Smartphones Rival Laptops as Most Desired Device- Cisco

A study by Cisco on Internet habits of 18-30 year old highlights how the need to stay connected drives every facet of their lives, from work to shopping, friendships to family.

According to the 2012 Cisco Connected World Technology Report (CCWTR), smartphones now rival laptops as the single most desired device by 18-30 year olds as they are seen as the most versatile and compact. If they had to choose only one device, a third of respondents preferred a smartphone, while slightly more than a third favored laptops.

Smartphones have surpassed desktop computers as the preferred workplace device from a global perspective and were rated twice as popular as a desktop PC and three times as popular as a tablet.

The results are based on a survey commissioned by Cisco of 1800 university students and young professionals aged 18 to 30. The report examines how this generation uses the Internet and mobile devices to connect with the world around them, and reveals their behaviors, attitudes, issues, and concerns about the creation, access, management, and privacy of the enormous amounts of data being generated daily by smartphones, sensors, video cameras, monitors, and other connected devices.

Sixty percent of 18-30 year olds find themselves sub-consciously or compulsively checking their smartphones for emails, texts or social media updates. Of those, women are more driven to connect:  85 percent of women versus 63 percent of men find themselves often compulsively checking their smartphone for text, emails, social media updates.

Over 40 percent of respondents would go through a “withdrawal” effect and “would feel anxious, like part of me was missing” if they couldn’t check their smartphones constantly. Of those compulsive smart phone users, 60 percent wish they didn’t feel so compelled.

Globally, Information Technology professionals are even more connected, almost one third of IT professionals stated they check their smartphones ‘continuously’ while 40 percent check at least every 10 minutes. Nearly 70 percent of respondents believe that mobile applications are important to their daily lives.

More than half said they mainly use mobile applications for games and entertainment while one in four (27 percent) use mobile applications for work.

Vendors tend to advertise thousands of applications in their app stores, but of all those apps being downloaded daily, a surprisingly low number are actually used on a regular basis. The majority of Gen Y respondents (60 percent) report using fewer than 10 smartphone apps regularly while only one in five (20 percent) of respondents said they use 10 to 25 apps regularly

In terms of fueling the world’s data, almost 90 percent upload photos to share or store on internet sites, 62 percent upload videos to share or store on internet sites.  87 percent have a Facebook account, and one in 10 have Facebook always up, 41 percent update Facebook at least once a day, and over one in five update Facebook several times a day and 56 percent of respondents have a Twitter account, and 21 percent tweet at least once a day.