Smartphones Make 'Work' a Verb, Not a Place
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CREDIT: Old cell phones image via Shutterstock
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Smartphone users depend on their mobile devices for much more than calls, texting and email, according to a new survey. The research shows that U.S. adults spend an average of 10 percent of their time on mobile devices each day browsing the Internet, using mobile apps and participating in social networking.
In the process, they're abandoning single-use devices right and left.
Smartphone reliance is not just a 9-to-5 phenomenon, according to the survey of more than 21,000 mobile device users by IDG, a technology media, research and events company. More respondents, in fact, said they were more likely to access technology information after business hours (57 percent) than during the workday.
A majority (61 percent) said they view videos on mobile phones, with the most popular videos being technology product reviews (56 percent), job-related videos (45 percent) and movies.
"Before mobility we were tied to an office. Now, with handhelds, 'work' is a verb, not a place," said Matthew Yorke, IDG Global Solutions president.
The ascendancy of smartphones seems to spell the beginning of the end for many single-use devices. A majority of respondents said that they are no longer using such single-use devices as stand-alone clock/alarms/personal organizers and music players, and 35 percent have dropped a land line telephone.
While mobile usage soars, however, the money spent on marketing to mobile users lags far behind, IDG found. Last year, only 1 percent of marketing spend was devoted to mobile. But IDG believes that imbalance will change and that worldwide mobile ad revenues will rise from almost $8 billion in 2012 to $14.2 billion in 2014.
"The IT professional and tech-savvy communities are out in front in both the adoption and use of this most personal device, the smartphone," said IDG managing director Kumaran Ramanathan, whose team conducted the survey. "What more persuasive argument do marketers need to justify more than a 1 percent spend on mobile marketing?"
Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.We're also on Facebook & Google+.