Mobile web still unused claims study
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Around 76% of mobile phone users don’t use their mobile to access the web, according to a UK-wide study into mobile habits by Essential Research.
The news comes despite industry hype around the success of web-enabled smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Nexus One.
Essential’s research also found that 60% of UK mobile users claim to not even own a mobile with internet access and just 30% of these are interested in getting one.
Alex Charlton, partner at Essential Research which conducted the study over six months in 2009, says: “This type of research doesn’t often see the light of day, and what we’ve found is pretty surprising news: there is an enormous gulf between the perceptions we hold about mobiles being a big part of our internet lives and the reality.”
Despite lower than expected adoption and usage of mobile internet however, consumer appetite for mobile media services, such as live TV and radio, is strong - 86% of current mobile internet users and 56% of non-mobile internet users report they would be willing to use services via their mobile phone.
Barriers to full adoption of mobile web services were mostly “hygiene factors” including speed of connection, the cost of mobile internet and handset battery life.
The research found that even when cost was not considered, over half of users (57%) who have tried to get online with a mobile and failed reported that they found the technology too difficult to use, access to websites was impossible and the mobile internet experience didn’t meet their expectations.
Conversely, the biggest driver of mobile internet adoption to date is social media. Almost as many daily mobile internet users (70%) use social media services on their phones.
The ability to perform everyday activities such as checking real time travel updates (33%) and tracking in-store offers, coupons and vouchers (31%) were the most interesting to those that don’t currently use mobile internet.
Charlton says: “With high profile marketing campaigns all around us, consumers are aware that they can use their mobile to check their email and use Facebook. What we’ve shown here is that there is a genuine interest from consumers to engage with brands that they already connect with and use their mobiles as an extension to their everyday lives. There is a role for all of us to play in making the mobile internet a more attractive proposition to the mass market and the opportunity is massive. Brands hold the key.”
Readers' comments (4)
Anonymous | Thu, 21 Jan 2010 4:38 pm
The stats in the article show mobile internet is barely a 'want', let alone a need yet - the i-phone's still a status toy in most cases where having one is more important than using one.
When internet usage is included in callplan bundles as a matter of course, m-internet usage will of course explode.
Also ease of use is another key I believe - we're nearly all socially networked, but on my power-house bells and whistles phone every networking app had to be accessed via the browser, and honestly I never bothered to use it; Got another phone with Facebook, MSN IM, Skype embedded ie 'always on' and I'm online on a regular basis.
Since nearly every mobile phone now except the very cheapest has internet access, I'd bet that of those 60% of respondents who said their phones didn't have internet probably just didn't even know it was there buried in one of the menues - bring it to the fore by embedding internet functionality, bundle usage into call-plans, and it'll go mainstream.
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Anonymous | Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:11 pm
Statistics are meaningless without a base (or idea of the demographic), time period is not a base! This is completely inconsistent with what is actually going on in the market.
Comedy value to Essential Research.
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Anonymous | Fri, 22 Jan 2010 1:14 pm
Would love to know the % split in terms of age versus usage. My 70 year plus mum and dad have a mobile each and use them for calling and texting (the latter only when on holiday) - it's a phone only for them, and always will be. My 14 year old daughter uses her phone to constantly access facebook. Me? I'm somewhere in between.
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Simon Kendrick | Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:18 am
Hello to the above commenters, and apologies for taking a couple of days to respond. I hope you return to see my answers.
For more details on our methodology, you can read our full press release at http://www.essentialresearch.co.uk/blog/2010/01/branded-services-will-make-smart-phones/
To answer each comment or question in turn
- The first commenter is correct in that there were a surprising number of people who claimed not to have an internet enabled phone, when their handset make and model would suggest otherwise
Our base for the quantitative survey was 2018 adult mobile phone owners aged 16+ representative of the UK population. This was conducted after an extended period of qualitative and ethnographic research (click through on the above link for specifics)
Usage of the mobile internet is heavily skewed towards young, upmarket, urban mobile phone owners. However, this is not tautological - many of these people do not use the mobile internet, while some older, less affluent people do.
Our contention is that for the technology to take off among the mainstream, a greater emphasis needs to be placed on the types of services that mobile can deliver better than the computer - such as location-aware information and vouchering services. Brands and service companies have a vital role to play in this
If you'd like any more info, please use the contact details on our site (again, click through to the link above)
Kind regards,
Simon Kendrick, Essential Research
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