Login
iscover
Staff Reporter
Web-surfing and social networking are increasingly taking place on smartphones, and almost half of Australian mobile phone users now own the new technology, a report has found.
“Telstra’s Smartphone Index shows 46 per cent of Australian mobile phone owners now have a smartphone – up from 31 per cent last year – and this is expected to grow to more than 60 per cent over the next twelve months,” said Telstra consumer executive director Rebekah O'Flaherty.
“It’s clear smartphones are becoming an inseparable part of our lives.”
The Index found 40 per cent of smartphone web surfers now access social networking sites, such as Facebook or Telstra’s Tribe service every day, well up on the 31 per cent recorded in 2010. Moreover, just under half have used their phones to find out more about a product or service before making a purchase.
It added smartphones weren’t just popular with Generation Y users. “More than one in five Aussie smartphone owners are aged over 50 years, and 39 per cent are more than 40 years,” Telstra said.
“Smartphones are continuing to replace personal computers (PCs) as a preferred way to access some content with one in four smartphone surfers now visiting social networking sites more on their mobiles than they do on a computer and one in five searching the mobile web more on their phones than on a PC,” the company added.
Telstra said the research for the index was conducted by Nielsen on a sample of 2,827 Australians aged over 16 from across the country.
Newsletter
