Net Metrix: Around 1 million Swiss mobile users online every day
According to the Net-Metrix-Mobile 2011-1 special report, nearly one in three people in Switzerland already access websites via so-called small-screen devices (SSD). This corresponds to approximately 1.8 million people in the Swiss population.
A good 21 percent of all Internet users already do this daily or almost daily. The comparison with the survey in summer 2010 shows a significant growth for the group of SSD users, which has increased by a remarkable 27 percent. The growth in SSD heavy users is even more impressive, with an increase of 56 percent. Around one million people in Switzerland use Internet services via smartphones and the like every day or almost every day. This is according to the special report Net Metrix Mobile.
The current special report Net-Metrix-Mobile 2011-1 confirms the trend that such devices are increasingly being used for visiting the World Wide Web. The special report focuses primarily on Internet users of small screen devices (SSDs). SSD users include users of mobile phones/smartphones, MP3 players/iPods/PDAs and personal organizers with Internet functions. The proportion of these Internet users has increased significantly since the survey in summer 2010.
Compared with the previous wave, the sociodemographic trends are largely confirmed, although a slight consolidation can be observed, as the report continues. The gender difference is somewhat smaller than in the summer 2010 survey, but male SSD users still outnumber female users by a ratio of two to one. In terms of age groups, 14- to 39-year-olds are once again overrepresented, while the 50+ generation is clearly underrepresented in Internet use via smartphones and the like. SSD users are still more likely to be in full-time employment, and there is a slight increase in the number of people in education compared with the previous wave. In terms of income groups, there is again an overrepresentation in the highest category - with incomes above CHF 10,000 per month.
Mobile internet applications
The latest report now also includes data on the use of mobile Internet applications such as e-mail, mobile browsers and applications (apps): Around one in five Internet users access e-mails via a mobile device every day or almost every day. Among SSD users, it is already one in two, and among SSD heavy users, it is even three out of four who retrieve their electronic mail daily or almost daily via corresponding small screen devices. Mobile browsing is also clearly popular among SSD users at 68 percent and the use of apps at 62 percent. Among SSD heavy users, these shares are significantly higher at around 73 percent and 78 percent respectively.
The special report NET-Metrix-Mobile provides basic sociodemographic information and usage data on mobile Internet users and, in particular, on users who surf the Web on small screen devices such as smartphones. From 2011-1, data on the use of mobile Internet applications such as e-mail, mobile browsers and apps will also be available. The study's population consists of people aged 14 and over who live in Switzerland or the Principality of Liechtenstein, who have used the Internet at least once in the last three months and who can communicate sufficiently well in one of the national languages German, French or Italian to be able to take part in an online survey. The surveys took place between November and December 2010.
