The School of Mobile:

Report

Vol. 3: Consumer Insight

 EyeforTravel Research
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EyeforTravel Ltd, July 2009

2 © EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved.

 Table of Contents
Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Methodology 12

1. Mobile Services Access Trends 13

1.1 Mobile browser access 13

1.2 Mobile applica�on access 19
1.3 SMS access 25

2. The Mobile Traveller 21

2.1 Age 33
2.1.1 Mobile browser users 33
2.1.2 Mobile applica�ons users 35
2.1.3 SMS informa�on access users 38
2.2 Gender 41
2.2.1 Mobile browser users 41
2.2.2 Mobile applica�on users 43
2.2.3 SMS informa�on access users 44
2.3 Income 46
2.3.1 Mobile browser users 46
2.3.2 Mobile applica�on users 48
2.3.3 SMS informa�on access users 50
2.4 Length of mobile ownership 53
2.4.1 Mobile browser users 53
2.4.2 Mobile applica�on users 54
2.4.3 SMS informa�on access users 54

3. A snapshot of the UK mobile consumer 56

3.1 Percep�ons on mobile and personal space 56

3.2 How responsive may UK consumers be to mobile marke�ng? 60
3.3 Who is the UK mobile consumer? 63
3.3.1 Mobile web access by age 64
3.3.2 Mobile web access by gender 66
3.3.3 Mobile web access by income 66
3.3.4 Mobile web access by frequency of travel 67
3.4 Percep�ons of the mobile web and factors in its use 68
3.5 Is mobile working or will mobile work in travel? 70
3.5.1 In what travel context is the mobile web being used? 70
3.5.2 What and where in the buying cycle may mobile work for UK consumers? 71
3.6 How ready are UK consumer to make mobile payments? 82

© EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved. 3

 Technology in Travel Report Vol. 3: Consumer Insight

List of Figures
Figure 1: Any mobile news or services accessed via Mobile Browser, subscriber volume by
country, 03/06 to 12/08, 3 months averages 13
Figure 2: Any mobile news or services accessed via Mobile Browser, subscriber volume by
country, 02/08 to 02/09, 3 months averages 14
Figure 3: Any Mobile Browser access penetra�on, % by country, 03/06 to 12/08, 3 months
averages 14
Figure 4: Any Mobile Browser access penetra�on, % by country, 02/08 to 02/09, 3 months
averages 14
Figure 5: Travel Service* access via browser subscriber volume by country, 03/06 to 12/08,
3 months averages 15
Figure 6: Travel Service access via browser subscriber volume by country, 02/08 to 02/09,
3 months averages 16
Figure 7: Access of Travel Services by browser (penetra�on %), trend by country, 03/06 to
12/08, 3 months averages 17
Figure 8: Access of Travel Services by browser (penetra�on %), trend by country, 02/08 to
02/09, 3 months averages 17
Figure 9: Growth % of users accessing informa�on/services via mobile browser (Three month
average ending December 2008 on December 2007) 18
Figure 10: Any mobile news or services accessed via an applica�on, subscriber volume by
market, 03/06 to 12/08, 3 months averages 19
Figure 11: Any mobile news or services accessed via an applica�on, subscriber volume by
market, 02/08 to 02/09, 3 months averages 20
Figure 12: Any mobile news or services accessed via an applica�on penetra�on, % by country,
03/06 to 12/08, 3 months averages 20
Figure 13: Any mobile news or services accessed via an applica�on penetra�on, % by country,
02/08 to 02/09, 3 months averages 21
Figure 14: Travel Service access via applica�on subscriber volume by country, 03/06 to 12/08,
3 months averages 21
Figure 15: Travel Service access via applica�on subscriber volume by country, 02/08 to 02/09,
3 months averages 22
Figure 16: Travel Services access via applica�on penetra�on %, trend by country, 03/06 to
12/08, 3 months averages 22
Figure 17: Travel Services access via applica�on penetra�on %, trend by country, 02/08 to
02/09, 3 months averages 23
Figure 18: Growth % of users accessing informa�on/services via mobile applica�on
(Three month average ending December 2008 on December 2007) 24
Figure 19: Any mobile news or services access via SMS (volume by country), 03/06 to 12/08,
3 months averages 25
Figure 20: Any mobile news or services access via SMS (volume by country), 02/08 to 02/09,
3 months averages 25
Figure 21: Any Mobile SMS access penetra�on, % by country, 03/06 to 12/08, 3 months averages 26
Figure 22: Any Mobile SMS access penetra�on, % by country, 02/08 to 02/09, 3 months averages 26
Figure 23: Travel Service access via SMS subscriber volume by country, 03/06 to 12/08, 3 months
averages 27
Figure 24: Travel Service access via SMS subscriber volume by country, 02/08 to 02/09, 3 months
averages 27
Figure 25: Travel Services access via SMS penetra�on %, trend by country, 03/06 to 12/08,
3 months averages 28

4 © EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved.

