fooWare!

As if my last blog post didn’t give you the impression, I’m pretty dependent on mobile devices. My iPhone (formerly my Blackberry), my iPad, and my laptop are all tools I depend in for my professional life, and I also find they help me significantly in my personal life. My brother takes a slight different approach, commenting “And I don’t even have a smart phone yet. I personally think it is ridiculous to pay another $30/month for something I don’t have/use now.” His comment illustrates another side of what Chris Brogan writes about on the American Express OPEN Forum about the “mobile divide”.

The idea of a “mobile divide” interests me, and has for a while. Are there particular parts of the US where smartphones and mobile devices are more or less prevalent, and why? What about specific industries,  are there ones that have driven the adoption of mobile devices more, and those industries have hotspots around the country? I remember seeing a graphic that mapped iPad purchases a the time of the launch. Not surprisingly, huge volumes in the Boston-NY area and huge volumes in the Silicon Valley area. These are tech-heavy hubs.

Here’s another factor; lifestyle. One of the reasons my brother cited for not needing a smartphone is because he commutes by car to work, and so he doesn’t get that extra time in his day to work through emails. One basic aspect of his lifestyle, driving to work versus commuting by mass transit, makes an impact on his need or utility for something other than a basic phone. (Slightly related note: Don’t text and drive, I’m glad they are making it illegal in MA).

But the article that Chris wrote also raised another factor in the equation, which is availability of affordable mobile data plans. Are there places around the US (or outside the US) where access to advanced mobile technology is strictly constrained by economics? For a certain segment of the population, it becomes more of a matter of budgeting. My wife and I choose to spend that extra $30 a month on a data plan for our mobile devices, because we use them so much. As Chris wrote, who needs a map?

So what about you? Which side of the “mobile divide” are you on, and more interestingly, why? What are the factors that influence your use of mobile devices? Something I mentioned, or something I’ve missed?