Comscore and Telefonica (the European telecoms giant that owns 02) have come out with a study about the use of smartphones and the Internet in Europe.

The research tells us that in the UK (48%) and Spain (48%) almost half of us are now smartphone (as opposed to ‘feature phone’) owners.   Across the five biggest EU states, the average is 42%.

Other key findings are as follows:

Android leads in phone sales, Apple dominates in mobile web traffic

Who is bigger, Android or Apple?  That depends how you look at it.

In terms of smartphone ownership, there are certainly more Android (28%) phones and iPhones (21% of the smartphone market).   Indeed phones running Google’s mobile operating system are on the verge of overtaking Symbian (i.e. current and previous generation Nokia).

However in terms of actual mobile operating systems, Apple iOS is in front, 30% to 27%.  This is because Apple’s mobile operating system is also on later generation iPod Touches and of course iPads.

Crucially Apple devices account for 62% of mobile digital traffic in the big EU states compared to 22% for Android.   Personally I think that is because someone walking into a shop wanting to buy “a phone” is now likely to be steered towards one of the cheaper Android devices.   However someone buying an iPhone is doing so consciously and at least in part because of the array of apps on offer.

That’s a stat worth bearing in mind when skewing mobile campaigns towards different devices.   It is also worth noting recent US stats showing that the iPhone 4S helped Apple overtake Android in the American market in Q4.

Finally, while the Internet in Europe is now female dominated, Comscore says that most smartphone (56.3%) owners are men.   There is evidence from other research that Android is very male biased, while iPhones have a more even male / female spread.

21% of UK web traffic to family sites from mobiles

The share of web traffic from mobile devices is still relatively small, 5% (7.7% in the UK).   However, remember that % is skewed by the amount of web traffic coming from office based PCs.

Also the picture is very different when you look at different categories.   In the UK, a quarter of traffic to automotive sites came from smartphones, while tablets and phones together accounted for 21%of visits to family and parenting websites (this includes kids sites like Disney).

Target smartphone and tablet owners in the evening 

As the above table shows, PC traffic is highest during the day, while smartphone and (especially) tablet traffic peaks in the evening, as well as during peak commuter hours (8am and 6pm).   Something to bear in mind if running a campaign targeted at users of mobile only networks such as Instagram.

Shoppers use their phones while in store

Research in the summer showed that 1/4 of online shopping conversations actually happen in-store l.  In fact, over a fifth of European smartphone owners have taken a product photo in-store, while 1/10 sent it to their family and friends.

Surprisingly, given the mixed evidence about the adoption rate of QR codes, 10.9% scanned a barcode in store.   Meanwhile 14.9% of German and 13.2% of UK smartphone owners claim to have actually scanned a QR or barcode of any description – it doesn’t actually say whether these scans were successful or not.

Finally, over one in twenty  (6.4%) smartphone owners have compared produce prices while in a store, a stat that is only going to increase given apps such as the Amazon price comparison one, where you scan a product in store and get the equivalent Amazon price

Related articles

• The iPhone Strikes Back! Android’s Share Of New Smartphone Purchases Has Collapsed (huguesrey.wordpress.com)
• Apple Back On Top As Bestselling Smartphone In The U.S. (paidcontent.org)
• Apple Surpasses Android To Become Reigning Champion In The U.S. [Report] (cultofmac.com)
• Q4 data shows that iPhone beat out all Android phones (electronista.com)

There is a wealth of research showing that social media users in emerging markets are proportionally more active  than their Western counterparts.    For example, Indonesia, Russia and Egypt all have 80%+ of their internet populations on social media.   Meanwhile, Israeli and Russian social media users spend twice as much time on those channels than people in the UK and US.

A latest stat released by Instagramers, a global Instagram community with 240 local chapters celebrating its 1st birthday today, shows the same holds true on the photo-sharing network.     The three most active Instagramer communities measured in photos tagged and uploaded are the Philippines, Brazil and Turkey.

No, this doesn’t look at actual user numbers but it certainly measures engagement.   Others groups in the top ten are actually sub-sets of the main country groups, such as Igersistanbul (57k photos) and Igersaopaolo (36k tagged images).   A dynamic list can be found on Statigram (one of several web based services for viewing Instagram posts).

