What in the world are you doing with your mobile phone? World

Medical Mobile Development Project: D1.1
What in the world are you doing with your
mobile phone? World differences in the use
of mobiles
December 2010
Authors
Address for correspondence
Jo Colley
Asi DeGani
Geoff Stead
Tribal
Lincoln House, The Paddocks
347 Cherry Hinton Road
Cambridge
CB1 8DH
United Kingdom
m-learning@tribalgroup.com
Web addresses
License
www.mole-project.net
www.triballabs.net
www.m-learning.org
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter
to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite
900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
This work relates to a Department of the Navy Grant N62909-11-1-1032 issued by the
Office of Naval Research Global (ONRG) and funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research
and Material Command, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC)
entitled Medical Mobile Development Project.
World differences in the use of mobiles - Dec 2010
Introduction
This paper looks at the differences in mobile use across the world, and how this might reflect both
cultural differences and the economic, environmental and social circumstances in which people
live. There are still parts of the world in which network coverage is poor, or the per-capita income is
extremely low, and clearly this affects mobile use. Within populations there may be differences,
and even between different countries there may be differences in the ways in which phones are
used. The impact of India’s and China’s increasing industrialization on their respective populations
has resulted in an increased use of mobile technology, for example, even in those regions within
these countries’ vast geographical area where mobile usage and network coverage is low.
Background
“The now pervasive roll-out of 3G and 3.5G coupled with aggressive market tariffing and the
new breed of smartphones and dongles has signalled the arrival of mobile broadband as the
preferred method for going on line for millions of customers worldwide. Mobile broadband is
now the critical revenue driver for many mobile operators and now competes effectively
against many wireline offerings. Mobile broadband has taken mobile into the home and
office and heralds a new era in the way we communicate.” (GSM Association Awards 2011)
“[The mobile is] an object that, in the space of a decade, has become as essential to human
functioning as a pair of shoes.” (The Economist)
“I have one phone for work, one for family, one for pleasure and one for the car.” (A Middle
Eastern salesman quoted in a study for Motorola)
“Regardless of culture, when people interact with personal communication technologies,
they tend to standardise infrastructure and gravitate towards consistent tastes and universal
features.” (James Katz from Reutgers Uni New Jersey)
“We see more differences within countries than between them.” (Kathryn Archibald from
Nokia)
Almost everywhere in the world has mobile phone use at some level. 90% of the people on the
planet are covered by a mobile phone network. Even in rural communities this figure is at 80%,
which covers a lot of people – but not as much actual land. In 2008, the world’s uncovered areas
were in: India (26%); the rest of Asia-Pacific (19%); West Asia and Middle East (16%); Latin
America and Caribbean (15%); Sub-Saharan Africa (10%); Russia and Eastern Europe (6%);
China (4%); and North Africa (2%). But these figures are changing rapidly.
High population coverage spans countries in all regions, but it is still the case that the most
important influence on penetration is per-capita income and a high total cost of mobile ownership.
Our research shows that in Africa, Asia and the Americas, there is lower penetration, with a lower
percentage of the population actively using mobile phones. There is still rapid growth in mobile
phone usage in these areas, driven by a combination of need (poor infrastructure) and innovative
ways of paying for it (‘pay as you go’ micro-payments). “Penetration depth depends on matching
tariff options to customer affordability, so long as operators are able to maintain their costs at
commercially sustainable levels.”(REF)
Grant Number: N62909-10-1-7140
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World differences in the use of mobiles - Dec 2010
Both geography and policies will influence operators’ total cost and ability to maintain commercially
viable margins.
Research findings
Worldwide: what do people use their phones for?
Globally:
 SMS is still the most popular activity across the world, with 4 billion people having used SMS in
2009
 Mobile web: 0.4 billion users browsed the mobile web in 2009
 55 million people used m-banking in 2009
 19% of all phones sold are now smartphones.
