Novarra today launched its first Mobile Internet Experience Update. This will be an ongoing report, examining how consumers interact with the mobile Internet. The first results were launched today, and we’re having a look at some of the key findings.
Where is Novarra getting this data from?
Novarra has a lot of mobile Internet solutions in place with various operators and service providers worldwide. It handles mobile browsing, widgets and content adaption (for starters) and has been collating the information gained from users on these services. These reports represent the analysis of this data.
Key findings:
- The kind of device you use isn’t as important as you’d think. Where a good mobile Internet experience is provided, people with regular old feature phones use the mobile Web just as much smartphone owners.
- The mobile Web is just as “top heavy” as the on-line web. The #1 website will usually draw 5% of total mobile page views. #2 gets less than 1% – and the rest of the top 500 get only 25-30% of total page views
- 40% of mobile internet sessions are under five minutes and 40% are over 15 minutes
For examining users, Novarra split people up into five loose categories, or “tribes” based on their user profiles:
“The Business Pro – Dependent on their mobile to be more productive and to handle all their communications
The Mobile Millenial – Early adopters and young adults with disposable income
The Connected Kid – Children and teenagers who have grown up with technology from a young age
The Multitasking Parent – Use their mobile phone to stay in touch and manage family schedules
The Frugal Fanatic – Cost conscious of spending, usually opting for a free handset”
Novarra had some findings that were specific to the “Tribes”:
- The most active Tribes are the Multitasking Parents and Mobile Millennials, with roughly 2/3 of all mobile browsing sessions between them
- Even though the Business Pros tend to have the fanciest devices, they generate a lot less mobile browsing than expected. They also use news, sports and info sites far more than the other Tribes, and are the lightest social networkers
- Mobile Millennials and Connected Kids are the heaviest social networkers
- Connected Kids have the highest page view counts of all the Tribes – they browse a lot more for entertainment
- The “older” groups, Multitasking Parents and Business Pros, have less page views than the other Tribes. They tend to be all business when browsing, spending no more time on-line than strictly necessary
From the release:
“It is critical for mobile operators, handset manufacturers and internet brands to understand, for instance, how up-market business users vary from tech-savvy kids, always-connected young adults or budget-conscious consumers in order to provide a satisfying mobile internet experience,” comments Scott Cotter, Sr. Director, Marketing. “Novarra understands and is uniquely able to share these findings with the industry.”
What we think?
I like the “Tribes” idea – rather than viewing each user as an individual set of numbers, it gives a better idea of how broader social groupings interact with the mobile Web. There would also be a big difference between, for example, a European Connected Kid and an India Connected Kid, in terms of how much music they use, etc.
