The iPhone 4 has a pretty sophisticated camera for a smartphone.
Does the iPhone obviate a standalone digital camera or the need for a landline phone? How fungible is a MacBook or GPS device? Those are questions I wrestle with, and they are questions that a recent survey provide some feedback on.
It is almost axiomatic now to say that smartphones have become the digital equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife. And like that venerable knife, a smartphone fits in your pocket and goes with you anywhere. That combination of instant accessibility and utility means it replaces the standalone digital and video camera in many instances.
The iPad plays into a different replacement dynamic than my iPhone. My iPad replaces, for example, a newspaper or a hardcover book (the iPhone replaces neither, in my case). And it can replace the MacBook Air for light productivity at airports, conferences, and when working from the car (due to both its portability and built-in 3G).
Of course, I'm just one idiosyncratic user. The results of a survey published this week by Prosper Mobile Insights offer a much broader look at how people are using more versatile devices to replace more specialized technologies.
Here are the study's results, showing how many respondents have replaced specific devices by a smartphone or tablet:
- Alarm clock : 61.1 percent GPS : 52.3 percent
- Digital camera : 44.3 percent Personal planner : 41.6 percent
- Landline phone : 40.3 percent MP3 player : 37.6 percent
- Video camera : 34.2 percent Newspaper : 28.2 percent
- Radio : 27.5 percent Desktop/Laptop computer : 24.2 percent
- Gaming device : 20.8 percent Books : 20.1 percent
- Internet service at home : 19.5 percent DVD player : 14.1 percent
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