New survey of 1,000 mobile users indicates: Women play more mobile games – men prefer the news

A new survey charting the attitudes of Swedish mobile users to 3G revealed a marked interest in mobile services, but also that different groups of users are interested in different types of service. Women, for example, play more games on their mobile phones compared both with men and the average figure for the survey. Young people and commuters are more interested in downloading and listening to music on their mobile phones.

When asked which mobile services the users prefer, 16 per cent of women said that they frequently played games and a many as 56% have tried it. The corresponding figure for men is 11 per cent and 57 per cent respectively. Another in-demand service is being able to download and listen to music on your mobile phone. In the 18 – 25 age group, 70 per cent already have or want to have this service. The corresponding figure for all mobile users in the survey is just over 40 per cent. In addition to youngsters, people living in sparsely populated areas and commuters also revealed an above-average interest in music on their mobiles (45 per cent each). “This survey shows that there is a marked interested among mobile users in this type of 3G-enabled mobile service. It is also noteworthy that the interest in different types of mobile service varies between different user groups,” says Anders Jensen, Head of Content Services at Vodafone Sweden. More women play games on the train Mobile users were also asked which mobile service they would want access to during a one-hour train journey. Most of the men (40 per cent) chose the TV news while most of the women (32 per cent), preferred playing games (equivalent to TV games) on the train. In the group of mobile users consisting of commuters, 32 per cent preferred playing games while slightly less, 29 per cent, wanted to watch films. One out of every four commuters prefers to watch the TV news. Videocalls to partners are popular The survey also shows that men are more interested in making video calls than women. 67 per cent of men and 60 per cent of women answered ‘yes, definitely’ when asked if they would consider making a videocall to their partners, while 23 per cent of men (but only 9 per cent of women) would consider making a videocall to subordinates. Slightly more women (13 per cent) would consider making a videocall to their mother/father-in-law. The figure for men is 16 per cent. Another in-demand mobile service was being able to receive and send e-mails. A whopping 70 per cent of mobile users already have or wish to have this service. This applies particularly to the 36 - 45 age group, where around 80 per cent have or wish to have the service. About the survey This survey was conducted by survey company, Cint, and was commissioned by Vodafone. 1,093 people in the 18-65 age group answered questions via an e-mail questionnaire in October 2004. For more information, please contact: Anders Jensen, Head of Content, Vodafone Sweden Tel +46 708 33 13 17, e-mail: anders.jensen@vodafone.com Johan Holmgren, Director of Public Relations, Vodafone Sweden Tel +46 708 33 14 00, e-mail: johan.holmgren@vodafone.com