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Nearly Five Million Immigrants and First Generation Americans Own A Tablet PC Device with Majority of Non-Owners Favoring iPad over Kindle and Android Tablets, According to New Survey from Rebtel

Stockholm, Sweden & San Francisco, USA – February 23, 2011 – Rebtel, the world’s largest independent mobile VoIP company, today announced results from its latest study based on U.S. immigrant and first-generation consumer mobile usage and behavior. The results were based on 1,340 responses from immigrants residing in the United States, which represent a consumer segment of approximately 38 million consumers. According to the survey 13% of respondents currently own a tablet device, representing approximately five million Americans.

According to the survey, the iPad reigns supreme as the preferred tablet device, with two-thirds of tablet owners choosing the device. French Americans claim the highest percentage of tablet owners (17%), followed by Mexican-Americans (15%), Nigerian-Americans, and Ghana-Americans at 14% respectively rounded out by Ethiopian-Americans at 8% and Cuban-Americans at 7%.

Do you own a tablet device?

Among the different demographics, there were some wide disparities concerning whether or not they would buy a tablet in the near future. Ghanese (62%) and Indian Americans (58%) topped the list among immigrant populations looking to buy a tablet device, while Ethiopian (31%) and French Americans (34%) ranked last.

Are you planning on buying a tablet device in the near future?

In terms of brand preference broken down by ethnicity of users, Apple’s iPad has a particularly strong foothold among Cuban-Americans, Indian-Americans and Nigerian-Americans, which account for the highest affinity marked by 83%, 80%, and 75% respectively.

Concerning the highest percentage of respondents who said that they would most likely buy an iPad in the near future, a whopping 87% of Kenyans claimed they would do so, with French immigrants coming in second at 81%. The Kindle was a popular second choice as a tablet device, with 9% of the overall population saying they are most likely to buy it, with Ethiopian immigrants leading the way at 24%.

Out of the immigrants in the study hailing from Cuba, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines and UK currently residing in the US, all segments ranked the iPad as their tablet of choice.

Individual ethnic group responses:

What type of device do you own?

What tablet device are you most likely to purchase?

“Apple has remained the brand of choice for the immigrant and first generation U.S. market,” said Andreas Bernstrom, CEO of Rebtel. “We’re witnessing a massive shift in technology brand affinity over the past decade as Sony has been dethroned, and Apple has grabbed the reigns and held tight starting with the iPod moving forward.”

There are 37.9 million immigrants (both legal and illegal) in the U.S. 10.8 million of those are illegal.The percentage of native-born people in the U.S. has fallen for four straight decades, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2008, 12.5% of the population was born outside the U.S., nearing the all-time highs of nearly 15% in the late 1800s.

The study was conducted in November 2010 with a sample group of respondents comprised of Rebtel users divided into 11 different ethnic groups; Cuba, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines and UK. Each ethnic group received their own identical survey and all the respondents are currently located in the US.

By: Alex Drewniak, February 23rd, 2011 Tags: , , , , , , , ,

U.S.-Based Africans Divided On Favorite Phones But United On International Calling Service Preferences

San Francisco – April 21, 2010 – iPhone is the favorite among Egyptians in the U.S, while Ugandans here favor the BlackBerry.  Samsung and Nokia phones tie for first preference among Sierra Leoneans living in America, and the Zambians dig Nokias.

Those findings and more come from a just-released study of international calling habits and preferences among Africans living in the U.S., provided by the Internet phone company, Rebtel.

  • Saturdays and Sundays are the days that most Africans abroad call home, although Zambians prefer Saturdays, while Sunday is more popular among Egyptians, Ugandans and Sierra Leoneans.
  • The largest number of calls from the U.S. to Egypt, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia originate in primarily Eastern and Mid-western states.
  • The vast majority of calls go to mobile phones vs. landlines.

Among the survey respondents, 73.2% of calls are to family, 16.1% are to friends, and only 9.6% call business associates at home.

Top Three U.S. States Calling:

  • Egypt: New York, New Jersey, California
  • Uganda: Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas
  • Zambia: Ohio, Illinois, Maryland

Of the Africans participating in the survey, 65.4 % said Rebtel call quality was noticeably better than other phone services for calling family abroad; 79.7% said Rebtel was easier to use.  And well over half – 61.8% – said Rebtel rates consistently beat the competition.

Starting this month Rebtel, which works with any carrier or phone, cut its calling rates to a handful of African nations.

“There is absolutely no need to pay traditional carriers’ crazy rates when you want to talk to your family back home on the weekends,” said Andreas Bernström, Rebtel CEO.  “Nor do you have to risk getting ripped off by calling cards. Just say, ‘No’ to the old way of calling, and give Rebtel a try.”

Founded in 2006, Stockholm-based Rebtel was established to give people around the world an alternative to mobile operators’ rip-off rates for making international calls. Today, thousands of Africans living in the U.S. use Rebtel every day to call family at home.

Rebtel has been ranked No.1 in international calling by Technology Appraisals and has been featured in USA Today, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and The International Herald Tribune for its unique calling service.

By: Alex Drewniak, April 21st, 2010 Tags: , , , , , ,