Canada's love affair with mobile rages on, but it seems as if the relationship is entering the 'comfort zone'. The spring 2012 wave of Ipsos Reid's Mobil-ology, a study of the mobile market in Canada, shows that the frequency at which Canadians are using their smartphones, tablets and eReaders remains stable, however, the average duration of time they report using them has declined.
"Initially, seasonality was suspected as a cause of this reported behaviour," says Mary Beth Barbour, Senior Vice President with Ipsos Reid. "However, the average duration of use has failed to return to the higher levels recorded a year earlier in spring 2011. This is beginning to suggest a potential shift in usage patterns."
Wave 3 of the study, conducted in March/April 2012, shows that device usage has stabilized over time. On average, Canadians report using their Smartphones 222 times per month, Tablets 115 times per month, and eReaders 38 times per month.
But the time spent on each device has declined
On a typical weekday, Canadians in spring 2012 reported spending 2.8 hours per day on their Smartphone, down significantly from the 3.3 hours they reported in spring 2011, Wave 1 of the Mobil-ology study. Significant drops were also reported for hours spent on Tablets (2.4 hours down from 3.2 hours) and eReaders (1.8 hours down from 2.1 hours) over the same period.
Along a similar vein, declines are also noted in the frequency at which Smartphone and Tablet users download new Apps and delete old Apps previously loaded on their devices.
"Such changes further support the notion that Canadians are maturing as mobile users," adds Barbour. "Decreases may be due in part to users settling in with their device and usage levels normalizing as the novelty wears off and users are in less of an exploratory phase. Further, shifts may also be related to the expansion of the user base beyond the 'techies' and early adopters to the broader population who may be less active users."
Methodology
These findings are based on two waves of research (the first in February 2011 and the second in March/April 2012). Each of these studies were conducted among approximately n=2,000 adult residents of Canada via the Ipsos Opinions Online Panel.
