SmartCompany Technology Survey highlights SMEs love of Apple, growing tablet usage

Australian SMEs favour Apple above all other smartphone and notebook manufacturers, the latest SmartCompany Technology Survey has found, with more than half of all respondents owning an iPhone and over 20% using a Mac as their main laptop.

The survey highlights the dominance of Apple in the enterprise sector, despite pressure from more established players such as Dell and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.

It also underlines the growth of tablets in the workplace, with 25% saying they intend to buy a tablet within the next six months, and another 26% within the year. A further 15% say they will buy a tablet within the next two years.

The SmartCompany survey was conducted online and compiled responses from 4,094 people, 48.1% of them business owners, 25% business managers and the remainder employees.

Apple was found to be the smartphone manufacturer of choice, with 55.3% of respondents owning either an iPhone 4, 3GS or 3G. That figure eclipses the next highest manufacturer, Nokia, with only 11.2% of respondents owning a model. Just over 10% own a BlackBerry smartphone.

The survey also found 20.3% of respondents own an Apple notebook, although Dell followed closely at 19.9%, with Toshiba coming in third at 14.2%. Over half of the respondents said they believe over three quarters of their time spent on the computer is for their business, as opposed to personal use.

Over 84% of respondents who use a tablet say they carry an iPad, with only 3.9% using a Samsung tablet, (most likely the Galaxy tab). Of those who do own a tablet, over 67% say they use it for up to two hours every day.

But in a finding that highlights how concerned security experts are over the use of personal gadgets in the workplace, 80.4% of respondents say they combine both personal and business uses for the tablet.

Over 42% said they are concerned about the security of at least one of their mobile devices, with the majority fearing hacking or unauthorised access. And yet, 12% say they haven’t taken any steps to protect their devices.

Over 80% say they have used at least password protection for their mobile devices.

Business owners are prolific users of social media, the survey has revealed. Over 21% of respondents primarily use their smartphones for social media, followed by keeping up with news. However, 21% said they don’t browse the internet on their phone and only 1.5% said they use their phone for shopping.

Overall, 48% of respondents say they use their phones for social media, with 66.2% saying they browse the internet, 59% for “personal organisation” and 52% for GPS and mapping.

Respondents are also keen app users, with 42.2% saying they use apps most for email management, 30.3% for banking, 27.7% for note taking and 31.5% for social networking. Over 20% use apps to increase the productivity while working in a business.

Over 36% use their mobile phone for between one to two hours every day, while 20.9% use their phone for up to three hours. Nearly 4% use their phone for over five hours every day, and 34.3% of respondents say that at least three quarters of their time using the phone is for business purposes.

But the survey also shows many business owners aren’t aware of how much they are spending on mobile bills. While 38% say they are spending between $50-99 every month, and 27.4% spend between $100-199, results for download rates are mixed.

Over 21% say they download between 1-2GB, but 18% don’t know and 6% don’t even have a data allowance, suggesting business owners may not know about new, cheaper deals for data that could potentially save them a lot of money.

This finding suggests business owners are using their notebooks more for business purposes, and their phones for more private uses, such as browsing social media and news. Indeed, the survey shows over 77% of respondents believe the main use of a notebook is to “help with flexible work practices”.

While respondents indicated many use netbooks within their business, the overall result confirms the low-powered laptops aren’t very popular among Australian SMEs. Over 70% said no one uses netbooks in their business.