APAC willing to spend more for better mobile connectivity
Emerging markets are overtaking Europe and North America as the driver of development of next-generation products and services for mobile connectivity, according to a new report by Amdocs.
Released Thursday, the study found that respondents in emerging economies such as Latin America and Asia demanded more connectivity from their mobile service providers, but consumers in the developed markets tended to be more "passive" in the expectations and adoption of technology.
The survey, covering 4,700 consumers from 14 countries, revealed that users in this part of the region and Latin America saw mobile phones as an "essential part" of their daily lives. Multiple screen services were also "far more popular in these regions than anywhere else", the report noted.
Almost a third of Latin American respondents described themselves as leading users of mobile services, compared with 12 percent in Europe and 14 percent in North America. Also, when asked about the possibility of the PC and mobile converging into a single device, more than 80 percent of those in Latin America responded positively, while just half in North America supported the development.
Consumers in the emerging economies were also more active in seeking better mobile offers from competing service providers, the survey found. Three times more Latin American consumers than North Americans reviewed their service every three months. These mobile users were "the most willing" to adopt and pay for premium services, the report said.
Almost two thirds of Latin American and half of Asia-Pacific consumers, compared with just half of those in North America, said they would spend more money to access better mobile connectivity.
Rebecca Prudhomme, Amdocs' vice president of product and solutions marketing, said the study demonstrated the need for service providers to adopt different business models to meet the needs of local consumers.
"Consumers are embracing their own vision of the connected world, and service providers will need to understand their individual drivers in order to offer and deliver a unique and personalized experience," Prudhomme noted in the report.
APAC economies display diverse attitudes
Within Asia-Pacific, consumers from developed economies such as Australia and Singapore, and emerging markets such as Thailand and Vietnam, also displayed distinct attitudes toward mobile.
About 63 percent of respondents from emerging countries were more excited about applications on the mobile device, and 66 percent expected to do more on a mobile phone.
Social networking ranked most popular with 86.6 percent of users from emerging economies demanding such apps on their mobile devices, compared with just 56 percent from developed countries. Similarly, mobile Internet search also fared better with respondents in Thailand and Vietnam, with 84.3 percent using such functions, compared with just 31.5 percent from other markets.