A 2010 survey of consumers around the world found that the most popular function is text
messaging. Consumers had used the following functions on their mobile: sent a text (88%); taken
a picture (85%); listened to music (60%); read or sent an e-mail (49%); watched a video (41%);
opened a word processing document/spreadsheet (23%); updated status on a social media
website (21%); accessed online banking (18%); purchased an item online (9%).
Another survey of mobile consumers across the world found that use of mobile functions was often
higher in developing countries than in developed
countries. For example, in the Americas region, 96%–
People in developing 97% of survey respondents from Mexico and Argentina
said they sent/received texts at least weekly, compared to
countries have 43% of survey respondents from the U.S., and 39% of
cheaper phones, but survey respondents from Canada. The only category
do more with them where the U.S. and Canada scored more highly was
than those in checking sports scores. Similarly in the Asia/Pacific
region, 81% of survey respondents from Australia said
developed countries that they sent/received texts at least weekly, compared to
90% of respondents from India, 92% from Malaysia, and
98% from Indonesia and China.
The ITU (October 2010) estimates that 6.1 trillion messages will be sent worldwide in 2010, triple
the number sent in 2007 (1.8 trillion). That means 200,000
text messages are sent every second, earning operators
90% of the people US$14,000 every second (if the average text costs US$0.07).
on the planet are The greatest number of texts are sent in the Philippines and
covered by a mobile the United States.
network Grant Number: N62909-10-1-7140
Portio Research (February 2010) estimates that SMS is
used by four billion consumers worldwide and that worldwide
SMS traffic will exceed 10 trillion in 2013.
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World differences in the use of mobiles - Dec 2010
MMS, e-mail and IM are growing strongly. The main drivers for each are: MMS (number of camera
phones); e-mail (business market); IM (youth market).
Mobile financial services
The use of mobile phones for money transactions (to buy goods and services, and to manage your
financial affairs) has increased significantly over the past five years, and is set to continue growing.
There are also a number of projects aimed at increasing the availability of mobile money services
to people who are ‘unbanked’: for example, the GSMA Development Fund has initiated the Mobile
Money for the Unbanked (MMU) programme to accelerate the availability of mobile money
services to the unbanked and those living on less than US$2 per day. There are a number of
issues around this initiative, which involves bringing together mobile operators in developing
countries, banks, microfinance institutions, governments, development organisations and the
private sector. MMU has the goal of reaching 20 million previously unbanked people with mobile
financial services by 2012.
ABI Research (July 2009) predicts that 170 million mobile subscribers worldwide will make
domestic person-to-person payments (i.e. transfers) in 2011 – that’s three times as many as those
who will conduct traditional banking functions by mobile. This is driven by the enthusiasm for such
services in developing world, often from previously ‘unbanked’ people.
Berg Insight predicts that international money transfers will be done increasingly by mobile. By
2015 3%–15% of transfers handled by agent networks today will be carried out by mobile handset
(worth US$1.2–6.2 billion in revenues to the mobile industry).
Other initiatives in developing countries include those promoting the use of mobile phones to help
with agricultural problems (e.g. weather forecasts) and in health by increasing access to effective
health services in rural areas. Other projects address environmental issues, using greener
technologies. There is also interest in addressing the gender gap in mobile usage: women
continue to be underrepresented, particularly in ownership and subscription. (See future theme
papers.)
Apps
Mobilthinking’s literature review (drawing on findings from Nielsen, 2010) finds that the most used
apps across all smartphones in the U.S. – as opposed to downloaded – are Facebook, Google
Maps, and The Weather Channel (TWC). The most popular categories are: games; news; maps;
social networking; and music. On average U.S. feature-phone users have 10 apps on board and
smartphones have 22 apps; iPhone users have the most with 37.
Grant Number: N62909-10-1-7140
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World differences in the use of mobiles - Dec 2010
What kinds of phone do people use, and who makes them?
Worldwide, simple mobile phones (featurephones) are by far the most popular, but in developing
countries it is becoming increasingly likely that people own a multi-purpose device, like a
smartphone, as their lives become increasingly complex and the phone becomes essential.
