Tag Archives: smartphones

Ofcom report: 30 stats on smartphones and internet use

Ofcom today (4 August) released its TV, radio, broadband, telecoms and mobile industries report, noting significant changes over the “digital decade” since 2001.

Here is the 341 page Communications Market Report boiled down to a list of 30 facts and figures that are relevant to publishers.

Smartphones

1. More than a quarter of adults (27 per cent) own a smartphone;

2. Almost half of teenagers (47 per cent) own a smartphone;

3. Nine out of 10 people (91 per cent) own a mobile phone;

4. Three in 10 mobile phones are smartphones;

5. Most people with smartphones (59 per cent) acquired their device in the past year.

Internet use

6. More than a quarter of people use their mobile phones for internet access. In the first quarter (Q1) of 2011, 28 per cent of UK adults claimed to do so;

7. Those aged 16-24 are more than 10 times more likely to go online via a mobile than those aged 55+;

8. More than three quarters (76 per cent) of homes are now connected to the internet;

9. For the first time household internet take-up (78 per cent) exceeded computer ownership (77 per cent) as a small proportion of households went online using mobile phones only;

10. More than two-thirds (67 per cent) of households have a fixed broadband connection and 17 per cent have a mobile broadband (dongle) connection. In Q1 2011, 26 per cent of over-75s had home internet access, as did 55 per cent of 64-74 year-olds;

11. Consumers use a wide range of devices to access the internet at home. In 2010, 69 per cent said they accessed the internet at home via a laptop or PC, 31 per cent via a mobile phone;

12. Wifi routers were used by 75 per cent of broadband using households in Q1 2011;

13. More than half of all UK households are passed by super-fast broadband;

14. Google has more than three times the user base of any other search engine;

15. The leading blogging site is Google’s Blogger, which reached 8.2 million users in April 2011.

Facebook and other social networking

16. Social networking accounts for more than a fifth of all time spent on the internet;

17. People spend more than five times as much time on Facebook than on any other site;

18. More than 90 per cent of social networking time is spent on Facebook;

19. The most popular claimed use of the internet on mobile phones was social networking services (used by 57 per cent of mobile phone internet users);

20. Mobile users of Facebook spent an average of 5.6 hours on the site in December 2010 (11 minutes a day);

21. In Q1 2011, 46 per cent of UK adults claimed to use social networking services on a home internet connection. There are signs that the growth of social networking may be reaching saturation point: total time spent on social networking sites was just 1.3 per cent higher in April 2011 than in April 2010.

Smartphone brands

22. The Apple iPhone is the most popular brand of smartphone, but BlackBerry handsets are a favourite choice among younger consumers;

23. Apple’s iPhone has a 32 per cent share among adults. This is the brand of choice among ABC1s (37 per cent) and is even higher among ABs alone (44 per cent). But BlackBerry handsets have also taken a significant share of the market (24 per cent) and are particularly popular among younger adults and teens (37 per cent each).

Advertising and commercial

24. More than a quarter of all UK advertising spend is on the internet. Advertising spend on the internet grew by 16 per cent in 2010, to more than £4 billion, accounting for 26 per cent of total advertising spend in the UK, marginally ahead of television;

25. Mobile advertising increased by 121 per cent in 2010 to reach £83 million;

26. In 2010, the mobile advertising market was only 2 per cent the size of the internet ad market. However, driven by increasing use of internet services on mobile phones, together with more sophisticated business models (for example, fully or partially advertising-funded mobile applications), mobile advertising revenue more than doubled during 2010. Search-based advertising increased by the greatest amount (172 per cent) and increased its share of mobile advertising from 54 per cent to 66 per cent;

27. Nearly three-quarters of internet users shop online. Visitors to coupon and reward sites increased by 25 per cent in the year to April 2011, when nearly 40 per cent of internet users visited at least one such site.

Apps

28. Just under half (47 per cent) of adult smartphone users have ever downloaded an app, with one in five (20 per cent) doing so regularly;

29. Regular apps downloaders are skewed male and age 25-34. Just over half (54 per cent) of apps downloaders have paid for an app – with their mean average maximum spend on a single app being £3 – £3.99;

30. Apps downloading is higher among teens than adults; around two-thirds (63 per cent) of teen smartphone users have ever downloaded an app, with one in four (28 per cent) doing so regularly. Six in ten (60 per cent) have paid for an app. The average maximum amount of spend among teens is £3.70 and the median is £3 – £3.99.

