A Nokia study of the market in China finds that S60 users play games, attach photos, and download applications
S60 device users in China like to play games, send photos, and download applications from the Web, according to a Smartphone 360 survey Nokia recently conducted in China. Smartphone 360 is an end-user research project comprising three elements: continuous background observation on the device; Web-based questionnaires; and on-device, context-specific "mini-questions."
Nokia's China study, conducted in the provinces of Liaoning, Zhejiang, and Henan between March and November 2006, included more than 1,000 users of S60 devices from Nokia. Nearly 85 percent of those surveyed were men, and the users in the largest group, nearly 55 percent of the subjects, were between the ages of 25 and 34.
Among the study's key findings:
Use by time: The Chinese users of S60 devices dedicated fully 60 percent of their device-use time to communicating via voice calls and messaging. The remaining 40 percent of their use time was divided among multimedia, infotainment, personal information management, and other applications.
Applications: Virtually all (99 percent) of those surveyed made voice calls during the survey period, and nearly 95 percent sent short message service (SMS) text messages. Instant messaging was used by nearly half the group, but mobile e-mail was used by only 2 percent of those surveyed. The average SMS message was 10 to 25 characters long, typed at an average rate of 10 characters per minute (with each Chinese character representing a full word).
Multimedia: When S60 users send mobile multimedia messages with attachments, it's usually just one file. Only 20 percent of those surveyed sent more than one attachment. And those users who sent just one attachment sent photographs. But users were willing to try other types of mobile multimedia. Of those surveyed, 75 percent tried video recording at least once, and 86 percent also gave streaming music, video, and movies at least one try.
Games: Third-party games are very popular among Chinese users of S60 devices. In all, users played more than 400 third-party games during the survey period. The games played by the largest numbers of users were, in order of their popularity, Snake, RallyPro Contest, Bounce, and Agent V.
Third-Party Applications: More than half (55 percent) of those surveyed added third-party applications to their S60 devices during the survey period. Of these applications, 30 percent were games, 22 percent were multimedia, and 17 percent were utilities. The most popular ways to obtain these third-party applications were as downloads from computers, operator portals via the devices, or other phones equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology.
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