The smart phone has become widely popular in recent times and some statistics indicate that around 60% of us could be using them by the end of 2011 here in Australia. While that figure is considerably more than I would have guessed before doing the research, it’s not a huge surprise when I consider everyone I know has one, even my parents!
Looking at the two graphs below you can see that there isn’t a huge amount of difference in usage between men and women across the board from browsing the web to playing games. This did actually surprise me as I expected to see some major differences on at least a couple, for example a much less gaming usage in women.
Usage Stats for Females in Australia According to Our Mobile Planet
Usage Stats for Males in Australia According to Our Mobile Planet
So what is it we’re doing all us boys and girls are doing with our smart phones? Below I’ve listed the top 7 activities and the percentage use for men and women.
| Activity | Females % | Males % |
| Taking Photos | 79 | 79 |
| Browsed Internet | 67 | 74 |
| 67 | 70 | |
| General Search | 65 | 68 |
| Directions/Map | 59 | 67 |
| Listen to Music | 53 | 62 |
| Social Networks | 65 | 61 |
According to a recent study conducted online by Telstra the following stats represent where we are accessing the internet from with our smart phones;
- 90% from home.
- 86% on public transport.
- 58% as a passenger in a vehicle.
- 47% from work.
- 17% while driving.
- 13% whilst in a meeting.
To delve a little further, when we’re at home we access the internet from the following places or while doing the following activities;
- 56% while in bed.
- 54% while watching TV.
- 33% while on the toilet.
- 23% while cooking.
Whether you’re a business, web design company, internet marketer or an SEO Company, the data and statistics presented here are useful in your decision making when it comes to your advertising spend. For example, email marketing still has massive reach with all users online including smart phones. On the other hand, if you run a job or coupon site, mobile isn’t a huge area of concern just yet.
As for the 33% while on the toilet, there’s a stat I’d much rather not go too far into but to all the toilet paper companies out there, there’s definitely a place for you with some mobile advertising.
Additionally, it should also encourage many of you site owners out there to strongly consider having a mobile site. Judging by our own internal data, the stats indicate a site that doesn’t render well on a mobile is prone to considerably higher bounce rates. Naturally you would base this on how much traffic you get from mobile, I believe anything over 10% is about the time you should be at least thinking about a mobile version of your site.
SOURCES:
Our Mobile Planet: www.ourmobileplanet.com
IT Wire: www.itwire.com
Telstra: www.telstra.com
Dan Petrovic, the managing director of DEJAN, is Australia’s best-known name in the field of search engine optimisation. Dan is a web author, innovator and a highly regarded search industry event speaker.
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6886-3211