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Submitted by Mike Grenville on Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:52 |
A survey has identified email as the most desired service for UK mobile phone users with Social Networking coming second.
The survey of 1,010 mobile phone users conducted by online usability and accessibility specialists Webcredible asked 'Which service would you use on your mobile phone if speed & quality weren't an issue?' 33% stated that email would be their number one priority followed by 25% of the votes for social networking.
20% of those surveyed also highlighted a preference for using their phone to access local information about their surroundings and a remaining 13% said that they would use their phone to obtain travel and route planning information.
- Social networks - 254 votes (25%)
- Email - 335 votes (33%)
- Local information/whats around you - 199 votes (20%)
- Travel information/planning - 135 votes (13%)
- Online shopping - 87 votes (9%)
Trenton Moss, director, Webcredible commented, "The ease of use with regard to accessing email via Blackberry and PDA devices has certainly caused a ground swell in consumers who want the ability to email on the move through a basic mobile device." However one wonders how many of those users who said they wanted mobile email already had it on their phone but had not set it up.
The Rise of Social Networking
"What I find interesting though," said Moss, "is the speed with which social networking is becoming a must have function on mobile. Over the next six months I see a continued increase in the number of people demanding social networking functions through their mobile against those who consider email to be the most important. One of the driving factors in enabling this will be the usability of the site and the skill with which site developers transfer from PC format to mobile format. Facebook has already developed a very accessible and usable mobile version of their site, ensuring its members get their daily Facebook fix."
Too Tough To Go Shopping
Interestingly, just 9% said that they would like to be able to shop online. Moss found this an unsurprising statistic. "There are two main reasons why mobile users are sceptical about shopping via mobile. Firstly, usability is a massive function and one which is difficult to overcome if shoppers want to view a good quality image of what they are buying. Secondly, there is still great uncertainty among the public about data security of shopping through mobile phones."
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