Consumers Trading Old Technologies for New

U.K. telecommunications watchdog Ofcom has noticed a trend of people passing up older technologies in favor of newer ones. Everyone knows television and radio are attracting fewer eyeballs and ears lately, but so are traditional console and computer games.

In its fourth annual review of the U.K. communications market, Ofcom is reporting that more consumers are flocking to mobile phones, with which they are browsing the Web. As a result, fewer consumers are spending time with their TVs and radios, landline phones, and game consoles.

As expected, younger consumers are fueling this shift. Of all U.K. residents under the age of 15, 53% use their mobile devices on a regular basis, which is an increase from 50% in 2005. Fifty-two percent of these residents surf the Internet regularly, compared to 47% in 2005.

Only 53% regularly play games on their consoles, compared to 61% in 2005.

For all age groups the amount of time spent online is up 158% from 2002 to 38 minutes per day, while time spent on mobile devices is up 58% to four minutes per day. Time spent watching TV is down 4% to 3 hours and 36 minutes, radio listening time is down 2% to 2 hours and 50 minutes, and time spent on landline phones is down 8% to seven minutes per day.

Consumers over 55 are actually spending more time listening to the radio, though their use of new media is also increasing. This age group spends 42 hours per month on the Internet, which is more than any other age group.

Landline phones are becoming way out of style. For the first time, there are more U.K. households (9%) who use their mobile phones as their only means of communication, while only 7% of U.K. households rely on their landline phones as their only means of communication.

Communications services for U.K. households also seem to be becoming more affordable. Though more services are being utilized, the average household is spending $3 less per month on communications services than it was in 2006.

These figures are far from surprising, though they do confirm the obvious trend towards higher technology and awareness that the U.K. is experiencing.

Sources:

http://redherring.com/Home/22632

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/cmr07/