Check out this 1980’s Motorola ad for cellular telephones. “There are only a few thousand cellular phones in use right now, but that number is expected to increase considerably…”

Increase it did! Here’s a snapshot of where we are in 2013 (sources: Canalys, eMarketer, Nielson, Pingdom, comScore, IEEE, Cisco):

• 6.8 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide
• 13.4 billion app downloads in first quarter
• 9 out of 10 Gen-Y-ers (18 to 33 years old) check their smartphones in early morning routine (along with brushing teeth)
• In 2014, mobile internet is expected to surpass desktop internet users

And here are a few sobering numbers. According to a recent poll from the International Customer Management Institute (included in the ICMI report, A Mobile Customer Service Strategy), almost half (46.2%) of respondents don’t know if their company has executive level buy-in for a mobile customer service strategy, while another 22.1% are certain they don’t have it. A portion of the 42% who have buy-in are working hard to cultivate mobile customer service–and are ahead of the pack.