“U.K. carrier O2 decided to survey its users to determine which devices iPhones or other smartphones commonly replace in the lives of its customers,” Ryan Faas reports for Cult of Mac.
“The most commonly replaced device turned out to be one of the more low-tech devices in daily life – the alarm clock,” Faas reports. “54% of O2’s iPhone and smartphone customers have relegated their alarm clocks to the dustbin of history.”
Faas reports, “The second most commonly replaced device was also a time-keeping device: the watch. On the one hand, the results for the watch don’t seem too surprising. In fact, the most surprising thing to me is that only 46% of users said their phone had replaced their watch… [Another surprise:] O2 noted that 28% of its smartphone customers felt that their phone had done away with the need for a laptop.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iPhones can easily replace laptops – iPads even more easily – for a great many people (read some news, email, Facebook, shop online, check the weather, etcetera). For decades, Apple and all of the other PC companies had been selling people backhoes when all most of them really want to do is drive back and forth to work and run some errands. It’s at all not surprising to see many people are now abandoning backhoes, now that Apple has finally begun offering much more suitable cars.
Only a matter of “time” before Apple’s mobile offerings take and far surpass the lead and Microsoft is an also-ran, a footnote to an unfortunate tech chapter. Oh my how the worm is turning.
OMG My iPhone’s totally replaced my alarm clock as well, it’s just the fact that apple put so much attention to detail in the most littlest of apps, most phones don’t even have an alarm clock feature!!
A cell phone replaced both my watch and alarm clock in the late 90s. Never really thought about it and haven’t purchased a watch since 1994.
it’s 2012: can you wake to music from your device’s library in iOS yet?
this functionality was available on iPods from time immemorial but was taken away with the introduction of the touch. i’m not sure why Apple chose to remove that very useful feature. 3rd party apps do a very poor job with this.
This is why I use an alarm clock dock for my iPhone.
I dock the iPhone to charge it at night, works with cases no problem, and the alarm on the actual “clock” will randomly play a song in my iTunes library. Or you can queue up any song and it will play that one instead..
I don’t use apples built in alarm clock to wake up… Not nearly loud enough. I need 100db to wake my ass in the morning.. Deep sleeper.
I’ve slept through the iPhones alarm many times just taking a nap.
If you are running iOS 6, you can.
Well I’d just like to see how a car could dig up 50 willow trees around my ponds. Sometimes when you need a backhoe, nothing else will do!
..and as you know, 96% of car owners have a pond and 50 unwanted willow trees to contend with. ;P
I love you, man, but that was a total Romney thing to say. 😉
A car?!?! Wherever will I put my dressage horses?
MDN, great analogy.
Don’t remember last time I used the alarm clock for sure.
Well, I wish I could set up iOS to trigger any alarm sound I liked and set it in a loop to wake me the HELL UP! I can do that on my Mac but not my cute little iOS device. Maybe in iOS 6…
(There are some iOS alarm apps that provides superior alarm sound control).
My iPhone has replaced my blender and my orbital sander. I hope the iPhone 5 will also replace my compound mitre saw and my dish washer.
With some of the *stuff* available online it could possibly replace your GF 🙂
Been using an iPhone for my alarm since 2007. The dock that came with the first gen stayed on my nightstand and the phone went on all my trips.
The dock didn’t fit the 3GS I had, and I was too cheap to buy a new one, but then when the 4 came out I went back to using it.
Will probably need a new one for my 5.
Here’s a great free clock app
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clocks-2/id403684793?mt=8
I am surprised that replacement for a camera did not show up. After I had owned my iPhone 4S for a few months, I discovered that it had totally replaced my pretty fancy pocket camera that I used to carry with me at all times. Another thing it has replaced is a paper/pen notepad. And like so many, I also stopped wearing a watch.
Me too. My expensive compact went to eBay though I did upgrade my main camera to a full frame dslr 😉 but then that’s a major part of my life. On that theme, it’s replaced endless tankfull’s of petrol scouting locations, same saving with navigation – I use ROI, location finding, I know exactly where I need to be for the best use of morning and evening light, I use gps tagging plus a hundred other photo related chores including not falling off a cliff when hill walking in the clouds.
…and yes…the alarm clock for dawn shots.
My daughter uses the countdown app…and she’s a stellar cook.
Every evening at my house.
“Siri, wake me up at 05:30AM.”
