More Thais Own Smartphones Than Laptops: Survey

[webfact]

More Thais own smartphones than laptops: survey
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- In this post-PC era, more Thais own smartphones than laptop computers, and three in four of them have more than one mobile device, according to a survey of company workers.

It was found that the penetration of smartphones among Thai business employees is 89 per cent, compared to 62 per cent for laptops, while 75 per cent of respondents said they own more than one personal device.

The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend has also become increasingly popular in Thailand.

Almost all of the Thais surveyed (99 per cent) said they bring their own personal devices to work for reasons including increased job satisfaction (83 per cent), productivity even when out of the office (78 per cent), and greater efficiency (76 per cent).

As many as 65 per cent of the respondents said they spend time working during holidays, and of those, 92 per cent use their own personal devices to get work done while on vacation.

The findings of the "New Way of Life 2013" survey were released yesterday by US-based VMware Inc, which is a leader in virtualisation and cloud computing. The study was commissioned by VMware and conducted by Acorn Research on 2,100 people in 12 Asia-Pacific countries, including 150 from Thailand.

The respondents were aged between 18 and 64 and work for organisations with more than 1,000 employees. The survey was conducted in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

"Thai workers are taking mobility matters into their own hands and using their own technology to increase work efficiency and job satisfaction levels," said Chawapol Jariyawiroj, country manager of VMware Thailand and Indochina.

"Today's mobile workers increasingly expect the flexibility to work in their own time, anywhere and from any device. We have also experienced instances when employees simply cannot get to the office, such as periods of flooding and unrest," he said.

As many as 81 per cent of the Thai respondents said they prefer to work for a company that is open to their choice of software and devices - the highest percentage among the 12 countries surveyed - and 70 per cent deem such employers to be more progressive and dynamic.

However, one in three respondents said they do not have access to IT support to use their mobile devices effectively in the workplace. In fact, 87 per cent said their companies have strict IT policies that prevent them from connecting their personal portable device to the corporate network.


-- The Nation 2013-02-23

[clockman]

Not work from my observations! just playing games, and facebook! nothing to do with work!

[CecilEugene]

The first comment is always snide...... Why?

Edited February 23, 2013 by CecilEugene

[anon467367354]

my first response to this revelation was duh! my second response to this revelation was DUH!!

[akampa]

The first comment is always snide...... Why?

and the second is always judgemental.........why

Edited February 23, 2013 by akampa

[youngXpat]

' and three in four of them have more than one mobile device'

Interesting. 1 device for the 'mia luang' (most important wife), the second for the 'mia noi' (mistress) and the last must be the 'bat phone'!!!

[drdoom6996]

Smart phones and others mobile devices (tablets) are just toys. Why would we want to buy something we might have to do some work on?

[RisqEM]

Thai people working outside of the office?? They barely work in the office!! Use a personal electronic device for work? I didn't know Hayday was a word processor!

If they're so hard working and productive, where is their advancement? Oh wait, advances in copying others and saving face, but no tangible academic, social, or economic advancement.

And the satire continues, the hub of fallacy!

[HUAHIN62]

RisqEM if Thailand is such bad place why are you commenting on this website? Now lets see about your facts and compare them with the world reality. The EU have 11% unemployment and the US +-8% and Thailand > 1%. Thailands GDP growth in 2012 = 6,4% the EU = 0,6% and the US = 0%. In the US 46 mil people rely on government handouts to survive. Lets look at social advancement. In the US 40% of children where born outside of wedlock in 2011. In the US 14% of people are functionally illiterate and in the UK that figure is as high as 18%. Must I go on? Get off your pedestal.

[tragickingdom]

Another unreliable poll. The penetration of smart phones is much much lower. But that more Thais own smartphones than computers is of course very normal, the same must be valid for each and every other country by now. But in developing countries it is even more understandable.

[ETatBKK]

Another unreliable poll. The penetration of smart phones is much much lower. But that more Thais own smartphones than computers is of course very normal, the same must be valid for each and every other country by now. But in developing countries it is even more understandable.

'but in developing countries it is even more understandable'

absolutely, a recent observation Thailand has a higher 'iphone population' by % than that in Japan.

smartphone is a gadget, a toy, a fashion statement, a networking status, and is almost affordable. let's not talk about the functional side, it is not a Wall Street device here :-)

[Amaximus]

RisqEM if Thailand is such bad place why are you commenting on this website? Now lets see about your facts and compare them with the world reality. The EU have 11% unemployment and the US +-8% and Thailand > 1%. Thailands GDP growth in 2012 = 6,4% the EU = 0,6% and the US = 0%. In the US 46 mil people rely on government handouts to survive. Lets look at social advancement. In the US 40% of children where born outside of wedlock in 2011. In the US 14% of people are functionally illiterate and in the UK that figure is as high as 18%. Must I go on? Get off your pedestal.

Jesus Christ, comparing Thailand to most western countries is ridiculous. Even using the weakest social models, the US and UK - (due to Thatcher and Reagan etc.) is not even close. In western Europe it's even more pronounced and Canadians (So US would be 8 etc.) live on average 10 years longer - TEN YEARS - that's flabbergasting. It's about 12 years if you compare Japan and you don't just get an extra decade the decline and health issues start later so it's often more than a decade of decent living.