 List of Figures

List of Figures
Figure 26: Travel Services access via SMS penetra�on %, trend by country, 02/08 to 02/09,
3 months averages 28
Figure 27: Growth % of users accessing informa�on/services via SMS (Three month average
ending December 2008 on December 2007) 29
Figure 28: Average growth across all examined countries for ‘Any news or info’, 3 month
ending February 2009 on 3 months ending February 2008 30
Figure 29: Average growth across all examined countries for ‘Accessed Travel Service’, 3 month
ending February 2009 on 3 months ending February 2008 31
Figure 30: Age comparison by type of informa�on accessed via mobile browser (%), February 2009 33
Figure 31: Travel services accessed via mobile browser - Age comparison (%) by country,
February 2009 34
Figure 32: The propor�on of mobile users accessing any news and info via mobile browsers
(by age), February 2009 34
Figure 33: Travel services via mobile browser penetra�on by country and age, February 2009 35
Figure 34: Age breakdown by type of applica�on access and country, February 2009 36
Figure 35: Travel services accessed via mobile applica�on - Age comparison (%) by country,
February 2009 37
Figure 36: Propor�on of each age bracket accessing any news and informa�on via a mobile
applica�on (%), February 2009 37
Figure 37: Travel services via mobile applica�on penetra�on by country and age, February 2009 37
Figure 38: The age of users accessing any informa�on by SMS, February 2009 38
Figure 39: Travel services accessed via SMS - Age comparison (%) by country, February 2009 38
Figure 40: The propor�on of each age band who access any news or informa�on via SMS (%),
February 2009 39
Figure 41: Travel services via SMS penetra�on by country and age, February 2009 39
Figure 42: Gender breakdown by type of browser access and country, February 2009 41
Figure 43: Any news or informa�on via mobile browser: penetra�on by country and gender,
February 2009 41
Figure 44: Travel service via mobile browser: penetra�on by country and gender, February 2009 42
Figure 45: Ra�o of penetra�on between male and female respondents (Penetra�on for males
divided by penetra�on for females) - Browser access 42
Figure 46: Gender breakdown by type of applica�on access and country, February 2009 43
Figure 47: Any news or informa�on via mobile applica�on penetra�on by country and gender,
February 2009 43
Figure 48: Travel services via mobile applica�on penetra�on by country and gender, February 2009 44
Figure 49: Ra�o of penetra�on between male and female respondents (Penetra�on for males
divided by penetra�on for females) - Mobile applica�ons, February 2009 44
Figure 50: Gender breakdown by type of SMS access and country, February 2009 44
Figure 51: Any news or informa�on via SMS penetra�on by country and gender, February 2009 45
Figure 52: Travel service via SMS penetra�on by country and gender, February 2009 45
Figure 53: Ra�o of penetra�on between male and female respondents (Penetra�on for males
divided by penetra�on for females) - SMS, February 2009 45
Figure 54: Income breakdown by type of mobile browser access and country, November 2008 46
Figure 55: Any news or informa�on via mobile browser penetra�on by country and income,
November 2008 47
Figure 56: Travel services via mobile browser penetra�on by country and income, November 2008 48
Figure 57: Income breakdown by type of Applica�on access and country, November 2008 48
Figure 58: Any news or informa�on via mobile applica�on penetra�on by country and income,
November 2008 49
Figure 59: Travel services via mobile applica�on penetra�on by country and income, Nov 2008 50

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 Technology in Travel Report Vol. 3: Consumer Insight

