Mobile phone data precarious: survey

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 13 October 2009 00:00

Opinion and Analysis

Surely nobody is surprised to learn that people don't know their friends' mobile numbers? The survey found just one third of people surveyed had committed their best friend's phone number to memory, and only half of them knew their own office phone number. If you never need to dial a number, why would you learn it?

Coincidentally(?), only one-third of people back up their mobile phones, and nearly two-thirds don't know how to retrieve some of the information stored on their phones or how to back it up.

So, what's in it for Microsoft? The findings provide good reasons for using the My Phone service that Microsoft provides for users of Windows Mobile phones. (My Phone is part of Windows Mobile 6.5 - aka Windows Phone - and an optional download for versions 6.0 and 6.1).

My Phone automatically copies selected categories of data from a Windows Mobile phone to a web server, or downloads it to restore the data to a new or reset handset.

"Our research shows that nearly one in four people lose their phones, so Microsoft encourages Australians to use a backup service, such as our recently launched, complimentary Microsoft My Phone service," said According to Grace Kerrison, director of Microsoft's mobile communications business.

If you're not using a Microsoft-powered phone, there are various ways of backing up your phone, whether it is to your PC or to a cloud server (eg, SugarSync or Apple's MobileMe).

However you do it, keep your phone backed up - unless you're one of the few that only keeps a couple of important numbers stored on the handset. And in that case, you should still make sure you at least have them written down somewhere.