A survey of Mobile World Congress attendees conducted by SurfKitchen
suggests that mobile Internet services are ready for mainstream
adoption.
One third of attendees surveyed at the
industry exhibition stated that their mobile Internet usage has more
than doubled over the last year, with 67 percent currently relying on
WAP and mobile Internet browsers to access mobile Internet and data
services.
Of over 100 attendees surveyed, 90 percent indicated that that they
have increased their mobile Internet usage in the last year with the
highest percentage of respondents citing email as the most popular
service, followed by Internet browsing and news service. Of the
minority that indicated their mobile Internet usage has not increased,
one third reported discoverability and navigation to be the key
barriers to adoption.
"One look at the news from Mobile World Congress shows that the
industry is focused on the delivery of mobile Internet services and
applications," said Michel Quazza, chief executive officer,
SurfKitchen. "While our survey is only based on a relatively small
sample, it is notable that traditional access models are still used by
the majority of consumers to access mobile Internet and data services.
We expect this to significantly change over the coming months with
mainstream adoption of new mobile Internet platforms and application
stores. As a result, we will not only see a much greater increase in
mobile Internet usage, but also in the variety of services and
applications used by consumers regardless of their mobile device."
The potential of mobile applications stores has been a focus of the
show in Barcelona and respondents of the survey who already use
applications and widgets to access mobile Internet services reported
speed, ease-of-use and choice as the core benefits over traditional
access methods of WAP and mobile Internet browsers.
The survey results echo a recent Informa Telecoms & Media report
that predicted that annual data services will more than double from USD
148 billion in 2007 to USD 347 billion in 2013.* The barriers
identified by MWC attendees also matched recent industry research by
Forrester Research that found that discoverability and usability are
still presenting challenges to the industry.