Figure 60: Income breakdown by type of SMS access and country, November 2008 51
Figure 61: Any news or informa�on via SMS penetra�on by country and income, November 2008 51
Figure 62: Travel services via SMS penetra�on by country and income, November 2008 52
Figure 63: Ownership length vs. Access of any news and informa�on via mobile browser, Nov 2008 53
Figure 64: Ownership length vs. Access of any news and informa�on via mobile applica�on,
November 2008 54
Figure 65: Ownership length vs. Access of any news and informa�on via SMS, November 2008 54
Figure 66: “My mobile phone is more ‘personal’ than my computer” 56
Figure 67: “My mobile phone number is more ‘personal’ than my email address” 56
Figure 68: “How willing are you to share the following informa�on...?” 57
Figure 69: “What do you LOVE about your mobile?” 57
Figure 70: “What do you HATE about your mobile?” 58
Figure 71: “What do you FEEL about your mobile?” 58
Figure 72: “What do you WISH about your mobile?” 59
Figure 73: “I am happy to get some promo�onal SMS messages from companies I buy from” 60
Figure 74: “I do not want any promo�onal SMS messages no ma�er what” 60
Figure 75: “I do not respond to promo�onal SMS I receive on my mobile” 61
Figure 76: “Have you ever responded to any of the following mobile promo�onal messages?” 61
Figure 77: “Have you ever responded to any of the following mobile promo�onal messages?” -
Breakdown by age 62
Figure 78: “In the last month, roughly how many of the following marke�ng messages have you
received?” 62
Figure 79: Frequency of mobile web access 63
Figure 80: Mobile Internet access vs. phone type 64
Figure 81: Who is accessing the mobile web frequently? - Breakdown by age 65
Figure 82: Who is never accessing the mobile web? - Breakdown by age 65
Figure 83: Frequency of mobile web access by gender 66
Figure 84: Who is accessing the mobile web frequently? - Breakdown by income 66
Figure 85: Who is never accessing the mobile web? - Breakdown by income 67
Figure 86: Days of travel for business vs. frequency of mobile web access 67
Figure 87: Days of travel for leisure vs. frequency of mobile web access 68
Figure 88: Percep�ons of mobile web use 68
Figure 89: “What are the best things about being able to access the internet on your mobile phone?” 69
Figure 89: “How o�en do you access the mobile web in the following situa�ons?” 70
Figure 90: “What holds you back from using your mobile to access the internet more when
travelling?” 70
Figure 91: “How appealing would it be to do the following on your mobile phone before you
travelled?” 71
Figure 92: “How appealing would it be to receive last minute deals on your mobile phone BEFORE
you travelled?” (Breakdown by age) 72
Figure 93: Who finds it appealing to receive last minute deals on their mobile phone before
travelling? - Age breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 72
Figure 94: “How appealing would it be to change bookings via your mobile phone BEFORE you
travelled?” (Breakdown by age) 73
Figure 95: Who finds it appealing to be able to change a booking on their mobile phone before
travelling? - Age breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 73
Figure 96: “How appealing would it be to hire a car via your mobile phone BEFORE you travelled?”
(Breakdown by age) 73
Figure 97: Who finds mobile car rental booking before travelling an appealing op�on? - Age
breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 74

6 © EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved.

