Growth in Mid-Tier Subscriptions Suggests Significant Opportunity for Smartphone Manufacturers
LONDON, U.K., 31st March, 2010 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of the smartphone market in Europe showing that smartphone adoption in the EU5 (U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy) has grown 32 percent versus a year ago to 51.6 million subscribers. Whilst growth can be seen across the range of monthly subscription fees, the mid to low tier is growing faster than high tier subscriptions in each of the EU5 markets.
The U.K. market strongly leads in growth of smartphone adoption over the past year, growing 70 percent to more than 11 million subscribers. France ranks second in growth with the number of smartphone subscribers up 48 percent to 7 million. Meanwhile, Italy boasts the largest number of smartphone subscribers overall (15 million) but showed the softest growth in this market at 11 percent.
Smartphone Subscribers3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2010 vs. 3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2009Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+Source: Comscore MobiLens
Smartphone Subscribers (000)
Jan-09
Jan-10
% Change
EU5
38,994
51,623
32%
U.K.
6,525
11,109
70%
France
4,842
7,140
48%
Germany
6,309
8,429
34%
Spain
7,809
9,907
27%
Italy
13,510
15,037
11%
Smartphone Payment TiersIn evaluating monthly subscription fees, the high tier (greater than £35 in U.K. and €50 in Euro currency countries) is not growing as strongly as the mid to low tier. The U.K. has the highest pace of both mid to low tier adoption (up 76 percent) and high-tier adoption (up 60 percent), followed by France (52 percent and 43 percent, respectively).
Smartphone Growth by Payment Tier*3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2010 vs. 3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2009Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+Source: Comscore MobiLens
Mid to Low Tier
High Tier
Jan-2009
Jan-2010
3,826
6,745
76%
2,515
4,037
60%
3,087
4,695
52%
1,600
2,280
43%
4,314
6,077
41%
1,876
2,206
18%
4,462
6,257
40%
3,200
3,475
9%
9,839
11,259
14%
3,039
3,159
4%
* High Tier pricing model includes Smartphones with monthly subscription fee of over £35 in UK and over €50 in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Some respondents do not disclose tariff information
“Smartphones are generally seen as luxury devices that come with big price tags and high monthly tariffs, yet the largest segment of the market and the one demonstrating greatest momentum is actually the low to mid tier,” says Alistair Hill, senior mobile analyst at Comscore. “The growth in these tiers suggests that as smartphones become more affordable to the majority of European consumers, their proliferation will increase considerably and lead to a surge in mobile content and data consumption. Such market dynamics offer substantial opportunity for different players in the mobile ecosystem -- from operators and manufacturers to publishers and advertisers --- and underscore the importance of competing for customers now to engender long-term loyalty.”
January 2010 European Mobile Benchmark DataBelow is Comscore’s January 2010 benchmark data, including a review of mobile consumption behaviours and device penetration for five EU countries. This benchmark data will be updated on a monthly basis to provide the most up-to-date snapshot of the mobile industry. Further information on this benchmark data, and other data included above, can be provided upon request.
Mobile Benchmark Data for the European Market3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2010Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+Source: Comscore MobiLens
Reach (%) of Mobile Subscribers
UK
DE
FR
ES
IT
Sent an SMS/Text
83.5%
90.3%
81.6%
81.7%
84.5%
79.5%
Used Application (including games)
33.4%
37.6%
33.3%
23.6%
36.1%
37.0%
Listened to Music
22.7%
21.4%
24.6%
19.9%
28.7%
20.4%
Mobile Browsing
22.2%
30.8%
17.4%
21.7%
20.7%
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog
11.3%
18.2%
6.5%
10.2%
9.5%
11.7%
Accessed News
9.6%
13.7%
7.5%
9.0%
6.7%
10.4%
3G Device
42.4%
41.7%
38.3%
36.7%
53.3%
45.2%
Smartphone
22.6%
22.9%
16.5%
15.2%
28.3%
32.0%
Top Smartphone Platforms3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2010Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+Source: Comscore MobiLens
Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Total Smartphone Subscribers
100.0%
Symbian
60.9%
46.9%
55.1%
40.7%
73.5%
75.7%
Apple
14.5%
20.5%
15.3%
29.9%
7.7%
Microsoft
14.1%
10.7%
20.0%
12.8%
11.4%
RIM
8.3%
18.7%
6.8%
5.4%
5.2%
4.7%
Google
2.0%
3.0%
2.2%
3.7%
1.8%
0.4%
About ComscoreComscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
Ayaan MohamudComscore, Inc. + 44 (0) 203-111-1758worldpress@comscore.com