New data from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) shows that 24% of millennials use mobile apps for calling a taxi or ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft, compared to 13% of Gen Xers and 7% of Baby Boomers. More than 60% of millennials use mobile apps for banking or money management, compared to less than 50% of Gen Xers and one-third of Baby Boomers.
“The most important demographic factor in terms of mobile app usage continues to be age,” said Harry Wang, senior dDirector of Research, Parks Associates. “Millennials have higher usage rates for nearly every smartphone activity compared to Generation Xers and baby boomers, and their mobile app-first habits for completing day-to-day tasks are the catalysts for market innovations from Uber to Instacart to Venmo.”
Parks Associates notes that 95% of millennials are smartphone owners, compared to 89% of Generation Xers and 74% of baby boomers. Millennials also have higher usage rates for gaming consoles, streaming media players, robotic floor cleaners, drones, personal assistant devices, and virtual reality headsets.
“Millennials consistently adopt new technologies before their generational counterparts,” Wang said. “Currently, 41% of this group owns a streaming media player, compared to 39% of those in Generation X and only 26% of baby boomers. Further, 5% of millennials have purchased a virtual reality headset, while Generation Xers account for 2% of purchases and baby boomers account for only 1%.”
Thirty-five percent of millennials also use mobile apps to book flights, hotels, or rental cars, while 38% order food and grocery deliveries via mobile apps. Additional data from Parks Associates shows that:
° 45% of millennials use voice recognition software;
° 50% of millennials stream music from a phone to a speaker;
° 93% of millennials are streaming movies or TV shows.