 List of Figures

List of Figures
Figure 98: “How appealing would it be to book a hotel for overnight stay via your mobile phone
BEFORE you travelled?” (Breakdown by age) 74
Figure 99: Who finds mobile hotel booking (for an overnight stay) before travelling an appealing
op�on? - Age breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 74
Figure 100: “How appealing would it be to book a hotel for your main holiday via your mobile
phone BEFORE you travelled?” (Breakdown by age) 75
Figure 101: Who finds mobile hotel booking (for main stay) before travelling an appealing op�on?
- Age breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 75
Figure 102: “How appealing would it be to book a cruise or package via your mobile phone
BEFORE you travelled?” (Breakdown by age) 75
Figure 103: Who finds mobile cruise or package bookings before travelling an appealing op�on? -
Age breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 76
Figure 104: “How appealing would it be to book a train via your mobile phone BEFORE you
travelled?” (Breakdown by age) 76
Figure 105: Who finds mobile train bookings before travelling an appealing op�on? - Age
breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 76
Figure 106: “How appealing would it be to book a flight via your mobile phone BEFORE you
travelled?” (Breakdown by age) 77
Figure 107: Who finds mobile flight bookings before travelling an appealing op�on? - Age break-
down of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 77
Figure 108: “How appealing would it be to do the following on your mobile phone whilst travelling?” 78
Figure 109: “How appealing would it be to hire a car via your mobile phone DURING your travels?”
(Breakdown by age) 78
Figure 110: Who finds mobile car hire bookings during travelling an appealing op�on? -
Age breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 78
Figure 111: “How appealing would it be to access local des�na�on content wri�en by travellers
via your mobile phone DURING your travels?” (Breakdown by age) 79
Figure 112: Who finds it appealing to access local des�na�on content wri�en by travellers during
travelling via mobile phone? - Age breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ responses 79
Figure 113: “How appealing would it be to find local a�rac�ons using loca�on based services via
your mobile phone DURING your travels?” (Breakdown by age) 80
Figure 114: Who finds it appealing to find local a�rac�ons using loca�on based services via their
mobile phone during travelling? - Age breakdown of the consolidated ‘appealing’ 80
responses
Figure 115: “How appealing would it be to be able to upload pictures and holiday thoughts from
friends and family via your mobile phone AFTER your travels?” (Breakdown by age) 80
Figure 116: Who finds it appealing to be able to upload pictures and holiday thoughts from friends
and family via mobile phone a�er travelling? - Age breakdown of the consolidated
‘appealing’ responses 80
Figure 117: “Would you be happy paying for content or services over your mobile phone and what
payment op�ons suits you best?“ - by payment size 82
Figure 118: Appeal of mobile payment op�ons for small payments (£1 - £5) - Breakdown by age 82
Figure 119: Appeal of mobile payment op�ons for large payments (>100 £) - Breakdown by age 83
Figure 120: “What do you consider useful about the mobile internet?” 84
Figure 121: “How do you FEEL about receiving promo�onal SMS messages on your mobile?” 85
Figure 122: “What would involve your absolute ideal mobile service for travelling?” 86

© EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved. 7

8 © EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved.
 Welcome Chapter 1 - The
back to Part Travel
Three Buying
of The Cycleof Mobile
School

Welcome Back!
Welcome back to Part Three of

The School of Mobile

This report is all about building an understanding of the mobile traveller. One of the most difficult
things about embracing mobile is trying to do so without really knowing who uses mobile travel
services or who poten�ally will. This report aims to begin that process of understanding. This focus
has been driven by the travel industry’s demand for an understanding of who the mobile user is,
what drives and cons�tutes the mobile traveller and how to go about educa�ng the consumer.
Becoming more familiar with the mobile user is vital for building a solid business case for mobile.

So what have we learnt about the mobile travel consumer up to this point? In the first report
(Mobile Technology in Travel Report: The Introduc�on) we learnt in a general sense about how
consumers are using mobile devices and the astonishing growth of the mobile ecosystem whether
it is in terms of mobile adop�on in general, data use, search, downloading mobile applica�ons or
browsing the mobile internet. Mobile is at the point where ongoing growth suggests a similarity to
many other areas of technology and almost exponen�al.

In the second report (Mobile Technology in Travel Report: The Detail) we were able to tease out some
great nuggets of insight about how leading travel companies view the mobile traveller (whether
they are travelling for business or leisure) and some great guidelines in terms of developing user-
centric mobile ini�a�ves.

Highlights on the mobile consumer that emerged in The Detail report include some
real posi�ves:

• It is important to think in terms of ‘scenarios’ as to how a typical customer could use

their mobile as they engage with brand touch-points and move through their travel
experience.

• Some mobile travel consumers are willing to pay for innova�ve and appealing services
on their mobile phones as the mobile culture has always operated on a paid service
model in marked contrast to the free culture of the internet. Micropayments are a
good way to generate revenue streams from customers using your mobile services.

• It is clear that some customers want to share informa�on about their trips and they want
to do so in a way that is simple and user-friendly. Customers are proving very recep�ve to
the idea that travel companies act as ‘enablers’ of the en�re travel experience and have
shown interest in such mobile ini�a�ves.

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 Technology in Travel Report Vol. 3: Consumer Insight

Some clear points of cau�on and prac�cal advice :

• Effec�ve delivery of services to an individuals’ mobile device must be defined by

personalisa�on and relevance.
• Mobile travel consumers have high expecta�ons and are impa�ent with services that are
expensive, have a poor user experience or add any nega�vity to their travel experience.
• Mobile travel consumers are very sensi�ve about their personal mobile device being
used for marke�ng and adver�sing, care is needed.
• With respect to serving the mobile customer effec�vely, the answer is in the detail
• Usability, Usability, Usability. Oh and did we men�on usability?
• Your mobile customers are not just repackaged, scaled down and poorly focused versions
of your online customers so don’t offer them mobile products and services that treat
them as such. Once you lose a customer on mobile, given its personal nature it will prove
almost impossible to get them back.

