For the third year in a row, men prove to be the most garrulous in the wireless world. Men talk 14 percent more on their wireless phones than do women, according to a survey conducted for Cingular Wireless. Men use their wireless phones an average of 438 minutes a month, compared to an average of 377 minutes a month for women.While men gab more, women certainly aren't doltish when it comes to wireless. On average, men and women use wireless phones for 406 minutes each month (nearly seven hours).
Women clearly dominated traditional home phone use in 2001 and 2002 when they talked on home phones 52.6 percent more than guys, but the men are catching up in 2003. Men now talk on their home phones 314 minutes a month, versus 551 minutes a month for women - shortening the gap to a 43 percent difference.
There is little difference between men and women using gaming features. Surprisingly, approximately six percent of women, compared to three percent of men, use the gaming feature frequently on their wireless phones.
"Wireless usage is more popular now than ever," said Greg Roberts, director, marketing, Cingular Wireless. "Men continue to lead the pack in usage of wireless minutes, but there is also an upward trend in both sexes in usage of wireless applications, such as gaming and text messaging."
Other differences in the sexes:
* Convenience still remains the top reason for wireless phone usage, with 60 percent of wireless users indicating they primarily use their wireless phones for convenience purposes. Safety is next in line, at 21 percent.
* Women use their wireless phones to talk to friends and family more than men do, as 80 percent of conversations by females are for friendly chat versus 67 percent for men.
* Men use their wireless phones more for business. Men say that 30 percent of their conversations are for business, compared to 18 percent for women.
The national survey of 1040 qualified wireless user respondents (537 male and 503 female) was conducted for Cingular Wireless by International Communications research, in June 2003. Last year's study was also conducted in June using the same methodology and sampling demographics.