How dumb are smartphone users?

I just don't believe these numbers on advertising from “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users,” a study from Google and conducted by Ipsos OTX, an independent market research firm, among 5,013 US adult smartphone Internet users at the end of 2010 - Google blogs:

71% of smartphone users search because of an ad they’ve seen either online or offline; 82% of smartphone users notice mobile ads, 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase as a result of using their smartphones to help with shopping, and 88% of those who look for local information on their smartphones take action within a day.

Or more accurately, I don't believe the face value. I'd like to see the underlying definitions, for eg how often the 71% who search because of an Ad actually do search, and what the 88% "taking action" means. . While reading the whole thing (below) I also became aware that many of these were probably generic facts, ie applied to nearly any comms device - so I replaced the term "smartphone" with "dumbphone" and found the results still made nearly total sense, ie these are generic "this is what people do on phones" stats (The`y still made quite a lot of sense when I replaced smartphone with "carrot".....). I have also added a few "watch out for misleading wording" tags in [square brackets].

General Dumbphone Usage: Dumbphones have become an integral part of users’ daily lives. Consumers use dumbphones as an extension of their desktop computers and use it as they multi-task and consume other media.

- 81% browse the Internet, 77% search, 68% use an app, and 48% watch videos on their dumbphone
- 72% use their dumbphones while consuming other media, with a third while watching TV
- 93% of dumbphone owners use their dumbphones while at home

Action-Oriented Searchers: Mobile search is heavily used to find a wide variety of information and to navigate the mobile Internet.

- Search engine websites are the most visited websites with 77% of dumbphone users citing this, followed by social networking, retail and video sharing websites
- Nine out of ten dumbphone searches results in an action (purchasing, visiting a business, etc.) [90% action rate - I suspect etc includes "visiting a website"]
- 24% recommended a brand or product to others as a result of a dumbphone search [If a purchase is made, fine - if not, very unlikely]

Local Information Seekers: Looking for local information is done by virtually all dumbphone users and consumers are ready to act on the information they find.

- 95% of dumbphone users have looked for local information
- 88% of these users take action within a day, indicating these are immediate information needs [what does this mean - look for a place on a map and go there?]
- 77% have contacted a business, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business [with what frequency - ie how does this differ from any 'phone?]

Purchase-driven Shoppers: Dumbphones have become an indispensable shopping tool and are used across channels and throughout the research and decision-making process.

- 79% of dumbphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, finding more product info to locating a retailer [how often]
- 74% of dumbphone shoppers make a purchase, whether online, in-store, or on their phones [*or* on their phones? I suggest the statistics for the latter are tiny and overall data for carrot eaters are similar]
- 70% use their dumbphones while in the store, reflecting varied purchase paths that often begin online or on their phones and brings consumers to the store [statistic does not justify conlusion]

Reaching Mobile Consumers: Cross-media exposure influences dumbphone user behavior and a majority notice mobile ads which leads to taking action on it.

- 71% search on their phones because of an ad exposure, whether from traditional media (68%) to online ads (18%) to mobile ads (27%)
- 82% notice mobile ads, especially mobile display ads and a third notice mobile search ads
- Half of those who see a mobile ad take action, with 35% visiting a website and 49% making a purchase
- 71% search on their phones because of an ad exposure, whether from traditional media (68%) to online ads (18%) to mobile ads (27%)
- 82% notice mobile ads, especially mobile display ads and a third notice mobile search ads
- Half of those who see a mobile ad take action, with 35% visiting a website and 49% making a purchase

So, after a few sections of "well they apply to anyone " data, it is that last section that I really struggle with. Those action rates are an order of magnitude (at least) higher than any Ad responses I've ever seen, and the behaviours reported here look nothing like anyone I asked about it (granted that is a small sample). Do you fit the profile here?

Given that it is (i) Planet Mobile (famous for exagerrating/misleading data) and (ii) self serving for Google, I'd approach those latter numbers with a large pinch of salt and a healthy dose of scepticism. Anyway, there is a webinar tomorrow with (hopefully) more details.