The charts below display a variety of mobile usages in different scenarios comparing the UK with the USA.



The chart above shows different locations of smartphone usage. As you can see Home and Work usage are equivalent within the UK and the USA. However in restaurants and schools there is a big increase in usage in the USA compared to the UK.

In terms of education this could show that the younger age population have greater access to smartphones, and better ways of using them for education purposes in the USA which hasn’t been adopted so far in the UK. I know some senior and junior level schools have quite recently, or are just starting to, purchase tablets in schools but I am not aware of widespread adoption of smartphone usage or apps targeted at the pupils at those schools. Can you see a need for smartphones in education?

With the restaurants this could be due to the fact there are more wifi hotspots available or a greater number of the restaurants have menus available to view and order on the smartphones. Is this now increasing in the UK?



This chart shows the difference in the usage of smartphones in the banking and retail sectors. Although App, and the usage of the hardware features of a smartphone, are comparable in the two countries, shopping coupons and banking/financial usage lags behind in the UK compared to the USA.

Are we more wary of using smartphones where money is involved or is this again an indication that the businesses who provide these facilities are not as prevalent in the UK yet?

In both scenarios I am surprised at the high numbers showing in the UK, compared to the USA. It is very easy to feel insular and assume that you are in the minority working on app development in the UK. There always seems to be more developers and discussions around smartphones in the USA. However with these numbers you realise that smartphone usage is becoming more common than you thought.

With a lot of technological advances and trends, the USA lead and the UK follow. So will we be seeing all of the numbers increase in the UK, and over what period? I should put a note in my calendar to check again in 6 months time to see if the figures have changed. Watch this space!

Tags: Smartphones