As analysts never tire of pointing out, there are now more smartphones in the US than people. And as SAP's Anthony Leaper noted this morning, the ubiquity of mobile apps gives you a chance to be with your customers all the time - your app can be the first thing they look at when they get up in the morning, it can keep them company at lunch, go with them to a movie that night.

The mistake that more than a few companies have made is to take that level of intimacy for granted - LinkedIn, for instance, recently decided that because you downloaded their mobile app, it has the right to push banner advertisements along the bottom of your device.

LinkedIn, of course, does have the right to do that. But customers also have the right to uninstall the LinkedIn app, which is precisely what many did do as a result. Mobile devices may allow you to be a much bigger part of your customer's life than before, but it is a privilege that can be revoked in an instant.

(I've been staying away from relationship metaphors in this post because I find them disturbing, but you can see why I'm tempted.)

Therefore, as Leaper concluded this morning, it is important to keep in mind how much content you push to your customers, when you do it, and where. Failing to account for anything of these factors could mean that your customer cuts you out of their life very quickly indeed.

SAP, incidentally, is coming out with a solution to do just that (SAP Social Customer Service OnDemand), but it's a point worth keeping in mind regardless of your system.

On an unrelated note, thanks to all of the SAPexperts subscribers and advisors who came to breakfast this morning!