• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 23, 2005

In its inaugural Benchmark Report, M:Metrics reveals that the market for mobile content and applications, while still young, includes the mainstream of mobile subscribers and spans gender and age groups. 58 percent of mobile subscribers use their handsets for something other than making phone calls.

Results from this primary research include additional demographic information:

• 31 percent of female subscribers and 34 percent of male subscribers report having played a mobile game in the previous month. Men are 60 percent more likely to download a game than women. Seamus McAteer, M:Metrics co-founder and chief product architect, said "…Too many of the titles available for sale are action/adventure and sports games-- genres that our data demonstrate are more likely to appeal to men."
• The majority of ringtones were downloaded by subscribers age 13-24, and more than 62 percent of those consumers downloaded more than one ringtone in the previous month.
• 52 percent of subscribers age 25-34 sent or received text messages in the previous month, while 37 percent of those age 35-44 communicated via text. 68 percent of those age 18-24 sent and received text messages.
• More than 60 percent of subscribers who took a picture with their camera phone also sent a photo message to another phone or email address in the previous month. The overall penetration of photo messaging is 7 percent.
• 13 percent of mobile subscribers reported accessing news and information via a mobile browser in the previous month. Marked gender difference characterized mobile browsing with 17 percent of men subscribers and 9 percent of women subscribers using their mobile phones.
• 57 percent of all browsers sought weather information; 41 percent accessed maps and directions, 44 percent sports scores, sports news and national news, and 40 percent movie and entertainment listings.

Source: M:Metrics, Inc. January 31, 2005

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