Smartphones now rival laptops –Cisco Study

THE latest Cisco study of Internet habits of 18-30 years old across the globe has revealed that smartphones now rival laptops as the most single device in use.

This, the study noted shows how people stay connected to drive every facet of their lives: from work to shopping, friendships to family.

A brief of the report made available to DigitalSENSE Business News the 2012 Cisco Connected World Technology Report (CCWTR), shows smartphones now compete with laptops as the single most desired device by 18-30 years old as they are seen as the most versatile and compact.

“If they had to choose only one device, a third of respondents preferred a smartphone, while slightly more than a third favored laptops.  Smartphones have surpassed desktop computers as the preferred workplace device from a global perspective and were rated twice as popular as a desktop PC and three times as popular as a tablet.

Also, the results based on a survey commissioned by Cisco of 1800 university students and young professionals aged 18 to 30, examined how this generation uses the Internet and mobile devices to connect with the world around them, and reveals their behaviors, attitudes, issues, and concerns about the creation, access, management, and privacy of the enormous amounts of data being generated daily by smartphones, sensors, video cameras, monitors, and other connected devices.

Sixty per cent of 18-30 years old find themselves sub-consciously or compulsively checking their smartphones for emails, texts or social media updates. Of those, women are more driven to connect:  85 percent of women versus 63 percent of men find themselves often compulsively checking their smartphone for text, emails, social media updates.

Equally, over 40 per cent of respondents would go through a “withdrawal” effect and “would feel anxious, like part of me was missing” if they couldn’t check their smartphones constantly. Of those compulsive smart phone users, 60 per cent wish they didn’t feel so compelled.

Globally, Information Technology professionals are even more connected, almost one third of IT professionals stated they check their smartphones ‘continuously’ while 40 percent check at least every 10 minutes. Nearly 70 percent of respondents believe that mobile applications are important to their daily lives.

More than half said they mainly use mobile applications for games and entertainment while one in four (27 percent) use mobile applications for work.

Vendors tend to advertise thousands of applications in their app stores, but of all those apps being downloaded daily, a surprisingly low number are actually used on a regular basis. The majority of Gen Y respondents (60 percent) report using fewer than 10 smartphone apps regularly while only one in five, that is 20 per cent of respondents said they use 10 to 25 apps regularly

For the “always-connected” generation, a single mobile device will do, whether it is a personal device or a company-owned device, which creates challenges for the IT managers who must safeguard company assets and information. While two out of five said their company’s policy forbids them to use company-issued devices for non-work activities, four out of five– almost 80 percent said they don’t always obey those policies. IT professionals know that many employees don’t follow the rules, but they don’t understand how prevalent it is: over half of IT professionals globally thought their employees obey the policy on not using work devices for personal use.

Further, it was gathered about online shopping,  (global trend for 18-30 years old) nine out of 10 of respondents surveyed said they engage in online shopping, nearly three out of five (58 percent) report they regularly rely on customer reviews when deciding on online purchases; an additional 28 percent consult online reviews occasionally while fifty-seven percent  which is almost 3 out of five- are willing to share their email address with stores and online sites in order to receive notices about discounts and sales.  But they are wary of sharing much more than that – few are willing to share phone numbers, home address or other personal data.

In terms of fueling the world’s data, almost 90 percent upload photos to share or store on internet sites, 62 percent upload videos to share or store on internet sites.  87 percent have a Facebook account, and one in 10 have Facebook always up, 41 percent update Facebook at least once a day, and over one in five update Facebook several times a day and 56 percent of respondents have a Twitter account, and 21 percent tweet at least once a day.

Remmy Nweke/DSBNews 
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