More: Cell phone and smartphone ownership, over time.
This image of Martin Cooper with the world’s first cell phone has made its way round the interwebz today. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the mobile phone call today, we give you STATS:
- 87% of American adults have a cell phone, along with 78% of American teenagers ages 12 to 17
- 44% of adult cell owners have slept with their phone next to their bed
- 67% find themselves checking their phone for messages, alerts, or calls even when they don’t notice it ringing or vibrating
- and 29% describe their cell phone as “something they can’t imagine living without.”
In short: We’ve gone mobile.
Our director has a nice excerpt in his book about the first cell phone call: http://pewrsr.ch/10z9uQ1
Here’s your Friday morning data dump: New gadget ownership numbers.
As of December 2012, 87% of American adults have a cell phone, and 45% have a smartphone. As of January 2013, 26% of American adults own an e-book reader, and 31% own a tablet computer.
More: http://www.pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data-(Adults)/Device-Ownership.aspx
Some things to ponder as you head into CES …
Via http://pewrsr.ch/ZDqqKD & http://pewrsr.ch/Zxwgwa
(Source: pewinternet.org)
The % of female cell owners who play games on their phones is practically equal to the male % — who knew!
(Via http://pewrsr.ch/VaHvmQ)
In case you missed it: We just released a comprehensive report on cell ownership in America — the good, the bad, the everything. FULL REPORT: http://pewrsr.ch/11abvWi
(Source: pewinternet.org)
Do you ever think to yourself, “I have a relationship with my cell phone” ?
If so, this report is for you:
Cell Phones: The good, the bad, and the everything.
(Source: pewinternet.org)
How some of the most popular cell phone activities have grown, over time:
- In 2010, 76% of cell owners used their phone to take pictures. NOW: 82%
- TEXTING: 2007 = 58%. Now = 80%
- ACCESSING THE INTERNET: 2008 = 25%. Now = 56%
- SEND/RECEIVE EMAIL: 2007 = 19%. Now = 50%
- RECORD VIDEO: 2007 = 18%. Now = 44%
- DOWNLOAD APPS: 2009= 22%. Now = 43%
- LOOK FOR HEALTH INFO: 2010= 17%. Now = 31%
- CHECK BANK ACCOUNT: 2011 = 18%. Now = 29%
How often does one of these mobile phone problems happen to you:
- Dopped calls
- Unwanted sales or marketing calls
- Spam or unwanted text messages
- Slow download speeds that prevent things from loading as quickly as you would like them to
We asked, and just published the answers:
Some 88% of American adults have cell phones, according to this survey, and, of those cell owners:
- 72% of cell owners experience dropped calls at least occasionally. Some 32% of cell owners say they encounter this problem at least a few times a week or more frequently than that.
- 68% of cell owners receive unwanted sales or marketing calls at one time or another. And 25% of cell owners encounter this problem at least a few times a week or more frequently.
Some 79% of cell phone owners say they use text messaging on their cells. We asked them if they got spam or unwanted texts:
- 69% of those who are texters say they get unwanted spam or text messages. Of those texters, 25% face problems with spam/unwanted texts at least weekly.
Some 55% of cell phone owners say they use their phones to go online— to browse the internet, exchange emails, or download apps. We asked them if they experience slow download speeds that prevent things from loading as quickly as they would like:
- 77% of cell internet users say they experience slow download speeds that prevent things from loading as quickly as they would like. Of those cell internet users, 46% face slow download speeds weekly or more frequently.
Chart of the week: Number of text messages sent/received per day by different groups of teens
The median number of texts (i.e. the midpoint user in our sample) sent on a typical day by teens ages 12-17 rose from 50 in 2009 to 60 in 2011. Girls ages 14-17 send/receive a median of 100 texts a day, compared with 50 for boys the same age.
New report: Teens, Smartphones & Texting
Texting dominates teens’ general communication choices, and 23% of teens own a smartphone. The volume of texting among teens has risen from 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the median teen text user. Among teen communication choices:
- 63% say that they use text to communicate with others every day.
- 39% of teens make and receive voice calls on their mobile phones every day.
- 35% of all teens socialize with others in person outside of school on a daily basis.
- 29% of all teens exchange messages daily through social network sites.
- 22% of teens use instant messaging daily to talk to others.
- 19% of teens talk on landlines with people in their lives daily.
- 6% of teens exchange email daily.
Our new report explores the tools teens use to communicate, with a particular focus on mobile devices, and then places the use of those tools in the broader context of how teens choose to communicate with people in their lives. Read more …
46% of American adults now own a smartphone of some kind, up from 35% in May 2011; Smartphone owners now outnumber users of more basic phones.
There has also been a corresponding shift in the specific types of phones that Americans report owning:
- 20% of cell owners now describe their phone as an Android device, up from 15% in May 2011
- 19% of cell owners now describe their phone as an iPhone, up from 10% in May 2011
- 6% of cell owners now describe the phone as a Blackberry, down from 10% in May 2011
The rise of in-store mobile commerce
Did you phone a friend before making a purchase in a store this holiday season?
38% of cell owners did.
We’ve got new stats that indicate more than 50% of adult cell phone owners used their cells while they were in a store during the 2011 holiday season to seek help with purchasing decisions, for at least one of these reasons:
Other detailed findings:
- Cell owners ages 18-49 are significantly more likely to use their phones for online product reviews than are cell owners ages 50 and older
- Online price matching and looking up online reviews frequently go hand in hand
- 1 in 5 “mobile price matchers” ultimately made their most recent purchase from an online store, rather than a physical location
