A new survey has been released, this time by research firm TNS. Based on 34,000 global responses from 43 countries (only 1,000 from Canada) they are reporting that “Canadians are leaders when it comes to adapting latest technologies”. The “Mobile Life 2011” survey showed that the global average number of people who have a smartphone is 28%, while us Canadians ring in at a 41%. The average age of smartphone owners are men aged between 22-30 years old. The average price Canadians dolled out for their mobile phone is $129 (CDN), it’s not stated but this is probably on a contract of some sort. Taking a look a the graph shows that there are just over 23 million Canadians that have a mobile phone, which represents 68.4% of the population.
According to TNS, “brand is no longer as important” because “a real mind-shift” is happening, “it’s no longer what my technology does – it’s what I can do with my technology”. The survey found that only 28% of Canadians are loyal to the manufacturers brand as they desire more “content” be included in their phone. TNS says people are using their mobile device to access social networking sites (6% in 2010 to 24% in 2011), such as Twitter and Facebook. 63% of Canadians said they check friends’ status or update their own; 62% send messages to friends and 56% check their email.
Another key finding is the “mobile wallet”. More devices are coming with NFC (Near Field Communication) which gives you the ability to use your phone as a debit/credit card and pay for products and services. We currently have the ZoomPass in place and devices like the Nexus S already have a NFC chip build-in. TNS stated that 10% of Canadians currently use a mobile wallet, but 40% are interested in using it in the future.