See a further 10 facts on mobile media.

All graphs taken from the Ofcom report.

#mobilemedia11: Ten facts on mobile media – phones and tablets

Publishers are embracing mobile technology to find new ways to enter the ever-expanding market. Speaking at today’s Mobile Media Strategies event in London, Ronan de Renesse, senior analyst at Screen Digest, listed 10 facts on what mobile means for publishers.

1. The smartphone market is only 25 per cent of the mobile market in the UK.

2. The UK is Europe’s leading market for smartphones.

3. There are 18 million smartphones in the UK. By 2015 there will be 42.9 million.

4. In 2015 there will be more Android smartphones in Europe than the total number of smartphones on the continent today.

5. Apple has a 82.5 per cent market share of apps.

6. Android’s Market will take a increased market share

7. Games account for around 50 per cent of apps downloaded from Apple’s App Store.

8. Rich media, which includes content and data revenues, account for just 2 per cent of total revenue. “But it doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant. Rich media is very important for the future,” says de Renesse.

9. The introduction of tablets has affected the price of apps. The average price of a tablet app is almost double the price of a phone app therefore the average spend by the user is greater.

10. The future for publishers could lie in small, in app transactions.

UK publishers dominate top grossing iPhone news apps list

British news publishers are leading the way in the iPhone app download charts, according to rankings displayed in Apple’s iTunes store.

The Guardian (version 1) tops the list, followed by MailOnline in third place. The top five grossing UK news apps are:

  1. The Guardian (version 1)
  2. MailOnline
  3. The Economist
  4. The Sun: Bizarre
  5. The Scotsman

iTunes also lists the top free iPhone news apps but apparently uses an algorithm based on the last four days of sales/downloads. So, bearing in mind this is more of a snapshot (which may also be a bit  skewed because we are currently in holiday season), the top five free UK news apps are currently:

  1. BBC News
  2. Sky News
  3. MailOnline
  4. FT Mobile
  5. The Economist

At the time of writing, they also appeared in the same ranking for worldwide news apps.

The top five paid-for UK news apps are currently:

  1. The Guardian (version 1)
  2. This is Bristol
  3. The Scotsman
  4. Macworld UK
  5. MacUser Magazine

Journalism.co.uk’s own free news app, which features this blog, our main news, editorial job listings and press releases, is currently ranked 72.

Google News redesign for smartphones

Yesterday Google announced a global rollout of its redesign for Google News on smartphones, which applies to Android, iPhone and Palm Pre handsets.

New features include an expansion of the story space to make tapping on articles easier and more accurate, as well as a “collapsed” initial view of news lists, offering one source as a default to cut down on scrolling. To view related articles from other sources users can tap on ‘More Sources’ for a list of other reports.

Full announcement on Google’s blog

Guardian to relaunch iPhone app with new charges, revamps mobile site

The Guardian has announced significant developments in its mobile plans today. The first is a new mobile site for Guardian.co.uk, with more content from the website, topic pages, bookmarking options and faster updates as some of the key new features.

Our aim is to improve the service for those of you with smartphones, who make up the majority of our growing mobile audience. At the same time we are committed to maintaining an accessible service, optimised for smaller screen sizes and slower connection speeds, for anyone using other handsets.

According to a release from the Guardian, its mobile site in September generated an average of 507,000 page impressions a day – almost double the figure for September 2009 of 217,000. More than five per cent of Guardian News and Media’s total digital page impressions now come from mobile devices.

But perhaps more significantly the publisher has announced plans for an updated version of its iPhone application. The app initially cost £2.39 –  a one-off charge since its launch in December. Critics at the time questioned the economics of introducing an app without a subscription or renewal model. The new app, which is currently awaiting approval by Apple, will charge £2.99 for six months or £3.99 for an annual subscription.

The UK app has been downloaded more than 205,000 times since its launch. A free version of the app will be launched for US customers and the Guardian says it is experimenting with different models for different markets.

