E Y E O P E N E R1st Edition

March 2012

Welcome to the first edition of The Eye Opener, a quarterly look at the UK consumers and their use of digital media and technology.

All the facts and figures are gathered from Essential Research’s continuous tracking study, the Essential Eye, which is based on 1,000 interviews a month with a representative sample of adults aged 16+.

The Essential Eye is now available in the form of a quarterly snapshot or an annual subscription.

FIR

ST E

DIT

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In this first edition we’re looking at Smartphones and tablets.

Nearly half of mobile phone owners now have a smartphone, and 13% have an iPhone, so it’s important to understand what this means, both in terms of current usage and future adoption.

S M A R T P H O N E S & TA B L E T S

S O W H AT A R ES M A R T P H O N EU S E R SD O I N G ?

1

70% of smartphone owners have used their smartphone to access the internet in the past week. This rises to 82% of iPhone owners.

Nearly 6 in 10 have accessed email via their smartphones in the past week. Again this is much higher among iPhone owners (83%)

Question: Which of the following have you done on your mobile phone in the last week? (Smartphone vs iPhone owners)

A quarter have used their smartphones to find their location by GPS but this is also much higher (more than 4 in 10) for iPhone owners.

iPhone

23%Smartphone

6%

‘Received promotions or vouchers to save money at places close to where I am’ in the past week

iPhone

18%Smartphone

4%

Used Shazam-style song recognition apps

iPhone

17%Smartphone

4%

Listened to radio services

Interestingly, iPhone owners are four times as

likely to have:

W H AT ’ S T H EN E X T B I GT H I N G ?

2

So, looking at things that people can’t currently do on their mobile (or don’t know they can), but would like to be able to do, we see that the things that most appeal are practical benefits that make life easier, as we predicted in our Brandheld study a couple of years ago

P R A C T I C A L B E N E F I T S O F S M A R T P H O N E S

It’s one thing measuring what people are currently doing on their smartphones. But it can be just as interesting to see what else appeals to people.

Scan bar codes and use it to bring up information12%

Give me directions to where I want to go14% Find my location using

GPS13%

Pay for things by swiping my phone on a scanner13%

Translate things from one language to another11%

Make cashless payments in a shop for things costing less than £10

11%

Receive promotions or vouchers to save money at places close to where I am

11%

Recognise a song and tell me what it is12%

Question: Which of the following things that you cannot do on your mobile phone would you like to be able to do?

Mobile activities that are widespread, but with limited further appeal

Access full internet

Access email

Download apps

Record videos

Manage multiple social networks accounts

Let friends / social networks see where I am

Listen to internet radio

% mobile phone owners, September 2011

50%

8%

45%

8%

33%

5%

30%

4%

21%

2%

20%

5%

19%

7%

Can do this now

Would like to do it

Looking at what people believe they can do now, and what they say they’d like to be able to do on their mobiles, there’s limited benefit for mobile phone manufacturers and networks in continuing to promote many of the activities that drove the first wave of adoption.

Mobile activities that are widespread, but with room for expansion

Find my location via GPS

Give me directions where I want to go

% mobile phone owners, September 2011

It’s more interesting to look at activities where there is still a notable gap between current supply and demand.

Mapping and direction services are already becoming fairly widespread, but demand significantly exceeds supply (or perceived availability).

28%

13%

28%

14%

Can do this now

Would like to do it

Mobile activities that are niche, but with room for expansion

Other practical mobile activities – particularly those that serve as a shopping aid remain niche but have a real opportunity to grow in 2012.

There is particular interest among younger users and early adopters in using the smartphone for cashless payments.

Scan bar codes to get information

Recognise a song, tell me what it is

Get promos, vochers from nearby places

Translations

Recgonise things through camera and tell me what they are

Pay by swiping phone / make cashless payments*

% mobile phone owners, September 2011

Can do this now

Would like to do it

14%

12%

14%

12%

14%

11%

12%

11%

9%

11%

3%

14%

But other niche mobile activities including video calling, speech activated searches and even mobile TV viewing appear to have limited appeal - or comprehension - among a wider audience.

Set up video charts with friends

Open files e.g. Excel, PowerPoint

Watch catch up TV services

Convert speech into written text e.g. for voice activated web searches

% mobile phone owners, September 2011

Mobile activities that are niche and have limited claimed appeal

Interestingly, all of these features have appeared prominently in smartphone marketing campaigns in the past year!

13%

6%

11%

6%

11%

8%

12%

11%

Can do this now

Would like to do it

S O C I A LM E D I A O NT H E G O

3

When it comes to social media, certain behaviours have been migrating to mobile for the past couple of years.

While nearly all Facebook users still use a computer to access Facebook, nearly half also use a mobile. This has grown steadily from a third in November 2010.

But the computer remains the device used most often by nearly three quarters of Facebook users.

But when it comes to Twitter, the picture is different.

Although similar numbers of people used computers and mobiles to keep tweeting in the past week, the mobile is the dominant device, with 53% of Twitter users saying they used their mobile most often for Twitter access in the past week.

Questions: On which devices have you accessed each of the following websites or internet services in the past week?In the past week, which device did you use to access each of the following websites or services most often?

As we’re starting to learn, when it comes to immediacy, consumers choose the mobile every time.

T H ETA B L E TE F F E C T

4

The concept of tablet computers is now seen as ‘a good thing’ among a growing proportion of people.

Just over a quarter of our survey respondents say that they would like a tablet device / touch screen portable computer – if the price were right. This rises to 4 in 10 among 16-24 year olds.

The proportion of our survey respondents who own a tablet device has grown from 3% a year ago to 11%.

In total a third either have one or want one.

Nearly 9 in 10 respondents have heard of the iPad, and of these, a quarter are very interested in getting one, at the right price.

Question: Which of the following services or devices would you be interested in purchasing, if the price were right?

TA B L E T S :I N C R E A S I N GAVA I L A B I L I T Y TOE N T E R TA I N M E N T

5

We compared the types of apps used by mobile and tablet users and found that generally there is little difference in the top five types of app which, predictably, include games, social networks, music and news.

Games

Social networks

Music

News and weather

Navigation and maps % mobile phone owners, September 2011

Question: In general, what types of applications (or apps) do you download and use on your mobiLe phone / tablet computer?

Use generally on mobile(% of smartphone) Use generally on tablet(% of tablet owners)

44%

46%

43%

38%

35%

42%

35%

41%

32%

30%

But as you might expect, we are starting to see big differences between mobiles and tablets when it comes to the use of apps for entertainment, TV/video and books:

% mobile phone owners, September 2011

Entertainment

Utilities (e.g. clocks, torch)

TV, film and video

Books

Use generally on mobile(% of smartphone) Use generally on tablet(% of tablet owners)

30%

37%

30%

37%

19%

32%

16%

33%

Our research suggests that as tablet penetration grows, consumer ‘availability’ to media and entertainment will also grow.

Will this lead to more hours in the day being spent with media content? Or will it eat into traditional TV time? That still remains to be seen.

E s s e n t i a l Ey e

E: stuart@essentialresearch.co.uk malia@essentialresearch.co.uk

T: +44 (0)20 7384 1297

F I N D O U T M O R Ewww.essentialresearch.co.uk