Social Phones Offer Shortcuts to the Web

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To be sure, millions of consumers tap into Facebook and other social networks through apps that they download onto their iPhones, BlackBerrys (RIMM), and Google (GOOG) Android-powered phones. And Apple announced Apr. 8 that the test version of its upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 operating system includes software called Game Center that lets developers create apps with social gaming aspects.

Yet as consumers do more of their computing on the go, including visiting social networks to keep up with friends, social phones ensure they don't miss a beat by pushing comments, status updates, recently posted pictures, and other information front and center without requiring users to visit a Web site or fire up an app.

Socializing on the Move

More than 17% of U.S. mobile subscribers accessed a social networking site or blog from their phone from November to January, and mobile social networking is the fastest-growing activity on handsets, according to market researcher ComScore (SCOR). A 2009 study of 800 U.S. teens by the Pew Internet & American Life Project released Apr. 20 showed that 23% have accessed social networks from their cell phones, and 64% of teens with multimedia-capable phones have shared cell-phone photos with friends.

Bringing social networking into phones' controls offers an economic incentive for wireless carriers, too. Consumers who weave social networking into the fabric of their everyday phone usage can ease the burden on carriers' networks since they've been given an alternative to launching a mobile browser or app. About 20% of smartphone-generated network traffic comes from social networking use, estimates independent wireless consultant Chetan Sharma. When users visit Facebook's Web site from their phones, downloading the page layout onto a device consumes more network capacity than simply plucking data from the site and displaying it on a phone as text, Sharma says.

Social network-oriented phones are gaining popularity overseas as well. INQ Mobile, a subsidiary of telco Hutchison Whampoa, in March said it would start selling social phones in India that receive Facebook updates, tweets, and instant messages on their home screens. Similar phones will come to the U.S. and China in 2011, says CEO Frank Meeehan.

Ken Dulaney, a vice-president at market researcher Gartner (IT), says social phones may primarily attract young consumers. "This is what kids want to move to next," he says.

Kharif is a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek in Portland, Ore.

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