A June survey by Telephia of 1,200 panelists has revealed an incredibly low percentage of people using the mobile internet, as the table below shows. Despite the poor uptake (so far) revealed in the survey remember that it’s supposed to represent 191 million mobile phone users, so the 4.8% which use e-mail represent 9,168,000 people, for example. Depending on your breakeven point there’s plenty of scope for profit.
It’s interesting that portals ranked so low…it could mean non-carrier portals. The table indicates that more people use the mobile internet for information rather than entertainment, which makes sense considering multimedia phones are still in the minority. Still, it’s going to take more than advanced hardware to convince people to use the mobile internet — it’s going to take a good value proposition accompanied by a strong marketing campaign.
A chart on the survey results here…
The survey also found that the sites that are popular on the internet tended to be popular in the mobile internet as well. “With their ubiquity online and brand awareness, bellweather websites are extending their reach from the PC to the mobile device,” said Kanishka Agarwal, Vice President of New Products, Telephia. “Availability and reliability of information on a website, rendering on a small screen, and ease of use are likely to be the key factors behind long-term success of mobile Internet sites.”
The Weather Channel was visited by the most people, garnering 2.5% of mobile users. This makes sense, considering that weather information is often needed in a timely manner in awkward places — or even at home a screaming child can make a parent miss the weather report on the radio. Another benefit weather has is that the information can be provided in a very simple format. After that came Yahoo Mail (2.4%), MSN Hotmail (2.1%) and Google Search (2.1%).
All up, are these results good or bad? That depends on how you view the metaphorical glass. The market is small, and there’s a lot of room for growth…although the big online brands dominate at the moment 2.5% penetration is not a difficult figure to imagine beating…
Related stories:
–Early Audience For Mobile TV Small But Enthusiastic
–Mobile Content In Western Europe To Reach รข
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