Some excellent insights from our case-study contributors:

• Sixt advises: When it comes to offering services to mobile customers; ‘less is more’
• Lu�hansa reminds us that your customers are mobile so as a travel company you need to
be too
• Lu�hansa also notes that mobile is a standalone medium and that it offers new ways to
connect with your customers and that it is a different not a limited channel
• Egencia notes that some�mes, travel companies say ‘we tried something on mobile but
nobody used it’ - you cannot push technology only through technology and you need to
shout from the hilltops to your customers that you are mobile and that they should be
trying your sexy new offering... engage your customers to buy-in to mobile
• Rearden Commerce and Egencia advise companies to be aware of being en�rely led by
what customers say they want. Be user-centric but do not slavishly develop products and
services. It is more important to an�cipate customer’s needs and how they will use their
mobiles in prac�ce rather than developing a par�cular piece of func�onality based on
superficial customer feedback
• Some customers love to use products and services that are addic�ve and fun. Rearden
Commerce has taken this to heart in delivering mobile services that recognise that
corporate travellers are social beings too.
• Kayak indicates that mobile can be used to re-energise rela�onships with exis�ng
customers and engage with new customers
• Lonely Planet has been focusing on mobile as a window into how customers are
changing. They have found some consumers want to engage in rich content and social
media ac�vi�es delivered via their personal mobile device. This reflects the evolving
rela�onship between content, experience and social media
• Lonely Planet recognise that as customers evolve they are demanding a more and more
interac�ve rela�onship with brands

10 © EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved.

 Welcome back to Part Three of The School of Mobile

Welcome Back!
• Don’t assume customers will use a service in a par�cular way. lastminute.com suggests
that customers do not necessarily behave in the way you expect and it is necessary to
understand the broader concept of ‘mobility’ when crea�ng mobile products and services
that are customer-centric. Deliver a mobile service that is tailored to the way customers
actually move through the travel experience
• Egencia have learnt that a part of understanding and serving mobile travellers is in
applying the concept of the ‘�me value of money.’ This is extremely important to not only
corporate travellers but discerning leisure travellers as well
• Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and be cri�cal. WAYN have stressed that mobile
ini�a�ves should always enhance the core value proposi�on to the customer, if the added
value is not clear-cut then don’t bother; go back to the drawing board
• WAYN also points out that mobile consumers are social consumers, they note that
the travel industry needs to think about mobile as inherently viral and that having a
compelling service that users want to show their friends and acquaintances should not be
underes�mated. This way, the customers can help to do a lot of the hard work for you!
• Don’t treat mobile as a box �cking exercise, Visit Britain warns, your mobile customers
deserve be�er and it is crucial to develop services that reflect how customers use their
mobiles

In order to be successful in mobile it is necessary to match and indeed exceed customer expecta�ons.
Much of the Travel School of Mobile going forward will be about working out exactly what those
expecta�ons are, the values, needs and desires, and how they are formed par�cularly in light of
different social and cultural contexts and taking account of demographics, traveller typologies and
geographies.

So with those thoughts in mind, we would like to present the third report in our Travel School of
Mobile series. This report includes an analysis of top level data developed by m:metrics to provide
a somewhat detailed overview of the mobile users in some of the key travel markets around the
world. Plus from a survey conducted in May 2009, we take a look at a sample of UK consumers to
offer a taster of user percep�ons towards mobile and offer data to quan�fy customer views and
ac�vi�es towards the mobile phone and mobile travel services.

Fully fleshed out mobile travel consumer profiles from around the world, the most insigh�ul
consumer research the travel industry (and probably any industry) will have ever seen on mobile
users, quan�ta�ve and qualita�ve in-depth analysis, plus further in-depth insight into the
technologies and solu�ons available to reach and impact the mobile in travel customer will be
launched in the next report at World Travel Market 2009. This report (Mobile Technology in Travel
Report: Global Consumer Intelligence) will provide the next ingredient to enable travel and tourism
companies to move confidently and more effec�vely into mobile. But for now, welcome to the
Consumer Insight report, and we hope you find this data a very good start. So without further ado,
welcome to the Consumer Insight Report.

© EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved. 11