Phone contracts are very rare in poorer countries, where users make micropayments to “pay as you go” Nokia leads the global market in manufacturing mobile
phones, and is way ahead of other manufacturers in
Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. It is also in these parts
of the world that the world’s most popular operating
system, Symbian, has the largest share of the market.
It seems that most mobile phone users make best use of
a simple phone which they probably pay for as and when
they need it, rather than having a contract. In fact, the
trend is for mobile users in these poorer parts of the
world to need to be able to maintain their phone
ownership even when they are paying the minimal amount. This is particularly true of women in
developing countries, who may well not be the owners of the phones that they use, but which are
nevertheless a vital part of their lives. Ingenious ways to top up your phone are used, including a
partnership between Ezetop and Mashery and more than 120 wireless carriers worldwide.
“We have built an international top-up infrastructure by partnering with more than 120 wireless
carriers worldwide and today consumers can send airtime internationally from any of our 160,000plus retail outlets or online through ezetop.com. By partnering with Mashery, we are opening up
our platform so that new partners can use our API to send airtime immediately to any of the
approximately 850 million mobile telephones accessible through our system.”
Even if users from developing countries don’t want to spend huge amounts of money, they do
need their phones to have practical functions. People in remote parts of the world need to be able
to use banking facilities and find out about the weather, as well as stay in touch with family and
friends.
These results are consistent with the Oracle survey of mobile phone users around the world
(2010), which also indicated that developing regions were more likely to use their phone for a wider
range of functions. In North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East,
over 95% of users will use their phone as a communication
device. However, users in developing regions were more likely
Nokia remains than users in North America and Europe to use their phone as
the leading phone an entertainment device and as a mini computer.
manufacturer worldwide When it comes to content, the services offered via the phones
and the applications installed on them are influenced by
particular cultural requirements. Some service providers, such
as Nokia, pay considerable attention to local culture. For example, in India and other developing
countries the firm has launched a set of services called ‘Life Tools’, which ranges from agricultural
information for farmers to educational services such as language tuition. In many rich countries, by
Grant Number: N62909-10-1-7140
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World differences in the use of mobiles - Dec 2010
contrast, handsets come bundled with a subscription to download music. “We need to operate
globally, but be relevant locally,” concludes Ms Archibald (from Nokia).
There are many factors affecting mobile usage, one of which is the available average mobile
speed, which varies from region to region. Tariffs and ways to pay are also key factors: in
developing countries, low tariffs and being able to stay with your operator even if you are a very
light user (even below US$2 a month) are essential factors in determining how much users are
able to make use of their phone. In developing countries, gender is an important factor: a
significant number of women don’t own or pay for the mobile phone they use.
Relevance to the MoLE project
Clearly the mobile phone and other new technologies have had a huge impact across the globe.
The ways in which this varies, and the reasons behind this, are generally economic, social and
environmental. If there is network coverage at a rate the poorest people can afford, then people
throughout the world will use their phones for a variety of daily tasks: in fact there seems to be an
argument that in the developing countries, people use their phones for a wider variety of tasks than
in the developed world. It is also important to note that, whereas the trend towards mobile internet
use is growing rapidly in the developed world, this growth remains most evident in the developed
world (and China) where mobile Web access is expected to overtake desktop Web access within
the next five years.
The information gathered from the research process will help MoLE to assess which mobile
providers best meet the needs and requirements of the project. Knowledge about the ways in
which people across the globe currently use their phones, and what might be useful to them in the
future, will also inform these decisions.
Conclusion
This is a period of rapid change and development in the mobile technology world. There is a vast
amount of market intelligence and other information available, although this tends to be focused on
the developed world, or on the larger rising markets in India and China. The Americas and
Indonesia are also more closely aligned with the trends in the rest of the world, and there is a
suggestion that the so-called cultural differences in mobile use will disappear as coverage
increases. However, there are still areas of the world where there are barriers to usage: these tend
to be the more geographically remote areas and/or those with the lowest per-capita income. They
also tend to be less researched. These are also the areas where mobile technology could be used
to help people improve their work, health and daily lives. Some companies are already working on
this, blending altruism with commercial astuteness.
Grant Number: N62909-10-1-7140
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