Move over, soccer mom. The phenomenal success of Apple’s handset is ushering in a new coveted demographic: iPhone mom.
Mobile ad firm Greystripe today issued a report highlighting the usage patterns of iPhone-owning mothers that are highly engaged in downloading apps and shopping activities. In large part, Greystripe found that “iPhone moms” download apps for their children.
But they’re also quick to turn to the popular Apple smartphone for other activities — like downloading coupons and keeping shopping lists handy.
The finding come at a time when marketers and advertisers are increasingly turning to their attention to wireless.
As a result, worldwide mobile advertising spending is slated to grow 74 percent this year to $913 million, and to surpass $13 billion by 2013, with Asia leading the charge, followed by North America and Europe, according to research firm Gartner. An emerging trend in the mobile ad space is localized content, as local mobile ad revenue grows to $3.1 billion in 2013, up from $160 million last year, while mobile search reaches $2.3 billion, according to recent forecasts by The Kelsey Group.
Mothers, who typically manage a large portion of household spending, have long been a tremendously sought-after demographic for marketers — making any intelligence on iPhone moms’ activities potentially lucrative for advertisers.
According to Greystripe’s most recent quarterly Advertising Insights Report, almost 60 percent of the iPhone moms it surveyed report that they let their children use their iPhone.
A fair number of them also use it with their kids’ interest in mind. More than 40 percent download entertainment applications to their iPhones for their children. Some evidently also harbor optimism about how their offspring will use the device: Twenty percent report that they download educational apps for their youngsters.
The iPhone mom also uses the handset for shopping and to scout for savings. Sixty percent rely on the device to locate nearby stores while almost 42 percent use the iPhone to organize shopping lists. Close to 40 percent comparison shop on their iPhone, according to the survey.
Downloading coupons is another shopping-related activity that iPhone moms conduct on their devices, with 19 percent doing so, according to the study. About 23 percent of the respondents also say they tracking sales items using the iPhone.
For iPhone moms, the device is also popular for other reasons while shopping — particularly for groceries. More than half of iPhone moms use them at the grocery store, with 40 percent creating shopping lists on their phone and 22 percent using it to store recipes.
But it’s not all about the kids and shopping for the survey participants. On average, 89 percent of moms who own Apple handsets use them for entertainment purposes — “listening to music, browsing the Internet or using various entertainment apps,” according to Greystripe.
E-mail is also popular among the coveted demographic, as almost 80 percent of iPhone moms reported using their phone for checking messages. Over 64 percent use their phones for managing their calendar and schedule, which is 9 percent higher than the rest of the iPhone community as a whole, Greystripe said.
The findings come on the heels of a record-breaking quarter for both Apple and
AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone. During the third quarter, Apple said it sold 7 million iPhones, while AT&T powered up 3.2 million of the handsets in the three-month period.
