Our Wireless Media Lab team is undertaking focus groups and design ideation sessions this week in London on the subject of Enhanced Mobile Messaging.  Listening to the discussion last night, what I found especially interesting was to hear the heavy messengers we had recruited explain why they use messaging applications such as WhatsApp, BBM and even basic SMS.

It seems that increasingly, messaging is not just about communicating information.  The participants all said that the ability to communicate via sending pictures, links and voice attachments is becoming more and more important to them.  Beyond this, they frequently told us that their messaging apps are an important way to keep up with what friends are doing and even a way to handle boredom by reviewing what others have sent or posted.  To them, the lines between one-to-one and one-to-many messaging are becoming increasingly blurred.

When we asked these users to come up with new ideas for messaging services, many of their concepts expressed some key themes:

• the desire for more control over presence and status
• the ability to message via voice and switch between voice/text
• the desire for intelligence and context awareness (especially related to location), and
• the importance of small group communications (e.g. on the basis of shared interests with particular friends)

However, despite all of the advanced communications tools and capabilities that these consumers have at their fingertips, when asked which messaging service they would keep if they could choose only one, every person said SMS.  Why? Because it is the only truly ubiquitous mobile messaging protocol – i.e. capable of reaching everyone.

Our report on the motivations, needs and behaviors of mobile messaging users will be available to Wireless Media Lab clients in due course.

- Kevin Nolan

Update: 3 October 2011 - The full report, Mobile Messaging: Consumer Behaviors around Text Messaging and Over-The-Top Messaging Applications, is now available for WML clients or to purchase.  Paul Brown

Our Wireless Media Lab team has just updated its consumer research stats on mobile internet usage.  We've found that the proportion of mobile device owners who use their phone to access the internet regularly has quadrupled in the US, and tripled in Western Europe over the past four years.  28% of US mobile device users, and 22% of those in W. Europe, now access the internet on their phone at least once per week.

However, the vast majority of mobile internet sessions continue to last less than 10 minutes on average - far shorter than the average time spent browsing on a computing device with a larger screen. This suggests that mobile web browsing remains predominantly a 'snacking' or 'time critical' behavior, whereas the PC/laptop is used for more leisurely or media-intensive usage scenarios.

For smartphone owners, person-to-person messaging, social networking and web searching are becoming predominantly associated with mobile activities, while other groups of behavior (e.g. media and entertainment related activities and more casual news and information gathering) are less likely to be undertaken using the mobile device.  For this reason, we recommend that mobile interface designers prioritize mobile experiences such as search, social networking, messaging and time-sensitive feeds of information on topics that match the interests of the individual user (e.g. sports, weather updates etc.).

Additionally, with the increasing penetration of tablets, it is clear that tomorrow's most useful experiences will be optimized across multiple screens, delivering and prioritizing the right type of information to the right screen at the right time to anticipate user needs.

Client reading - Mobile Internet and PC Browsing Behaviors Diverge

Kevin Nolan

Every now and then I read something online that I want to share with other people. The BBC is one of the websites I visit most using my mobile, so I was quite excited when reading an article I noticed the option to share it via SMS. Thinking this was a great little feature, I decided to give it a go, and clicked on the ‘SMS’ icon. Unfortunately I was disappointed at what greeted me. In order to share the article, I was taken to another webpage, where I needed to enter my friend’s number. Suddenly, sharing this story got a little complicated. I don’t know about you, but the days of remembering people’s phone numbers are long gone for me. I wasn’t compelled enough to go and look up their number in my phone book, write it down, and return to the webpage, so I just gave up. What I would have liked was to see some kind of integration between the browser and my SMS application, where clicking on ‘SMS’ opened up a new text message with the link to the story, and then I could just send the message to my friend (or friends) who I thought would be interested. So while I have to give credit to the BBC for introducing this initiative, my engagement will be minimal unless it is integrated with other phone applications, or I can start remembering people’s phone numbers… - Paul Brown

Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Lab and Wireless Media Lab have just published the first set of reports from our 2009 wireless user survey. The reports look at Bluetooth usage within the car, text messaging habits and interest in threaded messaging, iPhone owner profile and behaviours and interest in location services. WDL and WML clients can access each report directly by clicking on the link below, and each report is available to purchase for non-clients. Here is a summary of each report: Bluetooth Headsets Still Reign, but Daily Usage in US Declines Strategy Analytics surveyed 625 automobile owners to examine feature usage and priorities with in-car communication. Among the choices in in-vehicle communications, Bluetooth headsets remain by far the most popular. However, owners of professionally installed car kits use their systems more often than owners of headsets or removable speakerphones. In the US, regular usage of Bluetooth headsets has dropped markedly since 2008, while usage in Western Europe has remained fairly steady. Bluetooth headset owners were most satisfied with the ease of use of their device, and least satisfied with style, while owners of professionally installed car kits were the most satisfied with their devices. WDL clients can read the full report here: Bluetooth Headsets Still Reign, but Daily Usage in US Declines Mobile Users Prefer Threaded Messaging Strategy Analytics has found that consumers in both the US and Western Europe show a preference for a threaded message layout over an unthreaded layout. Users who have already experienced a threaded messaging layout for SMS show a strong preference for keeping this format. In terms of number of messages sent, respondents in the US send twice as many SMS per week compared to Western Europe – driven by a higher penetration of unlimited messaging plans. WDL clients can read the full report here: Mobile Users Prefer Threaded Messaging Retaining and Attracting New Customers: Profiling the Apple iPhone User Strategy Analytics end user survey found that the typical iPhone owner is aged 25-44, has a household income of over $50,000 and is employed full time. iPhone owners exhibit high brand loyalty - over 80% of iPhone owners also own an iPod. iPhone owners use more features on a regular basis than non-iPhone owners, with two-thirds browsing the web and sending personal emails on a daily basis. When it comes to purchasing criteria for their next device, iPhone users demand new features from a trusted manufacturer – as well as improved battery life, the current source of greatest dissatisfaction. WDL clients can read the full report here: Retaining and Attracting New Customers: Profiling the Apple iPhone User Consumer Transport Habits Affect Mobile Location PrioritiesStrategy Analytics has found that almost half of respondents in the US and Western Europe are interested in having location aware services on their mobile phone. Interest in location services is highest amongst Smartphone owners. Routes and maps are the location awareness services users are most interested in using on a mobile phone. In Western Europe, where people place a much higher reliance on public transport, interest in transport time tables is considerably higher than the US. Younger respondents show a higher interest in news and weather as they look to the mobile device to replace traditional information services such as television and newspapers. WML clients can read the full report here: Consumer Transport Habits Affect Mobile Location Priorities