Six months after the iPhone's US launch, has the device changed the mobile landscape‾ According to M:Metrics, the mobile media authority, the answer is yes. The iPhone is already the most popular device for accessing news and information on the mobile web, with 85% of iPhone users accessing news and information in the month of January.
Comment: The iPhone has certainly delivered on its hype. Beyond a doubt, this device is compelling consumers to interact with the mobile web, delivering off-the-charts usage from everything to text messaging to mobile video.
M:Metrics found that a staggering 30.9% of iPhone owners watched mobile TV or video, versus a 4.6 market average, and more than double the rate for all smartphone users. Usage of social networking is also popular among iPhone users: 49.7% accessed a social networking site in January, nearly 12 times the market average. 20% of iPhone owners accessed Facebook, one of the first web properties to customise its content for the iPhone, versus 1.5% of the total mobile market.
This data indicates that the iPhone's widgets are and effective means to drive mobile content consumption. Two featured widgets, YouTube and Google Maps are extremely popular among iPhone users: 30.4% accessed YouTube and 36% used Google Maps. By comparison, only 1% of all mobile subscribers accessed YouTube and 2.6 percent checked out Google Maps.
Mobile Content Consumption: iPhone, Smartphone and Total Market: January 2008
Any news or info via browser Activity iPhone Smartphone* Market 84.8% 58.2% 13.1% Accessed web search 58.6% 37.0% 6.1% Watched mobile TV and/or video 30.9% 14.2% 4.6% Watched on-demand video or TV programming 20.9% 7.0% 1.4% Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog 49.7% 19.4% 4.2% Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog 74.1% 27.9% 6.7%
Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of U.S. mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 31st January 2008, n = 31,389.
*Smartphones include devices running Windows, Symbian, RIM or Apple operating systems.
M:Metrics is also the first to report use of the music playing capability of the iPhone, with 74.1% of iPhone owners listening to mobile music in January, compared to 6.7% of the total mobile audience. 84% of iPhone owners who use an MP3 player use an iPod.
M:Metrics revealed the demographic composition of iPhone users, which are similar to the demographics of other smartphone owners. iPhone owners are more likely to be male, aged 25 to 34, earn more that €63,761/US$100,000 and have a university degree, than the average mobile subscriber.
While the demographics of iPhone users are very similar to all smartphone owners, the iPhone is outpacing other smartphones in driving mobile content consumption by a significant margin. In addition to the attributes of the device itself, another important factor to consider is the fact that all iPhones on AT&T are attached to an unlimited data plan. Our data shows that once the fear of surprise data charges is eliminated, mobile content consumption increases dramatically, regardless of device.
Below are the findings of M:Metrics' January Benchmark Survey.
Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: January 2008
Total mobile subscribers (13+) US EU FR DE IT ES UK 219m 220.5m 45.5m 48.5m 46.5m 33.5m 46.5m Watched video 4.6% 5.5% 5.3% 2.8% 6.7% 8.1% 5.6% Listened to music 6.7% 16.9% 14.7% 15.9% 13.9% 21.1% 19.9% Accessed news/info via browser 13.1% 9.4% 9.5% 5.5% 7.9% 7.5% 16.5% Received SMS ads 19.2% 50.6% 64.7% 31.1% 56.0% 73.1% 35.4% Played downloaded game 9.0% 8.4% 4.1% 7.5% 9.0% 12.3% 10.4% Accessed downloaded application 4.7% 2.7% 1.4% 2.3% 4.0% 2.4% 3.4% Sent/received photos or videos 21.9% 28.4% 25.5% 22.1% 33.2% 31.7% 30.6% Purchased ringtones 9.5% 4.1% 4.3% 3.8% 4.9% 3.9% 3.6% Used email 12.1% 8.4% 6.3% 6.9% 10.6% 9.1% 9.4% Accessed social networking sites 4.2% 2.6% 2.2% 1.1% 2.3% 2.5% 4.7%
Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 30th January 2007, mobile subscribers in France, n = 12,783 Germany, n = 15,585; Italy, n = 13,059; Spain, n = 12,720; United Kingdom, n = 15,259; United States, n = 32,262;