As many of you know, the iPhone 5 hit the presale universe this past weekend. According to many sources the sales topped 2,000,000 orders in 24 hours. This is more than double the amount of preorders it had for the iPhone 4s. Talk about crazy.
More than double the previous version of the phone.
This craziness goes beyond product sales. According to USA Today, there are individuals camping outside the stores with expectation that the phone going on sale in the near future. "Among them is Apple fan Jessica Mellow, 27, who says she has been camping out for the iPhone5 since Thursday. She is a veteran camper, having logged more than two weeks waiting for the iPhone 4s."
She responded to a question from the writer stating, "It's more about camping out. It's a cool experience. Meeting new people. That's the best part."
Do you understand how many ways I could take this story? Brand experience. Extreme brand advocates. The roadmap for a truly remarkable product. However, there is something deeper driving this mythical intersection of fans, brands, and customers.
It is the consumer use of mobile technology.
It is hard to ignore a technology that consistently outsells the previous version. It is also hard to ignore the importance consumers are placing on their handheld devices from tablets to smartphones.
Want more?
1. Did you know over 425,000,000 users access Facebook through their mobile application? That is almost half of the overall users for the largest social networking site on the planet.
2. 2,000,000 iPhone sold in 24 hours!
3. Mobile payment company Square raises $200 Million
4. "Mobile is the future." - Mark Zuckerberg
This holiday season retailers will be facing increasing pressure from consumer to adapt to the mobile environment. According to eMarketer, 66% of US smartphone owners use their phone to aid in shopping. With broad SMS availability and smartphones growing in popularity, one might assume that a majority of retailers would have already embraced text messaging to drive engagement, push promotions, and generally communicate with consumers.
Through our Retail Touchpoints Exposed research, we found that only 33 of the Hot 100 Retailers use SMS to drive sales—and none use SMS to drive email subscriptions. Ironically, the most frequent place retailers promoted their SMS campaigns was via email, while only 18% of those with SMS campaigns promoted them in-store. With the prevalence of cell phones, this seems to be a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, the Hot 100 Retailers are not alone. According to eMarketer, 21% of the retailers they surveyed have no plans to implement an SMS or mobile strategy, while 42% will do so sometime in the next two years.
Every stat and headline should be a war call for all marketers on the face of the planet. A war cry against mediocrity and the lack of enthusiasm for the mobile platform. The growth in iPhone sales should be seen as a growth in consumer expectations for brands to adapt to the mobile environment and not the other way around. We know that mobile is and will change the interactive between the consumer and brand.
The question is... when will you change with it?
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