Smartphone Owners Lead Daily Mobile Web Access

Smartphone owners, men, and consumers younger than 40 are most likely to access the internet via mobile phone at least once a day, according to a survey by ABI Research.

Half of Smartphone Owners Access Web Daily
Overall, ABI Research data indicates that about 25% of US consumers accessed the internet via mobile phone at least once per day in February 2010. Broken down into specific demographic segments, the data finds that about 50% of smartphone owners did so. Not surprisingly, this made smartphone owners the consumer demographic most likely to perform daily internet access with a mobile phone.

Close to 40% of both men and consumers younger than 40 performed daily internet access with a mobile phone. There was a sizable drop from this usage rate to the usage rate of next-most-active consumer segment, women (a little more than 20%). Consumers older than 40 followed with a usage rate slightly below 20%. Only about 15% of non-smartphone owners accessed the internet at least once a day in February 2010.

These results essentially reinforce stereotypes of technology usage. Early device adopters, males, and younger consumers are most likely to perform a technologically advanced activity, with women, older consumers and technology device laggards least likely.

Low Expense, High Personalization Drive Mobile Marketing Spend
The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of mobile marketing and advertising will exceed 40% in the next five years, according to other data from ABI Research. In 2009, well under half a billion dollars were spent on mobile marketing and advertising. During the five years to the end of 2015, that expenditure will grow at a compound annual rate of more than 40%, according to estimates from ABI Research.

ABI Research says this robust growth will be fostered by several factors. Compared to campaigns in more traditional media, mobile marketing can be relatively inexpensive. Moreover, ads can be highly targeted and naturally paired with rich mobile content that growing numbers of consumers are accessing through smart mobile devices.

One-third of Mobile Subscribers Use Browser
Applying different metrics, comScore found that 30.1% of US mobile subscribers ages 13 and up used a mobile browser in the three-month average between January and March, 2010. Texting was the most popular mobile activity, performed by 63.7% of subscribers.

About the Data: ABI Research surveyed 1,003 US consumers about their mobile internet usage.