Smartphone adoption and usage soars in Asia in 2012

Today we continue our  exploration of regional findings from the new 2012 Our Mobile Planet research and examine smartphone behavior in the Asia Pacific region.

Have you ever left home without your mobile phone? If so, you probably remember the feeling of anxiety that comes from being disconnected.  The new Our Mobile Planet smartphone research shows that you are not alone in this feeling. In Australia 74% of smartphone owners do not leave home without their phone and in Japan that number is even higher at 78%.  Just like they have shown rapid growth in the economy and in culture recently, Asian countries are gaining momentum in increasing smartphone usage.

To better understand the importance of smartphones across Asia, and to see how it relates to you and your business, visit thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplanet to gain free access to powerful data across 40 countries in 22 languages.  This is an updated version of previous Our Mobile Planet research, with an improved user interface for easier navigation and newly updated data. We commissioned Ipsos MediaCT to conduct new research on smartphone Internet users across 26 countries in Q1 2012, including four APAC countries - Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand. You can also find last year’s research data from eight other APAC countries including Korea, Singapore and India.

New 2012 Research Findings: Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand

1. APAC consumers increasingly choose smartphones

• Smartphone penetration in Asia has increased by leaps and bounds within less than a year. Even though it was broadly known that Japanese people often use their phones to search on the Internet in their daily lives, in our last year’s research, only 6% of respondents answered that they have smartphones. However, the number has more than tripled this year and now 20% of Japanese people are smartphone users. In Australia, more than half of the population(52%) own smartphones and this is 40% growth from last year’s stats(37%)
• The importance of smartphones can be seen throughout Asia in a number of ways, for example in China 54% of smartphone owners would rather give up their TV than their smartphone, or in New Zealand 59% of smartphone owners access the Internet on a daily basis. Smartphones are already becoming indispensable to Asian consumers.

2. APAC consumers are active smartphone users

• 77% of Japanese smartphone users have used their phone every day in the past 7 days, which is the highest among the 26 around the world where we conducted research. 64% of Chinese users, 58% of Australians and 46% of New Zealanders also use their phones everyday.
• Search is one of the most common activities on smartphones. 68% of Japanese, 63% of Chinese, and 51% of Australian smartphone owners perform mobile searches everyday.

3.  Smartphones are used with other media

• Smartphone owners consume multiple other types of media in conjunction with their smartphone.  The top three cross media activities are watching TV, listening to music, and using the Internet.  In Japan, more than half (53%) of respondents use smartphones when they watch TV and 30% of them use while surfing the Internet. This data shows that mobile marketing is no longer optional – consumers are always on their smartphones, even when they have other entertainment media options.
• People search on mobile after seeing an offline ad. Chinese smartphone users are very responsive as a staggering 87% have performed a mobile search after seeing an ad.  This figure is high in other markets as well, 63% of Australians, 62% of Japanese, and 57% of New Zealanders also search on their phones after seeing an offline ad.  

Consumers take an action after local search: Called business or service after searching on smartphone

4. Smartphones are the new yellow pages for local businesses

• Having a mobile presence is critical for local businesses. In Australia and New Zealand, 86% and 80% of smartphone users search locally on their phones. The number is even higher in Japan and China where 91% and 93% of respondents indicated that they search local businesses on their phones.
• Consumers do not stop after search. They actually visit the store, call the business, and make purchases.  From the graph above, you can see how many people call the businesses after performing a local search. Consumers from Australia and New Zealand showed similarly high results, 54% and 50% respectively. 33% of Chinese users and 17% of Japanese users also answered that they called the businesses after searching locally.

5. Shopping on mobile devices is growing, be ready for your customers

• Through our research we discovered that almost all of the smartphone users in APAC countries use their smartphones to research a product or service. In Japan 100% of smartphone owners use their mobile device to research products or services. These numbers are high throughout APAC where we see 94% from Australia, 97% from China, and 66% from New Zealand.
• Smartphone shoppers also make mobile purchases quite often. Of the people in China that have made a purchase on their smartphone, 76% of them make mobile purchases at least once a month, which is the highest number globally. 59% of Australians, 52% of New Zealanders and 51% of the Japanese smartphone shoppers also make purchases at least once a month.

It’s clear that consumers have gone mobile and that businesses need to think about how to make reaching the new mobile consumer an important part of their strategy.  Visit thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplanet to get the insights you need to make data driven decisions on how to engage with your customers on their smartphone. 


Posted by: Soyeon Kim, APAC Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile Ads

Smartphone adoption and usage soars in Asia in 2012
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