackers might steal their identity.