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Heaviest mobile users make up fastest-growing segment: report

Consumer connectivity to mobile has birthed a new type of user, the ?Mobile Addict? who opens applications more than 60 times per day, according to a new report from Flurry.

While the average consumer is launching apps 10 times per day, the Mobile Addict is launching six times more apps per day. The segment of heavy mobile users is growing faster than any other segment, up 123 percent in the past year while the number of Super Users grew 55 percent and Regular Users just 23 percent.

?This is the first time in our lives any marketer can engage the consumer all the time,? said Simon Khalaf, president/CEO of Flurry, San Francisco. ?Marketers have not seen a medium to date so connected to the body of the consumer like mobile."

?The mobile device has become a television set in the hands of every consumer, and marketers need to begin thinking about advertising on a mobile device the same way they would in a broadcast setting,? he said.

Implications for wearables
Flurry Analytics announced it has exceeded a network of 500,000 apps. Flurry now draws data from over 150 billion app sessions from 1.3 billion mobile devices worldwide monthly.

Data reveals that the average consumer launches ten apps per day, but also coincided heavy increase in digital consumption to the newly coined Mobile Addict? an individual so immersed in the mobile realm that there are few distinctions between existing smartphones, and newly developed wearables.


Addicts are increasing exponentially

As a consumer who launches six times more apps than the norm, equating to 60 app openings each day, the Mobile Addict shows no signs of yielding consumption rate.

In fact, it is quite the opposite.

Between 2013 and 2014, Mobile Addicts grew 123 percent compared to all user segments.

Last month, there were 176 million Mobile Addicts, up from only 79 million at the same time last year.

The mobile generations
Mobile Addicts were 52 percent female and 48 percent male, compared to 48 percent female and 52 percent male for an average mobile users. That means females over-index 8 percent compared to the average mobile user.

The 8 percent number appears small, but it is significant: In the total Mobile Addict population of 176 million, it means that there are 15 million more female Mobile Addicts than male Mobile Addicts.

Concerning age, the Mobile Addict segment over-indexed on the 13-17 (teens), 18-24 (college students) and 35-54 (middle aged) age segments.

In fact, middle-aged consumers constituted 28 percent of Mobile Addicts, but only constituted 20 percent of the average mobile consumer. The Addict segment under-indexed on consumers aged 25-34 (adults) and older than 55 (seniors).


Mobile Addicts persist in younger generations

In retrospect
The quintessential Mobile Addicts are surprisingly not teens, college students, and middle age parents, all groups which expect the most out of mobile devices for daily tasks and communication.

The reveal of young adults under-indexing is also quite predictable, as they have presumably entered the workforce, are predominantly single, and out and about much more than older and younger segments.

What is striking, is the over-indexing of the middle age segment. Flurry discovered that this group is most likely comprised of couples that share devices with family members, including children.

The future of wearable tech
Mobile Addict behavior patterns suggest consumers are using devices inherently like clothing.

They will undoubtedly become the early adopters and guinea pigs of wearables.

While much current wearable tech focuses on health and fitness, developers will need to think about what awakens alacrity amongst the Mobile Addict segment, a group whom require constant attention, become bored easily and are interested in accessing critical tasks from the palm of their hand.

?Traditional marketing consists of one way communication,? Mr. Khalaf said. ?Marketers need to realize that communication is now a two way deal and engagement is 24/7, 365."

?Put it this way, if you have the chance to speak to your customers all the time what would you say?,? he said.

Final Take:
Michelle is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York