TELECOMS & MOBILE
MMS to boom, WAP languishes: survey
03-06-2003
by
The latest Mobinet study concludes that MMS has the potential to be a big money-spinner, but the mobile Internet looks set to remain in the doldrums.
The Mobinet study, which was carried out by EDS subsidiary A. T. Kearney and the Judge Institute of Management at Cambridge University, said that most mobile users are aware of photo messaging and they are willing to pay for it.
In fact, more than 80 percent of the 5,600 mobile phone users in 15 countries said that they knew of MMS or photo messaging. Additionally, two-thirds of mobile phone users would pay for the service, and an astonishing 42 percent of under 19-year-olds would pay more than USD1 per MMS. Fourteen percent of all users said they were prepared to pay more than USD2 per photo message, and over 30 percent of respondents said they would be willing to use MMS at least once a week.
However, it is worth noting that only about 5 percent of the mobile phone owners surveyed had used actually used MMS in April 2003, the month the survey took place, and in Europe the figure was just 3 percent.
Still, Mobinet's authors said that the findings show that data services are beginning to look like a lucrative avenue for mobile operators. "The prospects for mobile data services seem to have turned the corner through a combination of greater phone capabilities, improved user experience and consumer comfort/confidence in using advanced phone features," said L. C. "Mitch" Mitchell, A. T. Kearney vice president and communications industry practice leader for the Americas.
Mitchell went on to say that mobile operators will need to offer compelling services to users in order to cash in on data services, and in this vein the study pointed to a number of emerging opportunities in the sector.
Using a phone to access the Internet, however, does not appear to be one of the most promising services. The report said that around 9 percent of European mobile phone owners went on-line with handsets in April 2003, up only 1 percent from June 2002. In the US the figures were flat at 8 percent. In fact, the global increase in wireless Net access, up from 11 percent of users to 15 percent, came mostly from faster-growing usage in Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong. Most users said a lack of content hindered their interest in the mobile Internet.
Other details in the report said that SMS text advertising continues to grow, with more than half of mobile users claiming they had received SMS ads, a 26 percent increase from the June 2002 study. The number of users who said they purchased something in response to these ads remained constant at 3 percent.
There also appears to be an interest in purchasing goods and services over mobile devices, although this interest is limited to only a few consumer categories, such as tickets to concerts and shows. Over a third of users said they would consider using the mobile Internet to purchase tickets, 19 percent said they would purchase travel services and 13 percent said they would buy groceries.
Interestingly, the Mobinet study also showed that while new handsets come with impressive new features, more than 60 percent of users said their most desired mobile phone innovations were improvements to basic features such as sound quality and battery life.
The Mobinet study has been conducted regularly since June 2000 and the most recent survey took place in April in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom.
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