iPhones Cause People To Talk Less

iPhone users talk on the phone less than regular cell phone users, Morgan Stanley says.

But, they spend a whopping 50% more time using their phones than average cell phone users, suggesting smart phones usage could increasingly resemble computer usage over time, threatening the PC industry. 

Here is the breakdown.

• iPhone users spend 60 minutes per day on their phones versus 40 minutes for cell phone users.
• iPhone users talk on their phones about 45% of the time they use it versus 70% for cell phone users.  That's about a three minute difference per day, or roughly the time it takes to check in with a friend ("What you up to?').

What makes up the difference?  It's not texting - each type of user spends about 15% of their phone usage texting.  Computer-like usage is the big differentiator:

• iPhone users spend 12% of their usage time sending emails, 10% playing music, 8% playing games, and 9% surfing the Internet.
• Regular cell phone users spend 4% of their usage time sending emails, 2% playing music, 3% playing games, and 3% surfing the Internet.

All of this would support the idea that people will start to rely on their mobile phones for computer-like functions over time.  And since the smart phone market is in its early stages currently, such a discrepancy at this stage would indicate this trend is well underway.