From last-minute shopping to sending season's greetings to preparing for the arrival of the in-laws, the holidays are a joyous--and often harried time. In years past, we may have put an elf or two at the top of our wish list to assist. Today, a majority of Americans have our smartphones-- and, yes, research tells us, most of us will have them nestled all snug in our beds.
In between sharing YouTube videos, checking in on Foursquare, and sending out tweets adorned with holiday hashtags, the Mobile Future team has put together its third annual Mobile Year in Review video taking a tour through an eventful 2012.
Here are five mobile gifts we have to celebrate this holiday season:
• Global Competitiveness. Love your smartphone and all of its capabilities? You're in the right place. The U.S. leads the world in next-generation - 4G LTE--adoption. In fact, seven out of 10 global LTE subscribers are here in North America.
• Ever Better Networks. Wireless companies are investing more than $23 billion annually in U.S. mobile infrastructure - by far more capital investment than any other sector in the U.S. economy. That's particularly good news given another development: U.S. mobile data usage doubled in 2012.
• Jobs & Recovery. What's behind big statistics such as the prospect of 500,000 U.S. jobs created by making more spectrum capacity available to expand the wireless web? Consider this one fact: Apple sold more mobile devices in 2012 than the company has sold computers ever. Some reports predicted that iPhone 5 sales could single-handedly grow the $15 trillion U.S. economy by a half percent.
• Innovation. From Uber to Pinterest, nouns are becoming verbs across the mobile/social landscape, ushering in a fresh wave of progress that makes our lives easier, healthier, wealthier and more interesting in so many ways.
• Democracy. At 31 million tweets, Election Day 2012 was the most tweeted event in history. What does the electorate want next? Six in 10 Americans say they want the right to vote -- via wireless.
We hope you enjoy the video. And, we look forward to all that the new year has to offer mobile consumers and innovators alike. Have a favorite 2012 mobile moment of your own? Please share. That, after all, is the whole spirit of the season.
Jonathan Spalter, chairman of Mobile Future, has been founding CEO of leading technology, media, and research companies, including Public Insight, Snocap, and Atmedica Worldwide. He served in the Clinton Administration as a Director on the National Security Council.