Do smartphones alter our thinking?

As a result, cellular networks in this market have gone from strength to strength, rolling out technologies that compare well to international counterparts in terms of price and time to market.

Continued development is bound to have some effect on human behaviour. School-leavers today have never experienced a world without mobile handsets and remote access to data - which has perhaps served to alter their expectations and thought patterns. Cisco's 2011 Connected World Technology Report supports this notion. One in every three college students and employees surveyed globally believes the internet is a fundamental resource. Furthermore, more than half of the college students surveyed said that, if forced to make a choice, they would choose an internet connection over a car.

Two-thirds of students and more than half of the employees surveyed named a mobile device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) as "the most important technology in their lives". This means more young professionals and students are using their handsets as their entry point to the internet.

Smartphones are poised to surpass desktops as the most prevalent tool from a global perspective, as 19% of college students consider these handsets their "most important" device used daily, compared with 20% for desktop computers - an indication of the growing trend of smartphone prominence and expected rise in use by the next generation of college graduates when entering the workforce.

These trends are reflected locally. According to a recently published study by research firm World Wide Worx, the cellular habits of South African users have evolved dramatically in the past year as smartphones, mobile applications and the mobile internet have become mainstream. Last year, 39% of urban South Africans and 27% of rural users began browsing the internet on their phones. This means at least six-million South Africans now have internet access on these devices.

The most dramatic shift, however, has been the arrival of e-mail in the rural setting and its growth among urban users. There has been a substantial shift among the latter, with urban usage rising from 10% in 2009 to 27% at the end of 2010. While the percentage growth among rural users is lower, that it was almost nonexistent a year before means the penetration reported for 2010 (12%) indicates mobile e-mail becoming mainstream across the population. Although South African needs and expectations may not be as sophisticated as those in developed territories, this information indicates the widespread availability of advanced handsets and cheap access to mobile data networks is swiftly altering local needs and expectations. It seems safe to assume that within a decade, mobile handsets and cellular networks will have intertwined themselves into daily life.

School-leavers today have never experienced a world without mobile handsets and remote access to data