Samsung takes the camera-phone concept to a whole new level with the launch of the Galaxy S4 Zoom

As Samsung unleashes a wave of next-generation cameras and personal computers at its annual London spring launch, research firm Roy Morgan has released a report which has found the humble PC is still the most commonly used device for internet activities in Australia. 

Samsung takes the camera-phone concept to a whole new level with the launch of the Galaxy S4 Zoom. Photo: AFP

And while Samsung took the camera-phone concept to a whole new level overnight with the launch of its Galaxy S4 Zoom that sports a large, 10x zoom lens — that makes it look more like a camera than a phone, Roy Morgan said in its report that the PC was even more commonly used for services such as directions, weather and social networking in the 10 million households that own both a PC and a smartphone.

It found that its respondents to survey it conducted between March to April of Australians over the age of 14, the number one activity on both the PC and a smartphone was email, with 68 per cent of respondents using their computer and 44 per cent using their smartphone in an average four weeks.

After that, they use the computer most for banking (50 per cent) and checking bank account balances (49 per cent,) while the next most common activities on smartphones were 32 per cent for browsing and 29 per cent for social networking.

Computer		Smartphone
Email	68%	Email	44 %
Conducted banking transactions	50%	General browsing/surfing	32%
Check bank account balances	49%	Social networking	29%
General browsing/surfing	49%	Maps or directions	28%
Paid bills online	49%	Checked bank account balance	25%
Viewed online bank statements	36%	Weather	25%
Social networking	34%	Streamed video	21%
Maps or directions	33%	Conducted banking transactions	20%
Researched product/service to buy	33%	Downloaded software	15%
Streamed video	32%	Pail bills online	11%

“Businesses with an online presence - whether a traditional website, an m-site and/or an app - need to be aware of what customers want to do on each internet device, and which they want to do on both,” Roy Morgan Research’s George Pesutto said.

PC shipments aren’t proving popular in the consumer electronics sector, declining between 11 per cent and 14 per cent in the first three months of the year compared to last, the most severe decline in twenty years.

This could be attributed to mobile devices outnumbering the PCs in a household due to their relative cheaper pricing, quicker release cycles and innovative software such as Samsung’s hand and eye gesture tools most recently seen in its flagship smartphone the Galaxy S4, and use their familiar PC to conduct serious tasks such as banking.

The banks however are predicting that tide will soon turn too. Westpac head of retail and business banking Jason Yetton recently told The Australian Financial Review that smartphone and tablet use will takeover PC use for banking within the next five years.

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Source: http://www.afr.com/p/technology/pc_not_dead_yet_as_aussies_log_on_XaeZIynrH41jTAfKlh8dwK