Mobile online: not just for early adopters
Mobile online abounds! Finally young people are starting to get their piece of the action with 51% of young people accessing the internet via their phone.With better infrastructure, all-inclusive surfing packages and functionality improving across the more modest handset ranges, the world of web and walk has become accessible to young people. Okay, so it’s all very well that they’re online, but what does that mean in real terms; how much has it got their attention? Well, of this half of young people, they are spending on average nearly 3 hours a week online.
Average use doesn’t tell the whole story, though. On average 19-21 year-olds spend 1 hour 50 minutes per week using mobile internet, whilst 22-25 year-olds spend considerably more, at 3 hours 45 minutes. Furthermore, the 22-25 group are generally accessing online via mobile about twice a day, compared to the 19-21 who are usually only online once a day. 30% of young people spend between 5 – 10 minutes online per session.
Fair enough that’s not much compared to computer usage online, but it’s still fairly impressive considering the difference in overall usability. But to give it a bit more context, they watch television (yes, remember that!) for only about 5 hours a week. So there is a comparison given the lifetimes of each, it can’t be long it’ll be before mobile online has parity with this most venerable of media platforms.
High-end handsets: not a luxury, a necessity
As we know, generally in recessionary periods, consumers’ luxury spending tends to decline. But while perhaps much of the rest of the population considers handset bling to be rather discretionary, it seems that young people do not. A rather impressive 30% have an iPhone or Blackberry. As you might expect, the Blackberries have greater penetration with older youth (21% of 22-25s, compared to 5% of 19-21 year-olds). IPhones also have a not unimpressive 9% market share among 19-21 year-olds; that figure rises to 13% market share among 22-25 year-olds.
As we report in our Recession piece, with so many young people being in education, it means they are somewhat insulated from the worst of the downturn, but it’s still pretty impressive stuff considering the expense of such products. So: why the apparent need for such high-end ‘hand candy’? Business deals to cut? Stocks and shares to keep track of, perhaps? Social networking. Yep, social networking was their top mobile internet habit – with 67% of them citing it as the most popular thing to use mobile internet for. To paraphrase that ancient philosophical pondering: if a tree falls in a forest and you don’t update the event on Facebook, does it make a sound?
Blogging: the least popular thing on mobile… and not coz of Twitter
There was a time when it seemed like you couldn’t get a bigger buzzword than ‘blogging’. And indeed there were (are) some sites that made their previously unknown authors celebrities in their own right. This gave every would-be citizen journalist, ‘pro-sumer’ and ranter out there, the idea that because you now could do it, you should do it. This thought led to some pretty awful results with too many people who shouldn’t have been, shouting into the ether, with much more being written than read.
Well, our findings conclude that blogging is absolutely the least popular thing to do for 19 – 25 year-olds to do via mobile online, with just 11% saying they did it. This compares to an average of18% for computer-based blogging, across the 19-25 year-old age range. So, all in all blogging is not quite what it used to be… and we say amen to that. Sure, you might think, that’s because Tweeting is the new blogging. Well, actually given the tremendous hype, young people aren’t very active, with just 17% having used it. Sure, it is growing, but nothing like the phenomenon the media would have us believe.
What are they doing when they’re on their mobiles - besides Facebook?!
They’re not just buying high-end handsets for the pose, but definitely for the functionality aspect. There’s some obvious activity, with the likes of Instant Messenger and Skype, but more of a surprise is the enthusiasm for video messaging/calling and ‘Geotagging’ (tagging interactive content onto online maps).
Let’s consider some of the other handset capabilities and daily usage. Only 9% of young people watched any TV on-demand on mobile, and even those that did only watched for an average of 5 minutes. About one fifth of 19-25 year-olds read newspapers or magazines online, and averagely for about 15 minutes. Again, about one fifth game, and those that do, do so for only 8 minutes. 16% listen to the radio via mobile, for an average of 8 minutes a day. 18% watch film, or other content for just 7 minutes. And finally, perhaps most surprising of all, only 35% listen to music on mobile; and for an average of 19 minutes a day. Their interest seems to be piqued by the social interactivity dimension of iPhones, Blackberries and the like, rather than simply media. Also there are potentially greater cost/battery/memory issues with using some of the richer functionality.
What’ll be hot in Mobile Land for 2010?
In our wide-ranging exploration of Tech Tribe, we got to the bottom of the technology they’re using, not just right now, but that they intend to use in the next year. And it was interesting to the note the differences between what they’re currently using and what they intend to use in terms of levels of growth. Some of the things that caught our eye… Twitter has only been used by 17% of 19-25 year-olds and only a further 11% intend to use it. There’s been so much hype, in the first instance you’d think more people had used it; and that take-up in 2010 would be much greater.
‘Geotagging’ (tagging interactive content onto online maps) and video messaging/calling look to be in for some of the biggest growth with 22% already using them, but a further 17% intending to use in the next year. Skype also seems to be heading for success on mobile: usage is standing at 13% now with a further 22% intending to use; indeed 27% among the older 21-25 year-old age group. Cutting edge does not always equal success. It’s not looking good for Blyk with 6% of 19-25 year-olds having used it and only a further 5% intending to use it. Nor is it looking good for QR Codes (‘Quick Response’): with current low use at 4% and only another 5% intending to use, it’s failed to capture young people’s imagination.
