1.
MOBILE WORKTOOL HABITS
a peer survey
Jörn Hendrik Ast
Hamburg, 25-01-2012

2.
WHAT ARE OUR MOBILE WORKTOOL HABITS?
basic questions:
how do we organize our work with
our smartphones?
are we embracing mobile work
opportunities and is it suitable for
daily use?
are there any differences between
the different professions? Are
Freelancer more „mobile savvy“
than employees?
http://blog.us.cision.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/rolodex.jpg

3.
DEMOGRAPHY
55+
1 % 18-24
45-54 15 %
11 %
I generated 114
participants from 18th to 35-44
21st January 2012 27 %
25-34
gender distribution: 71% 46 %
men, 29% women
Disclaimer: I reached 110 persons in a couple of days via Twitter, Facebook, countless Retweets and Shares and via QR Codes
and shortlinks I handed out in my Coworking Space. This is amazing but of course not representative on a scientific basis.
Anyhow it was the best way of conducting this survey since I got 100% of the desired target group: heavy smartphone users.

4.
WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?
Student
there‘s a pretty balanced 11 %
Employee
proportion of Freelancer, 33 %
Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneur
27 %
employees
but with entrepreneurs Freelancer
and freelancer we have the 30 %
largest target group (56%)

5.
WHICH MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM ARE YOU
USING?
other
RIM 5 %
3 %
Windows
1 %
Apple‘s iOS is dominating
followed by Android Android
29 %
iOS
RIM, Windows Phone or 62 %
other OS like Symbian are
negligible

6.
WHAT KIND OF PRODUCTIVITY APPS ARE YOU
USING ON YOUR SMARTPHONE?
the top 3: messaging, 89
messaging apps
social network and time social network apps
84
77
management apps other apps
time management apps 75
blogging/ twitter 67
there were even a lot of text editing 39
other apps: bookmarking apps
collaborative PM apps 25
38
data tracking apps 16
travel management apps
apps for design 14
(public transfer, navigation) CRM, sales apps 12
reading Apps (Instapaper, Kindle), photography apps 11
finance management apps shopmngmt. apps 6
apps for presentation coding apps 5
audio recording apps billing apps 3
0 30 60 90

7.
WHICH OF THESE APPS ARE YOU USING DAILY OR
HOURLY?
80
messaging, checking messaging apps
social network apps
68
social network apps and blogging/ twitter 45
tweeting are the most time management apps 42
collaborative PM apps 21
frequent activities! bookmarking apps 15
text editing 11
people using time apps for design 4
management and CRM, sales apps 5
data tracking apps 4
collaborative project photography apps 4
management apps are coding apps 2
always online too! billing apps 2
0 20 40 60 80

8.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE APPS AT THE MOMENT
AND WHY?
„Dropbox for easy „Podio, because
„Evernote - helps me access to my files you can create
accumulate and organize on the move“ your own apps“
my thoughts and ideas, lets
me work from everywhere“
„CamCard for „Flipboard, Evernote,
the easy scan of Summify: help me to avoid
business cards“ information overkill,
„All Google's Mobile Apps, archive information“
because of the seamless
integration in their overall
„Whatsapp - does
service portfolio and
what it does and
effortless syncing.“
does it right“

9.
WHAT IS THE APP YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT AT
THE MOMENT?
Twitter whatsapp
(11x) (7x) Podio
(6x)
Mail
(6x) Evernote
(5x) Wunderlist
(2x)

10.
HOW MUCH DO YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS
DEPEND ON MOBILE WORKING TOOLS?
low
the majority is used to crucial 26 %
work mobile but only 5% 5 %
see it as a real alternative
to a personal computer high
25 %
nearly half of the
medium
participants see mobile 44 %
worktools as an addition,
not more!
responses: crucial:“I could not run my business without my smartphone and my mobile working tools and I do not depend on my personal
computer or laptop any more!“ high: „I enjoy doing more an more mobile and not being dependent on my personal computer or laptop
that much!“ medium: „mobile apps are important but I still need to recheck everything on my personal computer or laptop!“
low: „mobile apps are nice but nothing more than an addition to my personal computer or laptop!“

11.
WHY?
„My worklife is so much easier
„I'm on the road all the
CRUCIAL and I love using apps on the go,
time!“
e.g. wherever I have to wait!“
„My Business involves travelling a lot „It is fast and I get
HIGH + working mobile for me equals instant feedback even
freedom!“ when traveling!“
„It is handy and convenient, „For my work I always need to recheck with my
MEDIUM but does not replace a MacBook e.g. Facebook doesn't allow hiding
MacBook!“ comments as a page admin in the mobile version!“
„I use lots of ppt, xls and „Why should I need a mobile work
LOW SAP, just works better on environment? I'm at the PC for
notebooks!“ 8 hours a day, that's enough!“

12.
BUT WHERE DOES
THIS LEAD TO?

13.
HYPOTHESIS 1: IT DEPENDS ON PROFESSION
comparing the
dependance on mobile
crucial high medium low
worktools and profession:
employees 4% 29 % 50 % 18 %
40% of the freelancer are
depending highly on the usage of freelancer 6% 34 % 41 % 19 %
mobile worktools!
entrepreneur 9% 44 % 28 % 19 %
more than half of the entrepreneur
can‘t work without their students 31 % 31 % 38 %
smartphone!
but also 33% of the employees are
used to work on the run!

14.
HYPOTHESIS 2: IT DEPENDS ON AGE
comparing the
dependance on mobile crucial high medium low
worktools and age: 18-24 6% 35 % 18 % 41 %
nearly 50% of the 35-44 old 25-34 2% 32 % 43 % 23 %
participants are depending highly
on the usage of mobile worktools! 35-44 10% 39 % 41 % 10 %
41% of the youngest and 39% of the 45-54 8% 31 % 39 % 22 %
oldest participants are saying so
too!

15.
HYPOTHESES
APPROVED?

16.
NO! IT‘S ABOUT HOW
INTERESTED YOU ARE
IN WORKING MOBILE
NOT ABOUT YOUR AGE
NOR YOUR PROFESSION!

17.
CONCLUSION
the digital nomads in this
study are of no specific age!
it‘s not about digital
natives for sure!
talking about a digital
nomads must include
employees too!
developing mobile worktool
habits seems to be a matter
of need and affinity!

18.
FOLLOW ME!
JÖRN HENDRIK AST, FOUNDER OF FFLUID
jh@ffluid.de
@jormason
fb.me/jormason
flavors.me/jormason