NZ smartphone ownership to hit 90 percent by 2018

Frost & Sullivan reports 64 percent of New Zealanders aged between 15 and 65 now own a smartphone. Android accounts for almost two-thirds of those phone with a 64 percent market share. Apple’s iOS is at 24 percent.

Smartphone ownership will increase to 90 percent by 2018. Frost & Sullivan says Apple’s share will drop further in coming years.

Usage patterns are changing. Five years ago smartphones were mainly used for voice and text. Frost & Sullivan’s Phil Harpur says 44 percent of NZ smartphone owners use mobile media and 61 percent using social networking. More than a third of NZ smartphone owners use their devices for job search at least once every six months.

Frost & Sullivan says tablet ownership will grow even faster

At the moment 26 percent of New Zealanders own a tablet and 42 percent of households have at leave one. By 2018 that figure will be 78 percent.

Again Frost & Sullivan predicts Apple’s iPad market share will drop from today’s 59 percent to less than 40 percent as other brands enter the market with cheaper devices.

Frost & Sullivan says 62 percent of tablet users read a news article on an internet site at least once a month. However, a significant proportion of tablet users do not read newspaper articles at all online.