Blackberries have become the defacto smartphone in most business and legal communities. This has a lot to do with email security, and a perceived lack of business applications on the part of the popular iPhone, however, a short survey we conducted has led us to believe that the next few years could contain a stronger wave of iPhone adoption across the professional world.

Young people who were in school when the first iPhone came out were able to choose the iPhone as their first smartphone instead of this decision being made for them by their company. This contrasts with the many individuals who have been accepting company phones for years. It is normal to become attached to the technology you are most experienced with and the millennials are no different.

This unique group of early iPhone adopters is now starting to enter the professional world and they’re taking their phones and their OS preferences with them. We thought it would be interesting to survey business school and law school students to see what kind of phones are currently used, ask why they chose them and to hypothesize on how this might impact the business phone market in the next few years.

Our survey included 114 business undergrad and graduate law students and was very simple. We asked them what kind of phone they had and why they chose it. A few interesting trends emerged.

One of the most interesting results was the surprising lack of smartphones in the law school. 46% of law students did not have a smartphone at all. This really blew our mind, especially when they showed us the old phones they use every day. Of the business students, only 16% did not have a smartphone. We surmise that law students are both poorer than the undergrad business students and, as graduate students, are less likely to still be on their parent’s phone service.

Overall, the iPhone handily beat out the Blackberry. Of 114 total respondents, 32% had iPhones compared to 19% with Blackberries. This result was expected, but more interesting is a comparison of the reasons why people chose a Blackberry as opposed to an iPhone.

iPhone users were more likely to say they chose their phone because of personal preference while Blackberry owners tended to choose Blackberries because their options were limited. Many reported that they chose Blackberry because it was the best phone supported by their or their family’s plan or because it was cheaper. In fact, only 5% of respondents said they chose the Blackberry because it was their preference.

This is important because it implies that young iPhone owners have overwhelmingly chosen their phone because they think it is the best, most advanced phone on the market, while young Blackberry owners tend to choose a Blackberry because they are restricted by price or their wireless contract. In the end, these Blackberry users will be less attached to their phones than iPhone users, who will want to continue using their iPhones as they become young professionals.

This information should inform action on the parts of all businesses that provide employee phones and phone service, as well as Apple, Blackberry and smartphone app developers.

These millennial professionals entering the workforce will expect to use the technology they are comfortable with. Apple and iPhone app developers should be doing whatever it takes to reinforce more widespread adoption of the iPhone and iPhone applications designed for business, while businesses should be open to adapting to the needs of this new wave of iPhone addicts.

The Bottom Line of this Contagious Behavior Survey

· 46% of law students and 16% of business students surveyed did not have a smartphone at all

· 32% of all respondents had iPhones while only 19% had Blackberries

· Only 5% of Blackberry owners said they chose the Blackberry because it was their preference (they thought it was cool or just liked it) compared to 44% of iPhone owners

Related Articles

· Watch out BlackBerry: Apple’s iPhone business adoption momentum keeps increasing

· Sybase Advances iPhone Adoption in the Enterprise

· iPhone Users Distinct, Leading Mobility

· iPhone vs. BlackBerry Owners: Your Phone Tells All

Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon

Tuesday, I finally arrived home after attending the Winter Democratic National Committee Meeting as a guest. The meeting was not scheduled to last that long, but this giant winter storm that even Obama called snowpocalypse had a significant portion of attendees stuck in a winter wonderland version of our nation’s capitol.

Fortunately, I was in great company, and I ended up having an amazing time. I wasn’t able to visit the Smithsonian, but I was able to walk/slide across the frozen reflecting pond and spend time with some great people. The DNC itself is an interesting sampling of age groups with which to be snowed in. It literally includes members from all states and abroad, and all age groups over 18. They also tend to be particularly well connected. It was an interesting opportunity to notice some trends not only among Gen Y aka millennials, but also more generally.

The storm was truly remarkable, especially for a Texas girl. This might shock some, but since I was not planning on working, I chose to leave my laptop behind, bringing only my iPhone and I was truly surprised by my altered level of connectivity.

I realized several important things during my stay. Some things did not change. I was able to take and post pictures to Facebook in real time, just as I normally do. I was able to text, tweet, and check my email. Everyone I knew in attendance had a smart phone and was doing the same thing. We used our mobile devices to check weather and find places to eat that were open even in the storm. Since I have spent less time in DC than most of the people there, I used my phone as a map constantly. All of these things are normal, some things I noticed, weren’t so much.

There is one thing that may be interesting to the iPhone vs. Blackberry people in particular. The business world , in particular the legal industry, generally use Blackberries instead of iPhones. This trend does exist in my generation; however, it seems to be changing.The young political people I know, many of them lawyers or someday lawyers, have iPhones instead of Blackberries. And, the few I know who chose Blackberries did so because the Blackberry was more affordable.

Another thing I noticed was more personal. It seems to me that your choice of social network truly is contagious. I use Twitter very rarely, however, I tweeted far more on this trip than on a normal weekend. Not because I had more than usual to say but simply because the people around me were using Twitter. The more they tweeted, the more I did. Twitter has become a strong force in the political field and, these people are turned on to it. They use it constantly, and that behavior is contagious both directly (to me, standing next to them) and indirectly (to their followers).

Another surprising side effect of the storm was that, many young people around me were forced to sit down and be still for long enough to listen to a whole TV news story about the weather for the first time in recent memory. I never expected a storm to cause me to rely more on TV than normal, but honestly, with weather, it is still the best way to get up to the minute local and emergency information.

It was also interesting to witness an older generation forced to rely on mobile devices more than normal. On more than one occasion I witnessed people over the age of 50 using tools on their phones that they were not used to using, searching for cab services a map, or information on cancelled flights.

Finally, I was mystified by how off the grid I actually was. I felt like with a combination of TV and my iPhone, I had stayed well informed, but I quickly found out that I missed several major developments in the digital world. The first was Google’s new tool Buzz, which I did not come in contact with because I accessed my email through the email tool on my phone. The second was the “new Facebook”, Add another short sentence here. Overall, I learned some new things about both smartphone usage in general, and under duress, it seems we’re not always behaving the way we expect.

Note: Today in Dallas it has snowed 8 inches.

-Emma Vernon