Buongiorno Identifies the New Mobile Tribes in its Global Analysis
The mobile content distributor, Buongiorno has published the results of its third edition of "VASland 2006", the global research into the perception of "non voice" services for mobile phones, carried out on a sample of 5,000 users, aged 14-44 years selected in 10 countries in 2 continents.
As one of the main highlights of the research, Buongiorno identifies three tribes of mobile users: "Symbiotics", "Rationals" and "Fashionistas".
VASland 2006 demonstrate a growing usage of non-voice services, as well as the usage of the mobile phone as a camera and a games console, a music player, a pocket TV, a restaurant finder, an e-mail interface and a personal organizer. In particular, users of non voice services for mobiles goes from adolescents to 45 years old people.
The research "Vasland 2006", whose name comes from the acronym of Value Added Services (ie mobile digital content such as videos, ringtones and wallpapers), highlights that digital entertainment is a more and more evolving and complex experience: video broadcasting, online shopping at digital music stores, participation in communities and Bluetooth sharing and connecting are new habits which are becoming widely popular for all targets worldwide.
At the same time, consumers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding, developing a tight relationship with their mobile: it is perceived as an umbilical cord connecting the user to the world, a second skin, some consumers say that there is all their life in it as a secret diary, others feel lonely when nobody calls. Back to the three tribes, the descriptions of mobile and VAS users identified by Buongiorno is as follows:
Symbiotics. They represent 48% of mobile users, the largest family, characterized by a relationship with their mobile as close as they are linked to it by an umbilical cord: this is not simply an enhancing addition to the user's persona but also part of himself and his everyday life. Personalization is their main reason to download VAS. Age-wise, they are mainly older than 25 years, as symbiosis comes with usage. In fact their favourite VAS are top 10 ringtones, name tones and wallpapers name.
Rationals. They represent 25% of the interviewed people. They have a conflictual relationship with mobile phones: on the one hand, they appreciate their phone's usefulness and functional value; on the other hand, they would like to stem its invasiveness. VAS trigger interest as a means of increasing a phone's functions, they have no show off attitudes. They prefer infotainment services via sms and mms, but also software applications to be downloaded such as "Sport Companion".
Fashionistas. They are 27% of the sample, mostly teenagers and young adults. They have a strongly 'show-off' approach to mobile phones, considering their own as a visible part of their persona, a mark to stand out of the crowd, a status symbol. They prefer ringtones of the music hits and wallpapers of famous brands as Hello Kitty and celebrities.
From the research emerges also that the relationship with the mobile phone has different shapes and trend in the countries investigated. The Italian market is more mature than the French one, where the curious approach is still prevailing and the aesthetic aspect is very relevant.
Italians buy a mobile phone in order to belong to a group, to emulate friends and share with them content of each kind. They appreciate the handset functionality, as Germans do, and are very keen to download VAS.
In the UK and US, the playful aspect is the most relevant one, people appreciate in particular all the time-killer applications, such as games and mobile TV.
Differences between men and women in the VAS usage are very interesting as well. Men like games, news via sms and mms, software applications and adult content, while women prefer ringtones, screen savers, wallpapers, entertainment via sms and interactive voting services. Polyphonic ringtones are still the most downloaded content (more than 40% of the users), also a strong request for mp3 downloads (17%) emerged in 2006.
In the end, consumers' future expectations about mobile content:
66% of consumers believe that in the future everybody will be able to produce content appealing to an audience; 70% imagine they will be able to listen to interactive radios through mobile phones with a very active "pick and purchase" capacity for ringtones and full track downloads; 57% is convinced that musicians would be able to start uploading their songs on WAP and decide if users can download them for free or pay; 63% would participate in a mobile TV program."
Posted to the site on 3rd January 2007
