Published on the 26/11/2014 | Written by Beverley Head
A global survey has found that more than three in four Australians aged 18-75 now own a smartphone – the fifth highest penetration in the world; enterprises need to prepare for the mobile consumer…
Deloitte’s Mobile Consumer Survey has for the first time examined Australians’ appetite for smartphones and has uncovered what amounts to an obsession. For example not only does 76 percent of the adult population own a smartphone, it’s the first thing that 10 percent of them reach for on waking.
Six percent of the population admits to checking their phone 100 times or more each day.
In terms of brand Apple and Samsung carve up the majority of the market with Apple on 38 percent share and Samsung on 32 percent. The remainder of the market is shared between a number of other handset vendors.
But Deloitte’s lead partner for technology, media and telecommunications, Stuart Johnston said that despite consumer enthusiasm Australian enterprises were making mixed progress in rolling out applications that leveraged that appetite for mobility. He said retailers and bankers for example, which intuitively seem to have most to gain from mobile apps, were only middle of the pack when compared to their international peers in terms of mobile exploitation.
Johnston however believed that the arrival of more near field communications enabled smartphones, particularly the iPhone 6, coupled with the roll out of location-based services and iBeacon-style networks could prompt greater enterprise investment in mobile applications.
The Deloitte survey also revealed interesting insights about what people are doing on their phones.
Asked what they did on their smartphone while sitting in front of the TV, for example 34 percent checked social networks, and 33 percent looked at their emails. Twelve percent used other apps, nine percent shopped online and seven percent searched for information about an advert seen on the TV.
Mobile banking is also popular, with 55 percent of smartphone owners accessing their bank from their phone. Checking balances is the most popular activity, referenced by 46 percent of respondents while 29 percent transfer money to another individual or make an online purchase from the phone. However just six percent of respondents had used their smartphone as an in-store payments device.
