UK: New Research from Ovum analyses the consumer end-user survey results, which included questions in several key areas such as broadband access, consumer devices, social networking and wireless multimedia. The survey covers 12 markets with focus on Asia-Pacific market with comparison on results from the US and Europe.

The survey was conducted online and we can therefore assume that in some markets respondents were early adopters of new technologies. For example, in China mobile phone penetration is relatively low (40 percent) compared to western markets, but mobile phone ownership was high among our respondents (98 percent).

Michele MacKenzie, Principal Analyst based in London, asked respondents what applications they used on a weekly basis on their mobile phones. "Our survey results definitely back up reports that mobile phones are becoming a substitute for the camera." In all markets our respondents were using their phones to take photos on a weekly basis, and the camera application was the most frequently used after voice and text, except in Japan (more on that later!). The number of users in the Asian markets was greater in most cases than those in the European markets; 7 percent of mobile phones users in Singapore use their phones to take photos on a weekly basis.

In Japan, the second most frequently used application on the phone was mobile email, with 77 percent of respondents using it on a weekly basis. This does not really come as a surprise given that email is used instead of SMS in Japan. In all other markets, the number of users using email on a weekly basis was far lower: 22 percent in China, 14 percent in Singapore, 11 percent in the US, and less than 10 percent in all other markets. However, we would expect this to grow significantly as more and more people want to access their emails while on the move. Out of all the main content categories, music, games and mobile TV/video were the most widely used on a weekly basis. 

When asked about other wireless applications, respondents in China, Singapore and to a lesser extent Korea all frequently use their phones to listen to music and play games. Interestingly, in China it is less likely that the mobile phone is becoming a substitute for the MP3 player and is the sole portable player for the user, but in Singapore it is more likely that there is a substitution effect. "This is likely due to the high proportion of high-end mobile devices in the Singapore market" explained Nathan Burley.

In Europe and the US the number of respondents using their phone to listen to music and play games is significantly lower than in Asia but it is encouraging to see that more than 10 percent are doing this and even 20 percent in some markets.

The application that is least used in many markets is video/TV. This is disappointing given that video has been available for some years now and mobile TV for a couple. This will be one to watch in future surveys. Significant sums of money have been invested to develop services but there are no real signs yet that users want to watch video and TV on their phones.

One of the most interesting developments to watch going forward will be the number of people accessing the Internet on their mobile phone. Take up of mobile Internet flat-rate packages is accelerating and mobile phone owners are increasingly using this service. The number of respondents accessing the Internet via mobile phone is already significantly higher than average in Japan due to the overriding success of iMode and subsequent data services.

The fact that China is second is an interesting one. We do assume that our Chinese respondents were probably more tech savvy than the average user as mobile penetration has only reached mass market recently. However, it is probable that for some respondents the mobile does not substitute the fixed line but is the only way for them to access the Internet.

In addition to asking about weekly application usage we also asked our respondents to indicate what prevented them from using their phone more for all applications. The single biggest deterrent mentioned was expense.

This issue, while not an insignificant one, is to some extent addressable. However, there was a low positive response rate to the question of willingness to pay for specific applications such as mobile TV or blockbuster films.  Some users though were willing to accept advertising in exchange for free content.

The response "not interested in these types of services" was also significant. This is a lot more worrying for service providers. This cannot be addressed through price adjustments or bundling to stimulate take up and provide more attractive packages. Building interest in the services and presenting them as viable substitutes for other fixed line or online services is altogether more challenging.