Focus on dominant app beyond Web for mobile net devices: Forrester
March 4, 2008
Among the on-the-go applications that Forrester suggested, communication – excluding voice – held the interest of 64 percent of online consumers
Chip makers such as Intel Corp. and device manufacturers including Nokia and Samsung are focusing their product development efforts on a new emerging category of mobile: the mobile Internet device.
To assess the interest in this category, Forrester Research surveyed North American consumers and found that the first wave of likely buyers of MIDs comprises about 9 percent of the Internet population. To grow the category beyond these early adopters, online business, channel and product management executives must align products and content with a clear application focus.
“Forrester believes that as a newly emerging category, one key success component for MIDs is a relentless focus on a dominant application beyond the core function of access to the Web,” the study reveals. “Among the on-the-go applications that we suggested, communication – excluding voice – held the interest of 64 percent of online consumers.”
The findings were reported in a Forrester study titled, “Who Wants to Buy a Mobile Internet Device?" Forrester surveyed 5,398 North American online consumers for this survey that was conducted in October.
When Forrester asked consumers to identify the most important application, 43 percent said communication. Only half as many respondents said navigation was most important to them and less than a quarter as many said music and video playback.
Gaming is a “nice to have” for the majority of consumers, since only 5 percent said it was their most important activity when mobile.
“Our survey described a device roughly the size of a paperback book with a 5-inch color screen, able to access any Web site or Internet service available on a computer today, but that would neither be a mobile phone nor a laptop substitute,” the report said. “Based on this description, we tested consumers’ interest in purchasing such a device under two separate pricing schemes.”
Forrester found that one-quarter of online consumers expressed interest in an MID without a service contract. Also, consumers who preferred one application to another would be much more likely to purchase a MID than those without an application preference.
The data indicates a moderate level of interest in the MID category among online North American consumers.
A significant minority sees value in mobile Internet access. Nearly half of online consumers said they wish they could perform online requests on-the-go. More than two in five said they miss the Internet when they are away from home and work. More than one-third said it would be very important to be able to access the broadband Internet wherever they are.
Consumers see constraints in mobile due to screen size. Three in five online consumers said that the size of mobile phone screens make them unsuitable for services beyond voice and messaging.
“The most likely MID adopters are those who place a high value on access to the Internet when on-the-go and simultaneously express dissatisfaction with the current devices that provide this access today,” the report said.
“The consumers our segmentation identifies as the most likely adopters of MIDs demonstrate a more wide-ranging appetite for the possible applications that MIDs enable. These consumers also express a greater willingness to pay for an MID, irrespective of the pricing alternative.”