eMarketer (always a nice source of data and charts) put up a recap (via Orbitcast) of some recent Pew data about how adults in the US use their mobiles. The stats seem a little inflated across the board, but the survey claims 19 percent of adult mobile owners use the internet on their devices — and that 17 percent play music.
I find this a little surprising, judging by my anecdotal and personal experience, but perhaps it’s possible. I think just as it’s helped get the mobile internet some exposure, the iPhone’s done the same for mobile music, raising awareness that it’s possible on a range of handsets. I’ve also noticed lately some AT&T ads pushing Walkman phones.
As Russell noted last week, the experience of getting music onto a phone, by and large, is not a pleasant one (though it’s getting better). This makes me wonder to what extent people here in the US are availing themselves of streaming services, which are fairly widely available. Just as Russell said, listening to the radio on mobiles is a popular (and growing) activity. I doubt that many people in the US are listening to a lot of broadcast radio on their mobiles, but I’d echo his sentiment and venture a growing number of folks are listening to the streaming equivalent, whether it’s baseball game play-by-play or content supplied by one of the satellite radio companies or something similar.
What those stats don’t accurately do is differentiate between ‘listening’ to music that’s been sideloaded and that which has been downloaded OTA. Even if eMarketer was intending to build stats around mobile content downloading, asking the average consumer if they listen to music on their handset is going to solicit a range of positive responses from sideloaders who grab music from their PC, via bluetooth, SD cards etc. If you include sideloaders (ie: those that just use the handset as a music ‘player’ then the stats seem justifiable).
You quote eMarketer as nice source of information. To my knowledge this PEW Research data quoted in the press and then picked up by eMarketer, who simply put its logo on the charts…:-(