Accenture Research: Higher-End Mobile Applications Are Not Widely Used

By Shamila Janakiraman, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Accenture (News - Alert) Research released the results of a survey which found that although the use of handheld mobile devices in the U.S was high, the higher-end applications were not utilized fully by the country’s consumers. Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company.

The new survey noted that 88 percent of U.S. consumers revealed that they did not use their mobile phones or any other mobile device when watching videos. Also 84 percent of users did not even use their mobile phones or mobile devices for sending e-mail and 79 percent were not interested in using their mobile to play games while traveling.

The purpose of this survey was to identify and quantify spending patterns and how the devices were used based on more than a dozen consumer electronic devices and applications like cell phones, personal computers, TVs, and the Internet. The sample group of 5,000 adult respondents was divided into different age groups such as 18 to 34, 35 to 54, and 55 and older.

According to the survey, 38 percent of the respondents spent less than $500 for purchasing electronic products last year and it was found that the highest spenders were in the age group of 18 to 34. Among this age group, 17 percent of the respondents bought consumer electronic items priced between $1,500 and $3,000 which was higher than the 11 percent of people who purchased similar items in the age group 35 years and older.

The younger segment of respondents seemed to have spent more on consumer electronic items when compared to older respondents. Also, the younger respondents said that they were willing to pay a subscription fee of between $1 and $5 per month for someone who could help them by a phone to install and configure their consumer electronic products.

The 18-24 year olds were more interested in using social networking sites and writing for blogs and contributing to online sites. The percentage use of social networking, blogging and online sites was 10 times more in the younger group than in the older respondents group.

“These survey results point to important missed business opportunities in the mobile handset and social networking arenas,” said Kumu Puri, a senior executive with Accenture’s Electronics & High Tech practice. “Clearly, many consumers are not widely embracing higher end cell phone applications. And the vast majority of older Americans, in particular, are not inspired by the social networking phenomenon.

The survey was conducted by Internet-based market research company, Survey.com on behalf of Accenture. About 5,047 adults in the U.S were included in the survey conducted in December last year. The respondents were asked to identify the consumer electronics items they owned and how they used it, so as to understand their technology lifestyles. Several devices were included in the survey like computers, mobile phones, HDTVs and DVD players. The respondents selected were at least high school educated and the data was weighted so that the age groups and genders matched the latest census figures in the U.S.

Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Fixed Service Strategies for Mobile Network Operators, brought to you by Comverse (News - Alert).

Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Shamila’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Michelle Robart

(source: http://mobile-voip.tmcnet.com/topics/consumer-voip/articles/42944-accenture-research-higher-end-mobile-applications-not-widely.htm)

•	New Ingate CEO Anders Eriksson Discusses Future of.....
•	Paving the Way to Next Generation Media and Signal.....
•	Accenture Research: Higher-End Mobile Applications.....
•	Internet Titan Google Hopes to Make a Splash with .....

•	Symantec Pursuing Security SaaS
•	VoIP-Connected Households Predicted to Reach 30M b.....
•	WiMAX Forum to Establish Applications Lab in Delhi
•	Deutsche Telekom Selects JDSU for 10G Services Sup.....
•	AT&T Pushes to Extend Mobility Feature
•	Empirix Extends Carrier-Class VoIP and IMS Lifecycles
•	Communicado Delivers Management as a Service for VARs