Posted on 08/21/2009 8:38:24 AM PDT by Star Traveler
iPhone users talk on the phone less than regular cell phone users [ ... ] they spend a whopping 50% more time using their phones than average cell phone users ...
[ ... ]
iPhone users spend 60 minutes per day on their phones versus 40 minutes for cell phone users. iPhone users talk on their phones about 45% of the time they use it versus 70% for cell phone users. [ ... ] What makes up the difference? It's not texting - each type of user spends about 15% of their phone usage texting.
[ ... ]
iPhone users spend 12% of their usage time sending emails, 10% playing music, 8% playing games, and 9% surfing the Internet.
Regular cell phone users spend 4% of their usage time sending emails, 2% playing music, 3% playing games, and 3% surfing the Internet.
[ ... ]
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
If you've ever even tried calling a place to get "store hours" for example... LOL... Sometimes it's a nightmare to find out. But, it's easy enough to just go to a website on the iPhone and get the information in short order.... thus, a saved call and a lot of aggravation from that call... :-)
A blurb about iPhone usage...
Yep, it is true. I have used iPhones since day-one, and it is like having my computer with me where ever I go....
Was this a Government study?
What a shock! If your phone can do more things, you will use these things.
I guess Captain Obvious just got an iPhone.
sw
I don’t know about Captain Obvious... but I can say for myself, I’ve had an iPhone since Apple first introduced them... :-)
First, the use of the word "cause". Does the iPhone beam mind control rays directly into the brain of users "causing" them to talk less? Or, just perhaps, is it a self selecting sample where people who want to go to the internet and play games are more likely to buy an iPhone than just a generic cell phone? Thus the user's desire to access the web is the cause and the purchase of the iPhone is the effect.
Second "iPhone users talk on their phones about 45% of the time they use it versus 70% for cell phone users" does not mean they are talking less. It means that a lower percentage of their usage is for voice. They could be talking more minutes and accessing the internet a LOT more, thus having a lower percentage of talk usage. If you get a phone with a long antenna shaped like a back scratcher and spend 0.1% of your time scratching your back, does that mean you are talking less or just using part of your total time for scratching?
I much prefer txt or email to talking on the phone. In fact, a friend ask me for another friends phone number the other day and I had no idea what it was although it has not changed in years. I just never call them rather refer to them from my contacts and use email, or txt.
You said — What a shock! If your phone can do more things, you will use these things.
—
Well..., that’s the big difference with iPhone and those others out there that *can* do those things, but people find it just more trouble than it’s worth to do them on those other phones.
With the iPhone, people do these other things not because they’re there (like they are in other phones), but because it’s *so much easier* to do them on the iPhone.... and *there* is the difference...
The difference is that — *in practice* — the iPhone users do use the other functionality, built into the iPhone so much more than what the other phones have built into them. Apple is the master of the User Interface to the point where the common and average Joe doesn’t have to be a “geek” to use it... :-)
For me—someone that NEVER plays games—my talk time dramatically dropped when I started using the iPhone. Maybe anecdotal, but that is the way it is for me. I txt, or email rather than talk. The iPhone readily provides me with so much info that I guess I have much less need to call.
I find that it’s true that iPhone users do use the iPhone less for talking, at least in my own limited experience and limited contacts. So, to find that someone has looked into that, over a wide range of people — does confirm what I’ve found out on my own.
And that’s not surprising for the functionality that the iPhone has overall, which actually does *cause* and *contribute* to lower phone usage, because of that other functionality that takes the place of the phone usage....
It actually makes it more pleasant for people to have an iPhone as opposed to those other phones out there....
You said — The iPhone readily provides me with so much info that I guess I have much less need to call.
—
That’s exactly what I’ve found, too...
If you run the math, iPhone people talk 27 minutes. Other cell phone talk 28 minutes. OMG! Stop the presses!
Even Microsoft now admits...
“APPLE HAS CHANGED THE WAY THE GAME IS PLAYED”, says MSFT Win Mob chief
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2320869/posts
One thing that annoys me, its when people use their iPhones (or other large screened smartphones, but 90% of the time its an iPhone) at the movies, during the movie. Those things can light up rather brightly, and ruin the movie experience.
Jobs (Apple) and Ballmer (Microsoft) speak...
Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8SAFRBmcU
“The only problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste. They have absolutely no taste!” [Steve Jobs]
“They [Microsoft] don’t think of original ideas and they don’t bring much culture into their product.” [Steve Jobs]
“I have a problem with the fact that they [Microsoft] make really third-rate products.” [Steve Jobs]
“I will admit, quite frankly, that I think Windows, today, is probably four years, behind — three years behind, where it would have been had we not danced with IBM for so long.” [Steve Ballmer]
The least thing I use my iPhone for is... phoning.
With a very useable internet browser, email, directories for just about everything, games, music, radio, maps, gps, compass, level, musical instruments, chat, youtube, camera, etc, etc, it’s an electronic swiss knife on steroids.
I love my iPhone and I am “technically challenged.” It’s a great tool for lightening your purse too!
I now carry with me (in my phone): electronic books, a language translator, webMD, a graphing calculator, a level, a compass, the entire Bible, an ambient sound relaxation app, restaurant and food information, a map of the stars and planets, a complete list of AAA discounts, games, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the complete works of Shakespeare.
