Consumer smartphone usage: voice and messaging trends


August 6, 2012
46 Pages - SKU: BCAQ4893170
License type:
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Operator-provided voice and messaging services are losing ground as a new wave of communication services compete for users' attention on smartphones. We used on-device trackers to gather usage data from a panel of consumer smartphone users in France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the USA during a two-month period. In this report, we analyse the users’ communications habits to offer some real-world quantification of the scale of disruptive usage.

This Report provides:
  • insight into real-world smartphone usage by handset manufacturer, operating system, country, age and gender
  • quantification of the extent to which disruptive services are being used on smartphones
  • benchmarks for usage of traditional voice and messaging services
  • details of:
  • how smartphone users use different modes of communication throughout the day
  • how text-based communication is evolving on smartphones
  • the real-world impact of WhatsApp Messenger, over-the-top messaging and instant messaging
  • Skype, Viber and WhatsApp Messenger smartphone usage, by age, gender and country
  • VoIP usage as a proportion of total voice usage
  • how installing WhatsApp affects users’ SMS usage.
Please note: this is delivered as a PowerPoint presentation.


List of Slides with Slide Numbers
5.Executive summary
6.Smartphones are bringing a variety of audio- and text-based communication services into competition for the first time
7.Operators will be concerned that the sub-set of users that have already substituted their traditional voice service for a VoIP app will grow
8.Almost half of smartphone users use IM or OTT messaging services, presenting operators with some urgent challenges
9.Recommendations
10.Recommendations [1]
11.Recommendations [2]
12.Introduction
13.Real-world usage: we measured consumer smartphone usage via an on-device monitoring app, in partnership with Arbitron Mobile
14.The smartphone user panel was designed to be representative of the smartphone market in the countries covered
15.Multiple communication services coexist on smartphones
16.Smartphones are bringing a variety of audio- and text-based communication services into competition for the first time
17.Email usage is more immediate when the service is associated with the mobile handset
18.The relative intimacy of different communication services is shown by tracking usage by time of day
19.Traditional services are vulnerable to substitution
20.Switching off traditional voice services does not depend on age, but there is segmentation by OS
21.A high proportion of calls are aborted, potentially leading to frustration
22.The balance of incoming versus outgoing calls varies by country
23.Both traditional and alternative players look to exploit the network effect
24.SMS usage varies significantly across the panel, with a large number of inactive users
25.Quantifying the impact of disruptive usage
26.Quantifying the impact of disruptive usage
27.20% of panellists are active users of VoIP apps
28.A small subset of panellists have substituted their traditional voice service for a VoIP app
29.Almost half of smartphone users use IM or OTT messaging services
30.Variation of OTT adoption by country highlights the role of pricing in substitution
31.Women are more likely than men to use social network apps on their smartphones, but less likely to use mobile VoIP
32.Facebook and WhatsApp Messenger do not have the universal age appeal of mobile VoIP services
33.How and where disruption occurs
34.How and where disruption occurs
35.Several panellists installed an OTT messaging app, but did not reduce their usage of SMS
36.The widespread availability of Wi-Fi opens the door to non-operator-provided services
37.Prohibitive charging for services when roaming gives smartphone users an incentive to find alternative communication services
38.Methodology and definitions
39.Methodology and definitions
40.About Arbitron Mobile
41.About the authors and Analysys Mason
42.About the authors
43.About Analysys Mason
44.Research from Analysys Mason
45.Consulting from Analysys Mason
List of figures
Figure 1: Time of day during which the panel initiated different smartphone communication activities, as a percentage of daily instances
Figure 2: Usage of VoIP apps
Figure 3: Distribution of smartphone panellists by usage of SMS, IM/OTT messaging services and WhatsApp Messenger
Figure 4: Illustration of Analysys Mason–Arbitron smartphone data analysis process
Figure 5: Smartphone panellists included in this report, by country
Figure 6: Smartphone panellists included in this report, by age
Figure 7: Smartphone panellists included in this report, by OS
Figure 8: Attributes of the various communication services available on smartphones
Figure 9: Active use of different text-based communication apps, by operating system
Figure 10: Time of day during which the panel initiated different smartphone communication activities, as a percentage of daily instances
Figure 11: Traditional voice usage by age
Figure 12: Traditional voice usage by OS
Figure 13: Distribution of duration of outgoing calls among panellists
Figure 14: Distribution of incoming versus outgoing voice traffic
Figure 15: The average proportion of outgoing voice minutes that panellists made to their most-called contacts during the two-month observation period
Figure 16: Usage distribution of outgoing SMS text messages
Figure 17: Active users of VoIP apps
Figure 18: Usage of VoIP apps
Figure 19: Distribution of smartphone panellists by usage of SMS, IM/OTT messaging services and WhatsApp Messenger
Figure 20: Active use of different communication apps among smartphone panellists, by country
Figure 21: Active use of different communication apps among smartphone panellists, by gender
Figure 22: Active use of different selected mobile apps among smartphone panellists, by age group
Figure 23: SMS usage before and after installing WhatsApp Messenger
Figure 24: Percentage of panellists who use OTT communications apps, by type of data connectivity
Figure 25: Types of data connectivity used abroad by panellists who spent any time away from their home country during the observation period

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