With mobile internet predicted for rapid growth, it is now more important than ever to ensure websites are fully accessible to as wide a range of devices as possible.
While accessibility is always desirable, not to mention a legal responsibility for impaired users, being mobile-friendly will inevitably be more crucial to some sites than others. To help identify which target audiences will want to log on via a handheld device or as a mobile phone, clusters, a classification scheme, has been drawn up by web research firm, Point Topic.
New research by the company has pinpointed six recognisable cluster groups of mobile users. They are:
· Road warriors - Well-paid, middle-aged business users with laptops and Blackberries.
· Gadget Joys - Young early adopting technology lovers with money to spare.
· MI Lifers - Use Mobile Internet (MI) as a daily tool for information gathering and email.
· Mid-market Moderates - Middling to light users who haven’t yet found where MI matters to them. Dabblers searching for a compelling reason for mobile internet access.
· Entertain Us - Young mobile-owning people looking for fun on a lower income.
· Light and Easy - Older generation, often women, logging on exclusively with a mobile phone rather than other types of handheld device.
Point Topic’s research shows that together these groups account for about 83 per cent of mobile internet users; the remainder are too unusual to fit neatly into any of the defined clusters. Each cluster accounts for about 15 per cent of users except for the Mid-market Moderates who are only nine per cent.
Even at this early stage of development, it is clear that mobile internet usage is not merely the preserve of early adopters and business users. Mainstream users represent a significant proportion of the mobile internet population, using the technology for entertainment and as a tool.
Two groups, the Mid-market Moderates and Light and Easy, accounting for nearly a quarter of mobile internet users, could justifiably be characterised as late adopters. They are making some use of the technology but remain unsure about it and which role it may ultimately play in their lives. These two groups, explains Point Topic, are the very people whose usage needs to be developed for the market to grow. The research, then, should help companies develop the new mobile internet market more quickly and successfully.
Previous research by Point Topic has shown there is widespread interest in accessing the internet on the move, whether through the mobile phone networks or at WiFi hotspots. But there are already a wide variety of people doing this for many different reasons. By classifying the users into different groups or “clusters” and identifying their needs and wants suppliers can optimise their products and services to fit the market.
Meanwhile, Point Topic are also reporting that videoconferencing is becoming increasingly common as a result of the technology maturing and more internal domain-based products coming on the market. A recent survey found that 15 per cent of UK businesses are now using some form of videoconferencing, an increase of three per cent in six months.
A major factor in videoconferencing finding traction has been the price. A two-room videoconferencing system now costs around £1500, less than a sixth of the 2001 price tag, and web-based subscription services have seen fees drop by more than 50 per cent to less than £50 per month.
