Data from the latest Experian Simmons National Consumer Study of the US population has led to the identification of five distinct user populations of mobile consumers. This segmentation is based around acceptance and usage of mobile communication technology by the general population. The segments are:

•    Mobirati — The mobile generation who have grown up with cell phones and cannot imagine life without them. Cell phones are a central part of their everyday lives (19% of the mobile population).
•    Social Connectors— Communication is central in their lives and cell phones allow them to keep up to date with friends and social events. Cell phones are the bridge to the social world (22% of the mobile population).
•    Pragmatic Adopters — Cell phones came to being during their adult years. They are now learning that there are other things they can do with mobile phones beyond just saying “hello.” Cell phones are more a part of their everyday lives than ever before, but still more functional than entertaining to them (22% of the mobile population).
•    Basic Planners — They are not into cell phones or the world of technology. They use cell phones just for the basics. The cell phone is just another communication device (20% of the mobile population).
•    Mobile Professionals — Cell phones help them keep up with their professional lives in addition to their personal lives. More likely to own a smartphone. Their phones have become their all-in-one device for all communication and information needs. Features are important and used (17% of the mobile population).

It may not be a surprising to know that texting is a daily activity for many Mobirati, Social Connectors and Mobile Professionals while Pragmatic Adopters are just beginning to use this feature of their basic phones.

This segmentation has been used to identify the characteristics of the subscribers to the main US cellular networks.  Some snippets are:

•    AT&T customers tend to be Mobile Professionals
•    Verizon’s users are more likely to be Pragmatic Adopters
•    Sprint has concentrations of customers in both segments
•    T-Mobile consumers tend to have similar consumers as AT&T, but with much higher concentrations of the young, tech-savvy Mobirati

Source: The 2011 Experian Digital Marketer Benchmark Report