Smartphones offer consumers a single device to meet all of their
communication needs - real-world tracking provides unparalleled insight.
This report profiles the real-world usage of over 1000 smartphone users across
France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the USA during August and September 2011.
The information collected includes foreground app usage, data traffic
(cellular and Wi-Fi), location (home, away and travelling), voice and SMS
usage.
This Report provides:
Insight into real-world smartphone usage behaviour by handset
manufacturer, operating system, country, age and gender.
A complete view of what happens on the device, irrespective of
connectivity type.
An understanding of the relationship between passive on-device measurement
and traditional survey methodologies.
Real-world smartphone traffic split by Wi-Fi and cellular data.
An insight into how data traffic use varies by handset manufacturer, OS,
country and age.
Details of: " how different modes of communication are used by smartphone
users throughout the day
how text-based communication is evolving on smartphones
the real-world impact of WhatsApp Messenger, over-the-top messaging and IM
Facebook, Skype, Viber and WhatsApp Messenger smartphone usage, by age
the penetration and usage of apps by category, handset manufacturer, OS,
country and age
real-world browsing usage and the resulting impact on the app market
how operating systems and app store strategies affects app consumption by
category of apps.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
7.Executive summary
8.Using an on-device tracker to monitor consumer smartphone usage in
Europe and the USA offers insights into traffic, apps and services
9.Our analysis shows that heavy users are a minority, but are responsible
for driving up levels of wireless data traffic - most have iPhones
10.Basic voice and messaging continue to be key activities on the
smartphone - but much text-based communication is now 'over-the-top'
11.Gaming, IM and social networking account for more user time than other
apps, but most smartphone owners use the mobile browser
12.Key implications and recommendations
13.Key implications and recommendations for operators [1]
14.Key implications and recommendations for operators [2]
15.Key implications and recommendations for vendors and developers
16.Introduction
17.Real-world usage: we measured consumer smartphone usage via an
on-device monitoring application, in partnership with Arbitron Mobile
18.Comparing the characteristics of passive on-device smartphone usage
monitoring, with 'traditional' questionnaire-based consumer surveys
19.Panel characteristics: demographics and device/OS market share
20.The smartphone user panel was designed to be representative of the
smartphone market in the countries covered
21.More than 50% of our smartphone panel were Android users in all
countries except Spain
22.Apple and HTC accounted for almost half of the smartphones monitored in
our panel
23.Smartphone data traffic: cellular, Wi-Fi and the impact of 'power users'
24.Smartphone data use varies according to OS, handset manufacturer,
tariff, age, gender and location
25.Only 64% of respondents used both Wi-Fi and cellular data on their
smartphone during our two-month study
26.Connectivity determines usage (or vice versa): Wi-Fi-only panellists
were light users; panellists who used both Wi-Fi and cellular were heavy users
27.Half of consumers generated less than 221MB of smartphone data (across
both cellular and Wi-Fi) per month
28.Wi-Fi had a greater number of very light and very heavy users whereas
cellular data usage is distributed more regularly
29.Heavier cellular data users are not necessarily also heavier Wi-Fi
users - 'power users' are not that common
30.iPhone users are heavier users of data than other consumers, and
increasing iPhone penetration could stimulate data revenue growth
31.Cellular data users in the USA are slightly 'hungrier' than in France,
Germany and the UK
32.Younger consumers generate more smartphone data traffic on cellular and
Wi-Fi networks than older consumers
33.The gap between claimed and actual smartphone usage indicates that
consumers have a distorted view of the value of wireless data connectivity
34.Voice and messaging: smartphones and OTT services
35.Smartphones are fulfilling their promise of providing a single device
to meet all communication needs, from basic voice to OTT services
36.Email has become even more popular than SMS for smartphone users
37.Almost half of smartphone users use IM or OTT messaging services, but
RCS-e continues to represent an opportunity for operators
38.A comparison with our Connected Consumer Survey reveals disparities
between perceived and actual text-based communication usage
39.As we see in Spain, the misalignment between the pricing of operator
services and consumers' perceived value drives the shift to OTT apps
40.Facebook and WhatsApp Messenger do not have the universal age appeal of
mobile VoIP services
41.Women are more likely than men to use social network apps on their
smartphones, but less likely to use mobile VoIP
42.Content and applications: usage drivers and customer segmentation
43.The smartphone content and app market is driven by only a tiny subset
of its ecosystem
44.Pre-installed 'platform' apps continue to dominate communication and
utility app usage, but add-on apps are gaining ground
45.Utility and social networking apps are more widely used than games
46.Browsing is a key part of the mobile content experience, driven by
