Mobile & Tablet

Report: Internet use becoming round-the-clock
Sacramento Business Journal
Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011, 2:18pm PDT

Smartphones are making Internet use more accessible around the clock, with many people getting online in bed to check such social networking Web sites as Facebook and Twitter.

Consumers can’t get enough of the Internet. In fact, many smartphone users are connected even before climbing out of bed, according to a new study.

As many as 35 percent of Android and iPhone users in the U.S. use non-voice applications on their smartphones while still in bed, according to a 2011 Ericsson ConsumerLab Research study. And, among those users, most — 18 percent — opt to sign in to social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

Eleven percent of smartphone users check their e-mail or listen to music before starting their morning, while 7 percent utilize instant messaging tools. Fifteen percent say they surf the Internet in the early dawn hours.

As the day continues, use of non-voice applications increases into the 50 percent range, before peaking in the early evening, when 65 percent of smartphone owners use non-voice applications.

Smartphone use shows no signs of declining. Roughly 72.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in March 2011, up 15 percent from the preceding three-month period.

And as carriers such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications and Sprint Nextel, offer expanded data access, the numbers will likely continue to rise.

Verizon plans to bring its faster 4G network to the Dayton region by the end of 2011. AT&T also plans to expand its 4G coverage across the country, reaching as high as 95 percent of the U.S. population thanks to its pending purchase of T-Mobile USA.

In addition to smartphones, the study shows tablets such as the iPad are almost as popular an item to purchase as laptops. Many executives in the Dayton region are using iPads and smartphones to stay connected out of the office. And upon launch of the new iPad 2, two Dayton-area MacTown stores sold out within 10 minutes, mirroring the same sell-out status at Best Buy Co. stores in the region.

Competition is heating up in the mobile tablet category as Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL) announced that it will produce a tablet with the Microsoft Corp. operating system.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Samsung and Motorola are reportedly planning a tablet, as well as Research in Motion.