The new survey indicates that an estimated 4 million UK adults claim that they have a WAP-enabled phone. Of these users, around a third (37%) report having used their WAP facility during the last 4 weeks. This data suggests that around some 1.5 million adults have probably interacted with a WAP facility over the last month.

In terms of gender, men have been found to be more likely to own a WAP-enabled handset than women. They appear much more likely than female WAP-phone owners to use their WAP as well. The survey reveals that over three quarters (78%) of those who used WAP in the last 4 weeks were actually male. However, the findings also show that there is virtually no gender bias in the use of SMS (text messaging), with 49% of those having used SMS over the last month being female.

The most popular applications amongst WAP users are sending or receiving emails (39%) followed by reading sports news (35%), general news (26%) and then entertainment news (20%). For the two thirds of users who have WAP but have not used it in the last 4 weeks, the most common reason cited is that they don’t need it (33%). This figure is similar amongst both Internet users and non-Internet users. Almost as many (31%) say that they simply don’t know how to use it, with only a 5% saying that the high costs of use are off-putting.

Looking to the future, the survey shows that just over a fifth of current mobile phone owners say that they are likely to change their phone in the next 6 months. Amongst non-mobile owners, 14% believe that they will get a mobile in the next six months. One third of all those planning to get a new phone anticipate that it will be WAP-enabled. BMRB surmise that if these intentions are actually fulfilled, the UK adult population of WAP phone users will rise to around 3 million by late summer 2001. BMRB conducted the research through their Access Telephone Omnibus Survey, interviewing 2027 adults between 23rd and 25th February 2001.