The research highlights that while consumers are using their handsets to access the mobile web in increasing numbers, business professionals remain significantly ahead of consumers in terms of adoption and usage intensity. According to the research conducted on behalf of FT.com, business professionals are more than twice as likely to access general news and 1.6 times more likely to access social networking sites.
The report is based on the results of a quantative survey of over 1,000 business professionals commissioned by FT.com. Additional data from the Financial Times’ servers is also published in the report for the first time, which suggests that iPhone usage has a remarkable effect on users’ propensity to access newspaper content via the handset, with levels of engagement and time spent on such sites rapidly approaching the same levels as those experienced by general readers of national newspaper sites.
Steve Pinches, Group Product Manager, Emerging Technologies at FT.com, comments: “Much has been said about consumer adoption of the mobile web but relatively little has come from the business perspective. The iPhone effect is real and very significant and is having a dramatic impact on the way people consume content on the go. With dwell times higher than ever on the mobile, it’s highly likely that mobile access may grow to become the primary way some users consume online text-based news content.”
