More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of Irish people are in favour of using the fiercely contentious public services card while only 32 per cent object to using it; despite the recent outcry against their use, 67 per cent say they communicate more with their friends or family because of their smartphone and 63 per cent say it helps their relationships with partners, while 48 per cent feel their smartphone helps their relationships with their children.
These are among the key findings of the Three Connected Ireland Report, which looks at the connected lives of Irish people and how mobile technology is continuing to change how all of us interact with businesses, government and each other.
The findings in the report are based on a representative survey of 1,000 smartphone users throughout the Republic, conducted by Amárach Research. They were asked questions around three themes: connected life, connected business, and the connected citizen.
Different age
The results have implications for all of us, according to Three Business director Eoin Mac Manus. "Take media, for example: 57 per cent of the respondents now believe their mobile phone is more important than traditional media when it comes to keeping up to date with the news," he says. "Facebook is the most popular source of news both in the morning, when 32 per cent of respondents are using it, and in the afternoon when 26 per cent used it. This shows that we are living in a different age and people and organisations are going to have to be cognisant of that."
Preferred device
With smartphones catching up rapidly with laptops as the preferred device for online shopping there are also implications for retailers and other online businesses. “Laptops remain the go-to device for the majority at 39 per cent, but the popularity of the smartphone for online shopping is a close second at 33 per cent,” says Mac Manus. “If you look back 15 or 20 years ago we used the desktop for everything. Then the laptop came along and we started using that. Now with the computing power and flexibility available on a smartphone we are using that device more. And as the screens get bigger and the computing power and capacity increases we are going to see usage grow as well.”
The survey also found that the impact of online influencers is growing. “Social media influencers are a relatively recent addition to marketing campaigns and business activity but they’re having a significant impact on sales according to our research,” he notes. “Almost one in four respondents have bought something recently with their smartphone as a result of recommendations by bloggers they follow on social media.”
Booking online
The importance of an online presence is not exclusive to retail brands, with the research revealing that 35 per cent of diners now book restaurants online. “People now have much greater confidence when it comes to doing things like booking restaurant tables online,” Mac Manus points out. “Once they have used an app like OpenTable once and found that it works they will keep using it. The same guys for food delivery apps like Just Eat.”
The smartphone is also having a growing influence on our working lives. with respondents saying that smartphones and tablets make their working lives more flexible (39 per cent), while smartphones also play a key role in how they communicate with colleagues at work – 30 per cent use messaging apps, 34 per cent send text messages while 41 per cent rely on both email and phone calls.
Unsurprisingly, respondents did express concerns when it came to the safety of their personal data. “More than 70 per cent of respondents said they were either concerned or extremely concerned in relation to they way their data is being held by private companies,” he says. “This falls to 65 per cent when it comes to the data held by public bodies but that is still a significant number.”
Secure government app
Interestingly, this doesn’t appear to have diminished people’s appetite for online public services with a large majority of respondents (78 per cent) stating that they would be interested in a secure government app to access all such services.
“They would also be quite happy to use their smartphones for services such as emergency alerts,” Mac Manus adds. “For example, 78 per cent would be open to receiving an app alert about emergencies such as flooding or fallen trees in their locality and 75 per cent would welcome traffic alerts specific to their location if they could avoid problems like broken traffic lights. Over half of them would like the opportunity to use their phone to send a photo and report drivers who park illegally in a space reserved for wheelchair users and 57 per cent would like to use it to rate their local TD.”
Looking ahead, Mac Manus says the trend is only going in one direction. “People want to use their smartphones more, not less,” he says. “For example, 57 per cent of said they would value an app that enables them to have an online consultation with their GP at lower cost. The research shows that our smartphones are far more than simple communication tools, they support our careers, our relationships, our social lives and our interactions with government and people crave even more digital innovation as a result.”