70% Of Mobile Users Never Downloaded an Application To Their Mobile. Maybe They Never Wanted To?
by
on March 18, 2009,
We keep talking about how mobile use of internet and internet applications is important for the overall future of the world wide web and how mobile users will eventually outnumber users of normal computers. Such talks are exactly the reason for many companies to jump on the board of developing various mobile applications and games hoping to quickly become rich.
But of course it is quite noticeable that there are some important limitations related to use of mobile devices and one of the most discussed ones is that of using VoIP applications for cheaper calls instead of using the services of your carrier (and of course VoIP is particularly important when it comes to making long-distance calls). Those developers working in this particular field have all the reasons to defend users’ rights to freedom in choosing what applications they install on their devices as carriers try to prevent appearance of such applications on the devices they serve in all the ways they can.
Skype is one of the leading players in this field so it is no wonder Skype is particularly defending all such freedoms. As part of their efforts to support freedom for the user to decide which applications to install and which networks to access, Skype has recently commissioned a survey of 3,000 mobile users in four countries (the US, UK, Japan and Spain) to determine what level of freedom they currently enjoy when it comes to use of applications on their mobiles.
The results are not optimistic for the proponents of mobile freedom as most users (67%) say the level of control over use of their mobile device is much lower than that over their computers. What’s even more devastating, as many as 70% of users admitted that they have never even downloaded an application on their mobile device.
What’s interesting, the same results look very different in Spain where users felt more control over their mobile device (same or even higher than what they have on their computers for as many as 53% of users surveyed) so as a result nearly half of all the users (47%) actually downloaded an application in their life.
But while the figure of 70% of users admitting to never have downloaded an application may sound like a devastating one, I have a feeling that the situation may not depend entirely on how networks and mobile carriers control users’ behavior as in some cases it may be more about a user’s general mentality and attitude towards their mobile devices.
For example, I personally don’t feel that I really have to feel that my cell phone is an extension of my computer to feel some control over this particular device. What’s more, I really don’t feel deprived about the lack of control over my cell - my level of control over it is perfectly sufficient for me as the only thing I actually need it to do is receive and send calls and text messages.
I am not really a very mobile person myself as my lifestyle is pretty much reserved to work from the comfort of my home where I spend most of my time with my computer anyway. And when I leave my apartment (to walk my dog or to watch a movie) the last thing I want is to be able to constantly check RSS feeds or updates from my Twitter friends. Really, I have enough of that in front of my computer to actually need my cell phone to do this as well.
Chances are that if I had to change my lifestyle or switched to an office position, I’d have learned to use a device that will keep me connected to the world all the time when I’m on the go - but that’s certainly not the case for now. Probably if I had to start using my cell more frequently as my main device, I’d notice the limitations from my carrier but for now I know the only reason why I’d also admit to never have downloaded an application for my cell phone: I simply never wanted or needed to.