“You already have an alarm set for 05:30AM. I’ll turn it on for you.”
“Thank you”
“You’re welcome Master.”
I’ve really become accustomed to talking to it for all kinds of petty stuff like this.
I actually seldom say “Siri” I just speak the command.
“Car rental places.”
“There are 17 car rental places nearby. 4 of them are fairly close to you.”
Watch, alarm clock, and most of all, the count down clock when I cook.
A simple UI that no one did before, one of the more impressive parts when the iPhone was first demonstrated by Jobs.
I still wear a watch because it is easier to twist my wrist than haul out my phone, but the iPhone has replaced my Calculator, Calendar, Checkbook, Alarm Clock/Radio, Atlas, ATM, Contacts Phone Book, Yellow Pages, iMessages has replaced most of my SMS and Voice use, Polycom, Diet Logbook, Cookbook, Camera, CD player, iPod, Cassette Player, Turntable, VCR, DVR, Photo Album, Thumbdrive, Diskettes, Data CDs, Local TV Weather, Post-It notes, Desktop Browser, Desktop Email, Sudoku Booklets, Scrabble board, Flight SIMs, Missile Command and Dragon’s lair arcade cabinets, about 50 or 60 websites, Desktop Facebook, Cable TV, paperback books, magazines, DVDs, Encyclopedia, FM Radio, Periodic Table, small notepad, pizza delivery phone calls, movie ads in newspapers, newspapers, voice micro cassette recorder, compass, plus a whole bunch of stuff I could never do at all before.
Replace ATM?
How does iPhone dispense cash?
I stopped using cash but used to still go to ATM to check my balance or deposit checks or cash received. Now I do it all on the phone. I do still get $10 in cash per week in case I need to pay tolls or use a vending machine (both very seldom unless I have visitors). When NFC comes I may even use my phone instead of my debit card. (Although I don’t know how that would work in a sit-down restaraunt I’m certainly not handing them my phone.)
While my iPhone is pretty much a Swiss Army knife of electronic devices, it certainly hasn’t replaced either my watch or alarm clock. I have a DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) radio dock for my alarm clock, for listening to BBC 6Music, the only radio station worth listening to, and if I want to know the time, it takes barely two seconds to glance at my watch, compared to pulling my phone out of my pocket and waking it up just to read the time.
Especially as I’m not even supposed to have my phone switched on at work for security reasons. In fact, I’ve just bought a £350 Seiko ‘Spork’ divers watch, because of its beautifully clear and unambiguous face.
I suppose if you’re the sort of vacuous half-wit who always has their phone in their hand, then in that case you don’t need a watch…
I’m surprise the headline was not “Blood on the Snooze Button”
Ooh, I like it!
I think there is a market here for Apple to sell a really good iPhone/iPod dock bedside clock device thing. I think they can come up with something really cool and desirable.
Sorry guys…
I’m Apple through and through, but my iPhone will never replace my Rolex. 😉
+1000 agreed with MDN
At home or on the road on business trips, the iPhone (and the iPad as the backup) has certainly replaced the lowly alarm clock. I don’t even bother touching the alarm clock in all the hotel rooms I see.
I need a backhoe, jackhammer, bulldozer, and a dump truck (Illustrator, Keynote, Photoshop, and InDesign) that said my iPhone serves as alarm clock, watch, note pad, voice recorder, camera, to-do list, iPod, handheld games and of course phone. My MacBook Pro (switching to Air) and the iPhone have become my office, my lonely Mac Pro in all of its aluminum glory sadly sits under an often unused office desk.
I use my Original iPhone as an alarm backup.
My alarm clock has two great features my iPhone lacks: It displays the time all night, and it has a nap button. One touch of a dedicated hardware button, and a separate alarm is set for 20 minutes with full snooze features. I love it.
Besides, I tend to slam my snooze button a bit too hard to use my iPhone. I do use it on vacation tho’
I’ve been using my phones as alarm clock ever since I got a Nokia 3210 back in 1999 / 2000…
Backhoe? Backhoe? Really, that’s the best analogy even you can muster, MDN?
Perhaps a pick-em-up truck would be a better fit, genius.
The iPhone BARK is the only alarm that wakes me up reliably. But it is not on the iPad (since there is no native Apple clock) and I have found no third parties that have it. What’s the problem adding a bit of barking? And where might I find it off the iPhone?