Jack Caldwell 1928–2016

The Global Smartphone

“…Digitisation had as significant an impact on what people could do with their photographs as it did on how they took them. The photo album, the family collage on the mantelpieces, the shoeboxes and the display portraits 31 are now joined by many new possibilities. The vast majority of images taken today are for immediate sharing through social media, an established part of conversation and general communication.…”

“…Huawei launched its first Android phone in 2009 and Xiaomi launched its first smartphone in 2011. 31 There is relatively little significant difference, other than status, between the cheaper models and the more established smartphone brands. The rise of cheap handsets has allowed the smartphone to become a global presence no longer restricted to more affluent regions.…”

“…30 Campaigns tend to be pitched to the younger user, revealed by a decade of advertising the best 'selfie' smartphone. Relatively little advertising for digital technologies is pitched to older users, despite the economic power of the 'silver yen' 31 in Japan or the equivalent term to highlight the affluence of older people in other countries. This may be in part because it was common to find that older people, especially those aged under 70, feel uncomfortable at being targeted as a 'senior user'.…”

“…Facebook Dating, for instance, is a matchmaker functionality that was first tested in Colombia and then released to Argentina, Canada, Thailand and Mexico; further expansion is planned. 31 The company may also co-opt usage that it has observed in one local market and scale this to others. Such was the case of the 'Safety Check' feature released by Facebook in 2014.…”

“…In the Why We Post series we saw that WeChat had already started to become important for payments and ecommerce. 31 Today the most frequently used mobile payment apps in China are WeChat Pay and Alipay. The majority (72 per cent) of research participants 32 in Shanghai aged between 45 and 70 regard mobile pay as their first choice in daily payment; more than 90 per cent had made a payment via smartphone.…”