Although high-speed wireless data networks are available to the majority of all mobile phone users, few are migrating “desktop” activities to mobiles, according to a new report from Jupiter Research.
Jupiter found that among the most common activities, e-mail is the most widely used on mobiles, but regular users are still hard to find, suggesting an alternative to the browser allowing cell phone owners to access information quickly is necessary to promote adoption.
Overall, 63% of mobile phone owners are not using cell phones to access such internet services as search engines or to gather such information as the daily news, which are both popular activities on computers.
However, the fact that 37% of mobile owners are accessing some kind of information or services on their phone is a clear indicator of demand for more than voice services, said Jupiter.
Julie Ask, Jupiter Research vice-president, said: “We’re not advocating the browser go away – just that there should be an alternative for ‘glanceable’ content – the content people need frequently.
“Consumers are willing to pay for good experiences and products. The industry should focus on this reality. In turn, they can double or triple current adoption levels and drive up usage by focusing efforts on those cell phone users who would be motivated by a better user interface and more compelling experiences..”
David Schatsky, president of JupiterResearch, said: “Browser alternatives such as widgets or applets, which are mini applications that allow for content to be easily accessed from a home screen or with just a few clicks, can meet consumer demands for quick access to information.
“The goal should be to engage the user through ease of operation so that accessing information in this manner will eventually become second nature.”
According to research from Bango, the US is at the forefront of mobile web growth, with a three fold increase in usage over the past year (see US At Forefront Of Mobile Web Growth).
Bango said that the rapid rise is being fuelled by the increasing popularity of mobile search as a way of finding new content and services.
In other research, Point Topic and YouGov said that the UK would soon be seeing rapid growth in mobile broadband services (see Ofcom Plans New Public Service Channel To Rival BBC).
Almost four out of ten (37%) respondents cited the cost of sending and receiving data as the biggest disadvantage of mobile broadband today, three out of ten say it is the cost of the devices and 28% say it is the cost of accessing useful data.
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