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Smartphone users favor mobiles over TV for news
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 09 December 2010, 18:20 IST
Bangalore: People are increasingly getting more dependent on their mobile phones for the everyday chores. From keeping a reminder to remembering birthdays and anniversaries. With the introduction of smartphones in our lives, the dependency has just increased manifold and most of us prefer our little gadgets in hands to look for news than turning on the television.
A survey conducted by American App developer Handmark reinforces the above notion. Of the 300,000 mobile users surveyed, 88 percent of them were the owners of smartphones. The main aim of the survey was to find how people access news. And the results were pretty interesting.
To access the news, 30 percent of people use their smartphone and 29 percent used a PC. A mere 21 percent turn to their television sets and a smaller set of 12 percent go to radio for news. The print media comprising newspapers and magazines act as a source of news to only 3-4 percent of the people surveyed.
The reason why our phones are taking precedence over other media is because they are with us at all the times unlike the rest of the news sources. While a newspaper takes a day to reach you, magazines have various time schedules. You cannot have a TV set in your car or train you're travelling in. So phone connected with internet is your best option to source news.
Another aspect revealed through the survey is the categories of news people looked in their smartphones. Their first preference was news and events followed by weather, sports, business, entertainment and politics.
So does this trend spell the end of traditional media of news dissemination? Well personally I don't think so. No matter what or how technology develops, the experience of reading a newspaper with your morning tea or listening to radio news while you engage in other work will not be done away soon, although the frequency may decrease.
