The latest Mobile Consumer Briefing report from the Mobile Marketing Association and Lightspeed Research shows that 36% of UK mobile consumers expect to access websites once a week or more using their mobile phone over the next year. 27% of German users and 20% of French users said they anticipated using the mobile internet at least weekly.
Most consumers said they'd only visit websites that didn't charge for access; 56% of UK respondents stated they'd be unlike to use a mobile site that charged a fee. (The figures were 56% for France and 35% for Germany). News, weather, social networking and mobile search were the sites that mobile consumers were most likely to access over the coming year, with maps and directions being the favourite content in the UK.
Most consumers used mobile search engines to find websites. Bookmarks were the second most-used option in the UK and France, while German consumers preferred alerts and notifications.
In addition, 30% of UK mobile consumers (25% in France and 36% in Germany) were willing to receive alerts from their chosen websites via mobile phone, with 38% preferring alerts via text message as an alternative to email.
Peter A Johnson, vice president of market intelligence at the MMA and author of the study, said "The survey results have shown that there is a clear and growing market opportunity for the mobile internet. The high usage of the mobile device for accessing websites is opening up as a key channel for advertisers. To make the most of this opportunity, site owners and developers need to ensure their websites are well-designed for mobile, user-friendly and easily discoverable using mobile search engines."