Users of the Apple iPhone are among the heaviest users of digital content and are also more willing than any other consumer to pay for a wide range of types of content, according to findings in this year's Olswang Convergence Survey. iPhone users are heavy users of services such as on-demand TV — not only on their phones (19 percent of iPhone users compared to 3 percent of the survey base, which is representative of users of the U.K. online population as a whole), but also on other devices, such as the main TV at home (37 percent of iPhone users compared to 26 percent of the survey base).

When asked about their future desire to use these services, iPhone users retained this extra enthusiasm —– with 37 percent wanting to access on-demand TV via their mobile phones in the future (as against 11 percent of the overall survey base). iPhone users also demonstrated greater willingness to use micropayments and subscriptions to pay for access to a broad range of content.

Matthew Phillips, Partner, Olswang, said the survey results demonstrate that the iPhone is changing consumer behaviour in some remarkable ways. "The survey gives fascinating insight into iPhone users' behaviour in terms of current use, intended future use and willingness to pay for a wide variety of content across a range of platforms and devices. Having discovered the habit and simplicity of paying for apps and other services on the iPhone, it would seem that iPhone owners are also more willing to pay for content of many types than the general online population. To maximise their revenue opportunities in the digital environment, companies need to build payment solutions into consumer propositions on other platforms that are as easy to use as that on the iPhone."

The survey was conducted by Olswang, one of the U.K.'s leading law firms, and YouGov who carried out an online poll of 1,013 U.K. adults and 536 13-17 year olds. Olswang also spoke to more than 25 executives from leading businesses which are affected by convergence.