"People are asking for digital content. Anything digital. They are hungry for it."
— Library staff member, responding to our online canvassings of patrons and librarians for our new report on libraries, patrons, and e-books. Read the full report here.
(Source: libraries.pewinternet.org)
88% of American adults have a cell phone, 57% have a laptop, 19% own an e-book reader, and 19% have a tablet computer; about six in ten adults (63%) go online wirelessly with one of those devices.
Among cell phone owners, 53% own a smartphone as of February 2012. This means that 46% of all American adults own a smartphone.
Some 70% of all cell phone owners and 86% of smartphone owners have used their phones in the previous 30 days to perform at least one of the following activities:
- Coordinate a meeting or get-together — 41% of cell phone owners have done this in the past 30 days.
- Solve an unexpected problem that they or someone else had encountered — 35% have used their phones to do this in the past 30 days.
- Decide whether to visit a business, such as a restaurant — 30% have used their phone to do this in the past 30 days.
- Find information to help settle an argument they were having — 27% have used their phone to get information for that reason in the past 30 days.
- Look up a score of a sporting event — 23% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days.
- Get up-to-the-minute traffic or public transit information to find the fastest way to get somewhere — 20% have used their phone to get that kind of information in the past 30 days.
- Get help in an emergency situation — 19% have used their phone to do that in the past 30 days.
Hungry for more mobile info? Check out this research roundup.
Hungry for social networking info? Check out this research roundup too!
In our recent report on the rise of e-reading, we asked people who read both print books and e-books in the past year which format they thought was better for a variety of situations. You tell us — If you’re a “dual-format reader,” when does print win out over e-books (and vice versa?) How have e-books changed your reading habits (if at all)?
While there is a tendency to associate e-books with dedicated e-reading devices, we found that among people who read e-books, just as many read their e-books on a desktop or laptop computer as on an e-book reader like a Kindle or Nook—and more people read e-books on their cell phones than on tablet computers.
Take a deeper dive into the data here.
We want to know: Where do you read your e-books: On your phone? Laptop? E-reader? All of the above?
Tech experts say payment with mobile devices and cloud storage of financial information could be commonplace by 2020—although a number of potential hurdles and holdouts stand in the way …
We surveyed 1,021 Internet experts and other Internet users. They were asked to choose one of two provided scenarios and explain their choice.
65% agreed with the statement:
By 2020, most people will have embraced and fully adopted the use of smart-device swiping for purchases they make, nearly eliminating the need for cash or credit cards. People will come to trust and rely on personal hardware and software for handling monetary transactions over the Internet and in stores. Cash and credit cards will have mostly disappeared from many of the transactions that occur in advanced countries.
33% agreed with the opposite statement, which posited:
People will not trust the use of near-field communications devices and there will not be major conversion of money to an all-digital-all-the-time format. By 2020, payments through the use of mobile devices will not have gained a lot of traction as a method for transactions. The security implications raise too many concerns among consumers about the safety of their money. And people are resistant to letting technology companies learn even more about their personal purchasing habits. Cash and credit cards will still be the dominant method of carrying out transactions in advanced countries.
What do you think - what is the future of cash in the cloud?
