Europe and Middle East leading the smartphone race

Today we continue our  exploration of regional findings from the new 2012 Our Mobile Planet research by examining smartphone behavior in Europe and the Middle East.

UK, Sweden and Norway increased smartphone adoption by 20% in just a year

Click to view UK mobile consumer infographic

Do you see smartphones everywhere these days? As the new Our Mobile Planet smartphone research shows, the Middle East is leading the smartphone race globally with 62% of mobile users being on smartphones in UAE and 60% in Saudi Arabia. In the UAE 71% of users are accessing Internet every day and 75% use their smartphones at airports, proving that the UAE is an international hub. In addition, more than half of consumers in the UK, Norway and Sweden now have a smartphone. Smartphone adoption in these 3 countries increased by more than 20% since our study last year.

All these results are a part of a global study we conducted with Ipsos MediaCT on smartphone users across 26 countries in Q1 2012, including 17 countries in Europe and the Middle East that is available on thinkwithgoogle.co.uk/mobileplanet.

Now let’s have a closer look at the region with the highest mobile adoption.

The Middle East has young active mobile shoppers and social networkers

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are new countries that we added to the study this year. What stands out in the demography of this smartphone population is that they are predominantly young and male; more than 72% are below 34 years old and more than 62% are male. These consumers are so dedicated to their mobile devices that more than 73% don’t leave home without them.

From the data, we can see that smartphone owners in the Middle East are the most active mobile shoppers. In Egypt, 41% of smartphone owners have a made a purchase on their mobile device, and of these mobile shoppers 80% make purchases once a month or more.  This monthly shopping behavior is the highest out of all of the countries that participated and in fact, 46% of Egyptians expect to make more mobile purchases in the future.

Among smartphone shoppers, Egyptians purchase most frequently

Mobile consumers in the Middle East are also using their smartphones to engage with online and offline advertisements. For example, more than ¾ of smartphone users in Egypt have performed a mobile search after seeing an ad such as a TV commercial offline. Although, only half look at the first page of search results on their phones, more than 90% of smartphone users in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE notice mobile advertising when they are surfing the mobile web.

Be ready for the mobile revolution with GetMo, Start Mobile & Mobilisez-vous

GetMo (aka GoMo) site launched in the UK

One of the major takeaways from this study is that Europeans are among the most active smartphone users globally. This means that it is about time for your businesses to follow consumers and give them a mobile optimized experience when they are looking for services on-the-go. To help businesses get ready to create mobile sites, we have recently launched our Go Mobile (GoMo) initiative in many European countries; GetMo (UK), Start Mobile (DE), GetMo (NL), Mobilisez-vous (FR), Haz tu web movile (ES) and Move mobile (IT). If your business is currently creating a mobile strategy, you can get concrete advice and start creating your mobile presence through the GoMo initiative. In addition, find out more about your future mobile customer by visiting thinkwithgoogle.co.uk/mobileplanet.

Posted by Frank Albert Coates, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile & Social ads EMEA

Europe and Middle East leading the smartphone race
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