Facebook Coveting the Non-Smartphone Crowd


Yes, there are still some of them left in the world. In fact, lots of them. I estimate that roughly 190 million Facebook users use regular cellphones to connect to Facebook. How did I get there?
- Facebook has 500 million users worldwide.
- About 40% of Facebook users connect to Facebook thru mobile phones. That works out to 200 million users.
- About 95% of mobile phone users don’t have a smart phone. And that’s world- wide. IDC says that 1 billion of them were sold in 2010.
Now, that’s a market worth tapping. And Facebook wants to encourage you to connect via mobile. Not just to increase traffic. If you connect through a mobile, they know your location—and can now better serve you up ads. And, don’t forget, that’s a real revenue stream for them.
Today Facebook announced it was buying Snaptu, which develops apps for those cheaper mobile phones, for a reportedly $60-70 million. And that should help them reach developing areas where users don’t have PCs or smartphones. Africa, Antarctica, the Amazon—Facebook marches on.