• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, January 18, 2013

According to The Harris Poll in November 2012 there are both divergences and similarities in actions performed by smartphone owners using both the phone and the computer. When smartphone owners are asked which of a set of actions (common to both devices) they regularly perform on a smartphone and/or on a computer, the IM, or instant message is the most common smartphone use (87%) and the least common use for a computer (20%).

In contrast, emails are the top use for computers, with 90% for all email uses combined. Email is still a highly utilized feature on smartphones (72% combined), though reading emails (67% personal, 38% work) outpaces actually writing emails (56% personal, 32% work) on smartphones.

Smartphone owners also appear to favor computers for researching goods and services (3^rd most reported activity vs. 8^th for smartphone use) and purchasing products or services such as clothing and holiday gifts (4^th vs. 12^th). In contrast, mapping/navigation is among the top uses for smartphones (73% / 2^nd), but only a mid-tier use for computers (56% / 7^th).

Despite the many differences between smartphone and computer use, combined social media interactions make for the 5^th most frequent use for both a smartphone and a computer. In both cases, reading posts (56% smartphone, 62% computer) is the top activity, followed by sharing  and writing. A similar percentage use their smartphones to "check in" (43%), while far fewer do so on computers (28%).

Smartphone owners with children in their household are significantly more likely than those without to indicate using smartphones for most of the activities tested, including mapping/navigation uses, downloading free applications, music or videos, combined social media use, playing games, researching goods or services, and many others.

The report concludes by noting that understanding what smartphones are used for is an integral part of designing a successful device. The prevalence of text messaging calls for a well designed keyboard interface. Similarly, smartphone users' reliance on their devices for mapping and navigation services calls for either a well designed mapping interface. As reliance on these devices continues to grow both data plans and entire data networks may be affected in any number of ways.

For additional information from Harris Interactive, please visit here.