‘Evolution’ in mobile usage spurring increased adspend

As mobile phone technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, more and more people are accessing the internet on the go, using handheld devices.

Apple’s iPhone has arguably changed the face of mobile and smartphone use, with a multitude of ‘apps’ allowing the owner to do just about anything with their handset.

A recent survey by user experience consultancy Webcredible found that more than half of mobile phone owners now go online using their handset, with email and social networking the most popular activities.

The research polled more than 1,100 people between February and April this year, asking them what they used their mobile for the most, aside from calls and text messages.

Of those who said they went on the internet, 39 per cent said they mainly checked their email, while 16 per cent preferred visiting social networks on their handset.

The results show a dramatic change from when Webcredible conducted a similar survey in 2007, when users mainly accessed the internet to download ringtones.

Other findings from the study revealed that checking news or sport content was the main reason 13 per cent of mobile internet users accessed the web, while 12 per cent said they went online for maps and directions and four per cent opted for local or travel news.

Abid Warsi, senior consultant at Webcredible said that the results of the research indicated an “evolution” in mobile usage, even though many people still simply use their mobile for making phone calls and sending text messages.

He added that the findings were in line with the “increase in the ease with which mobile phone users can access the internet, the increase in speed and technological capabilities, as well as the decrease in cost”.

This research has been backed up more recently by telecom industry group the GSM Association, which predicted that accessing social media sites via handsets will see explosive growth in the coming months and years.

“We are seeing the tip of an iceberg of usage of social networking via mobile,” said Robert Conway, chief executive of the body, which represents 750 mobile phone operators worldwide.

He explained that the rise in the number of smartphones on the market has led to an “explosion of mobile social networking use”, while netbooks with internet connections were also creating more opportunities for surfing on the go.

The rise in use of mobile internet is likely to be giving marketers something to think about.

Advertisers are already devoting increasingly significant sections of their budgets to mobile marketing, with a recent survey by Juniper Research revealing that mobile internet will become the most popular delivery channel in 2009, attracting the largest proportion of mobile adspend throughout the forecast period.

Jon Mew, head of mobile for the Internet Advertising Bureau, says: “The potential is huge. It can only grow. It is like online was seven or eight years where there is this great new medium in terms of audience size but adspend was fairly static for a few years, before all of a sudden starting to catch up.”

“The same thing is starting to happen in mobile advertising now. The audience size is starting to accelerate quite quickly and advertising follows eyeballs. But mobile offers you a lot more than other platforms as well.

He explains that there is the potential to target consumers in a way that is not possible in some media.

“The relationship that people have with their phones also makes it more powerful because it is such a personal device,” he concludes.