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Even if you don’t own a smartphone — which would put you in an ever-shrinking minority, by the way — you must admit that smartphones have changed your life. Everywhere you look, businesses are adapting to the smartphone in dozens of ways; from their advertising and marketing strategies to the products they manufacture and sell, […]
Even if you don’t own a smartphone — which would put you in an ever-shrinking minority, by the way — you must admit that smartphones have changed your life. Everywhere you look, businesses are adapting to the smartphone in dozens of ways; from their advertising and marketing strategies to the products they manufacture and sell, businesses are catering to smartphone users.
Still, some industries feel the effects of smartphone usage more than others. Here are a few industries that have radically changed since smartphones caught steam.
If Amazon brought the beginning of the end of traditional publishing houses — because it is easier than ever to self-publish, promote, and sell your own book — smartphones are ringing publishers’ death knell. Rather than buy e-reading devices, book-readers are now using their smartphones to dive into their favorite written works. This switch in medium, from hard- and paperbacks to handheld, digital devices, alters how books are consumed. In fact, many readers are transitioning to audiobooks and podcasts — which is forcing publishers to rethink their production strategy.
Initially, many financial institutions believed that smartphone users would be too protective of their money to try to access their accounts on a mobile device. However, not only are mobile devices like iPads swiftly replacing traditional cash registers, but customers are moving away from cash and toward digital payments. It seems that smartphones provide a convenience never before seen in banking, and financial institutions need to rapidly change to keep up with consumer expectations. Mobile payments should reach $3.4 trillion by 2022, according to some experts, and offering digital banking and billing options is a must for financial institutions.
No longer do you need to visit a casino or log onto a dubious website to gamble your money; by downloading any of a number of legitimate apps, you can fritter away your paycheck at your convenience. As the popularity of smartphones increased, so too did online gambling. Today, online gambling is easily the largest sector in the industry, and previous purveyors of this particular vice are struggling to adapt. Many casinos are enabling mobile-friendly platforms to get in on the mobile gambling craze, and some are developing VR games to entice players back to the casino floor.
It’s hard to believe that computer manufacturers are suffering in the Digital Age, but it’s true: Smartphone use is up, computer use is down. Since 2012, there have been more smartphones in use than there are PCs; recently, PC usage has decreased an astounding 20 percent per year. Even many businesses are moving away from the stalwart desktop and toward flexible mobile devices that allow workers to complete tasks on-the-go. These days, computer manufacturers are pivoting toward the gamer community, the only remaining group truly devoted to large, powerful devices.
It’s safe to say that your smartphone is as much a phone as it is a camera and navigation device. It’s difficult for most people to go a week without consulting a maps app for directions — or to go a few hours without snapping a picture or video. While picture-taking and GPS use is at record highs, the devices designed specifically for these purposes are at all-time lows. In fact, smartphone manufacturers are outpacing camera and satnav developers in quality, as well: The latest smartphones boast cameras with better resolution than entry-level digital cameras and maps that are updated more frequently than GPS tool providers.
Among parents with small children, smartphones go by a different name: electronic babysitters. The colorful light, the interesting sounds, and the small, manageable size of smartphones make them endlessly fascinating toys for children from infant age and up. Rather than play with traditional toys, most kids spend hours on end trying to reach the next level of their favorite app video game. Some game apps have become so popular, they’ve developed into enormous franchises that rival even the largest toy brands. To keep up, many toy builders are partnering with app developers to bring the younger generation’s attention to their merchandise.
Because cash is no longer king — see the “financial institutions” entry above — simple criminals hardly benefit from their traditional methods of theft, like burglaries and muggings. Unfortunately, there is an obvious replacement: cybercrime. On the average smartphone, a user stores all sorts of valuable personal information, from payment data to sensitive pictures. Few smartphone users bother to protect their devices with anything more complicated than an easily hacked password or biometric lock. Worse, an embarrassingly small percentage of cybercrime is ever prosecuted, meaning criminals can get away with thousands of dollars (sometimes millions) without getting caught. Until people start investing more in personal cybersecurity, this shift in crime will continue.