That’s in addition to several hundred songs, a few movies, and tons of photos of my family, of course!
You said — Those things can light up rather brightly, and ruin the movie experience.
—
LOL... I’ve done it before....
But, one of the things I do is cut the ringer off, when I’m in the show. And then, I don’t answer the phone, either, when there. But, if I see a call coming in, I’ll look to see who it is, and if I think I should take it, I’ll step out of the theater and then come back in again, after the call is done.
HOWEVER, the easier thing to do, is to text a message back to the person, without leaving the theater, and tell them that I’ll call back later, and am watching a movie. And when I do those things on the iPhone, I’ll keep it down in my lap and not hold it up to my face, because I’m aware of the brightness for someone behind me... :-)
So, it’s possible to keep the iPhone unobtrusive and still useful and not interfere with anyone else, if you are conscious of it...
iPhone users spend 12% of their usage time sending emails, 10% playing music, 8% playing games, and 9% surfing the Internet. Regular cell phone users spend 4% of their usage time sending emails, 2% playing music, 3% playing games, and 3% surfing the Internet.
Notice that the only significant usage change with the IPhone is centered around the functions that are easier to use on the IPhone via the touch screen, and the ability to customize all functions via 3rd party apps.
IPHONE: 60 minutes per day
45% talk - 27 minutes talking
15% text - 09 minutes texting
40% else - 24 minutes using all other apps (see below)
-- breakdown of "40% else"
12% mail - 7.2 minutes using email
10% music- 06 minutes playing MP3s
09% inet - 5.4 minutes surfing the internet
08% game - 4.8 minutes playing cell-based games
01% unkn - 0.6 minutes doing unknown thingsCELLPHONE: 40 minutes per day
70% talk - 28 minutes talking
15% text - 06 minutes texting
15% else - 6 minutes using all other apps
-- breakdown of "15% else"
04% mail - 1.6 minutes using email
02% music- 0.8 minutes playing MP3s
03% inet - 1.2 minutes surfing the internet
03% game - 1.2 minutes playing cell-based games
03% unkn - 1.2 minutes doing unknown things
Couldln’t agree with you more!
I’ve got a Samsung Blackjack II, which I like well enough, but I think I’ll move up to the iPhone in a few months.
I’m with AT&T and I’ve got that rollover plan. 300 mins a month. What I didn’t realize, was that there was a cap on them, you can only carry over 3,600 minutes (12 months). I found that out in 13 months. I just never talk on the phone.
Internet, text, e mail. I’d just much rather communicate that way.
And that’’s the beauty of the iPhone to the average person — it’s so easy to use and people *do use it* a lot, because of that fact. So, it’s not so much that other phones have some of the same functionality — it’s that these other companies don’t know how to make it so people can *use the functionality* — and Apple does know how to do that — with the iPhone...
You are 100% correct...
The reason for this is AT&T’s crappy service. Half of my calls get dropped. Put iPhone’s on Verizon’s service and I’d talk on the phone twice as much.
There’s no doubt about it — Apple delivers, with the iPhone, a very *rich experience* for the user and they are able to use all of the functionality, without becoming a “geek” to do it... :-)
Well..., I’ve never heard of this being a problem “overall” — but as anyone knows... there is no cell service that covers *all areas* — so in any service, *someone* is going to be on the fringe of the service....
Thus, you can always find someone on the fringe... but the real question here is if this is happening “overall”... and from what I’ve seen and heard and read about — no it isn’t...
I’m in a large metro area. My own experience is that the iPhone is great for everything but the actual phone.
Being in a large metro area myself, I had a few times where I was getting service and then didn’t (in an area I frequented a lot). It wasn’t necessarily on the fringe area, but I still encountered problems.
So, I reported it a few times and got back the answer that a particular cell tower was giving them problems. And I identified that cell tower, too, and also decided to verify it by driving to another cell tower. I wanted to find out, since I was in that area a lot. Sometimes it went *dead*, too... and then the iPhone would acquire from another cell tower.
Well, this went on for a while, intermittently, and I would report it regularly, too. There were times it was out for a while (like a few hours) but someone would get on it and get it back online again.
In short, I suspected that they had some bad equipment there on that particular cell tower and had problems getting it functional again. But, finally, after a while, they did get it running again (i.e., without future interruptions).
And then, again — I’ve been in other cities (like Portland, for example), where I had another service (it was Qwest, at the time). And I could identify particular “spots” in the city where service would drop out, and then come back again, when driving another couple of blocks or so. And so, I see that other services, for some reason, have some dead spots and drop-outs for various reasons.
Now, what I’ve found out from my reading is *not* that there are not fringe areas or possible drop-outs — but rather — that the vast majority of users will have absolutely no problems in that regard.
Thus, the question about “anecdotal reports” (like this one) is whether they indicate the “overall state” of the cell system, or whether they represent isolated events. And from what I’ve seen, they represent isolated events... :-)
Make no mistake, they’ll take my iPhone from my cold dead hands.
Glad to hear that... and I do hope the problems are solved for you in reception. Do *report* them and keep the cell company’s “feet to the fire” on that reception. That’s what I would do... :-)
My question is, how do they know these details? They must be spying on iPhone users.
Start out by asking how they knew that about all the other phone users... LOL...
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