Mobile phone use 2007

The Economist has published some great research on phone use. Highlights:

* 60% of men carried their phones in their trouser pockets, whereas 61% of women carried their phones in handbags

* A typical person spends 80% of his or her time communicating with just four other people

* Various communication methods are used for different purposes–land lines for shared communication in a home, mobiles for last-minute planning and co-ordination, texting for intimacy and emotions, email for administration and file exchange, IM for background chatter

* Even when people are given unlimited cheap or free calls, the number and length of calls does not increase significantly

* Private communications are invading the workplace more than the other way around

* Mobile workers generally stick to communications while on the move, gathering information that they then work on when they get back to their desks.