1. EYE OPENER
1st Edition
March 2012

2. Welcome to the first edition of The Eye Opener, a
quarterly look at the UK consumers and their use of
FIRST EDITION
digital media and technology.
All the facts and figures are gathered from Essential
Research’s continuous tracking study, the Essential Eye,
which is based on 1,000 interviews a month with a
representative sample of adults aged 16+.
The Essential Eye is now available in the form of a
quarterly snapshot or an annual subscription.

3. In this first edition we’re looking at Smartphones
and tablets.
Nearly half of mobile phone owners now have
a smartphone, and 13% have an iPhone, so it’s
important to understand what this means, both in
terms of current usage and future adoption.
S M A R T P H O N E S & TA B L E T S

4. 1 S O W H AT A R E
SMARTPHONE
USERS
DOING?

5. 70% of smartphone owners have used their
smartphone to access the internet in the past
week. This rises to 82% of iPhone owners.
Nearly 6 in 10 have accessed email via their
smartphones in the past week. Again this is much
higher among iPhone owners (83%)
Question: Which of the following have you done on your mobile phone in the last week? (Smartphone vs iPhone owners)

6. A quarter have used their smartphones
to find their location by GPS but this is
also much higher (more than 4 in 10)
for iPhone owners.

7. iPhone
Interestingly, iPhone ‘Received promotions or
owners are four times as vouchers to save money 23%
at places close to where Smartphone
likely to have: I am’ in the past week 6%
iPhone
Used Shazam-style song 18%
recognition apps Smartphone
4%
iPhone
Listened to radio 17%
services Smartphone
4%

8. 2 W H AT ’ S T H E
NEXT BIG
THING?

9. It’s one thing measuring what people are currently doing on their smartphones.
But it can be just as interesting to see what else appeals to people.
PRACTICAL BENEFITS OF
SMARTPHONES
So, looking at things that people can’t
currently do on their mobile (or don’t
know they can), but would like to be
able to do, we see that the things that
most appeal are practical benefits that
make life easier, as we predicted in our
Brandheld study a couple of years ago

10. Give me directions to Find my location using
14% where I want to go 13% GPS
Pay for things by swiping Recognise a song and tell
13% my phone on a scanner 12% me what it is
Receive promotions or
Scan bar codes and use it
12% to bring up information 11% vouchers to save money at
places close to where I am
Make cashless payments
Translate things from one
11% in a shop for things costing
less than £10
11% language to another
Question: Which of the following things that you cannot do on your mobile phone would you like to be able to do?

11. Looking at what people believe
they can do now, and what
Mobile activities that are widespread, but
they say they’d like to be able
with limited further appeal
to do on their mobiles, there’s
limited benefit for mobile phone 50%
Access full internet
manufacturers and networks in 8%
continuing to promote many of Access email 45%
the activities that drove the first 8%
wave of adoption. Download apps 33%
5%
Record videos 30%
4%
Manage multiple social networks 21%
accounts 2%
Let friends / social networks see 20%
where I am 5%
19%
Listen to internet radio 7%
Can do this now
Would like to do it % mobile phone owners, September 2011

12. Mobile activities that are widespread, but
with room for expansion
28%
Find my location via GPS 13%
28%
Give me directions where I want to go
14%
It’s more interesting to look at
activities where there is still a
notable gap between current
supply and demand.
Mapping and direction services
are already becoming fairly
widespread, but demand
significantly exceeds supply (or Can do this now
perceived availability). Would like to do it % mobile phone owners, September 2011

13. Other practical mobile
activities – particularly those Mobile activities that are niche, but with
that serve as a shopping aid room for expansion
remain niche but have a real
opportunity to grow in 2012.
14%
Scan bar codes to get information
There is particular interest 12%
among younger users and Recognise a song, tell me what it is
14%
12%
early adopters in using the 14%
Get promos, vochers from nearby places
smartphone for cashless 11%
payments. Translations
12%
11%
Recgonise things through camera and tell 9%
me what they are 11%
3%
Pay by swiping phone / make cashless
14%
payments*
Can do this now
Would like to do it % mobile phone owners, September 2011

14. Mobile activities that are niche and have
limited claimed appeal
13%
Set up video charts with friends 6%
11%
Open files e.g. Excel, PowerPoint
6%
11%
Watch catch up TV services
8%
Convert speech into written text e.g. for 12%
voice activated web searches 11%
But other niche mobile
activities including video Can do this now
calling, speech activated Would like to do it % mobile phone owners, September 2011
searches and even mobile TV
viewing appear to have limited Interestingly, all of these features have
appeal - or comprehension - appeared prominently in smartphone
among a wider audience. marketing campaigns in the past year!

15. 3 SOCIAL
MEDIA ON
THE GO

16. When it comes to social media, certain behaviours have been migrating to
mobile for the past couple of years.
While nearly all Facebook users still use a
computer to access Facebook, nearly half
also use a mobile. This has grown steadily
from a third in November 2010.
But the computer remains the device used
most often by nearly three quarters of
Facebook users.

17. But when it comes to Twitter, the picture
is different.
Although similar numbers of people used
computers and mobiles to keep tweeting
in the past week, the mobile is the
dominant device, with 53% of Twitter
users saying they used their mobile most
often for Twitter access in the past week.
As we’re starting to learn, when it comes
to immediacy, consumers choose the
mobile every time.
Questions: On which devices have you accessed each of the following websites or internet services in the past week?
In the past week, which device did you use to access each of the following websites or services most often?

18. 4 THE
TA B L E T
EFFECT

19. The concept of tablet computers is now seen as ‘a
good thing’ among a growing proportion of people.
Just over a quarter of our survey respondents say
that they would like a tablet device / touch screen
portable computer – if the price were right. This
rises to 4 in 10 among 16-24 year olds.
The proportion of our survey respondents who own a tablet
device has grown from 3% a year ago to 11%.
In total a third either have one or want one.
Nearly 9 in 10 respondents have heard of the iPad, and of these,
a quarter are very interested in getting one, at the right price.
Question: Which of the following services or devices would you be interested in purchasing, if the price were right?

20. 5 TA B L E T S :
INCREASING
AVA I L A B I L I T Y T O
E N T E R TA I N M E N T

21. We compared the types of apps
used by mobile and tablet users
and found that generally there
is little difference in the top five
types of app which, predictably,
include games, social networks,
music and news.
44%
Games 46%
43%
Social networks
38%
Music 35%
42%
Use generally on mobile
(% of smartphone)
News and weather 35%
Use generally on tablet
41% (% of tablet owners)
Navigation and maps 32% % mobile phone owners, September 2011
30%
Question: In general, what types of applications (or apps) do you download and use on your mobiLe phone / tablet computer?

22. But as you might expect, we are
starting to see big differences
between mobiles and tablets
when it comes to the use of
apps for entertainment,
TV/video and books:
30%
Entertainment 37%
30%
Utilities (e.g. clocks, torch)
37%
19% Use generally on mobile
TV, film and video (% of smartphone)
32%
Use generally on tablet
(% of tablet owners)
16%
Books
33%
% mobile phone owners, September 2011

23. Our research suggests that as tablet
penetration grows, consumer ‘availability’
to media and entertainment will also
grow.
Will this lead to more hours in the day being spent with media content? Or
will it eat into traditional TV time?
That still remains to be seen.

24. Essential Eye
E: stuart@essentialresearch.co.uk
malia@essentialresearch.co.uk
T: +44 (0)20 7384 1297
FIND OUT MORE
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