IPhone Users’ Laptops Getting Less Love

Got an iPhone? If so, then you’re probably young, hip and wealthy. You’ve got the world wide web in your hip pocket, while working-class suckers lug laptops around town. 

But don’t take my word for it. Just ask Forrester Research, which just released a study showing some iPhone demographics. Here are the highlights:

• More than one in five Gen Yers (between the ages 18 to 28) have a smartphone; and iPhones attract a larger percentage of this young, hip crowd than other smartphones do.
• iPhone owners with a job are likelier to be younger, more educated (think: college education) and affluent (think: household income) than owners of other smartphones (think: Blackberry). Makes sense given the high cost of the iPhone; Forrester’s survey was taken before this week’s $99 iPhone announcement.
• More iPhone users are into social media. They are more likely to read blogs, maintain profiles on FaceBook and LinkedIn, and send instant messages regularly.

The best part of the Forrester survey is this tidbit: More iPhone owners leave laptops at work.

“Despite this greater tendency to telecommute and access an employer’s network from home, working iPhone owners are less likely to bring a work laptop home (36 percent) compared with all working smartphone owners (42 percent). Again, the data doesn’t show that owning an iPhone causes more people to leave laptops at work, but this is something to keep an eye on the coming year,” the report states.

Forrester goes on to suggest companies help mobile workers stay connected to work resources via the iPhone. That is, an iPhone user would probably like to access the employee portal and corporate apps without firing up a laptop.

Have you stopped carrying a laptop? Send me an email at tkaneshige@cio.com. Or follow me on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline.