It’s been found by tyntec and YouGov that among all age groups, young adults – or “millennials” – are the most interested crowd in adopting new cloud-based models for telephony, including integrating texting and voice capabilities into new devices and online services. The survey, which reflected the new US research, reported that 66 percent of smartphone users are between the ages of 18 and 24, who also noted that they are either “very interested” or “interested” in using other devices such as iPods, iPads, or other tablet PC as a mobile phone.
The April 2012 YouGov survey, sponsored by tyntec, surveyed over 1,000 US respondents aged 18-55+ regarding such things as SMS adoption, smartphone usage, mobile social networking, free or low cost calling, and SMS alternatives.
In addition to this, SMS outpaced apps as the most popular feature among this age group, as represented in the 81 percent of mobile phone users who trump the 12 percent for apps (mobile email was only at eight percent). This unique generation also led strongly in terms of device sophistication, with 64 percent owning a smartphone, versus the 29 percent of individuals 55 and older who do.
Almost 70 percent of those belonging in the 18-24 year-old group said they regularly accessed social networks, such as Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter, via mobile. Other age groups reported checking their social networks via a mobile device at least once a day, including 37 percent of 25-34 year-olds and a little over half of those between the ages of 35 and 44.
In an interesting turn of events, this study even served as a way to identify today’s youth’s priorities, revealing what’s ultimately most important to them. Millennials showed the strongest affinity to SMS, with 71 percent saying they’d be prepared to give up alcohol, chocolate, caffeine, exercise, or even brushing their teeth for a week rather than lose the ability to text for a year. Of course, a line has to be drawn at some point; only two percent said they would be willing to give up sex for a week in order to keep texting for the following 12 months.
"This survey validates that consumers are pushing the envelope to leverage text and mobile in innovative ways to communicate and reach their social networks," said Michael Kowalzik, CEO, tyntec. "As social media companies continue to evolve, this presents a tremendous untapped opportunity for carriers and Internet/OTT companies to collaborate on services that meet demand from this new generation of consumers."
Despite this high interest in cloud telephony, there is a low awareness of low-cost/free messaging and calling apps. Respondents were unaware of these aspects, with 40 percent having little to no knowledge of services such as WhatsApp and Pinger (News - Alert). This, however, provides operators with the opportunity to reach a new audience and stay competitive in this unique marketplace.
Edited by Juliana Kenny