European consumers have been faster to adopt smartphones than their American counterparts, according to Telephia, the world’s largest provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets. In Q3 2006, smartphone penetration in Western Europe was 8.8% among recent device buyers; more than double that of the U.S. which was 3.8%.
Telephia’s European Subscriber and Device Report highlights significant differences between European countries. Italy has been at the forefront of driving mobile development and penetration in Europe and is also leading the adoption of smartphones by far. More than 95% of all Italians own a mobile phone and almost one in five buyers of new phones in the last six months (19.2%) bought smartphones. Recent phone buyers in Spain and the UK are also choosing smartphones with penetration rates of 9.5% and 7.5%, respectively. France trails with 3.5% of recent phone buyers upgrading to smartphones. This is only slightly less than the U.S. where the proportion of these devices among recent buyers was 3.8% in Q3.
European smartphone consumer demographic moving towards mainstream
A new wave of stylish and sleek smartphones launched recently in Europe and the USA is positioning the market to move beyond the traditional business-user niche. Telephia data shows that shift is already happening in Europe. Young professionals in Europe aged 25-34 were the largest group of smartphone owners in Q3 2006, followed by 35-44 year olds (see Table 2). Young professionals accounted for 27 percent of all mobile users, but posted a higher penetration rate of 34% among smartphone users. However, the gap has closed between smartphone and the general mobile user profile among all other age groups in the latest quarter. In addition, the proportion of women smartphone owners is increasing although they currently still seem to be predominantly owned by men in most countries.
