Today 75% of Britons owns a mobile phone and 90% of young people. They have become an essential part of our lives. One in four people consider them essential to their lives and over half of them think them important. (Retail Week ICM survey, January 2002, quoted in MobileUK)

38% of people say they cannot do without their mobile contrasting with only 19% who say they cannot do without their desktop PC, 18% internet access and 15% text messaging. (MORI/Vodafone survey, January 2003)

MobileUK a recent publication by the Work Foundation shows that we are not all 'mobile in the same way', usage pattern vary widely, particularly across age groups. Peaking between 1998 and 1990 mobile phone ownership is now reaching saturation. Mobile phone usage however continues to rise, increasing 18% between 2001 - 2002. Increasingly service providers, try to raise revenue from data rather than voice traffic, however voice traffic remains the 'killer app.'

The below graphs, from the publication MobileUK give a picture of mobile phone usage in the UK.

Mobile UK

The Work Foundation publication MobileUK Mobiles phones and everyday life published March 2003 gives a thorough examination of how mobile technologies are changing the way we live and work, based on real life ethnographical research rather than the minority bias of usage amongst specialist groups.

"MobileUK gets under the skin of everyday UK mobile phone owners, and tells the real story of what ordinary Britons think about mobile technology. How is this most pervasive of technologies changing the way we live and work? And what does the future hold? Using pioneering ethnographic research, this report provides a rich picture of the complex and fascinating relationships British people have with their mobile phones."

MobileUK - Mobiles and everyday life, James Crabtree, Max Nathan and Dr Simon Roberts, i-society, Work Foundation 2003

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