The most popular content demanded by consumers on mobile phones is for digital music downloads.

Research has revealed extraordinary growth in use of use of content on mobile phones. In the second part of this series, we look at how the mobile sector is on the cusp of an extremely exciting 12 to 18 months.

The 2008 Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index, published by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) has revealed the extraordinary growth of content on mobile phones as well as revealing future consumer demand for key mobile phone services.

The most popular content demanded by consumers was for digital music downloads (30%), games (27%) and wallpapers (25%).  Strong demand for information services is also anticipated with maps (31%), news (29%) and weather content (28%) the most highly sought categories.
 
AIMIA CEO John Butterworth explained that music and maps had moved to the top of AIMIA's future demands list in this year's survey. "Given the popularity of new GPS and location-based services, mapping products as well as an increase in the number of phones released that also function as mp3 players, this shift is not so surprising."

"Digital music downloads continue to grow rapidly with a 113% increase over the last two years.  This is in sync with this year's survey which showed that 73% of people use their mobile phones for personal use," Butterworth said.

Communities and user generated content
Each year the index focuses on a special topic intended to gauge consumer preference and for 2008 this was "Communities and User-Generated Content" on the mobile phone. The dramatic growth in Australia of new online communities has started to influence our mobile phone usage habits.

The survey reveals that while Australia is still in the early stages of uptake, 16% of respondents had used or visited a community service on their mobile, with MSN Messenger, Facebook and MySpace being the most popular.

While the proportion of respondents using community/social networking services on their mobile phone is considerably lower than use on the PC, the survey also shows that 55% of respondents said they don't have a 3G phone and a further 20% say they "don't know" if they do.

As connectivity grows so does desirability

Maps are also one of the strongest trends predicted for mobile content in 2009.

As mobile high-speed web connectivity and awareness grows, the desirability and convenience of engaging in mobile-based communities will also grow. Post survey, some evidence of this future growth was seen in the thousands of next generation 3G capable smartphones that were sold in July 2008. Many of these phones come pre-loaded with links to some of the most popular online communities.

Almost all Australian mobile phone users are creating content on their devices. Around 33% of phone users have created content, with 96% of those having taken a photo on their phone.  Over 70% had also created videos or music and 50% are sharing that content with MMS (63%) being the most used channel, closely followed by Bluetooth (61%).  The use of Bluetooth demonstrates a preference by consumers to avoid incurring data costs from their carrier when they share content.

55% of respondents had used content on their phones created by others, with 90% viewing photos. Those under 25 years were more likely to have created content to share with others.

3G phone use doubles in one year
The survey also provided interesting insights into mobile operators. It showed that respondents, who were customers of mobile operator 3, downloaded a significant amount of mobile content and 3 had the largest percentage of customers who became aware of mobile content via their phone.  Following the launch of 3G last year, the number of respondents who claimed their phone was 3G has more than doubled, from 11% to 30%, since Survey 2 was released in early 2006.

Going beyond early adopters
Commenting on this latest survey, Director - Research m.Net Corporation Dr Marisa Maio Mackay, said, "This survey indicates clear popular growth areas, such as the way that the content is purchased and shared amongst mobile users especially games, ringtones and wallpapers indicating a growing market and uptake of 3G services.

"The mobile sector is on the cusp of an extremely exciting 12 to 18 months and our results show the growing uptake and interest in mobile technology. We have reached a point where you are going to go beyond a group of high level users and early-adopters to the masses," Dr Mackay said.