Mformation research shows the great concern phone owners have about their data and their lifes.
A lot of information is now stored
on mobile devices:
- 94% of users surveyed store telephone numbers.
- 65% also store address and other contact information on their phones.
- 83% have digital photos.
- 51% have videos.
- 48% have calendar information.
- 40% have music downloads.
They believe the trend of using the phone to store valuable and
sensitive data from every aspect of life is set to continue. People are also worrying about losing their precious mobile phones.
- 82% of people fear that if their
phones were lost or stolen, someone would use the information stored on
them for fraudulent means. - 90% of those questioned are worried about
the loss of their personal data if a mobile device were to go missing. - 72% admitting that the personal information stored on their
devices would be difficult to replace. - 40% of respondents
even said that losing a mobile would be worse than losing their wallet.
Because mobile phones are being used for such a wide range of
activities, when a device is lost, it can prove to be devastating for
the user: 91% of people questioned in the UK and US said they would be
"devastated" if they lost their mobile phones.
For this reason, Mformation contends that it
unacceptable that three-quarters of the people interviewed said that it
would take a day or more to get a new phone fully up and running with
all their personal data after a loss or theft. In fact, 61% of people
said that this should take 2 hours or less.
"Mobile phones are becoming more and more essential to user
lifestyles," commented Matt Bancroft, Vice President, Mformation.
"People can access the Internet and store significant amounts of
valuable personal information and other content on their mobile
devices. With new advances in mobile technology arriving every day,
this trend will only increase the role of the mobile device in peoples'
lives by providing us with increasing freedom to store, manage, send,
and receive information. Mobile operators need to make sure that users
are confident that their devices are secure, the data on those devices
is protected, and device content can be backed up and recovered if a
phone is lost or stolen. Such a high level of dependency on mobile
phones today means that operators need capabilities to help minimize
risk and maximize trust," continued Bancroft.
"Operators need to step up to the mark to make sure that their
customers are getting the service they expect in terms of security,
data recovery and phone setup," said Bancroft. "As people continue to
increase their reliance on mobile phones for everyday actions,
operators have to make sure that they are ready to support this
increased commitment by the user. More extensive use of the device is
great, but the mobile operators need to underpin this activity by
offering capabilities to protect and manage users' data if things go
wrong."
The research was undertaken by independent research house Coleman
Parkes, which asked 4,000 people in the UK and US about problems
related to mobile usage.