The Australian Interactive Media Industry Assocation (AIMIA) has released the second annual Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index…From the executive summary:
- 66% of respondents purchased mobile content in the last 12 months, up from last year’s 50%.
- 59% of respondents accessed information services in the last 12 months, up from last year’s 35%.
- 45% of participants became aware of new mobile content via the internet, while TV decreased to 36%. In a good sign for the industry, the third most frequent method of becoming aware of new content was on the mobile phone itself.
- 51% purchased content via the internet from a PC, 26% via the portal and just over 10% using an SMS keyword. Entering the URL (mobile internet) was predominantly a male behaviour.
- Nearly half the respondents purchased a ringtone in the last 12 months with the majority purchasing polyphonic ringtones. Up from last year, 23% purchased a wallpaper, while 7% downloaded music to their mobile phone.
- Females (73%) were significantly more likely than males (27%) to download content.
- News was purchased by 22% of respondents, up from 17% last year. Weather, in second place, increased to 18% and movie information leaped to third position at 13%.
- A higher proportion of respondents from the 13-16 and 19-25 year old age groups purchased more content than other age groups. Respondents under 25 years accessed more information on mobile phones than others.
Also, 3G operator 3 and MVNO Virgin Mobile sold proportionally more content than other operators.
Australians want access to maps and directions (35%), weather (34%) and news content (32%). 38% of people reported wanting to use instant messaging applications on their mobile.
There’s some broader information in the SMH (such as the fact that comedy and adult content have taken a dip in popularity) and SmartHouse (“I argue that the content market as we know it has plateaued – that doesn’t mean that there’s no market for content, what it means though, is that the way we look at the content market has to change. The reality is that people are accessing content, but they are not necessarily paying for it.”)
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