Suggestions that the high-end smartphone market is becoming saturated is bad news for handset makers such as Apple and Samsung. However, for marketers the news is only half bad as time spent on mobile devices continues to grow.

Recent financial results for both Samsung and HTC fell short of analyst expectations. With Apple?s most recent financial numbers also failing to impress, many industry analysts are pointing to slowing smartphone sales as the reason why.

?While growth is always better, the slowing rate of smartphone device sales in the U.S. should not be a primary concern for mobile publishers and marketers,? said Ryan McConville, senior vice president of publisher partnerships at Kargo, New York. ?Even though growth of new phone installs has slowed slightly, overall smart phone subs still grew 28 percent year-over-year in 2012.

?The best news is the growth in data time spent on their devices - up 52 percent from 2011 to 2012,? he said. ?This is the opportunity for mobile marketers.

?Deeper and more ubiquitous device penetration means publishers can do more interesting things with native advertising and custom content channels.?

Tough act to follow
While the smartphone market is not shrinking by any means, it appears that it is not growing as quickly as it previously did.

However, penetration levels have reached an important point, with more than 50 percent of the United States population owning one.

It is this penetration level coupled with the growing amount of time spent on mobile devices that is so attractive to marketers as it means savvy marketers can effectively reach a wide cross-section of U.S. consumers throughout their day via mobile.

In comparison, consumers continue to spend less time with traditional media such as newspapers and magazines.

?More time spent by consumers on their devices means more opportunity for marketers to communicate with them - whether for the first time or the hundredth,? Mr. McConville said. ?At 30 minutes more per day, that's an 182 extra hours per year of engagements and connection with our users."

The slowdown in smartphone growth is a big deal in some eyes because it follows several years of skyrocketing growth.

OEMs under pressure
While there is probably still room for further smartphone penetration in some markets, the numbers suggest that much of the population of consumers able to and interested in purchasing a high-end smartphone such as the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy S4 ? which was released in April  ? has already done so.

As a result, OEMs are likely to focus on lower-end smartphones in the future. For example, Apple is rumored to be working on bringing out its first lower-end smartphone in the near future.

Handset manufacturers are also likely to try to compete more aggressively by bringing out innovative new features and functionality for higher end smartphones.

Currently, the top devices from different manufacturers tend to be fairly similar in terms of their feature set.

Samsung is expected to introduce lower-priced versions of the Galaxy as well as a high-end model built on the Tizen operating system.

?I am not sure slowdown is totally the right phrase, when really what we see here from the earnings reports is that they missed analyst expectations, but not on the numbers the companies themselves published,? said Scott Michaels, executive vice president at Atimi Software, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

?So if we put that aside and say that sales are in fact still strong - just not as hyper as analysts want to see, then the issue is really what does this do for marketers,? he said. ?Well, for one, it means that the addressable base for the higher-end smartphones is becoming a more stable entity to market to.?

Driving repeat use
Many marketers have been riding high on reaching new smartphone users who are excited about their new device and likely to be interested in downloading apps or to click on an ad.

However, going forward marketers will increasing be reaching users who have been using a smartphone for a while now and may not be as interested in downloading every app they come across.

This means it is more important than ever that apps and other mobile efforts work as seamlessly as possible because users are going to be more discerning than ever and have higher expectations.

The focus also needs to be on driving long-term engagement that keeps users coming back time and again as opposed to one-off efforts.

?It has always been the case that the small campaign-type of app has meaningless value compared to the longer-term apps that brands have been putting out,? Mr. Michaels said.

?That longer term, more repeat use, more loyalty you get from simply a better thought-out and delivered application means higher brand trust and affinity, and as we all know the longer you have an end user in your product the greater the ability to convert them to purchase, be that in-app or in-store,? he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York