Insatiable consumers continue to drive market growth for advanced mobile technologies, with video calling, live video and video downloads the next critical developments, a new report said.
The TNS report said device brand is key, but handset manufacturers are losing out as content brands and partnerships make rapid gains in importance when consumers make purchasing decisions
Apple and Google's ability to deliver more effective rich media experiences to consumers is translating to victory in the platform wars
The findings highlight that as "static" functionality such as SMS and still imaging become commoditized, growth will be driven through further demand for social functionality and new demands for video calling, streaming and sharing services.
The number of mobile web users visiting social networking sites grew from 30% to 46% globally, and from 26% to 50% in emerging markets, leapfrogging much of the developed markets
Only 18% of consumers globally managed to upload photos or video directly to the web from their mobiles, during the same period, but a further 44% would be interested in doing so in future
Consumers in emerging markets are more likely to want to upload content (49%), but more than half (55%) do not have the ability to do so. Many emerging markets users outpace their western counterparts, leading demand for the latest mobile technologies
Camera features may have reached a saturation point, growing only 1% between 2010 and 2011, but nearly a quarter of global consumers (24%) say the ability to take and share pictures and video will play a major role in their choice of next device.