Commentary

The Whole Story - Getting The Measure Of Mobile Use

11-28

Since the phone swallowed the PDA (or vice versa), we’ve all been using the most portable and ubiquitous of all computing and media devices to surf the Web, check emails, play games and the rest and talk has -- according to some -- taken a back seat to at least some of the other functions available.

Or has it?  While this may be true for some groups, this USA TouchPoints analysis suggests it doesn’t hold true for the bulk of the population. It reveals an emerging hierarchy of the functions as defined by weekly reach among all 18-34 year-old and 35-54 year olds.

The analysis reveals the extent to which the different functions have penetrated the general population in terms of weekly reach to go beyond focusing solely on smartphone owners, thereby giving scale to the user base.

  • For both the 18-34 and 35-54 year-olds, Talk remains the No. 1 function of the mobile phone, though by markedly different margins.  Talk is only 5% ahead of texting for the younger group, but a full 24% ahead for the 35-54s.
  • For all functions, the younger group deliver a consistently higher reach, though sometimes by only a small margin -- most notable Talk and Email (a margin of just 4% for each).  Perhaps surprisingly, Games shows only a 5% difference between the groups -– perhaps because of the sheer number of games available and the simple, time-killing nature of many requires very little commitment of either time or effort.
  • For Text, Web, Apps and for those using both Web and Apps in the course of a week, each shows a margin in excess of 20% total reach between the groups, always in favor of the 18-34s.  Though only Text comes remotely close to the reach of Talk among either group –- and then only among the 18-34s.


     

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