- Three in five (60%) mobile phone owners say they carry their phones at all
times, even inside the home -- up 50% since a 2002 KN analysis;
- 32% say
they call friends or family "all the time" or "often" when making shopping
decisions, a figure that jumps to 45% among those ages 18 to 34.
- When asked an open-ended question about what they dislike about their cell phones, respondents most often (15%) said, "Nothing."
Younger users want more features
Enthusiasm for a variety of mobile phone applications, such as watching video or using GPS-type functions, is noticeably higher among younger generations. KN found that 61% of "Gen Y" consumers, or "Millennials," say "the more features the better" on a cell phone, compared with 27% of Boomers.
The study also shows that, among mobile phone owners:
- Members of Generation Y (ages 13 to 29) send an average of 20 text messages daily, compared to just 2 for Generation X (30-43) and less than one for Baby Boomers (44 to 64)
- Teens are four times as likely to report having watched TV or video on their phones as adults (8% versus 2%)
Other data from Knowledge Networks -- its MultiMedia Mentor media planning resource, which includes single-source data on consumers' media use -- affirms a connection between use of some advanced mobile phone features and heavy use of other media. For example, consumers (ages 18 to 64) who use cell phone video spend 27% more time per week with media (over 2 hours more per day) compared to all mobile phone owners; this includes 60% more time on the Internet, and almost triple the amount of time with videogames.
How People Use Cell Phones shows that monthly use of the Internet via mobile phones is limited to 13% of all cell phone owners -- a small but growing group that may be pointing the way toward the future.
The new HPU findings are produced as part of The Home Technology Monitor, the definitive source of information on consumers' ownership and use of new and established media technologies, from DVRs to iPhones. The study consisted of
Iinterviews with 765 members (ages 13 to 64) of KnowledgePane, the only online panel that represents the full U.S. population, and an in-depth ethnographic study of cellular phone use by consumers in different households.
Selected benchmark trends versus a KN study of cellular phone use in 2002 are also included.
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