Consumers with basic capability phones, such as those offered free by carriers, consume as much or more raw data than iPhone users, according to Internet mobility company Novarra. The vendor today published its first mobile Internet experience benchmark report studying how consumers access and use the mobile Internet on its Vision browser and mobile Internet platform.
Novarra gets its stats from its work with tier-one carriers including Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Turkcell and 3 Hong Kong, covering more than 50,000 browsers and handsets. According to the company, whether they know it or not, two-third of US mobile phone users and one-quarter of all users globally have access to some form of mobile Internet service provided by Novarra.
Novarra segmented its users into five “tribes” based on the class of user and their mobile preferences and behaviors:
• Business professionals: use BlackBerry or Palm for email, Web browsing and news headlines
• Multitasking parents: use Cookie or Chocolate for search, shopping and texting to their kids
• Mobile millennial: use the iPhone or G1 for text messaging, social networking, apps and Web browsing
• Connected kids: use Sony Ericsson Walkman or Samsung Propel for text messaging and social networking
• Frugal fanatics: use free, simple phones for text and picture messaging, free ringtones and wallpaper
Notable in its findings was that multitasking parents and mobile millennials generate nearly two-thirds of mobile browsing sessions – making them more active than both the business professionals and text-centric kids. The sites they are visiting most frequently are typically the same as those they visit on the PC. Novarra’s data also indicated that a user’s top site visited accounts for about 5% of total page views, while the number two site accounts for less than 1% of traffic. In total, the top 500 sites account for only 25 to 30% of all page views. The total time spent online appears to be split too – 40% of mobile Internet sessions are under five minutes and 40% are over 15 minutes, according to Novarra.