Romancing the phone ..
By Lim Chong

FOR many, the tiny mobile phone has become an essential tool in their love life. It offers the short message service but around the world SMS often means Send Me Sex - cheap, discreet and immediate.

One of the tantalising items uncovered in a mobile lifestyle survey conducted recently by Siemens was that Malaysians are not averse to using SMS to make their love life more interesting.

Almost 20 per cent of the local respondents admitted using their mobile phones to purposely send "wrong messages" to another number in the hope of being connected with someone new. At 17 per cent, this was the second highest number in the Asia-Pacific, after India (24 per cent). The Philippines, despite the SMS craze over there, only came in third with 15 per cent.

Malaysians also rank high (32 per cent) when it comes to using distinct ringtones to distinguish their loved ones when they call (or perhaps to stay out of trouble?). In this category, the top spot went to the Filipinos (48 per cent).

The Filipinos are also considered the most romantic in the region, in terms of the number of times each day they call or SMS their loved ones. They recorded 54 per cent while Malaysians are rather lukewarm at 27 per cent.

When it comes to saving their most cherished messages from each other, the survey showed that Malaysian men and women are equally sentimental, scoring 42 per cent each. Of course, we lost out to the Filipinos who are right at the top with 85 per cent for females and 80 per cent for males.

When it comes to receiving SMS, those in Hong Kong are at the least suspicious at 21 per cent, compared to their more wary local counterparts at 34 per cent. And unlike the Indonesians and Filipinos who have no problems sharing their SMS with partners, we are in the rather more cautious category.

As for dirty messages or talking dirty using the mobile phone (of which a famous footballer has fallen foul of), Malaysians are among the lowest at seven per cent, next to the polite Thais at six per cent. Topping this category are the respondents in China and Taiwan, both at 31 per cent.

Like others in the region, the mobile phone has become essential to the daily lifestyle of Malaysians, with 43 per cent using it to plan their social activities. And 58 per cent said they will answer their phone no matter where they are or what they are doing. Fresh, spicy and tempting - that was how Siemens described the survey findings and it looks like our mobile appetite is rising day by day.