Smart Phones, PCs Support Different Lead Apps

Though digital appliances (smart phones, PCs, tablets) often can support the same apps, the use cases still remain somewhat distinct. 

When smart phone owners are asked which of a set of actions (common to both devices) they regularly perform on a smartphone or on a computer, there are distinctive "lead apps"  the two devices are used, according to Harris Interactive. 

Despite the fact that it is a specialized form of personal computer, smart phones remain "communicating" devices whose distinguishing characteristic is "communications on the go," even though it is a multi-purpose device. 

That navigation is among the top uses for smart phones is another example of the use case being skewed to the "mobile" capability, even if smart phones also are heavily used in stationary mode, much of the time. 

For example, the immediate communication of text or instant messages is the most common smart phone activity (87 percent) and the least common use for a computer (20 percent). In contrast, email is the top use for computers (90 percent for all email uses combined). 

Keep in mind that email also is used by people on smart phones (72 percent), but more in a "reading" mode. That is an analogy to the way tablets are used as well: more for content consumption than content creation. 

PCs remain much more a device useful for content creation and shopping, though. The study also confirms that  smart phones are less used for e-commerce or shopping research than PCs. 

The Harris survey asked users to indicate which activities they believed they regularly engaged in, on PCs and when using their smart phones. Social media activities seem about evenly distributed.

	Using a computer		Using a smartphone
	%		% 5
Email [NET]	90	Send or receive text or instant messages	87
Send personal emails	84	Mapping, navigation, etc.	73
Read personal emails	82	Email [NET]	72
Send work emails	60	Read personal emails	67
Read work emails	59	Send personal emails	56
Take surveys	86	Read work emails	38
Research goods or services	81	Send work emails	32
Purchase other products or services (e.g. clothes holiday gifts, etc.)	78	Download free applications, music or videos	66
Social Media [NET]	69	Social Media [NET]	64
Read social media posts on sites or apps such as Facebook or Twitter	62	Read social media posts on sites or apps such as Facebook or Twitter	56
Share social media posts (e.g. news, jokes, pictures, etc.)	51	Share social media posts (e.g. news, jokes, pictures, etc.)	44
Write social media posts	50	"Check in" via social media	43
"Check in" via social media	28	Write social media posts	43
Find or research restaurants	61	Play games	56
Mapping, navigation, etc.	56	Find or research restaurants	53
Play games	52	Research goods or services	45
Download free applications, music or videos	38	Purchase applications, music or videos	42
Purchase applications, music or videos	37	Take surveys	24
Video chat (e.g. FaceTime, Skype, etc.)	35	Video chat (FaceTime, Skype, etc.)	23
Send or receive text or instant messages	20	Purchase other products or services (e.g. clothes, holiday gifts, etc.)	23