Who's more likely to access mobile e-mail: a 40-year-old male executive or an 18-year-old college student with a part-time job? M:Metrics has found that students, particularly those who are also employed, consume more mobile content than any other group. In addition, the firm's latest monthly measures show that students are getting a jump on the back-to-school mobile buying season, as they make use of their new phones by using mobile content. Mobile browser use among students grew by 8.7% in July, a rate that is two-thirds higher compared with growth in consumption by non-students.
"In terms of mobile content and services, it's the students that are taking their parents to school," said Seamus McAteer, chief product architect and senior analyst, M:Metrics. "Students are out-consuming all others in mobile content consumption -- even in applications that are typically thought of as for the enterprise, like mobile e-mail."
In its latest Benchmark Survey, M:Metrics found that full-time students with jobs are 42% more likely to use mobile e-mail than the average subscriber, and 23% more likely to do so than respondents who are full-time workers. But above all else, this group likes to be entertained and make a fashion statement with their phones. Students with part-time jobs are more than twice as likely to download a mobile game or personalization content, including ringtones and graphics, and 23.4% of all survey respondents who used mobile messaging applications were students. More than half -- 57.5% -- of all students are on family plans, most of whom are not paying the bill.
"Based on our data, it is clear that strategies by carriers like Sprint, which recently announced products targeted at students to share user-created content, and MVNOs such as AMP'd Mobile and Virgin Mobile, which also target students, are right on the money," commented McAteer.
"This tremendous propensity to consume mobile content translates to real dollars -- especially considering the majority of students are spending $41 to $60 on mobile services per month."
The M:Metrics July Benchmark Survey shows increases in consumption across all content categories, spurred in part by an uptick in handset replacement, which begets increased consumption. Growth in photo messaging, which has consistently been the highest-performing category in 2005, was strongest at 10.7%.
U.S. Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: July 2005
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Projected Percent U.S. Change from
Monthly Mobile Previous
Activity Reach (000s) Subscribers Survey
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Sent or Received Text
Message 67,542 37.3% 0.1%
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Retrieved News and
Information Via Browser 24,325 13.4% 6.6%
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Used Personal E-mail 20,359 11.3% 2.6%
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Used Photo Messaging 18,752 10.4% 10.5%
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Purchased Ringtone(1) 17,551 9.7% 1.4%
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Used Mobile Instant
Messenger 17,375 9.6% 0.1%
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Used Work E-mail 10,461 5.8% 8.5%
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Purchased Wallpaper or
Screensaver(1) 6,955 3.8% 5.7%
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Downloaded Mobile Game 6,233 3.4% 4.7%
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Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright (C) 2005. Survey of U.S. mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period
ending July 31, 2005, n= 41,446. (1) Due to a change in definitions
on the survey, n=27,765 for ringtone and wallpaper/screensaver
purchases. read more 
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