Workers at SMBs are increasingly relying on their mobile devices to conduct business, says a survey from Manta, a company that runs an online community for small businesses.

Polling more than 1,000 small business owners about their use of cell phones and other mobile devices, Manta found that 29 percent of employees use their devices at least once every hour. A full 32 percent check their e-mail first thing in the morning, compared with 31 percent who brush their teeth and 23 percent who grab a cup of coffee. Further, 4 in 10 of those questioned use apps on their mobile devices for business two or three times a day.

The survey also discovered that the mobile device has become the new “rolodex” for today’s business users. Almost 40 percent of those questioned said the first thing they do after meeting a new customer is add that person’s contact information to their device.

Of course, the potential downside of mobile devices is that they do cut down on free time. A majority 73 of those polled admitted that they work remotely on vacation by remotely checking e-mail and documents.

Among all mobile devices, Android (News - Alert) proved the most popular among 23 percent of the employees surveyed. The iPhone was next with a 20 percent share, followed by the BlackBerry at 16 percent, and the iPad at 2 percent.

Manta itself offers a free iPhone app that can help professionals find key data on different companies, including location, number of employees, and contacts. iPhone (News - Alert) users can then add that information to their address books.

To compile its results, Manta commissioned Zoomerang to conduct an online survey from June 8 to June 13. The survey captured responses from 1,043 small business owners.

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