Wirefly.com Survey Shows Strong Adoption By Adults. Camera Phone Growth Drives Social Uses of Photos

RESTON, Va.- Wirefly.com, the online leader in one-stop comparison shopping for cell phones and wireless phone plans, today released the results of its new behavioral survey on consumer camera phone usage, showing significant penetration of cell phones as the camera of choice for young adults in the U.S.

Compiled through a survey of thousands of adult cell phone users in the U.S. (survey details below), the survey illustrated the growth and increasingly diverse uses of cell phone cameras. 45.9% of respondents report using their cell phone cameras at least once a week – with many saying they snap a photo with their cell phone every day.

Frequency of camera phone use is even greater with young adult consumers. 63.8% of adults age 18-30 say that they use their cell phone’s camera at least once a week, with 26.3% reporting daily use. Those figures fall to 40.7% and 13.2%, respectively, for consumers over the age of 30.

Also, nearly three out of every four (73.5%) adults age 18-30 assign photo IDs to people in their address book, while just 47.4% of the over-30 crowd do the same.

Documenting nightlife: Social Uses Drive Camera Phone Adoption

‘Family events’ and ‘scenery/sightseeing’ remain the top reasons cited for using a camera phone, but social uses separated younger adults from the over-30 crowd. 58.3% of cell phone users age 18-30 report using a cell phone regularly ‘to document nightlife,’ while just 29.9% of those over 30 made a similar claim. In addition, those age 18-30 use their camera phones to publish photos to online social media four times as much as respondents over 30 years of age.

Other interesting results from the full pool of respondents include:

    * A whopping 96.3% of adult cell phone owners report that they have a cell phone with a camera.
    * 19% of adults prefer to use their cell phone as their primary camera for all photography.
    * 77.2% of photos taken remain stored in the phone, 45.4% are used as wallpaper and 38.6% are sent to friends via MMS.
    * 20.2% of respondents say they have snapped a photo of an attractive man/woman, and 7.5% have photographed an unsuspecting stranger.
    * 46.4% of all adults and 2/3 of adults age 18-30 say that they use their cell phone to snap self-portraits.
    * 19.8% say they have snuck a picture while pretending to do something else.
    * 13.9% of adults report that they have sent a flirtatious, suggestive, or nude photo - a figure that rises to 28.1% of respondents age 18-30.

“Camera phones are taking over, and it’s being driven by young adults,” said Scott Ableman, Wirefly's Senior Vice President of Marketing. “High-quality cell phone cameras haven’t been around that long, yet nearly one in five cell phone buyers tell us that their cell phone is their primary camera.”

“Sharing and social media are the drivers,” said Ableman. “Fifty-eight percent of adults age 18-30 tell us they use their camera phones to document nightlife, and one in five say they’ve published camera phone pictures to a social website or blog. It’s a more spontaneous kind of photography that’s perfectly suited for the cell phone, and as more low-priced and free phones come with quality cameras and high-speed internet connections, all barriers have been removed.”

About the Survey

The recently completed U.S.-based online survey was conducted from an opt-in pool of customers who had purchased new wireless phones and new service plans from Wirefly.com during May and June 2008. The sample of 2,102 respondents was 55% female and 45% male. 48% of respondents were over 40, 27% were 31-40, 17% were between the ages of 24-30, and 8% were 18-23. The margin of error was 2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

About Wirefly.com

Wirefly.com is the online leader in one-stop comparison shopping for cell phones, wireless service plans and wireless accessories. Owned and operated by Simplexity, Wirefly.com is an authorized dealer for every major cellular carrier in the U.S. Wirefly.com also offers discounts and services not available in retail wireless stores, including real-time online order status and tracking, and the guaranteed lowest price - online or anywhere else -- on cell phone devices from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, BlackBerry and many other cell phone handset manufacturers. Wirefly.com has been named Best of the Web by Forbes magazine as the "best all-around number portability portal" and "Best in Overall Customer Experience" by Keynote Performance Systems. For more information about Wirefly’s products and services, visit www.wirefly.com or www.wirefly.com/plans/.