Accenture-Study-Mobile-Web-Watch-Germany-Austria-Switzerland-EN

Strong demand for Web-enabled
mobile devices
The plethora of Web-enabled mobile devices available
clearly shows growing demand. While the average for all the
countries was 46 percent (respondents claiming their intent
to buy such a device soon), it was around 35 percent for
Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Even those who don’t own
a Web-enabled phone have tried to use the Internet through
a mobile device at least once (45 percent in Germany as
compared to the average of 60 percent for all countries) or
plan to do in the near future (22 percent versus 45 percent
average of all countries).
While smartphones are the dominant mobile devices for
Internet access, the rising popularity of netbooks and tablets
shows that the digital consumer seeks an array of features
while connecting to the Internet, anywhere, anytime. Indeed,
their increasing use across countries and across demographics
highlights the unprecedented computing power in the hands
of the hyper-connected consumer. In Germany, for example,
there has been an upsurge in the number of people using
these devices—jumping up from only 3 percent using tablets
in the 2011 survey to 17 percent in 2012.
The emerging markets lead in terms of future demand too.
For example, more respondents in the emerging markets
than in mature markets, expressed their intention to buy
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a Web-enabled mobile phone in the near future (Brazil 78
percent, Russia 73 percent, Mexico 61 percent, South Africa
57 percent versus an average of 46 percent for all countries
versus 38 percent in Germany).
This segmentation of the market by device category
revealed by the survey has implications for not only device
manufacturers but also for players in the communications,
media and technology value chain, such as communication
service providers, device manufacturers, content providers,
communications operators, Internet security companies and
Internet advertisers.
Increasing consumerization of IT at
workplace
According to the survey results for Germany, there is a
reversal in the trend of using smartphones for professional
purposes: 15 percent of the people accessing the Web on a
smartphone did so for work-related matters versus 48 percent
for personal activities. In the 2011 survey, those doing
work-related activities on smartphones totaled 56 percent
as compared to 25 percent for personal work. This finding
reflects the fact that until recently smartphone was driven
by business use on account of high costs. However, in a mass
consumer market, the usage pattern has reversed.