A great Economist piece titled Home truths about telecoms explains how anthropologists are now being used by companies such as Nokia and Swisscom to understand their users.

It seems that after the surprise that people did not want to make video calls even though the operators paid so much money to allow them to do so has meant that telcos are now more cautious about predicting the next big thing.

I am not sure that an anthropologist could have predicted the rise of twitter - but I think they could have clearly said that texting is the most popular type of mobile based interaction and a bet on applications that use it - should have good odds.

Interesting stats : 60% of men carry their phone in their trouser pockets, but 61% carry them in handbags (and subsequently miss more calls).

Belt pouches are used more in different regions of the world - but are least popular in fashion conscious Milan.

Voice communications are flattening and written communications are increasing - that is one very interesting conclusion, but I’m not sure how interesting if that means more people are writing stilted abbreviated sms messages to each other rather than talking.

Good read any how - I recommend it.

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