Two-Thirds of Consumers
Fret About Phone Security
We're using
our phones for banking, buying, and broadcasting our location -- but that
doesn't mean we're not still nervous.
Consumers are becoming more comfortable with mobile
services like location tracking and banking, but a significant number of them
-- 68 percent -- are uncertain how safe their data is when it's stored or
transmitted from a cell phone.
That was one of the findings in a study released today by
Oracle
Communications, a business unit focusing on telecommunications within Oracle
Corporation of Redwood Shores ,
California
The survey of some 3000 global mobile phone consumers
finds significant growth in the number of wireless wranglers banking online
through their phones (28 percent in 2011 compared to 18 percent in 2010) and
making online purchases (18 percent versus 9 percent, year over year), but
those activities aren't doing much to calm the qualms mobile users have about
their phone's security. For example, only 6 percent of the survey sample said
they'd made a purchase in a store with a mobile phone and only 21 percent said
they feel "very comfortable" making a purchase with a phone instead
of a credit card.
What could be contributing to consumers' anxiety about
mobile phone security are the almost weekly reports of malware attacks on Android smartphones that have been appearing for months now.
Oracle
researchers also found that nearly half the consumers (41 percent) of the
consumers participating in the study who do not have a tablet computer intend
to buy one in the next twelve months.
Smartphones have significantly penetrated mobile markets
around the world, with 70 percent of the respondents saying they use that type
of mobile device, according to the study.
Concerns about privacy threats posed by location services
appear to be fading in the minds of many consumers, the researchers discovered.
While 33 percent of consumers in 2010 said they were interested in receiving
relevant content based on their location, in this year's survey, 45 percent say
they're already chosen to share location information with an app on their
phone.
What's more, smartphones are increasingly replacing other
electronic devices in their users' gadget arsenal. For example, in the 2010
edition of the survey, 52 percent of survey respondents said they believed
their mobile phone would replace their digital camera by 2015. In this year's
version, 43 percent say their phone has already replaced their camera.
Similarly, in
2010 54 percent of respondents believed their phone would replace their music
player by 2015; in 2011, 34 percent say it has already supplanted their music
player.
Fifty-four percent of those surveyed in 2010 also
predicted that their GPS units would be replaced by their phone by 2015, but
only 24 percent say their mobiles have already replaced their GPSs.
Data usage by consumers has also increased over the last
year, the study found. Some 47 percent of the respondents told surveyors that
their data usage has increased over the last 12 months. Increased usage is
reported in other areas, too, such as text messaging (41 percent), call minutes
(39 percent), and apps (38 percent).
Oracle's survey (PDF)also had some good news for wireless
carriers. More than four-fifths of the respondents (84 percent) say their
mobile service provider is doing a good job. However, only about half those
surveyed (54 percent) believe their carriers gave them the necessary tools to
manage their monthly usage.
Follow freelance technology writer John P. Mello Jr. and Today@PCWorld on
Twitter.
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