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• Why Join Instagram? (socialmediatoday.com)
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Stats of the month – January

To kick off the New Year, here’s the second in my series of presentations about ten stats of the (previous) month.     Each slide has an embedded link for further information, and I’ve also included the text and link for each slide below:

 1 – Social networking has become the world’s most popular online activity

It accounts for 20% of Internet time and social networking sites now reach 82% of the world’s online population (Comscore)

In fact, there are now more Facebook users than Buddhists! (Rune Leth Andersen)

2 – At the same time, social media may be reaching saturation point in many markets

“Social is running out of hours.  Social is also running out of people” - George Colony, Forrester

Forrester says social media only slightly less popular than shopping and childcare

3 – As a result, the growth area for social remains emerging markets

According to Pew Research, out of 20 countries surveyed, the top three for the % of the total population on social media were Israel (53%), USA (50%) and the UK (50%)

However, if you look at the % of the Internet population on social media, the top three are Indonesia (86%), Russia (84%) and Egypt (82%)

4 – Facebook may have the numbers, but Twitter shapes the news agenda

Twitter was the most cited social network in the media in 2011, beating Facebook in 10/12 months – including Sept when Facebook’s new features were launched (Highbeam Research)

5 – The Internet is now Britain’s 2nd biggest news source

According to Oliver & Ohlbaum, 75% use the TV for news, 68% the Internet, 54% newspapers and 33% mobile

6 – Social media continues to chip away at traditional media use

In the UK, 18% read a printed national newspaper less due to social media use.  In Australia the figure is 21% and in the US it is 15% (Ofcom)

7 – Younger and female users of social media use it as a prime news source

51% of 18-24 year olds in the UK, 53% in the US, 61% in France and 61% in Italy use social channels for breaking news (Ofcom)

8- Social TV continues to rise in importance

More proof that social media and TV can effectively work hand in hand:

38% of Internet consumers have used a social network to recommend a TV programme and 29% often discuss what they are watching on TV in real-time online (Motorola)

9 – Apple dominates the mobile web

61% of European non PC Internet traffic comes from Apple ‘iDevices’, while in the US 92% of mobile purchases were made via iPhones and iPads (Comscore / RichRelevance)

10 – Instagram on track to becoming the world’s biggest mobile social network

Overtaking Foursquare (SocialFresh)

The December stats of the month can be found here

Related articles

• Vivek Wadhwa, WaPo: Social media will become a feature rather than the “big thing” (nextlevelofnews.com)
• Prediction #1: Social media slides down the pedestal (swordandthescript.com)
• Top 10 Social Networking Resolutions for Business in 2012 (ipwatchdog.com)
• The State of Social Media and Social Media Marketing in 2012 (slideshare.net)
• Surprise hit Pinterest a top 10 most-trafficked social network | Logicamp (logicamp.wordpress.com)

There may be more Android phones on the market than iPhones, but research shows that it is Apple users that dominate the mobile web.

Back in November, Comscore told us that Apple’s iOS operating system installed on iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads accounted for 61.1% of European non PC Internet traffic, compared to 20.9% for Android devices

Now comes an even more telling statistic – ecommerce company RichRelevance found that iPhone and iPad users accounted for 92% of (US) mobile purchases made in December (via BGR)

The research also found that the average ‘iDevice’ user who buys online, spends more than the average Android user – $123 to $101.

As a result, the ‘who is bigger’ question may be the wrong one to ask (you also get different answers if you compare operating systems as opposed to smartphones)

The evidence is that whatever the bells and whistles that now exist on Android phones, Android users are more likely to use their devices for communication while Apple users do use their devices as mini mobile computers.

Something to bear in mind if you are basing your mobile marketing strategy purely on device sales – basing it on behaviour would make more sense.

Image – nrkbeta 

Related articles

• Android Vs iOS Should Be Fun to Watch Moving Forward (marketingpilgrim.com)
• Apple iOS, Android account for 10%+ of retail web visits (liesdamnedliesstatistics.com)
• New studies highlight app gap between Apple, Android (blogs.siliconvalley.com)
• Google Activates 700000 Android Devices a Day – Forbes (forbes.com)
• iOS users rule mobile shopping, spend 19% more than Androids (electronista.com)

Open Apple’s app store and you’re presented with 300+ (by my count) QR code readers of various descriptions.   Look at ads on public transport, on posters and in magazines and they are there.   But are they catching on, or do they remain a gimmick?

As with so many things, it comes down to how you read the statistics.

Writing on CNN.com, Amy Gahran is a QR sceptic and quotes the stat from Archrival that though 80% of US college students – a demographic you imagine to be most familiar with tech innovations – had seen QR codes and knew roughly what they were, only 20% were able to successfully scan one .

Amy says that 75% of students said they wouldn’t be scanning QR codes in future….which still means 1/4 are receptive to it.

Forrester says that overall QR code adoption rates are low – 5% of US adults.   But that”s 5x more than in 2010 (1%), and among smartphone owners the adoption rate is 15% (via Read Write Web).

