It has been widely reported in the past few days that you can now purchase a refurbished iPhone for only $79. This brings up two important issues for me: how will the increasing ubiquity of smartphones change the game for Advanced Manufacturing & Energy communicators; and why in the world don’t I have an iPhone yet?

For some insight into the first question, check out this Bulldog Reporter article which includes some pretty interesting statistics including: one out of every seven minutes of media consumption today takes place via mobile devices; 64% of key decision makers in marketing departments are using mobile devices to view e-mails; 82% said they use mobile devices at work; 65% use them while commuting to their jobs.

Or, you can just ask yourself — how many business executives do you know who are not already addicted to their BlackBerry or iPhone? If you are like me, the answer is “very few” and with these lower prices the answer will probably soon be “none.”

The implications for B2B communicators are huge. As the Bulldog Reporter article states, much of your audience won’t find your content if it’s not ready for mobile. This channel must be considered as part of any ongoing internal or external communications campaign. Do you agree? I would love to get your thoughts.

Stay tuned for the answer to question two — I hope to be blogging and Tweeting from an iPhone very soon (follow me: @manufacturingpr)! Based on some informal research (which means I’ve played around with my wife’s iPhone), I think the device will make mobile communications and social networking even easier than I have it today with a standard mobile phone and Blackberry. Once I’ve spent a little time with it, maybe we’ll even use a future G&S Spark post to discuss how it can make us better B2B communicators.