As global technology advances at a frenetic pace and analysts, techies and businessmen take pains to fathom what the future might have in store for us, it is not too difficult to wonder if the next era will belong to mobile phones. Initiative, Interpublic Group’s media, marketing and digital company,represented in India by Lintas Media Group,which has recently conducted a ‘Global Mobile Survey’ certainly seems to think so.
According to the report, the mobile phone will overtake the computer as the most common web access device worldwide by 2013, with an estimated 1.82 billion internet-enabled phones in use. Mobile phones are already ubiquitous devices and the statistics in the report reveal that 49% percent of smartphone users across the world use their phones to handle data which is more than voice calls (37%). This is a very important trend for it shows that people are increasingly realizing the power of a mobile phone not only as a phone but also as a versatile device that can play a much more important role. As the report states, the transition of the mobile phone is taking place from a ‘life support’ tool to a ‘life management’ tool.
The report has been conducted by interviewing smartphone users in US, UK, Italy, Sweden, Australia, South Korea, China and India to understand how marketers can capitalize on the potential this segment offers. Smartphones are quickly being adapted by people all across the globe. They represent the fastest growing sector of the mobile phone market with sales across the world showing a 49% increase in Q1 2010 compared to Q1 2009. Hence the emphasis on smart phones.
There are a lot of insights revealed in the numbers released by the report. First to understand that who is using the smartphones, the age profile of active smartphone users has a fair representation from all age groups. In Asian countries though the numbers are biased more towards the youth (18-24 yrs).
The next obvious question is what these users do on their smartphones. Over 50% of consumers use their smartphones primarily for personal reasons, with a further 36% using for both business and personal purposes.
How frequently do they use their mobile phones to access internet? 65% of smartphone users use their mobile handset to connect to the internet daily for an average of 37 minutes. With respect to countries, 78% people in the US and only 40% in India are the corresponding numbers. Another notable feature is that this internet time is not occurring at the cost of total time spent on the internet via other devices. 76% of consumers worldwide said that mobile internet was in addition to their other internet usage through a combination of occupying previously dead time as well as multitasking.
For marketers looking to capitalize on this medium, the important revelation is the times of the day or when these consumers are using mobile internet. The highest level of multi-tasking occurs whilst watching TV, listening to the radio and travelling – all at 50%. This means that marketers and developers should design campaigns and applications enabling users to interact with products and brands on an impulse while carrying out these activites to really boost their utility and marketing outreach. Location based advertising industry that is emerging rapidly, is an outcome of exactly this phenomenon. To get an idea have a look at this infographic. Moreover, 30% of all smartphone users start their day with mobile internet, and 45% end their day with it.
All in all the numbers in the report give a good insight into who, when and how of the mobile internet trend that is sweeping the globe. In India, where the smart phone penetration is a mere 4%, developers and VAS companies are beginning to reach out to customers as much as possible via SMS. Yet the future lies in internet enabled mobile phones. As the Indian economy grows, smartphones will usher in the mobile revolution and marketers should be prepared well in advance with their plans of action.
For the detailed analysis read the report here: Initiative MobileReport
