Nielsen: The Usage of Mobile Phone to Access Internet in SEA is Increasing

The newest report from Nielsen about the internet access behavior in South East Asia shows that the usage of mobile phone to access internet is increasing. This survey was not only held in Indonesia but also in South East Asia as a whole. Although it doesn’t mention what countries has been surveyed, Nielsen concluded that in next 12 month the usage of internet access via mobile phone - especially smartphone - will reach 61%. Although accessing internet from home will still dominate as the main accessing media, the number will decrease significantly.

Besides mobile phone, there are 33% people stated that they use handheld devices non-mobile phone such as tablet, iPod touch, and PSP to browse. Although that data does not show that mobile phone is the main media - only 4% in 2010 - but there is culture change which push the high increase of internet usage via mobile phone or other handheld devices. Customers surveyed free to choose any media, even more than one media - it makes the figure of the chart can be more than 50% for some media.

Matt Bruce as Nielsen Managing Director of Audience Measurement in APMEA (Asia PAsific, Middle East, and Africa) area, stated that people in South East Asia is fast to accept and adopt the new technology such as smartphone and tablet to on-the-go internet access. It shows that the adoption of this area is generally better than the other region, even if it is compared to developed country.

It is not surprise for Indonesian. The slow penetration of internet cable and the hard geographic condition makes mobile technology becomes the right solution. The interesting fact is that Malaysian people who has already been provided by Internet cable with high speed still choose to access internet from mobile devices. It means that smartphone has a very great potency.

The increasing number of iOS and Android based smartphone users is the trigger. We cannot deny that the social media accessing or other online media is more comfortable on mobile device. The content users who want to get more users must learn more about this users behavior.

Bruce close the discourse of internet usage to access internet by saying that for those who works on content making business on internet like the media owner, the depth understanding of the device type or operation system used by the costumer to access sites is critical to make sure that the content made gives right customization (for every user).