Cellphones carving deep into landline business

Rochester (NY) – Harris Interactive today published comprehensive survey results on the use of cellphones. For the very first time, more people are using cellphones than landline phones. The market research firm concluded that new technologies are likely to reshape the telecommunications landscape within the next decade as most 18-29 year olds have dropped landlines already and use cellphones and the Internet as their only communication tools.

According to Harris Interactive, 89% U.S. adults are now using a cellphone, while only 79% still have a landline phone and 15% are making calls via VoIP. 75% of 9132 adults included in the survey said that they are using “multiple” technologies of making phone calls. People relying on only one technology are in the minority : 9% of the respondents said they were using a landline phone only, while cellphone-only users were at 14% (which is up from 11% in 2006). 6% mentioned that they are using a cellphone and VoIP.

Diving deeper into the numbers provided by Harris, it is apparent that cellphone-only usage is very popular among 18-29 year old adults. 49% of this group has adopted this technology as their only telephone. However, the market research firm said that their share actually decreased from 55%, as older individuals become somewhat more comfortable with using a cell phone as their only type of telephone service.

Additionally, Harris said that cellphone only users are less likely to be older than 40 years of age, more likely to have at least some college education, more likely to be male, more likely to likely to have household income less than $15,000 and less likely to have a household income of $75,000 or more.

The market research firm believes that the survey results especially in the 18-29 year-old are showing an important trend. “The fact that so many 18 to 29 years are only using cell phones and the Internet has important implications for companies and other organizations that are trying to communicate with this important segment of the population. This also hold true with those who conduct survey research who have relied on traditional methods (i.e., telephone landlines) for reaching this group. The survey research and marketing industries need to recognize that the Internet and cell phones, not landlines, are likely to be the wave of the future for contacting this age group,” Harris said.