Addicted to Apps
Smartphones and tablet devices have become an increasingly prominent, some would say essential, part of our lives. Recent data produced by Deloitte (one of the "Big Four" accounting firms and the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of professionals) stated that 52% of smartphone users check their phone within 15 minutes of waking up (1).
The number of people who use Smartphones is estimated to be more than 37 million in the UK in 2017. 80% of UK adults have a Smartphone and that number is even higher in 16-44 year-olds, at 91%. Four out of five people in the UK will go online regularly, and in 2015, for the first time, minutes spent online via Smart Devices (phones and tablets combined) outstripped those from PCs – the split stands at 63% vs. 37% respectively in 2017 (2).
The presentation of information and services via ‘app’ based software has also had a big influence on the design and functionality of websites accessed via PCs. In 2015 Google incentivised companies to make their websites ‘mobile-friendly’ by making this compatibility a criteria affecting rankings on Google searches (3).
What does this mean for the average user? The momentum in 2017 is certainly skewed towards mobile usage. Users will find the apps that provide them with the most benefit (actual or perceived), while companies will continue to create or change their platforms to cater to the Smart Device user population. This development of new platforms requires innovation and fast-paced flexibility – which can be a challenge for older, larger organisations to adopt.
The GMC (General Medical Council – registration body for doctors in the UK) states 57.5% of doctors registered in the UK (totaling 281,440 people) are aged 24-44.4 If 91% of these doctors use a Smartphone, that’s 256,110 people – 133,177 of which will check their phone within 15 minutes of waking up - and that’s only counting those under the aged 44 or younger.. As our results so far confirm, if this group of professionals can have access to jobs listings via their Smartphone, engagement with temporary employment will improve, and the need to outsource to agencies will be significantly reduced.
We use our smartphones for weather checking, social networking, navigation, emails and games (1). Let’s add locuming to the list!
REFERENCES:
1) There’s No Place Like Phone, Consumer usage patterns in the era of peak smartphone, Global Mobile Consumer Survey 2016: UK Cut, Deloitte.
https://www.deloitte.co.uk/mobileuk/assets/pdf/Deloitte-Mobile-Consumer-2016-There-is-no-place-like-phone.pdf
2) UK Digital Market Overview – March 2017, ComScore
file:///Users/lisalocumsnest/Downloads/UKOM_Digital_Market_Overview_Mar_2017.pdf
3) The Line Between Apps and Mobile Sites is Vanishing
Todd Grennan, May 23 2016, in in sights, news & events, trends
https://www.appboy.com/blog/accelerated-mobile-pages-apps-and-mobile-web/
4) GMC List of Registered Medical Practitioners – Statistics
http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/register/search_stats.asp