UK iPhone users leading mobile revolution

iPhone
Data galore - that's what the iPhone's all about

We already know the iPhone has done reasonably well in the UK, selling over a million handsets, but the latest data on how people use the device provides a few surprises.

Market research from comScore shows that almost 80 per cent of iPhone users went online to find news or other information in the three-month period to February.

Data plans are key

That compares well with just 20 per cent for all mobile phones and 48 per cent for other smartphones.

As iPhones come with flat-rate data plans, satisfaction will most likely be drawn by online advertisers keen to get their products in front of key demographics.

Still a small group

However, there is a caveat – as comScore points out: "It is ... important to note that while nearly all iPhone owners are consuming mobile media, the device is in the hands of only 2 per cent of mobile phone users in the UK."

As well as high web usage, iPhone owners appeared to use email a lot – 75 per cent did so, compared with just 35 per cent of owners of non-Apple smartphones.

Still, that begs the question of why on Earth those folk bothered buying smartphones at all.

It's an iPod too, you know

Almost as puzzling is the revelation that 66 per cent of iPhone owners used it to listen to music. We're assuming that the left-out 34 per cent are blissfully unaware that it's also an iPod.

J Mark Lytle was an International Editor for TechRadar, based out of Tokyo, who now works as a Script Editor, Consultant at NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Writer, multi-platform journalist, all-round editorial and PR consultant with many years' experience as a professional writer, their bylines include CNN, Snap Media and IDG.