Company News · June 21, 2012

The Smartphone Consumer 2012

By Edison Research

The Smartphone Consumer 2012 is a look at how Americans 12+ use Smartphones and how the mobile web changes consumer behavior. This study is derived from the 20th study in the Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Research Series, and is based upon a national, representative sample of 2,020 Americans 12+. The study looks at demographics, usage and other aspects related to smartphone ownership and mobile behaviors.

Among the main findings:

* The percentage of Americans who own a smartphone is now 44%, or half of all Americans who own a mobile phone

* 46% of smartphone owners browse the Internet on their devices “several times per day”

* More than one-third of smartphone owners visit social networking sites on their phone “several times per day”

* Three in ten smartphone owners plug their phones in to their cars to listen to Internet radio

This study was originally presented by Edison Research VP of Strategy and Marketing Tom Webster, and can be downloaded here:

The Smartphone Consumer 2012

View The Smartphone Consumer 2012

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For more data on how Americans use mobile, social and other technology, subscribe to Edison’s mailing list here.

How the study was conducted

A total of 2,020 persons were interviewed to investigate Americans’ use of digital platforms and new media. From January 20 to February 19, 2012, telephone interviews were conducted with respondents age 12 and older chosen at random from a national sample of Arbitron’s Fall 2011 survey diarykeepers and through random digit dialing (RDD) sampling in geographic areas where Arbitron diarykeepers were not available for the survey. Diarykeepers represent 45% of the completed interviews and RDD sampled respondents represent 55% of the completed interviews. The study includes a total of 500 cell phone interviews.

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