Variations in mobile internet behaviour between operating systems revealed

GfK NIS is already installed in several European markets and during the autumn of 2010, GfK measured more than 20 million website visits in four European countries to discover that the intensity of web usage differs significantly between operating systems. Android users were the most 'web intensive' with an average of 9.1 daily site visits per user, compared to iPhone (8.0), BlackBerry (5.7) and Symbian (5.2), the latter utilised more as a 'feature' phone as opposed to a 'smart' phone. GfK NIS also uncovered the variations in mobile usage in terms of handset screen size; <2" displays saw an average of 2.8 site visits per day per user, whereas >4" displays exhibit a marked increase, with 10.4 visits per day, per user.

"GfK NIS provides operators with an exclusive opportunity to monetise mobile web usage as it enables all stakeholders of the mobile internet access to unique information" explained Fredrik Hallberg, managing director at GfK Retail and Technology, responsible for GfK NIS. "GfK is linking usage information with the feature of the model, enabling insight and analysis on these areas that were previously unavailable."

Social networking sites continue to dominate

Social networking sites continue to dominate the mobile internet picture, with a 28% share of all site visits. The importance of Facebook for example depends heavily on the operating system utilised. For users with a Symbian operating system, Facebook accounts for 24% of all visits while elsewhere the significance is lower; iPhone (17%), Blackberry (16%) and Android (13%). Similar variations can be found for other popular sites; Google for example is hardly used at all by users with Symbian phones.

The GfK NIS tool measures all websites visited using mobile internet regardless of the device; mobile phones, Smartphones, PC tablets and 3G Cards are all monitored and will be rolled out globally during 2011.
About GfK Network Intelligence Solution

The GfK Network Intelligence Solution offers comprehensive coverage of internet activities and metrics for both mobile phone operators and the media industry. GfK NIS delivers accurate, reliable, real-time statistics and guarantees subscriber privacy protection.