QR codes are also an area where Android users are in front – 23% of US Android users have scanned, compared to 19% of US iPhone users.   That’s significant as research also shows that mobile web views come disproportionately from Apple ‘iDevices’

Meanwhile Sam Beckbessinger in memeburn  lists “five reasons why QR codes are – mostly – a crock.”

Sam echoes Amy Gahran’s point about QR code confusion, citing a study carried out in one of the most tech literate cities in the World – San Francisco.     Apparently, only 11% were able to correctly identify them.    However, another 29% said it was “some barcode thingy”, and I’d say that’s still significant – knowing the correct name for a QR code is less important than the realisation that it exists to be scanned.

Personally I think QR Codes have potential but both Amy Gahran’s CNN piece and Sam Beckbessinger’s memeburn give good reasons why it is under performing as a marketing mechanic.

They’re in the wrong places says Sam Beckbessigner.   Indeed they are.   I’m amazed by the number of ads with QR codes I see on the London Underground.   Putting aphone over a stranger’s head to scan an ad is the last thing most people will do, assuming they have an app installed allowing them to do so of course.

Which brings us onto the point that certainly from the QR codes I’ve seen, almost none spell out what you need to do.   That starts with needing to download an app.

Then, says Sam, the content is often poor (it leads you to a website, and often not a mobile optimised one) and there is no incentive to scan.

Those points can be turned around into recommendations for anyone intending to use QR Codes in their marketing.  Namely:

1 – Think about the content and give people something they won’t get simply by typing a URL into their mobile browser.   Some kind of special incentive?   A piece of content the can’t get elsewhere?  A short video or piece of audio content?

2 – Use QR codes in situations where people have time and (if they need to) a wi-fi or 3G connection to download an app.   Magazines are good.    So are eye-level posters in shopping centres.   Or indeed airports and train station waiting rooms (Rabbit client Gatwick Airport has previously used 1D barcodes – Stickybits)

3 – Most importantly, be crystal clear about *what* you need to do to scan that code.   Spell out the need for an app and don’t assume people know what it is.  By introducing them to the concept, you could capitalise on the novelty factor and significantly up engagement rates

Image – Clever Cupcakes 

Related articles

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• Why QR codes aren’t catching on (cnn.com)
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• How do you create a QR code for your website (wiki.answers.com)

More than half of UK mobile users that access social networks from their phones do so almost every day.   This is according to Comscore, which says that overall around 35% of the UK mobile phone population uses social networks from their phones.

Note that around 44% of UK mobile users have a smartphone, with iPhone users most likely to go online.   The overlap between smartphone and mobile social network users won’t be exact, but it will be pretty strong.

As a result, the conclusion is that smartphone ownership is increasing mobile social network use.   And that use is by and large heavy, rather than infrequent.

Related articles

• The rise of mobile social networking (conversations.nokia.com)
• 55m people using social networks via mobile in ‘EU5′ nations (mobile-ent.biz)

While the IBM study in my previous post refers to the US, Comscore’s latest smartphone figures are about the EU5 – UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

Comscore shows that the iOS platform – and Comscore includes iPod Touches as well as iPhones and iPads – accounts for 30.5% of mobile devices in the major European markets.    This compares to 29% for Symbian (Nokia) and 24% for Android.

IBM’s research in the US shows that Apple iOS users are more active online in both relative and absolute terms.   In Europe, Comscore shows that this is even more the case.

61.1% of non-PC browser based page views – so the vast majority - are made from Apple mobile devices, compared to 20.9% from Android devices.   Meanwhile, despite clinging onto the no.2 spot in smartphone popularity, Symbian phones account for only 2.7% of European mobile Internet traffic.

Again, Comscore’s European stats mirror IBM’s American ones in showing the disproportionate influence iPad users have on the mobile Internet.

iPads currently account for 43% of all iOS traffic.   To put that in perspective, in April, Apple revealed that 10% of iOS devices were iPads.

The European Comscore and US IBM figures, raise the question of whether we are looking at smartphone market share in the right way.  Currently there seems to be a train of thought among marketers that Android is where it is at, because more are being shipped.

Yes, brands need to factor in both the Android and Apple iOS universes, but as the Symbian figures show, having lots of handsets on the market and having those users go online with their devices is not the same thing.

Related articles

• Apple iOS leads in mobile Internet traffic; iPads deliver 97 percent of tablet traffic (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• ComScore: Android continues dominate in U.S. smartphones (intomobile.com)
• comScore: iOS still ahead of Android in total user base thanks to iPads (slashgear.com)

Really there are three elements to this story that stand out

1 – It confirms the on-going trend of mobile devices being used more and more for everyday web tasks.   By 2014 / 2015 mobile Internet users should in fact surpass desktop users, hence Google’s latest project to help businesses go mobile

2 – As Tim Worstall writes in Forbes, when it comes to the Mobile Internet, Apple’s iOS and Android are the two major players.  “The other market players, RIM, Nokia’s Symbian, various forms of Microsoft’s Windows…just don’t seem to be popular enough to be making a dent in the numbers.”  

