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iPhone Users Surveyed: Young, Non-Mac Owners, Want Apps

Tuesday April 1, 2008 3:06 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
Rubicon Consulting published data from an online survey of 460 "randomly" selected iPhone users. Full PDF of results is available from Rubicon. They claim there's a 3.8% margin of error with a 90% confidence interval, but the validity of the data depends on how truly random their sampling was.

Summary of results:

- Email is the #1 function.
- iPhone increases mobile browsing with 75% of iPhone users saying it has led to more mobile browsing
- 50% of iPhone owners replaced conventional (non-smartphones) mobile phones.
- 1/3 of iPhone users carry a 2nd phone
- 1/4 of iPhone users say its displacing a notebook computer.
- 40% of iPhone users said "strongly" that they want to add new software apps.
- 40% if iPhone users said the browser has trouble with some web pages they want to visit

A few interesting graphs:Satisfaction

Though iPhone users were mostly satisfied with their units, the two aspects that garnered the least satisfied responses were Battery Life and Wireless data speed.

Own a Mac or iPod Before?

The most interesting statistic from my perspective is that only 25% of iPhone owners owned a Mac before buying the iPhone.

Have you added Apps Already?

This graph shows that over 50% of iPhone owners have added software applications to their iPhone, which implies jailbreaking, but the question doesn't seem to explicit.

How old are you?

Age distribution of iPhone owners

Most desired features?

Requested features in order of most desired to least (left to right).
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kcroy
Posted: 51 months ago
I question the validity of this survey. Would like to know more about their methods for gathering data and past experience with survey construction and implementation. Any comparisons to other data received on iPhone users? In doubt.
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Doctor Q
Posted: 51 months ago

1/3 of iPhone users carry a 2nd phone

Assuming this is correct, would we expect that it's a temporary phase-over for people whose old plan hasn't yet expired, and they'll eventually move to just the iPhone?

Or are there really that many people who will continue to carry 2 phones, presumably because of tradeoffs between them?
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thejadedmonkey
Posted: 51 months ago
Interesting with how more people strongly disagree to making it smaller then strongly agree.
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mkrishnan
Posted: 51 months ago

Assuming this is correct, would we expect that it's a temporary phase-over for people whose old plan hasn't yet expired, and they'll eventually move to just the iPhone?

Or are there really that many people who will continue to carry 2 phones, presumably because of tradeoffs between them?


Yeah, I question that one, too... I have two phones -- I have my Blackberry, still, but I have not turned it on since I got my iPhone working. In another week or two, I'll probably decide I'm comfortable and sell it.

When I got my BB, I kept my RAZR for a while, and occasionally used it, e.g. to avoid taking the bulky BB with me when I went out on dates, etc... but after a while, switching phones became a nuisance and I sold my RAZR.

I never really "carried" two phones.

There are people who actively use two phones, but I would be shocked if anywhere near 1/3 of all iPhone users "carry" a second phone with them.

Here's more from the PDF:

There have been anecdotal reports that some iPhone users also carry a second mobile phone for traditional voice calling, or for other functions the iPhone doesn't do well. The survey showed that two-thirds of iPhone users carry only a single phone.

Among the one-third of iPhone users who do carry another mobile phone, the RIM Blackberry was the most popular, carried by almost one iPhone user in ten. It's not clear what will happen to this statistic over time. As Apple adds Microsoft Exchange
compatibility to the iPhone, it's possible that some of the dual users will discard their Blackberries. On the other hand, the people carrying both may be doing so because they want to use the Blackberry's built-in keyboard to type messages, and Apple has
announced no plans for an iPhone with a keyboard


On the other hand, they report that 90% report replacing a phone with the iPhone... I'm not sure their respondents really understood these questions and what was meant by them.

Another interesting piece of data was that 13% of respondents reported unlocking their iPhones, and about 50% report adding applications. Although, again, it isn't clear if this means that 50% jailbroke their iPhones (skeptical) or this includes webapps....
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Rocketman
Posted: 51 months ago
I have said since before release we need a not nano iPhone (bigger screen). I have said since, with conviction, Apple NEEDS to offer a double size battery option, far more than offering an increased memory option.

Apple. Offer a double size battery option. Please.

Rocketman
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minik
Posted: 51 months ago
Seriously? They want more apps?

Carrying 2 phones, one for personal, one for work? I used to have 2 phones with me, one strictly for voice and one smartphone.
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Rocketman
Posted: 51 months ago

Assuming this is correct, would we expect that it's a temporary phase-over for people whose old plan hasn't yet expired, and they'll eventually move to just the iPhone?

Or are there really that many people who will continue to carry 2 phones, presumably because of tradeoffs between them?


The iPhone battery dies quickly. A traditional cellphone has longer battery life due to different usage patterns (no web), AND has a typical net cost of $10-20 per month for a light user. As compared to iPhone costs, that is in the noise.

Rocketman
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twoodcc
Posted: 51 months ago
interesting survey i guess. not a ton of people surveyed though
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X38
Posted: 51 months ago
Interesting chart on what changes people want. FWIW, I think the size & form factor are just about perfect. Thinner & lighter would always be nice, but only if it can be done without sacrificing anything else. Any thicker or heavier would be a big pain on the other hand. The length, width, & screen size are pretty much perfect - please don't change a thing. Above all, under no circumstances should any kind of keyboard or keypad be added. The virtual keyboard works like a champ and any sacrifice of screen size or any increase in size, thickness, or weight to accommodate physical buttons would be beyond stupid.

Adding third party software is definitely the number one must have change. The SDK & 2.0 sound good so far, but if I could make one little request of Apple; please, please, PLEASE add accessibility to the USB port to the SDK and let us have third party hardware options as well. I can't imagine anything else I want changed (until the day there are enough 3G towers to be worth having a 3G phone).
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stagi
Posted: 51 months ago
im surprised 1/4 say their phone replaces a laptop, I do like to use my iPhone for a lot of browsing but can't replace my notebook.
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