searching and Internet links in apps
47.Most categories of add-on apps are used for less than 2 minutes per day
by each user, even if they have achieved widespread penetration
48.The most frequently used add-on apps come from a variety of categories,
but almost half of the apps were used only once by our panellists
49.Panellists in Spain used apps for as much time as panellists in the
USA, despite a much lower penetration of high-end smartphones
50.The operating system clearly has an impact on the take-up of apps -
most app categories enjoy more than 50% penetration on Android and iOS
51.The iPhone prevails as a media consumption device
52.Average app frequency of usage for iOS and Android is diluted by single
usage of 'long-tail' apps
53.The success of an app distribution strategy is driven by quality of
experience, rather than simply by offering a wide choice of apps
54.People in the 18 - 34 age category are clearly driving the app market,
but this will change as older people increasingly move onto Android devices
55.App tastes vary across different age groups and pleasing people in the
18 - 34 age category should not be the top priority
56.Methodology and definitions
57.Methodology and definitions [1]
58.Methodology and definitions [2]
59.Methodology and definitions [3]
60.About Arbitron Mobile and Analysys Mason's Connected Consumer Survey
61.About the authors and Analysys Mason
62.About the authors
63.About Analysys Mason
64.Research from Analysys Mason
65.Consulting from Analysys Mason
List of figures
Figure 1: Selected statistics from the panel of smartphone users
Figure 2: Distribution of monthly data traffic percentiles by smartphone
operating system
Figure 3: Distribution of smartphone panellists by usage of SMS, IM/OTT
messaging services and WhatsApp Messenger
Figure 4: Penetration rate versus average daily minutes of face time per
panellist by category of add-on app
Figure 5: Illustration of Analysys Mason - Arbitron smartphone data
analysis process
Figure 6: Characteristics of different types of primary research
Figure 7: Number of smartphone users in our panel, by country, August and
September 2011
Figure 8: Panel of smartphone users by smartphone operating system
Figure 9: Panel of smartphone users by age group
Figure 10: Panel of smartphone users by operating system and country
Figure 11: Panel of smartphone users, by vendor
Figure 12: Statistics related to smartphone data traffic, panel of
smartphone users
Figure 13: Distribution of smartphone panellists, by type of data
connectivity
Figure 14: Panellists' smartphone data usage and the distribution of total
smartphone traffic
Figure 15: Distribution of total average monthly smartphone data traffic
for panellists, by percentile
Figure 16: Distribution of total monthly smartphone cellular data traffic,
by respondent's data usage percentile
Figure 17: Distribution of total monthly smartphone Wi-Fi traffic, by
percentile
Figure 18: The relationship between the relative heaviness of Wi-Fi and
cellular data usage by panellist percentile
Figure 19: Distribution of monthly data traffic percentiles by smartphone
operating system
Figure 20: Average monthly cellular data consumption, by country
Figure 21: Average monthly cellular and Wi-Fi smartphone data consumption,
by age range
Figure 22: Perceived and actual usage of mobile content and apps, by
smartphone operating system
Figure 23: Time of day during which different smartphone communication
activities were initiated, as a percentage of daily instances within the panel
Figure 24: Active use of different text-based communication apps, by
operating system
Figure 25: Distribution of smartphone panellists by usage of SMS, IM/OTT
messaging services and WhatsApp Messenger
Figure 26: Perceived and actual frequent usage of communications apps by
type
Figure 27: Active use of different communication applications among
smartphone panellists, by country
Figure 28: Active use of different selected mobile applications among
smartphone panellists, by age group
Figure 29: Active use of different communication apps among smartphone
panellists, by gender
Figure 30: Selected panel statistics related to smartphone content and
apps usage
Figure 31: Proportion of platform and add-on apps used by smartphone
panellists, by number and face time
Figure 32: Share of smartphone panellists using at least one app, by
category
Figure 33: Average usage per smartphone respondent by category
Figure 34: Add-on app categories penetration rate versus average face-time
value for users of the apps
Figure 35: Frequency of usage of add-on apps among smartphone panellists
Figure 36: Breakdown of the top-100 most frequently used add-on apps, by
category
Figure 37: Average number of add-on apps used and add-on app usage, per
panellist, by country
Figure 38: App/service category penetration among smartphone panellists,
by operating system
Figure 39: App/service media category penetration among smartphone
panellists, by operating system
Figure 40: Number of add-on apps by frequency of usage per user, by
operating system
Figure 41: Penetration of top 50 add-on apps by operating system
Figure 42: Face-time value by operating system for the top 100 apps
Figure 43: Age group distribution for each app category
Figure 44: Penetration of app categories within each age group
Figure 45: Utility app categorisation examples
Figure 46: Entertainment app categorisation examples
Consumer smartphone usage: key findings from an on-device tracker published by Analysys Mason in May 28, 2012. This report price starts from US $ 4999.
