IAB Switzerland: Apps are hardly ever paid for
One third of the German-speaking Swiss population owns a smartphone. Apps are used. But for the most part, users get by with just a handful. Free apps are in particular demand, as a representative survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB Switzerland) shows.
According to the survey conducted in spring 2011, three quarters have mobile Internet access. Only six percent have no mobile device at all. The proportion of laptop owners is particularly high, while that of tablet users is smaller (under six percent).
On conventional cell phones with Internet access, the browser is rarely used. According to IAB Switzerland, business purposes predominate among smartphone owners, with the main use still being making phone calls. Apps are used, but most respondents get by with ten or fewer apps. There are very clear differences in willingness to pay: money is most frequently paid for online game apps. All other apps are clearly behind. Three quarters of smartphone users prefer free apps that are financed via advertising. Even though many believe that paid apps are comparatively better quality.
Demand for smartphones present
The online association believes that the saturation point has not been reached by a long shot. More than a third of those surveyed were planning to buy a smartphone - eight percent within the next six months. Eight out of ten respondents were even convinced that mobile Internet access would be an indispensable part of life in the future.
Within the framework of the recently founded "Mobile Task Force. IAB Switzerland intends to develop further studies, publications and events in the future. The aim is to provide well-founded information, data and insights into the mobile landscape for advertisers, agencies and all market participants. The group is headed by Philipp Scheidegger, Head of Advertising at Swisscom.
More info about the study and order: Iabschweiz.ch.
