Maps Tops, 31% of Males 30-49 Spent $499 and Men Finance/Travel, Says Adobe

Adobe's latest mobile consumer study revealed some interesting news. Maps are the top content use, men 30-49 spend a lot of money online and many prefer the mobile web to mobile apps:

Here's what Adobe found:

Accessing maps and directions is the No. 1 mobile activity (81 percent) followed by three media-related activities: social networking (76 percent) accessing local information (73 percent) and reading news (68 percent). The top mobile finance activity is reviewing bank account information (67 percent).
Shrink-wrapped entertainment such as CDs, games and DVDs comprise the second largest mobile purchase category, accounting for 43 percent of those surveyed.
Males 30-49 years-old tend to be the most active content consumers and mobile purchasers; men outspend women, with 31 percent having spent $499 or more through their mobile device in the last 12 months, versus 23 percent of women who did so.
Men also spend more time than women on financial and travel content, while more women (80 percent) engage with social media on their devices compared to men (70 percent).
When it comes to the mobile user experience, respondents generally favor mobile browser experiences over downloadable mobile app experiences across all four categories, and they prefer mobile apps when interacting with social media and music and self-contained experiences such as games and maps.
Overall, consumers report equal satisfaction with their browser and app experiences and spend about the same amount of time interacting with each.
More women than men and 18-29 year olds use mobile devices to access social media; men access sports feeds and other information at higher rates.
Only 3% of all respondents say they have not interacted with mobile media in the last six months.

Within the consumer products & shopping as well as the media & entertainment categories, 66 percent of respondents cited that they prefer the mobile Web for accessing content compared to 34 percent who cited a preference for downloadable apps. The survey also demonstrated a huge opportunity for mobile commerce, with as much as 38 percent of respondents saying they had not purchased anything in the consumer products & shopping category from their devices in the last six months.

The study also found media & entertainment to be the highest-penetrated mobile category, both by number of users and time spent, with only 3 percent of those surveyed saying they had not interacted with media content on a mobile device in the last six months. In contrast, consumer products & shopping was the least penetrated, with the fewest number of users citing that they have purchased consumer goods from their phones. Despite their differences, media & entertainment and consumer products & shopping drew the highest percentage of satisfied mobile users out of the four categories, with 89 percent and 85 percent respectively.

"Though mobile apps continue to be extremely popular, mobile users aren't ignoring mobile websites," said Brad Rencher, vice president and general manager, Omniture Business Unit, Adobe. "This and other findings make it clear that companies can significantly enhance their customers' mobile experiences and better drive mobile e-commerce revenue. With Omniture optimization technology and Adobe Scene7's rich media platform that delivers content across multiple devices and screens, Adobe is helping customers find the right mix of mobile website functionality and mobile applications, optimized to provide the most relevant and engaging experiences and content. Our customers are finding that an optimized mobile strategy, whether it consists of a website, an app, or a combination of both, can become a tremendous competitive advantage."

The study of 1,200 U.S. consumers measured mobile user preferences, characteristics, satisfaction and other experiential factors across four key consumer categories: consumer products & shopping, financial services, media & entertainment, and travel.

The Adobe Mobile Experience Survey: What Users Want from Media, Finance, Travel & Shopping was conducted by Keynote Services from Aug. 25-30, 2010, to help businesses gain actionable insights on how to improve the mobile user experience. This quantitative study measured mobile user characteristics, preferences, satisfaction levels and other experiential factors across four key consumer categories: consumer products/shopping, financial services, media & entertainment, and travel. Keynote Services surveyed 1,200 U.S. consumers across a wide range of age groups (18-29; 30-49; 50-64; and 65+) and mobile device ownership; the survey responses were analyzed across gender, device and age. A complete, detailed summary of the report is available at: www.scene7.com/MobileUsers2010.