According to GetJar (“the world’s leading independent app store”), rapid growth in the use of mobile applications is leading to significant changes in consumer choice and behaviour. Results of a survey of over 2000 of its European users revealed that they are increasingly using mobile social networking apps instead of making voice calls, now take as much news from their mobile as they do from newspapers and TV, and surf the web more on their mobile than they do via their PC.
Typically heavy users of mobile content were asked a range of questions, including whether they used their PC or mobile more for accessing the Internet, with 70% saying they now prefer to use their mobile to surf. Natural gaps in their day are now being filled with mobile app usage – 43% of those surveyed do so either when travelling on public transport, at night before going to sleep (17%) or just when they are doing nothing else in particular (14%). Mobile social networking is becoming an increasingly important way for mobile users to keep in touch, with 30% stating that they now use their mobile more for social networking – via applications such as Nimbuzz, eBuddy and Mig33 – than they do for voice calls. This trend is reflected in the popularity of email and messaging apps which are the first choice for 25% of app users, ahead of games (24%) and music (15%). A massive 62% use their mobile to play games more than a PC or gaming console, clear indication that the quality of mobile games and the accessibility of the mobile phone are making mobile gaming a mass market trend. Consumers are also increasingly using their mobile as their primary source of news, at the expense of traditional mass media channels such as newspapers and TV, with 49% of those surveyed preferring to get their news via their mobile phone.
Interesting isn’t it? Across all axes, those that use their devices a lot for data services actually choose to do multiple things on them – from social networking, to the more traditionally-envisaged news reading. There were some other nice stats from the research too:
Respondents revealed that the worldwide growth in mobile apps – GetJar alone supplies over 30 million downloads per month – is led by word of mouth recommendation (33%) and by mobile browsing and search (17%). The ‘Apple effect’ was less pronounced, with only 3% reporting that they had first heard about mobile apps via Apple’s advertising campaigns. Only 43% of those surveyed use their operators portal to look for the mobile content they want, meaning a massive 57% are going “off-deck” to to satisfy their content cravings.
Over the course of the last 12-24 months, Applications have finally matured to the point where they connect and provide access to the wider Internet, over a mobile network(s) – things have become far more than just simply browsing, or downloading ringtones/wallpapers etc. Onward may the march continue!
If you want to check out GetJar’s very complete website for Application download, go here.
[Via: GetJar]