Pinoys surfing Web using smartphones grow in number – Nielsen

The Nielsen Southeast Asia Digital Consumer Report noted that a growing number of Southeast Asian consumers go online via internet capable mobile devices. The study predicted the rapid growth in 2012 of ownership of internet capable devices, like smartphones and tablet computers. In four of the six Southeast Asian nations surveyed, ownership of an internet capable mobile device was shown to be equal to or greater than ownership of a desktop computer. In the Philippines, ownership of an internet capable mobile phone (64 percent) is closing in on ownership of a desktop PC (68 percent), and has surpassed that of a laptop computer (58 percent). Compare these figures with those in Indonesia, where ownership of an internet capable mobile phone (78 percent) was even more than double that of a desktop PC (31 percent) or laptop computer (29 percent). It said “increasing ownership of connected devices such as smartphones and tablets are revolutionizing digital media usage in Southeast Asia, with Internet usage in some markets surpassing time spent on traditional media such as television, radio or print."
PHL second heaviest internet users The Nielsen Southeast Asia Digital Consumer Report was conducted in June and July and involved 8,750 respondents, 1,200 of whom were from the Philippines. The rest of the respondents came from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The report also pointed out that the Philippines ranks second only to Singapore when in comes to hours spent online. Singaporean digital consumers were the heaviest internet users in the region, averaging 25 hours online per week, followed closely by digital consumers in the Philippines (21.5 hours) and Malaysia (19.8 hours). Nielsen Media predicts that from 8.8 million active Filipino users in 2010, that number will shoot up by yearend to 12 million. Last May, a Neilsen official had stated that mobile Internet usage would grow dramatically as more Asian consumers become more affluent, adding that smartphone penetration will rise. One out of every 4 Filipino netizen goes online via smartphone “It’s becoming more affordable yung mga phones natin that’s able to connect to the Web. Then a second reason is the affordability of interconnection natin. You can see that most of the telco operators are offering unlimited internet connectivity," said technology expert Jerry Liao in an interview broadcast on Friday on GMA News TV program “SONA". “You have a device that will enable you to get connected anytime, anywhere," he said. Moreover, Nielsen earlier in July reported that 24 percent of Internet users in the Philippines gain access to the Net through mobile phones, making the country rank fifth in the region in terms of mobile internet penetration. In that earlier report, Nielsen rated countries in terms of their mobile internet penetration and topping that list was Indonesia (48 percent), followed by Thailand (36 percent), Singapore (35 percent), and Vietnam (29 percent). After the Philippines, Malaysia came sixth place with 21 percent. Internet capable phones in PHL economy “Marketing tool namin yun para ma-promote [ang aming business] at ma-update ang mga friends namin sa mga promos, services and products," said businesswoman Jeanne Dator, who cannot go a day without using her smartphone to go on the Internet to update the Facebook page of her nail salon business. Dator also uses her smartphone to order supplies for her business, as well as for replying to customer inquiries over the Internet as well as voice-calls. “Kailingan namin kasi mag-research ng prices ng products para makamura kami and malaki ang income," she added. She explained why she prefers using her phone instead of a laptop computer to surf the Internet: “Hindi ko naman malalagay ang laptop sa bag ko, eh. So at least ito, kahit saan kahit nagde-date ako o nagaalaga ng bata magagawa ko ang business ko." The 2011 Nielsen report said that although email remains the top reason why people log onto the Internet, coming close on its heels is the use of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. “Ito’y reflection ng mababang access sa internet ng mga bahay. In fact, we are lagging far behind many countries when it comes to internet download speed," said Howie Severino, GMA News Online editor in chief and GMA Network Vice President for Multimedia Journalism. “Malaking bagay yan dahil may mga studies ngayon na nagpapakita na yung bilis ng internet download speed ay may kaugnayan sa economic growth or productivity," he said. “Kung ang ginagawa mo sa internet ay nakikipag-chat ka o nagge-games ka, hindi natin masasabi na productive use of time yun. Pero kung yung ganoon karaming oras sa internet ay napupunta sa economic activity, nakakatulong yun sa ating ekonomiya," he said. — With a report by Rida Reyes, GMA News