ComScore’s latest mobile usage numbers provide useful context as you head in to the 2013 business planning cycle. With 42 million monthly smartphone users, mobile banking penetration (38%) is similar to other specialized information services such as sports (39%), news (49%), and movie info (30%).
Granted, banking still trails the gold standard of info services, the weather button, but it’s gaining ground.
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Table: Information services accessed by U.S. mobile users
2012, Q2 monthly average
| Smartphone | % Using | All Mobile | % Using | |
| Total audience | 110 mil | 100% | 230 mil | 100% |
| Weather | 75 mil | 67% | 90 mil | 38% |
| Facebook, Twitter* | 71 mil | 64% | 86 mil | 37% |
| Search | 67 mil | 60% | 80 mil | 34% |
| Map | 59 mil | 53% | 68 mil | 29% |
| News | 54 mil | 49% | 64 mil | 27% |
| Sports | 43 mil | 39% | 51 mil | 22% |
| Bank account | 42 mil | 38% | 49 mil | 21% |
| Entertainment news | 42 mil | 38% | 51 mil | 22% |
| Movie info | 34 mil | 30% | 40 mil | 17% |
Source: ComScore MobileLens as cited in Advertising Age, 20 Aug 2012; 3-month average ending in June 2012; usage counted is the user accessed info in the category at least once in past 30 days; *any social networking site; percentages may be off by 1% due to rounding of the numbers to two significant digits