The poll, which was answered by 1,000 people in eight different countries, found that news alerts were of most interest to Britons with 70% downloading bulletins and updates. By contrast, the Chinese were more interested in the weather than the British with 76% viewing weather forecasts on the move.
Germany (57%) showed the highest interest in mobile games, while mobile data services like horoscopes were of most interest to the Italians (25%). It was in the US that the difference between the sexes was most prominent: 76% of females use mobile data compared to 24% of males and American women were found to use mobile data more frequently than all other women polled in the various regions. This is all the more interesting given the US is predicted to be one of the fastest growing markets in global mobile telephony.
Cost represented the greatest barrier to using mobile data services with 85% of respondents saying they would use mobile data services more regularly if they were less expensive. 30% said they would be more inclined to use them if they were easier to download. The survey also revealed that 45% of all respondents would be more inclined to use mobile data services if they were offered ‘try before you buy’.
Results uncovered an interesting view on the importance of the mobile phone – it is increasingly replacing everyday items, such as alarm clocks and address books. In fact, 33% of those surveyed said their mobile had completely replaced their address book. When looking at countries individually, in particular in Italy and China, 58% of Italians and 69% of the Chinese completely relyed on their mobile for key family and friends’ contacts.
The enthusiasm of the Chinese and Italians was matched by their confidence in using mobile data services. 61% of Italians and 83% of Chinese respondents said they were confident about using download services on their mobile.
Michel Quazza, CEO of SurfKitchen said: “It’s clear there are real variances across geographies when it comes to how people use mobile devices to consume data. It’s also quite apparent that consumers across all geographies want more transparency of mobile data costs, as well as a personalised and easy-to-use service. SurfKitchen has been working around the world with operators and handset manufacturers to overcome barriers to mobile data use and increase revenue from data services."
*SurfKitchen commissioned global research company, GMI, to conduct a global online poll of over a thousand people in 8 different countries - Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China, Japan and the United States throughout December 2005. The aim of the research was to better understand different user behaviours and the underlying barriers to mobile data use.
www.surfkitchen.com
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