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Proof Apple iPhone users can’t get enough mobile content

A new survey has confirmed what most people have already been talking about anecdotally: that iPhone users are massive consumers of mobile web content. According to the latest bit of research from M:Metrics, 85 percent of iPhone users accessed news and information on their device during January, compared to the average of 58 percent for other smartphone users and 13.1 percent for the rest of mobile owners.

The data consumption spike also carried across to other services, with 30.9 percent of iPhone owners watching mobile TV or video, compared to 4.6 percent of the market average or 14.2 percent of smartphones; while 49.7 percent of iPhone owners accessed a social networking site in January, compared to 19.4 precent of smartphone owners and 4.2 percent of average mobile users.

So what’s driving the trend: it’s not the speedy network access, after all, so it’s either the huge screen or the slick interface. Either way, I suspect once carriers and content providers get wind of this, they’ll be pressurising other handset manufacturers to start moving in the same direction while keeping their fingers crossed for a spike in data consumption as a result.

4 COMMENTS

  1. The Mippin blog has some interesting figures comparing the manufacturers of Mippin users’ phones with the proportion of repeat site visits.

    I find it intriguing that LG users make up only 8% of Mippin’s UK audience but are the most “repeating active users” whereas Nokia users return to the site least often. (Are all LG phones touch-sensitive? As good as the iPhone?)

    LIkewise in the US, more Motorola users visit Mippin than any other manufacturer but make far fewer return visits than iPhone users, who are top in the persistence (or is that loyalty?) stakes.

    It’s great that the iPhone is driving mobile internet usage (primarily so far in the US) but I’m looking forward to a head-to-head contest between S60 Touch and Android towards the end of the year!

    HeavyLight’s last blog post..Whatleydude’s N95 saga: VF comes out shining!

  2. Remember, iPhone users are browsing the web at this rate over other browser-enabled phones because iPhone users are forced to also buy the data package allowing for the ability to surf the mobile web. When people pay for things, they generally use them. Here, Apple not only made it easy, but they found a way to drive adoption by pushing consumers to try the service.

  3. @Giff — Sure, iPhone users are only browsing this much because it’s effectively free.
    But I’m sure they wouldn’t have taken to it so enthusiastically if the same deal had been on a shitty phone with a tiny display and an unfathomable interface.

    If Apple have ‘broken’ US reluctance to explore the mobile internet, I don’t care what inclusive deal it took — it’s good news for the industry worldwide.
    🙂

    HeavyLight’s last blog post..Whatleydude’s N95 saga: VF comes out shining!

  4. @HeavyLight: Spot on. iPhone users have the ‘perfect browsing storm’ of free data and the best UI.

    …..but I wonder how many of those visits are coming from WiFi as opposed to 2G – probably a very large % are WiFi. Yes, iPhoners get WiFi in their bundle, but you need to be in a WiFi destination like Star*ucks. Ergh. Over 70% of mobile usage occurs in the home or workplace, and I’ve seen nowt to challange that assumption for the iPhone.

    Q: is this M:Metrics study based on Google analytics of browser UAS hitting HTTP servers, with an assumption that the data channel for a mobile browser must be a mobile channel?

    In which case, the cost element doesn’t quite stack up. Non-O2/AT&T iPhoners (about a million of us approx. & counting) are definitely not ‘forced’ to buy any package. You could have an iPhone, rack up GB of browsing per month, and never touch a single MNO data packet. In fact, that must be (sticks neck out) how the vast majority of iPhone browsing is done – at home or work, on free WiFi.

    /m

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