Video novelty could be over for West Midland smartphone users
THE novelty of watching videos on new generation 4G smartphones may be over after just a year – a new survey has suggested.
Deloitte has conducted a major survey on people’s smartphone habits and the results suggest 4G licence holders and operators may have considerably over-estimated video capabilities as a marketing tool for their devices.
When 4G was launched in 2013, Deloitte asked survey respondents with 4G which applications they were using more frequently. Watching video was the number one response.
This year, among a much larger base of 4G subscribers, watching video had fallen to seventh place. Only a fifth (20%) of respondents watched more video since subscribing to 4G, a significant decline compared to 49% in 2013.
Email and social networks are now the applications which have been used more since adopting 4G.
The survey authors speculate that poor video take-up could be related to fears about data allowances – about a quarter of 4G subscribers have a data allowance of less than one gigabyte which allows approximately one hour of video streaming. A third of 4G subscribers have a data allowance of between one and three gigabytes.
David George, technology partner for Deloitte in the West Midlands, said: “In the short-term, 4G data allowances may continue to inhibit video consumption. Watching video on 4G will remain occasional and used for short video clips rather than films or TV programmes. While 4G may not be changing the services for which smartphones are used, it is certainly enhancing the use of existing services.
“Some smartphone users may avoid Wi-Fi networks especially when manual sign-in is required, such as in coffee shops and while commuting. This may create the need for higher data allowances, thus increasing operators’ ability to charge a premium for 4G.”
When asked why they may change their mobile network provider in the future, network quality for internet use (20%) was more important than network quality for phone calls (16%) for smartphone owners.
Elsewhere, the survey found a third of smartphone users in the West Midlands (33%) look at their phone within five minutes of waking up.
Almost three quarters (74%) of people in the region own a smartphone and their waking routine now starts with checking who has been in touch with them overnight. Most smartphone owners in the West Midlands first check their text messages (31%), followed by email (25%), and then social networks (11%).
The trend mirrors the national picture where just over a third do the same, while two thirds (67%) of 18-24 year olds check their phones within 15 minutes.
