If You Want to Win in Mobile, You’ve Got to Integrate Location

So much of the buzz in payments innovation has focused on mobile innovations and digital wallets. Companies across the space are trying to convince consumers that their mobile payment platform is the right one to use. To win over those consumers, they’ll likely need a product that’s safe, easy to use — and feature rich.

With that in mind, it’s important to take stock of one of the newest mobile usage research reports from Pew. According to a survey of more than 3,000 smartphone users, roughly 74 percent of those consumers are accessing what Pew calls “real-time location-based information,” and 18 percent report using a “geosocial” platform like Foursquare or Facebook Places to “check in.”

These facts are made even more valuable when combined with Pew’s data on smartphone usage in the U.S. By the research group’s estimate, 46 percent of American adults use smartphones today; that means 10 percent of all American adults are using geosocial services (the aforementioned 18 percent includes teenagers).

Read more about Pew’s research, and access the full results of its recent study, here.