Orange Says Europeans Prefer Mobile Web to Apps

Mobile users in the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Poland surveyed on behalf of Orange say they prefer to use the mobile web rather than mobile apps. About 70 percent of Britons prefer the mobile web to mobile apps, for example.

In France, 68 percent of users favor the browser over 60 per cent who prefer apps.  In less mature mobile media markets, there is apparently more receptiveness to app use. In  Spain 42 per cent see, to prefer apps, while 45 percent of Polish users favor mobile apps and 39 percent favor the mobile web.

In large part, those opinions might be driven by the increasing use of mobiles as an end point supporting many of the same applications people use on their PCs. Some 58 percent of U.K. users want to find the same things on their mobile as on a PC, as do 55 percent of French users, 58 percent in Spain and 72 percent in Poland.

The study also suggests that mobile use is cannibalizing some amount of traditional media use as well. Some 16 percent of mobile media users in the United Kingdom say they read fewer magazines and 14 percent say they read fewer newspapers.

Mobile Internet use does not seem to be cannibalizing either television or fixed-line PC use, however.

PC browsing increased for 25 percent of respondents and television viewing increased for 14 percent of respondents.

About 40 percent of European mobile media users surveyed also say they quickly check information on their mobiles and then spend more time with content when they are back in front of a PC.

In the United Kingdom mobile media is accessed by 74 percent of users when they are out and about. On the other hand, when at home 59 percent use their mobiles to search the Internet as well.

Fully 70 percent of respondents say they use their mobile browsers when users are on the move. In the United Kingdom, Spain and Poland, respondents browse for longer on the Internet when they are outside rather than at home.

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