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Thursday, December 2, 2010

UK leads the world in many aspects of mobile usage, says Ofcom

Research from telecom regulator Ofcom says UK consumers are some of the world’s earliest adopters of new communications technologies.

Ofcom’s fifth International Communications Market report compares services in the UK with 16 other countries: France, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Although Italy has the highest mobile take-up overall, with 95% of the population owning a mobile phone, the UK isn’t far behind with 91% penetration. Italy also has the highest smartphone take-up – 26% – compared with 18% in the UK. However, the UK saw the highest growth in smartphone take-up in the past year with a 70% rise in subscriber numbers between January 2009 and January 2010.

29% of internet users in the UK say they use their mobile to access the internet at home, second only to Japan at 43%. Overall, UK users favour laptops to access the internet at home: 69% of internet users.

Although downloading mobile apps doesn’t vary much across different countries, use of mobile mapping and direction services has grown fastest in the UK (an 86% increase since 2009). 9% of people in the UK now use these services, compared to 5% in France and Germany.

People in the UK also use their mobile phones for social networking more than those in other countries. (24% of UK consumers compared to 13% in Germany). The UK is also the second biggest text messaging nation in Europe after Ireland, with 140 messages per person per month (218 per person per month in Ireland).

However, it's not all good news. The report notes that mobile broadband speeds have increased among the countries surveyed, with maximum theoretical downloads speeds of 100Mbps now available in Sweden - yet consumers in the UK and France only have maximum theoretical download speeds of 7.2Mbps available due to the lack of HSPA+ and LTE services.

[Ofcom pdf document]

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Opinion Articles

Operation Mobile as military prepares to synchronise with smartphones

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Kevin Deal, Vice President of Aerospace & Defence at IFS North America, writes:

It is difficult to believe that the idea of a hand-held mobile phone was an alien concept only a few short decades ago. From brick-sized analogue devices to wafer thin smartphones with processing capabilities comparable to those of laptops, new technology is constantly pushing the boundaries of what we can expect from our phones. And, in a reverse of the normal pattern of technology innovation, a development driven by consumers is set to have an important impact on aerospace and defence (A&D).

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Last week at The Fonecast: 19th November 2012

Confusion by numbers

Mark Bridge writes:

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We talk to Henry Lawson of nFluence media

Mark Bridge writes:

Today’s consumers receive a seemingly never-ending stream of online information from their social networks, from websites, in their email and on their mobile devices. But is there a way to let individuals stay in control whilst also helping companies advertise their products?  According to nFluence Media, there definitely is.

To find out more, I spoke to Henry Lawson, co-founder and CEO of nFluence, and started by asking him to explain exactly what nFluence did.

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Doro aims at the sweet spot for easy-to-use mobile phones

Mark Bridge writes:

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Ofcom asks "Which type of communicator are you?"

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Earlier this year, Ofcom’s Communication Market Report revealed that the UK is now texting more that talking. Further analysis of the research, published today, looks at the methods and frequency of communication, as well people’s attitudes towards it.

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