I love Thailand and I love all my friends, but some countries and friends are better off than others but we love them all the same if their ours - but lets not pretend and be deluded what their strong points are and lets be honest about their weak points. Thailand is full of humans so it can be a lot better or even worse - it depends what people do.

[stoli]

Another unreliable poll. The penetration of smart phones is much much lower. But that more Thais own smartphones than computers is of course very normal, the same must be valid for each and every other country by now. But in developing countries it is even more understandable.

I knew it must be wrong. I am sure that you commisioned a firm to do another poll that shows the opposite. Well done. Can you direct me to the site that shows your results? Thanks!

[mca]

Thai people working outside of the office?? They barely work in the office!! Use a personal electronic device for work? I didn't know Hayday was a word processor!

If they're so hard working and productive, where is their advancement? Oh wait, advances in copying others and saving face, but no tangible academic, social, or economic advancement.

And the satire continues, the hub of fallacy!

You must be a barrel of laughs on a night out.

[retell]

not surprising .. try to put a laptop in your trousers not very comfortable

[Semper]

' and three in four of them have more than one mobile device'

Interesting. 1 device for the 'mia luang' (most important wife), the second for the 'mia noi' (mistress) and the last must be the 'bat phone'!!!

I think the numbers in your quote refers to 'working girls' with several Farang boyfriends.

[trogers]

Agree with this survey and not at all surprised. A smartphone in Thailand costs less than Bt3,000 inclusive of case and spare battery...

[RisqEM]

Thai people working outside of the office?? They barely work in the office!! Use a personal electronic device for work? I didn't know Hayday was a word processor!

If they're so hard working and productive, where is their advancement? Oh wait, advances in copying others and saving face, but no tangible academic, social, or economic advancement.

And the satire continues, the hub of fallacy!

You must be a barrel of laughs on a night out.

I try. I would be one of those comedians who points out the obvious We should compare notes

[RisqEM]

RisqEM if Thailand is such bad place why are you commenting on this website? Now lets see about your facts and compare them with the world reality. The EU have 11% unemployment and the US +-8% and Thailand > 1%. Thailands GDP growth in 2012 = 6,4% the EU = 0,6% and the US = 0%. In the US 46 mil people rely on government handouts to survive. Lets look at social advancement. In the US 40% of children where born outside of wedlock in 2011. In the US 14% of people are functionally illiterate and in the UK that figure is as high as 18%. Must I go on? Get off your pedestal.

Where else would I talk? And you said it was bad, not me. Also, I said it was funny, just like your misunderstanding of my comment. At least America and the EU don't sell their kids into slavery because mom and pop don't save and are too lazy to work. You can justify and turn a blind eye all you want, but at least I stay on topic and talk about thailand in a thai forum and on an article about thai habits. Thanks for the useless, off topic EU and American factoids.

Lastly. At least my pedestal has legs. You stood on a pedestal with one leg and fell flat on the 44% of your face that copies and vomits info. You have no input, just mindless copying. Maybe you've been here too long, or, I'll bet you play FarmVille and Hayday at work by your attempted justification.

[Paul888]

Pretty obvious really. Even a Thai would struggle to send an email from a laptop whilst turning right across traffic on a motorbike.

[mca]

Thai people working outside of the office?? They barely work in the office!! Use a personal electronic device for work? I didn't know Hayday was a word processor!

If they're so hard working and productive, where is their advancement? Oh wait, advances in copying others and saving face, but no tangible academic, social, or economic advancement.

And the satire continues, the hub of fallacy!

You must be a barrel of laughs on a night out.

I try. I would be one of those comedians who points out the obvious We should compare notes

Ah, a bit of observational humour. But if I may be so bold you're no Chris Rock.

[tominbkk]

Smart phones and others mobile devices (tablets) are just toys. Why would we want to buy something we might have to do some work on?

Wholeheartedly disagree. I do half my work using my iphone. Especially with dictation, it makes all my emails simple to complete. I also start drafts fo reports and such using iphone or ipad. Complete them later in Word on my laptop

[h90]

Not work from my observations! just playing games, and facebook! nothing to do with work!

"increased job satisfaction"....yes play the game all the time instead of working....

[h90]

Smart phones and others mobile devices (tablets) are just toys. Why would we want to buy something we might have to do some work on?

Wholeheartedly disagree. I do half my work using my iphone. Especially with dictation, it makes all my emails simple to complete. I also start drafts fo reports and such using iphone or ipad. Complete them later in Word on my laptop

My wife is using it to see if she gets emails.

I don't have an old Symbian Smartphone and a tablet, I use the GPS. To find addresses. To find new suppliers or customer on the internet. I read company related PDFs, newspapers. Nice and good but not much of serious work. But on the other hand I am always close to my main desktop...so I might be simply to lazy to learn.

[IsaanUSA]

I own two smart phones, a dumb phone and a tablet, but only one laptop. I don't know of many people that have multiple laptops. I've never used any of them to do work.

[RisqEM]

Thai people working outside of the office?? They barely work in the office!! Use a personal electronic device for work? I didn't know Hayday was a word processor!

If they're so hard working and productive, where is their advancement? Oh wait, advances in copying others and saving face, but no tangible academic, social, or economic advancement.

And the satire continues, the hub of fallacy!

You must be a barrel of laughs on a night out.

I try. I would be one of those comedians who points out the obvious We should compare notes

Ah, a bit of observational humour. But if I may be so bold you're no Chris Rock.

You're right. I guess you looked at my profile pic