Multimedia Tops Asians' Mobile Wish List

Released this week, the 2004 Asia Telecom Index from TNS reveals that the region's current and future wireless subscribers want colour screens (77%), integrated digital cameras (71%) and multi-media messaging (67%) above other features.

Surprisingly, given its basic nature, voice recorder came in as the fourth most popular, must-have phone feature (61%). With 18 % of the nearly 9,000 people questioned as part of the Asia Telecoms Index planning to change their mobile phone or buy their first phone within the next six months, manufacturers of handsets offering the latest slew of multimedia features will be pleased to hear that it is just such features that came top of respondents' wish list.

'Colour screens, cameras, MMS capability and voice recording are universally desirable, but differences do exist between consumers in developed and less developed markets', said Hanis Harun, TNS Regional Director for Telecoms Asia Pacific. 'In developed markets, like Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Australia, video phones and PC connectivity come higher up consumers' wish list. While in developing markets like China, Philippines and India, wireless headsets, Bluetooth and MP3/CD player are relatively more important. It is important that handset manufacturers and service providers understand the 'hot buttons' of consumers in different markets and create the ideal handset and applications bundles accordingly'.

Perhaps not so remarkably, it was Japanese consumers that emerged as the undisputed leaders in terms of the sophistication of current features. 86% of respondents have a colour screen on their handsets, 65 % an in-built camera and nearly one third (31%) a video camera. Following a close second were users in Korea, where 63% have colour screen handsets, more than one third (36%) have integrated cameras and one in five (21%) have handsets with video cameras.

Hong Kong and China are the other two markets where fairly sophisticated handsets are being used leading the pack in terms of Bluetooth availability, usage of wireless headsets and voice-activated commands and dialing. 62 % of Hong Kong
mobile users also have speaker phone functionality, well ahead of the rest of Asia.

'The growth story in Asian wireless telecoms has been and continues to be remarkable. As a hub for technology and a home to both some of the world's highest mobile penetration and biggest potential mobile telephone markets, the region's position is unlike any other. For handset manufacturers and network providers, these latest findings bode very well as it's clear that even in countries where current networks cannot support sophisticated multi-media applications, interest runs high and consumers are at the ready. The task will now be delivering those services which consumers want, and to a high standard' Hanis concluded.

Further information on the TNS Asia Telecoms Index is available at www.tns-global.com/ati2004

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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