Rating: Mobile users window shop online for handsets
A new report from Oracle confirms a handful of trends in the mobile/cellular sector which GoMo News has always highlighted. For example, the Oracle survey shows that data usage is increasing at a rapid pace as tablets, smartphones and apps saturate wireless space. More importantly, however, this report has attempted to quantify the fact that mobile users are consuming apps; shopping online; and that they still have absolutely no idea how safe information held in the mobile space actually is. The irony is that when it comes to actually purchasing their mobile phone, the vast majority simply go into a High Street store rather than purchasing online.
Even after visiting price comparison sites. That’s got to tell you something, hasn’t it?
Let’s look at the data which Oracle has acquired after surveying more than 3,000 mobile phone consumers worldwide.
The survey examined mobile phone use habits; interest in new mobile technologies; and expectations for service providers.
We think this is one of the more important findings. More consumers are continuing to leverage their mobile devices for retail activities.
30 per cent of mobile phone users comparison shop on their mobile device, while 24 per cent read customer reviews.
How about this? 14 per cent of those surveyed have scanned a QR code in from an advertisement or article. That’s a pretty impressive figure.
Yet strangely, only 16 per cent actually buy their mobile phone online because, when it comes to shopping for phones, 84 per cent of respondents prefer to purchase in store.
The data for mobile apps behaviour is equally intriguing. Apparently more than half (55 per cent of respondents) have downloaded a free app and 25 per cent have paid for an app on their mobile device.
Furthermore, demand for apps is spreading from phones to other mobile devices, particularly tablets.
57 per cent of respondents already own a tablet device or plan to purchase one in the next 12 months, even though the technology is in its infancy.
Now that’s astonishing. We’d never have put tablet usage as being so high. But then people don’t always behave rationally.
68 per cent of respondents do not believe, or are unsure, whether information stored or transmitted from their mobile device is secure.
Yet, although they have security concerns, respondents are becoming more comfortable with location-based services and online banking.
Finally, let’s look at data usage. 69 per cent of global mobile phone users reported using a smartphone and 47 per cent of mobile users have increased their data usage in the past year.
It’s classic proof that there has been an explosion in the demand for mobile data and a pent up demand for mobile apps. Obviously Oracle hopes that mobile operators will take note.
The report is entitled ‘Opportunity Calling: The Future of Mobile Communications – Take Two’ and is available from here.
