Why Smartphone UBI Is the Next Step: 12 Stats on Mobile Usage that May Surprise You
Are you a smartphone UBI doubter? 
Still clinging to the tradition of sending customers OBD-devices for monitoring?
Wondering if usage based insurance can ever be done cost-effectively?
If you’re not sure that smartphone UBI is the next step, it may be time to reconsider the data. Here are 12 stats that may surprise you … and even convince you.
Smartphones are everywhere
1. “1 in 5 people have a smartphone. That means 20 percent of the global population can access the Internet at any given time.” (source)
2. “60% of mobile phones shipped are smartphones.” (source)
3. “By the end of this year, a whopping 1.75 billion people worldwide will use a smartphone. They’re some pretty outrageous numbers; numbers that you don’t miss out on.” (source)
People with mobile phones carry them constantly
4. Although some insurance providers worry that the smartphone UBI device won’t be in the car 24/7, “95% of those with mobile phones almost always have them with them.” (source)
5. In a recent Bank of America survey, 85% of respondents said “they check their smartphone at least a few times a day; 35% say they check it constantly.” (source)
6. From the same study: 91% said their mobile phone is just as important to them as their car. (source)
7. Almost half of U.S. consumers say they couldn’t last a day without their cell phone. (source)
8. 79% of people between the ages of 18 and 44 keep their smartphones with them for 22 hours of each day. (source)
Mobile users love-love-love their apps
9. Mobile users spend 89% of their time on mobile apps rather than mobile web. (source)
10. Of smartphone owners surveyed across France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the US, 82% said there are critical apps they can’t go without for even a day. (source)
11. The same users said they’d rather give up coffee than go without their apps. (source)
Smartphone users want usage based insurance via a smartphone app
12. Smartphone UBI is an app that consumers want: “One in every three consumers finds the idea of UBI appealing and is likely to use a personal smartphone to collect and transmit telematics data.” (source)
The conclusions for UBI are pretty clear. Over the last year, smartphones have emerged not only as a viable alternative to dongles and black boxes – but as a wave-making innovation that’s already transforming the usage based insurance market.
What do you think about smartphone UBI? Leave your comments and questions below and learn more about how our system works here.