Rubicon Consulting has released a survey of iPhone users, detailing the impact the device has had on their usage and the market in general. Included in the survey are some unexpected patterns that could change your perceptions of this revolutionary mobile device.
Here’s the good news:
- Users report high satisfaction with the device
- iPhone users report increased mobile web browsing
- One quarter report it displacing notebook computer usage
Here’s the unexpected news:
- Email is the #1 function… for reading emails, not writing them.
- One third of iPhone users carry a second phone? Why? According to the study, for making voice calls and composing emails.
- It increases phone bills. The survey cites an average increase of 24% annually.
Rubicon Consulting: The Apple iPhone: Successes and Challenges for the Mobile Industry.
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Not surprised on the increased phone bill news. Maybe it’s because I have an iPhone?
Carrying a 2nd phone for the reason stated above seems silly.
But I can concur with all of the other bullet points.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Another impact is the empowerment of know-it-alls. Changing the social dynamic, sometimes not in a good way…
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-iphone22mar22,0,5548703.story
April 6th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Is that really why people carry a second phone?
More likely it is because they are still under contract with their old phone (and contract), pre-iPhone, and still have the old number that friends use, thus it’s why they still use it for making calls.
Or perhaps it’s the corporate Blackberry users who don’t pay for the Blackberry service, but use the phone for corporate email.
I doubt it has anything fundamentally to do with the iPhone itself…
But it is interesting how people use mobile interface to read, but not write emails. There’s probably a lot in that insight that can be applied to future product decisions.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:12 am
“But it is interesting how people use mobile interface to read, but not write emails. There’s probably a lot in that insight that can be applied to future product decisions.”
Yeah put some buttons on the damn thing! Humans are still tactile creatures no matter how futuristic we strive to be. The multitouch keyboard is a glimpse of the future but it should be an extra feature on the iPhone until we think our email responses directly into our phones.
Microsoft is helping connect iPhone users to MS Exchange Server so Apple can get some of that corporate business, but you can’t possibly write long documents or detailed emails with that touchpad – this is why people are keeping their other phones. I am an Apple fanatic who is in the advertising biz, but I reserve the right to choose when i follow a brand blindly.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
@Tahero: Interface can be the tactile feel (which you point out), navigation flow (make it easier to read than write), screen size, input devices, etc.
It could also just be a signifier of how we relate to mobile devices. Perhaps we prefer to consume rather than create content through a mobile devive, regardless of any user interface difference.
Then again, if devices give us more of an opportunity to create content, maybe that use becomes more popular.
Or maybe more people consumer content rather than create content anyway, regarless of whether it’s accessed through PC, TV, phone, et. al…
April 7th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Good points, also, think about when people use their cell phones…in the car, walking down a grocery store aisle, in a coffee house, riding on the subway, walking down the street, etc. It usually isn’t in quiet environments where you can think and have your hands free. It’s much easier to whizz through your email messages and delete the unnecessary ones than write appropriate, thoughtful responses when there are a lot of distractions around.
At least that is my impression. I don’t use cell phones. They are a societal annoyance that reaches the upper end of the scale of modern irritants. I’m not a Luddite…they are just intensely annoying, at least the way they are used in public.
April 7th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
@ Taylor Davidson
Great point. I am a Producer/Consumer and didn’t consider that someone could have so much technology in their hands and only use it to consume. Technology is getting faster, cheaper, and more disposable as it approaches free.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Simple answer to it all. Make audio to text email feature. In Cali you can’t (nor should you) text or type while driving. If I could just talk my email on my headset into my phone, problem solved. Than the iphone is unstoppable. The voice recognition is pretty amazing in all the other apps, this built-in feature can’t be that hard.
January 10th, 2009 at 2:39 am