Though these are US stats, where Symbian never had as much market share as Europe, I do think the Android + iOS argument holds true over here (UK).

Putting the Android / iOS numbers debate into perspective

3 – These figures also provide a bit more context to the whole iPhone / Android market share debate.

Yes, more Android phones are sold than iPhones.    But the IBM stats show that iPhone users are more active online via their devices than Android users, accounting for 4% of traffic vs 3.5% for Android.

Given the size of the Android market, that means iPhone users are more active online both in absolute and relative terms.  iPad users are more active still, accounting for another 3.5% of visits and demonstrating a higher visit to purchase conversion rate.

Indeed, both Forbes and reghardware talk about ‘idevices’, as opposed to iPhones.   And a point that often gets lost in the whole Android and iOS debate is that Apple’s mobile operating system extends to three different devices.  It also includes iPads and – crucially – iPod Touches, which often get forgotten about.

The IBM study didn’t include iPod Touch users, but back in April Apple revealed that they accounted for a third of Apple’s handheld universe.

As a result, they will make up a large proportion of the 250 million iOS devices CEO Tim Cook talked about last month, when mentioning that iOS as a whole is still the no.1 mobile operating system worldwide at a 43% market share (compared to Android at 33%).

Related articles

• Android vs iOS: How Pluralism Won (gameofroles.wordpress.com)
• What Android Fans Think of iPhone Users (pcworld.com)
• How to Get iOS 5′s Biggest Features in Android Right Now [Android] (lifehacker.com)
• [New Report] Mobile Platforms: The Clash of Ecosystems (visionmobile.com)

Comscore’s latest look at the European smartphone market is out.   It shows that Symbian lost the same % of users that Android gained (16%).  Android is now second to Symbian in the European smartphone market with Apple iPhones 3rd (37.8% vs 22.3% vs 20.3%).

Android ahead of Apple?  Depends how you measure it

However, though ‘Android beats iPhone’ makes for a good headline, the truth is less black and white.  As Comscore shows, in pure smartphone ownership, there are now more Android users.    But the Apple iOS ‘universe’ also includes the iPad, dominant in the tablet space, and iPod touch.

Indeed over a third of Apple iOS devices are apparently iPods, with iPod Touch owners being more active users of the app store than iPhone users – something worth bearing in mind when thinking about the popularity and reach of services like the photo-sharing network Instagram.

Back in April, the Apple’s European user base was double that of Android’s.   That gap will have shrunk, but I would still bet that there are more Apple than Android devices in the EU5.

A final point to note is the % of smartphone users as a % of the total in the UK (44.5%).   Indeed, in the last quarter for the first time more smartphones than feature phones were shipped in Europe.    Out of the five major EU states surveyed, the UK also leads in mobile social network use, with a third of UK mobile users having accessed social media from their phones.

Related articles

• Android Beats iOS In European Smartphone Market Share, Still Behind Symbian (techcrunch.com)
• Android achieves Windows-type monopoly in Taiwan as HTC overtakes Nokia in sales volume and value (9to5google.com)
• Comscore: Android’s UK market share explodes as Apple overtakes Symbian (engadget.com)
• Is Symbian going down or Android rising? (binaryimmersion.wordpress.com)

However, despite the endless headlines showing that Android smartphones are on their way to becoming the PCs of the mobile world, in Europe at least things look a little different.    Comscore has come out with one of its regular reports on mobile phones in the major European Union countries (the EU5 – UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy) to show that Apple’s mobile ecosystem, if you include both iPads and iPhones, is twice the size of Android’s.

Not only that, but there is not necessarily a correlation between iPhone and iPad users, showing that Apple has had at least some success in extending its tablet reach beyond the community.   Though 27.2% of European iPad owners have smartphones, that means 3/4 have other devices – for example 26.4% have Nokias and 5.9% even have Android phones

At the moment smartphone owners are most likely to be men aged 25-45.    However mobile ownership as a whole is equally split between men and women showing that the opportunity for smartphone manufacturers is in persuading female users to trade up.

That in itself could pose a issue for Android handset manufacturers, with a report last year showing that the platform had a so-called ‘dude problem’, having less appeal for women than Apple’s iPhones.

Related articles

• Non-iPhone owners more likely to own iPad in Europe, says research (guardian.co.uk)
• Apple Devices Dominating Mobile Ecosystem, comScore says (readwriteweb.com)