Gen Y Making Mobile Maps, Music & Nokia Big Winners

According to the latest Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index, conducted together with m.Net Corporation and Ideal Interfaces, the young and restless are ensuring that mobile content downloads are fast becoming the norm.

Click to enlarge

The survey was undertaken online among 2097 consumers nationally who ranged from 10 to 78 years of age with the average age of approximately 35 years of age and of the respondents, 69 per cent of respondents were female and 31 per cent were male.

The survey found that in terms of purchasing online, those in the 26-40 age bracket were more likely to do so whilst those aged over 41 were less likely to purchase products over a mobile phone- in fact 43 per cent less likely.

And in terms of purchases, it was digital music that came out tops with a growth figure of some 113 per cent and ring tones have had a massive 171 per cent jump in purchases. News and weather went up 53 per cent and sport was up 34 per cent in mobile access.

However the biggest growth in mobile data usage came from those wanting mapping data, which had a massive 347 per cent increase in access, followed by TV, which went up 93 per cent. 57 percent of those surveyed also used their mobile to access MSN.

In an interesting side note, less than 3 per cent surveyed said they would want to ability to access porn on their mobile phones, however considering that most respondents were women, this perhaps was not such a huge surprise.

Bluetooth continued to be a popular connection sharing choice with a growth of some 16 per cent from the last survey and overall mobile phone usage grew by some 50 per cent over the past couple of years.

Although this survey was carried out prior to the launch of the iPhone, 47 per cent of respondents were accessing their mobile data via a Nokia handset and most of those were using Telstra or Optus as their preferred carrier.

Overall, the survey found that 84 per cent of users mainly used their mobiles for voice calls, whilst 7 per cent accessed emails and another 7 per cent used their mobiles for video playback.