European mobile phone music usage tops America

October 17, 2005

Telephia, the provider of performance measurement information to the mobile industry, reports European mobile consumers are four times more likely to use their music-capable wireless phone (e.g., phone with MP3 player) than their American counterparts. According to Telephia's Europe and U.S. Device Reports from Q3 2005, 36 percent of European mobile phone users who have wireless music phones use their devices to listen to music, while only eight percent of U.S. music phone owners use their phones to listen to music. Consumers who purchased new mobile phones in the last six months have even higher utilization rates at 43 percent for Europeans and nine percent for Americans.

According to Telephia data, music phone usage has grown much more rapidly in Europe than in the U.S. Almost two years ago, in Q1 2004, both Europe and the U.S. showed a one percent penetration rate of music phones among mobile phone subscribers. The latest Telephia figures from Q3 2005 show that 14 percent of European mobile phone subscribers now own a music phone, but the penetration rate for U.S. has increased only slightly to two percent.

"The advanced infrastructure and the higher availability of music-capable devices in Europe are key factors behind the bigger growth in adoption. The U.S. market is still waiting for higher bandwidth networks that would support faster full track music downloads," said Kanishka Agarwal, Vice President of New Products, Telephia. "With the availability of 3G services in Europe, adoption and utilization of applications like mobile music will further accelerate. It is likely that advanced infrastructures will serve as a catalyst for increased traction in the U.S. market."

The Telephia US Device Report is based on a survey of more than 65K mobile phone subscribers each quarter. The Telephia Europe Device Report is based on a semi-annual survey of over 27K wireless subscribers across six countries -- United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, and Spain. These reports track key industry performance metrics such as brand and device market share, brand consideration and retention, consumer satisfaction, retail dynamics, subscriber acquisition, user profiles, feature usage and preferences. In December 2005, Telephia will launch a UK 3G Report that focuses on the device and application experiences of existing 3G users as well as the drivers of 3G adoption among 3G intenders.

Top Phones Among Mobile Music Listeners

In Europe, the Nokia 6230 was the top phone among mobile phone subscribers who use their music phones to listen to music with a 26.6 percent share. The Samsung SGH-D500 claimed an 11.5 percent share, while the Sony Ericsson K700 secured the third spot with a 9.6 percent share. The Nokia 6630 and Sony Ericsson K750 rounded at the top five in Europe. In the U.S. Market, Motorola took the top spots, with the V710 and MPX200 Series models posting a 22 and 17 percent share of mobile music listeners, respectively. The Handspring Treo followed closely with a 16.8 percent share, while the Sony Ericsson Z500 and S700 Series models landed the No. 4 and No. 5 spots