Poll: Mobiles Still Viewed as Phones

Most mobile users still perceive a gap between the purpose and controllability of their computers compared to their mobile devices, a new Zogby International poll finds. Most mobile users do not yet download applications to their mobile devices, but indicate a “strong desire” to do so, Zogby says.

 

Some 62 percent of survey respondents do not yet view their mobile device as an extension of their computer and just 23 percent feel that they have more or the same level of control over their mobile device as they have over their computer.

 

About 70 percent have never downloaded an application to their mobile device, though 67 percent want to be able to choose their mobile applications for themselves, rather than have their carriers choose for them.

 

The results also indicated that people will pay more for a device that will allow them to control the applications.

 

The study surveyed approximately 3,000 mobile users in four markets – the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Spain - between December 2008 and February 2009.

 

In Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, respondents felt the least control over their mobile devices versus personal computers (67 percent, 78 percent, 65 percent, respectively), which correlates to few users downloading applications to their mobile devices (22 percent in Japan, 26 percent in the United States, and 28 percent in the United Kingdom).

 

The results from Spain are quite different. In that market, more than half of the respondents felt there was no difference or they had more control over their mobile devices (53 percent) as they have over their computers (46 percent). Nearly half (47 percent) view their mobile devices as extensions of their computers.

 

Given these attitudes, it is perhaps not coincidental that nearly half of Spanish mobile users (48 percent) have downloaded applications to their devices, a much larger percentage than the other markets surveyed. And, a much larger percentage of Spain’s mobile users - 50 percent -- are willing to pay more for a mobile device that allows them to control their applications.

 

Younger adults have a different view of what a mobile device is than their older counterparts, as you might suspect. When asked if they view their mobile device as a phone to make calls on, a computer to access the Internet and download applications, or both, younger respondents were less likely to consider their mobile device to be just a phone.

 

For example, in Japan, respondents under 30 were more likely to view mobile devices as a computer, or both (50 percent) than view them as merely phones (47 percent), while only one out of four respondents in that market between the ages of 50 and 64 shared a similar view.