Accenture research showed some increased uptake in consumer adoption of mobile multimedia services. For instance:
- Watching video on a mobile device rose from 12 to 14 percent.
- Adopting web-enabled phones rose from 8 to 23 percent.
- Approximately one-third indicated web browsing is one of their top three mobile applications.
- Nearly 25 percent indicated listening to music on their mobile phone is a top three application.
A majority of phone users (41%) just use their mobile phone to make phone calls, followed by texting (22) and email (16%.)
Accenture research completed in the winter of 2008/2009 provides comparisons with last winter's 2007/2008 research data for consumer electronics. The goal was to determine if there had been any changes in usage between Baby Boomers + (age 45 and older) and Generation Y (ages 18 to 24). The research uncovered several interesting trends. Mobile video and mobile web use grew and the big winner was audio on mobile phones.
Baby Boomers Embracing Popular Consumer Technology
Applications Nearly 20 Times Faster Than Generation Y
Accenture's research found that boomers increased their uptake of popular consumer technology applications at an average of 50 percent last year, nearly 20 times faster than Generation Y. In fact:
- Boomers increased reading blogs and listening to pod casts by 67 percent year over year; nearly 80 times faster than Gen Y (1 percent).
- Boomers posted a 59 percent increase in using social networking sites--more than 30 times faster than Gen Y (2 percent).
- Boomers increased watching/posting videos on the Internet by 35 percent--while Gen Y usage decreased slightly (-2 percent).
- Boomers accelerated playing video games on the go via mobile devices by 52 percent-- 20 times faster than Gen Y (2 percent).
- Bomers increased listening to music on an iPod or other portable music player by 49 percent--more than four times faster than Gen Y (12 percent).
Generation Y's Cravings For Consumer Technology Applications Are Leveling Off
Accenture's research also found that Gen Y's use of many emerging consumer technology applications was flat to declining. For example:
- Participation in virtual worlds such as Second Life dropped from 23 percent to 19 percent; Consuming video online netted zero growth.
- Blog authorship or contributing to wiki's declined slightly (from 35 to 33 percent) as did participation in communities of interest (from 48 to 47 percent) and watching videos on a mobile device (from 29 to 26 percent).
- Cable television (regular cable declined from 66 to 62 percent; and high-def, from 29 to 27 percent).