Hold the Phone! 3 out of 10 Boston Residents Would Rather Give Up Sex Than Cell Phone

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the #1 mobile phone provider in the U.S.¹, today announced results of a local market survey focused on how much Boston residents value cell phones in their daily life. The September 2009 research study found 31 percent of men and women in Boston would rather forgo sex for an entire year rather than give up their cell phones for the same amount of time. When it came to the battles of sexes, Boston women (38 percent) were more willing than men (19 percent) to lose their libidos versus missing their mobile phones.

The study found several other patterns in how Bostonians use their cell phones in their daily life including:

Texting Takes Over Boston

According to the survey, a majority (81 percent) of Boston cell phone users are regular text messagers. In fact, nearly a third (37 percent) of them rely on texting to communicate instead of having an actual phone conversation.

Boston Women vs. Boston Men

Perhaps one reason for their text over talk preference is the desire to save sentimental text messages in their phone’s in-box (46 percent of people polled), more so than those that contain informational value. Boston women (56 percent) are more likely to keep a sentimental message on their cell phones than their male counterparts (30 percent).

Cell Phones: They’re Not Just for Talking Anymore

The Samsung Mobile study found that the average Boston cell phone user spends 3 hours each day chatting or using a cell phone’s text, picture and video messages, among other features. For those who spend a full eight hours asleep each night, nearly 20 percent of their time awake would be spent on their phones.

The survey, commissioned by Samsung Mobile, was conducted by Kelton Research and included 300 cell phone users in Boston, MA.

*All decimals are rounded to the nearest percentage point. This may result in certain numerical totals adding up to slightly more or slightly less than 100%.

About Samsung Telecommunications America

Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsungmobileusa.com.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2008 consolidated sales of US$96 billion. Employing approximately 164,600 people in 179 offices across 61 countries, the company consists of two business units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

¹ Based upon reported shipment data from Strategy Analytics Q2 2009 U.S. Market Share Handset Shipments Report.