NEW YORK – In some markets, Internet access on a mobile phone might actually become the dominant way to surf the web, says a new Ipsos Insight study. But maybe not here.
Today, the personal computer remains the dominant platform to access the Internet globally, but Internet access via the mobile phone actually outpaces wireless access from a notebook PC in many of areas of the world – a statistic driven largely by the massive installed base of mobile phones throughout the world as well as more developed wireless networks.
Internet browsing via a wireless device is showing robust growth, with France and the U.K showing the strongest growth in this trend, while Internet usage via mobile phone in Japan also continues to grow rapidly. Today, four in 10 adults browse the Internet on their wireless handset in Japan, double the rate from 2003.
However, growth in Internet browsing on a mobile phone is flattening in the U.S. and Canada, where wireless Internet access via notebook PC appears to be emerging as the stronger out-of-home Internet platform.
Globally, just over one-fourth (28%) of mobile phone owners worldwide have browsed the Internet on a wireless handset, up slightly from 25% at the end 2004. Interestingly, growth in this behavior for 2005 was driven by the older users (age 35+), indicating that surfing the Internet on a mobile phone is emerging as a mainstream activity, no longer dominated by the traditional early adopter segment – young males – typical of many new consumer technologies, says the Ipsos report, The Face of the Web, its annual study of Internet trends.
“Accessing the Internet on a wireless handheld device is no longer a novelty for consumers in the major global economies. It’s becoming a common, everyday occurrence for many people,” said Brian Cruikshank, senior vice-president and managing director of Ipsos Insight’s Technology & Communications practice.
As consumer dependence on mobile phones grows, so to will new applications. “In the long term, many of today’s PC-centric online activities could be complemented through the mobile phone or migrate to the mobile phone altogether, due to greater convenience and faster connection speeds,” Cruikshank added.
In addition to web browsing, a number of other mobile phone activities saw significant growth this year. SMS text messaging remains the most popular activity among consumers, while other communication-based wireless activities are also growing. Over half (52%) of all mobile phone households today have sent or received a text message, and over a third (37%) have sent or received e-mail on a mobile phone. In general, almost all wireless device activities experienced growth in 2005 – including m-commerce (i.e., purchasing a product or service via mobile phone), conducting financial transactions, sending or receiving digital pictures, and downloading entertainment content.
Perhaps more important for the health of the industry, says the report’s author, an increasing number of older adults (age 35+) are engaging in wireless activities. Increased usage among this group of consumers – presumably with higher net incomes and better credit – suggests the promise of higher Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU) for the Wireless Industry in the future.
While we’ve got a ways to go in Canada, mobile phone ownership at the end of 2005 was at near saturation levels in many areas of the world – most notably in East Asia, as over 90% of all households in South Korea, Japan and urban China own at least one mobile phone, according to the Ipsos study. Western European markets rank second collectively in mobile phone prevalence, with roughly 80% of all households owning a wireless handset. In North America, prevalence of mobile ownership is slightly less robust: in the U.S., three in four households own a mobile phone, while just over 60% of Canadian households own a mobile phone today.
While overall household ownership appears to be hitting a ceiling in many developed markets, proliferation of ownership within households continues to climb as people look to have their own personal phone, rather than a single home phone. In 2005, more than two-thirds of all households that owned a mobile phone owned multiple handsets, while the average number of handsets in these households stands at 2.2 globally – slightly higher than 2004’s average of 2.1 per household.
Wireless Device Activities – 2005: % Browsed the Internet for News & Information:
Japan 40%
U.K. 29%
USA 26%
South Korea 26%
Canada 19%
Germany 18%
France 18%
Mexico* 16%
China* 10%
Brazil* 8%
Russia* 7%
India 5%
Base: All respondents (General Adult Population)
* Urban sample only
Source: Ipsos 2006
Prevalence of Mobile/Cellular Phones: 2005 Household Ownership:
Japan 95%
South Korea 94%
China 93%
France 85%
Germany 83%
U.K. 79%
Mexico* 78%
U.S. 75%
Brazil* 73%
India* 67%
Russia* 63%
Canada 61%
And all this wireless expansion may lead to easier shopping, says yet another report. As many as 25 million wireless phone subscribers in North America could be using their mobile phones as mobile wallets by 2011, says In-Stat, a high-tech market research firm.
Unlike M-commerce, the mobile transaction concept touted in the 1990s that never took hold, the mobile wallet is a much more versatile application that includes elements of mobile transactions, as well as other items one may find in a wallet, such as membership cards, loyalty cards, and other forms of identification.
"In-Stat believes that the market can grow only by adopting a technology that offers the most versatility by providing both transaction capability and content discovery," said David Chamberlain, In-Stat analyst, in a statement. "There are several technologies that could enable mobile wallet operations of handsets, including Near Field Communications (NFC), Radio Frequency (RFID), bar codes, and visual recognition. Standardization efforts around NFC may give that system the edge."
* According to an In-Stat consumer survey, attitudes of U.S. users towards mobile wallets are at best, lukewarm, with roughly one-third of respondents interested, one-third indifferent, and one-third uninterested.
* The most frequently mentioned barrier to the mobile wallet is added fees for its use (72% of respondents), followed by security concerns about loss of the phone and privacy.
* Survey data found that mobile wallet was most appealing to technology innovators and early adopters as well as subscribers who already rely heavily on their wireless phones.
