A new multinational survey conducted by the HPI Research Group on behalf of Nokia has found that 16-45 year olds, the core mobile-phone market, are excited by the new information and entertainment possibilities that will be available in 3G handsets.
HPI presented respondents with over 30 prospective 3G handset features and asked to qualify their interest in and rank of the features. On average the participants said they would want 14 features. The most popular feature with 81% was SMS texting, which, of course is already available. Texting, audio/visual and information services were also particularly prominent.
The survey revealed that entertainment options were high on the list of features consumers would like on 3G handsets. 90% of the younger respondents said they definitely wanted at least one of the entertainment features. 72% of the entire surveyed population said they would like to have at least one entertainment service.
Enthusiasm is one thing, but would those surveyed actually go out and buy a new 3G handset. HPI found that nearly six out of ten participants would definitely want a 3G handset. In fact, just 4% of the core market stated that they would not be interested in purchasing one. However, it is important to note that the handset was presented to the respondent as affordable in order to maintain interest throughout the interview.
HPI interviewed 3300 people in eleven key global markets were during June 2001. The markets were Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States. Participants were teenagers, young adults and family adults, all of whom currently have mobile phones for personal use.