We came across comScore's 2010 Mobile Landscape Overview today (published in February 2011) and thought you would like to read about some of the movements in mobile/cellular activity.
A Game Changing Year for Mobile
Obviously for market researchers this is interesting because if we are to get qualitative insights from our respondents, we need to consider the most appropriate qualitative research design for the way people are actually using their mobile devices. In the new mobile world, consumer is king and we had better ask the right questions, optimized for the right device, taking into consideration the user experience, if we are to gather rich data for insights. If your client wants to know how 26-54 year old women spend their leisure time and why, then how would you adjust your research design to target the respondent who is on their mobile tablet at night?
Download the full report here: http://www.comscore.com/index.php//Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/2010_Mobile_Year_in_Review
A Game Changing Year for Mobile
2010 was a year of undeniable progress in the mobile arena. A wide variety of increasingly advanced devices were introduced to the market, mobile content options continued to increase with an ever-growing library of applications paired with improvements to the mobile browsing experience, while the definition of the word “mobile” evolved with the introduction of tablet devices such as the iPad. Major milestones in mobile were crossed during the year both in the U.S. and EU5 (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) markets. comScore also began reporting data on the Japanese market beginning in mid-2010 so year over year trends are not available, However, an in-depth look at the Japanese market is included in the‘Spotlight’ section, and relevant cross-market comparisons are made throughout based on activity in the back half of the year.
- In December 2010, nearly 47 percent of mobile subscribers in the U.S. were mobile media users (browsed the mobile web, accessed applications, downloaded content or accessed the mobile Internet via SMS) up 7.6 percentage points from the previous year.
- The growth in mobile media usage is largely attributable to the growth in smartphone adoption, 3G/4G device ownership and the increasing ubiquity of unlimited data plans, all of which facilitate the consumption of mobile media.
- From December 2009 to December 2010, the percentage of mobile phone subscribers with unlimited data plans increased from 21.3 percent to 29.0 percent, with more phones now requiring an unlimited data plan subscription at the time of purchase.
- During the same period, smartphone ownership increased from 16.8 percent to 27.0 percent, while 3G/4G phone ownership reached 51 percent in December 2010.
Mobile Increasingly Embedded in Daily Life
While the total mobile media audience increased substantially in 2010 (+20 percent in the U.S., +19 percent in EU5) and all signs suggest it will continue to do so, one of the most important shifts has been the increase in the frequency with which mobile phone owners use their devices to connect to content and peers.
Across three key categories (email usage, news and information access, and social networking) the largest observed increases were in mobile users who access these services almost daily, compared to weekly or once during the month. Social networking especially saw high growth, with daily users increasing 104 percent in the EU5 and 80 percent in the U.S. For many people, mobile media consumption has rapidly moved from an occasional activity, perhaps even a novelty, to an essential service they depend on every day while at home, work or on the move. The following shows how people use their mobile phones in EU5 and USA.
Multi-Screen Consumption – How Do Consumer Patterns Vary by Device
As the number of devices continues to proliferate, one very interesting dynamic with important implications for the digital ecosystem is the pattern of consumption across devices during the course of a day.
As an example, comScore conducted an analysis over a 24-hour period in the U.S. on online newspaper readers’ consumption habits revealed some interesting insights on the synergies across devices – PC, smartphone and iPad. Overall PC viewing accounted for 97 percent of all online newspaper views during the 24 hour period, while smartphones accounted for 2 percent and the iPad accounted for less than 1 percent. When looking at how Americans utilized these devices differently throughout the day to consume news, it was observed that morning hours saw similar relative readership across all three devices. While in the afternoon, online newspaper readership peaked on PC and while at night iPad readers consumed more news on the device than during the day.
[Update on 15-Mar-11: South by South West, the social media & technology conference held each year in Austin, Texas is buzzing with news that Mashable reported: people now read more news via internet devices than from newspapers: "Poynter’s research showed that almost half of Americans in a survey said they got at least some of their news on a mobile device or tablet. As tablet makers, app makers and news outlets continue to perfect the news consumption experience on that form factor, we’ll have a whole new breed to analyze and fret over this time next year." It really is a trend impacting content providers, technologists, businesses, advertisers and market researchers alike.]
As an example, comScore conducted an analysis over a 24-hour period in the U.S. on online newspaper readers’ consumption habits revealed some interesting insights on the synergies across devices – PC, smartphone and iPad. Overall PC viewing accounted for 97 percent of all online newspaper views during the 24 hour period, while smartphones accounted for 2 percent and the iPad accounted for less than 1 percent. When looking at how Americans utilized these devices differently throughout the day to consume news, it was observed that morning hours saw similar relative readership across all three devices. While in the afternoon, online newspaper readership peaked on PC and while at night iPad readers consumed more news on the device than during the day.
[Update on 15-Mar-11: South by South West, the social media & technology conference held each year in Austin, Texas is buzzing with news that Mashable reported: people now read more news via internet devices than from newspapers: "Poynter’s research showed that almost half of Americans in a survey said they got at least some of their news on a mobile device or tablet. As tablet makers, app makers and news outlets continue to perfect the news consumption experience on that form factor, we’ll have a whole new breed to analyze and fret over this time next year." It really is a trend impacting content providers, technologists, businesses, advertisers and market researchers alike.]
Obviously for market researchers this is interesting because if we are to get qualitative insights from our respondents, we need to consider the most appropriate qualitative research design for the way people are actually using their mobile devices. In the new mobile world, consumer is king and we had better ask the right questions, optimized for the right device, taking into consideration the user experience, if we are to gather rich data for insights. If your client wants to know how 26-54 year old women spend their leisure time and why, then how would you adjust your research design to target the respondent who is on their mobile tablet at night?
Download the full report here: http://www.comscore.com/index.php//Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/2010_Mobile_Year_in_Review
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