Press Release

ONE Mobile Telephony Barometer 9: Austrians’ popular chat locations and handset-free zones

• 62 % of mobile phone users do not leave home without their handsets
• 45 % of mobile users regularly use their handsets at home
• Accepted handset-free zones: movie theatres, concerts, theatres, churches and graveyards

Six in ten mobile users normally do not leave their home without their handsets. However, even though the mobile phone plays a significant role on the road, privacy is very important to Austrians when they make calls. The ranking of certain locations or situations in which mobile calls are made is topped by home sweet home. Men would miss their mobile phones more than women, and Austrians know “how to behave properly“ and are tolerant when it comes to situations in which they would not want to be without their mobile companion themselves.

It is common knowledge that as many as eight in ten Austrians own a mobile phone. Nonetheless, where do Austrians actually use their mobile phones and in which situations is the mobile phone considered annoying? The answer is provided by the current ONE Mobile Telephony Barometer for which the market and opinion research institute Integral interviewed about 1,000 Austrians in June/July 2003.

The mobile phone in hand to be on the safe side

About six in ten mobile users (62 %) as a rule do not leave home without their mobile phones. Above all 14 to 29-year-olds only rarely forget their mobile phones at home (78 % usually take it along). Austrians do not depend on their mobile companion, however, because about half the mobile users (49 %) believe they would not miss their mobile phone if they left it at home accidentally. Those, however, who always have their mobile phones with them, take it along in particular when they go out on their own (77 %). Women (80 %) and people over the age of 40 (about 80 %) feel the need not to leave home without their mobile phones.

Available any time, any place – taking etiquette into account

As a rule, Austrian use their mobile phones while they are on the road. However, when asked about concrete locations or situations, the ranking is topped by home. The fact that 45 percent also regularly make mobile calls at home shows that undisturbed calls in a familiar environment are important to Austrians. Of the 14 to 29-year olds almost two thirds (65 %) regularly make calls from their mobile phone at home. The second most frequent mobile calls are made when travelling or on vacation; 18 percent thereof use the mobile phone on a regular basis. Every tenth mobile user regularly makes phone calls in public, be it restaurants, public transport or when shopping (coffee shop/restaurant: 12 %, public transport: 10 %, shopping 9 %). One in seven uses the mobile phone occasionally to regularly at sports and at least 12 percent make private calls during business meetings, in hospitals or at the doctor. And even the toilet does not stop the mobile phone as 8 percent say they at least occasionally make calls there. This does not mean, however, that mobile users do not know “what is appropriate” because an absolute no go are calls in movie theatres, concerts or the theatre and above all in churches and graveyards.

Mobile phone as practical companion

The more frequent mobile users use their mobile phone in certain situations, they more they would miss them in these situations. In more detail, various target groups judge the relevant locations for mobile phone use differently. Youths would miss mobile phones primarily at home, when shopping, in coffee shops or restaurants and public transport (at home: 67 % of 14 to 29 year-olds, 50 % on average when shopping: 44 to 35 %, coffee shops/restaurants: 38 to 25 %, public transport: 34 to 21 %). When travelling and on vacation primarily 30 to 49-year-olds would not want to do without their mobile phones (on average 50 % to 47 %). And people older than 50 increasingly feel they need to have their mobile phones with them at sports events (18 to 12 %). Men usually miss their mobile phones more often. They would miss it above all during meetings (37 % men to 23 % women), on public transport (25 to 17 %) and at sports (15 to 8 %) . Women, however, would it miss more intensively only at the doctor’s or in hospital (17 to 12 %).

Tolerance vis-à-vis idiosyncrasies

Mobile users are tolerant when it comes to locations where they also like to use their mobile phones. Consequently, the ranking of unpopular locations and situations for mobile calls is almost the opposite of where the majority of calls is made. Slightly ambivalent views do mobile caller have when it comes to using their handsets in public. 36 percent feel disturbed when their mobile rings in coffee shops or restaurants. They are matched by 12 percent, however, who regularly use their mobile phones in these locations. While four in ten of people older than 50 (41 %) and 37 percent of women feel disturbed by the ringing, 22 percent of 14 to 29-year-olds use their mobile phones in these situations on a regular basis.