Half of World Population Uses Smartphones: SA

Nearly 4 billion people, half the world’s population, use a smartphone daily, 27 years after IBM’s Simon was launched in the U.S., said Strategy Analytics Thursday. Analyst Neil Mawston called the smartphone “the most successful computer.” Apple’s iPhone “popularized the smartphone in 2007, while Google Android democratized the smartphone with an affordable software platform from 2008,” said analyst Linda Sui. SA predicts 5 billion people will use a smartphone by 2030.