Forbes.com: Journalism, mobile, and the ‘fifth wave of computing’

From last week, but well worth a read – Forbes’ columnist Trevor Butterworth on the opportunities for news groups and journalism provided by “the fifth wave of computing”: “the massive ramping up of the mobile internet and the evolution of mobile phones into ‘life devices’ through 3G, cloud computing, GPS and second generation barcoding”.

Newspapers and magazines with luxury goods supplements and sections could be the testing ground for a new kind of advertising built on mobile interactivity (…) All of this technology exists – mobile devices with sufficient camera resolution to scan barcodes have been shipping for the past year -and these capabilities appear to augur well for service and local journalism, upon which hard news will need to collaborate if not piggyback.

But the real challenge in taking advantage of this new wave is whether news organisations can work together and stop thinking of themselves as “insular, completely self-sufficient” operations with full control over their distribution, says Butterworth. It is this “bold thinking” that will master the mobile world, he says.

Full article on Forbes.com at this link…

Next Generation Journalist: Ignore the mobile app market at your peril


This series of 10 moneymaking tips for journalists began on Adam Westbrook’s blog, but continues exclusively on Journalism.co.uk from today. Adam’s e-book, Next Generation Journalist: 10 New Ways to Make Money in Journalism will be available to download in full on 20 May.

05. develop news apps for mobiles


By the end of last year more than 41 million smartphones had been sold worldwide. That’s 41 million potential customers if you can create the right product, which is why it’s one of the new career paths the Next Generation Journalist would be stupid to ignore.

The iPhone, iPad, Nexus, Blackberry and Android: there’s no doubt the mobile market is a massive one. And it’s one we’re already seeing many journalists step into. Larger organisations like CNN, the Guardian and NPR have all developed popular apps for users. We’re also seeing smaller startups move into this area too.

Apps don’t just have to deliver hard news, they can also provide useful public services such as crime data.

The business model might work like this: you take publicly available information like crime stats, authority information, traffic data etc., craft it into a useful and easy to use app and sell it. If it adds value to peoples’ lives, they’ll buy it, and that is the test your idea will have to pass.

Apps also benefit from a double sell: you can charge users a small amount for the app itself, and then if you’re providing fresh content within it, you can charge a subscription fee to use it too.

Developing apps for mobiles…

  • gives you experience in an area hardly any journalists are familiar with
  • can be satisfying to work on as a journalist if you create the right product
  • can potentially make a lot of money (it’s a huge market don’t forget)
  • once the product is created and on sale, it brings in money with zero effort (allowing you to pursue other work)

The key point I get across in the ebook is that you don’t need to know code to make an app. If you have the killer idea you can outsource the design and the coding parts to either specialist companies or talented individuals.

Click here to find out more.

Magazine publisher Imagine looks to iPads and iPhones with digital editions launch

Specialist magazine group Imagine Publishing – which produces titles including Retro Gamer, X360 and Advanced Photoshop magazine – has made its entire magazine portfolio available for Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users.

It’s no surprise given the publisher’s commitment to creating digital edions, its range of online-only titles and the digital focus of many magazines that it’s decided to launch paid-for apps across these platforms.

But interestingly these applications, developed by technology company PixelMags, while creating digital editions of the titles rather than an iPhone or iPad-specific version, will feature embedded video clips.

What’s more, digital magazine subscriptions created by PixelMag are certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations electronic, so the apps will potentially count towards Imagine’s circulation figures.

Metro UK and Metro Herald launch iPhone apps

Both titles last week launched free-to-download applications for the iPhone featuring scrolling editions, which means users are presented with a digital replica of the print edition that can be browsed page-by-page or searched through by keyword.

The apps have been developed by PageSuite, which produces digital, online editions of newspapers including the Metro.

Readers can also use the apps to download articles or editions to read them offline.

Editors Weblog: Figaro group’s new financial news subscription service

EditorsWeblog reports that the French newspaper group Figaro has launched a financial news subscription service, WanSquare, that sends economics updates to users’ smartphones, available in French or English.

“The newspaper group advertises the service as an exclusive resource for the ‘deciders’ in the French business world.”

Full story at this link…