Minority Americans adoption and use of wireless connections outpace white Americans, especially using mobile access hand held devices. Nearly two-thirds of African-Americans (64%) and Latinos (63%) make wireless internet connections, and minority Americans are significantly more likely to own a cell phone than their white counterparts (87% of blacks and Hispanics own a cell phone, compared with 80% of whites). 

Key findings from the Pew Mobile Access 2010 report include:

• Two in five adults (40%) use the internet, email or instant messaging on a cell phone, an increase from the 32% of adults who did so in 2009.

• While cell phone ownership has remained stable over the last year, users are taking advantage of a much wider range of their phones’ capabilities compared with a similar point in 2009.  The two most popular applications are taking a picture (76% of cell phone users) and sending or receiving a text message (72%).

Cell phone ownership is highest with young adults, as 90% of those 18-29 years old own a cell phone.  These young cell owners are significantly more likely than those in other age groups to engage in all of the mobile data applications we asked about in our survey.

Among 18-29 year old cell phone owners, they use their phone to:

• 95% send or receive text messages

• 93% take pictures

• 81% send photos or videos to others

• 65% access the internet

• 64% play music

• 60% play games or record a video

• 52% send or receive email

• 48% access a social networking site

• 46% use instant messaging

• 40% watch a video

• 33% post a photo or video online

• 21% post a status update to Facebook or Twitter

• 20% purchase something

• 19% make a charitable donation by text message

The mobile data applications with the largest year-to-year increases among the 30-49 year old demographic include:

1. Taking pictures (83% of 30-49 year old cell owners now do this, an increase from 61% from 2009);
   
2. Recording videos (39% do this, an 18-point increase from 2009);
   
3. Playing music (36% do this, a 15-point increase);
   
4. Using instant messaging (35% now do this, a 14-point increase); and
   
5. Accessing the internet (43% now do this, up from 31% in 2009).

• 54% have used their mobile device to send someone a photo or video

• 23% have accessed a social networking site using their phone

• 20% have used their phone to watch a video

• 15% have posted a photo or video online

• 11% have purchased a product using their phone

• 11% have made a charitable donation by text message

• 10% have used their mobile phone to access a status update service such as Twitter

About the Survey

This report is based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans' use of the Internet. The results in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April 29 and May 30, 2010, among a sample of 2,252 adults ages 18 and older, including 744 reached on a cell phone.  Interviews were conducted in English.  For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.  For results based cell phone owners (n=1,917), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.  In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting telephone surveys may introduce some error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

Data about sending photos or videos to others using a cell phone and texting charitable donations are based on telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,009 adults living in the continental United States. Telephone interviews were conducted by landline (678) and cell phone (331, including 104 without a landline phone). The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research International (PSRAI). Interviews were done in English by Princeton Data Source from June 17-20, 2010. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is ±3.7 percentage points.

Source: www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Mobile-Access-2010.aspx