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Cell phones are really a recent phenomenon. I didn’t get my first one until 2001, and although I was a little late to the party, I don’t remember seeing everyone around me with a cell before, say, 1999. So 10 years ago, yeah, cell phone reception was spotty. Not spotty like it is today, where you’ll find a dead zone or two in otherwise good coverage. Spotty coverage as in, some people simply didn’t have coverage. We’re making progress on that, though, and a recent survey shows that nearly 99 percent of Americans have access to at least one cellular provider.

Just some stats to show you how much we’ve grown even in recent years. In 2005, we had 213 million wireless subscribers. In 2006, that was 242 million. I’m not sure what the 2007 figure is, but I remember reading something that mentioned 300 million. I doubt we’ve hit that mark, but it’s not unreasonable to think we’re closing in.

The survey claims that 80 percent of Americans have cell phone service, and that they spend an average of 714 minutes a month on the phone. I bring down that average. The biggest leap from year-to-year comes in the form of text messaging. That went from 9.8 billion in 2005 to 18.7 billion in 2006, and likely well over 20 million in 2007.

We’re still seeing steady growth, even though the huge boom is over. Next year, I’m betting we talk about the exponential growth of mobile data services.

[PC Magazine]

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