Over two-thirds of Britons expect their mobile usage to surge rapidly over the next three years, a new report has found.
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK conducted the research to determine how consumers in the UK, US and South Korea will use technology in the near future.
The study of 2,000 consumers found that UK consumers have the deepest emotional attachment with their mobiles, with 59 per cent of Brits claiming that ‘they couldn’t live without their handset’. In comparison, just 53 per cent of people in the US and 31 per cent in South Korea expressed similarly strong feelings towards their mobile. This could go some way to explaining why 69 per cent of UK respondents expect to use their phone more by 2015.
A total of 62 per cent UK consumers also revealed that they use their phone more to surf the web than make calls, although South Koreans were found to be the most likely to access the mobile web on a daily basis.
Those from South Korea, a country renowned for being technology advanced, also appeared to place higher demands on their mobile device, with just a quarter of respondents saying that they were satisfied with their phone. Us Brits appear to be less critical, with 51 per cent claiming that they were satisfied with their smartphones, although the proliferation of such devices could lead to us becoming increasingly picky over our choice of handset.
Andrew Crysell, Crowd DNA’s managing director, said: “The IAB presented us with a great opportunity to produce a striking piece of research work – one which clearly demonstrates that mobile, remaining a device that we all have very strong personal connections with, is viewed as increasingly powerful by consumers.
“People are demanding more and more from their mobiles and tablets. The pressure is definitely on brands and media owners to really deliver in this area, and this research provides valuable pointers.”
The survey, which was carried out in partnership with research agency Crowd DNA, also showed that tablet usage and penetration was higher in the UK than in the US or South Korea. Brits were also more emotionally attached to their tablet than respondents from other countries.
Alex Kozloff, IAB’s senior mobile manager, said: “It surprised us to see that the UK was actually leading the way in tablet usage out of the countries we surveyed. This is further proof that advertisers and publishers must make mobile and tablets an integral part of their strategy.”
As part of the research, consumers were also asked to rank a range of mobile technologies depending on how much they appealed to them. There were three very clear winners from the survey, with consumers expressing a desire to see the roll out of mobile wallets, mobile optimised websites and cloud based storage solutions. In fact, 74 per cent of UK respondents felt that the mobile wallet was an appealing new concept, though the majority felt that the other two technologies are more likely to become a reality in the near future.
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