Strengthening OTT Data Services Will Provide More Compelling User Experience for Chinese Consumers

Boston, MA – January 27, 2016 – Web browsing has long been the most frequently used mobile service in China. However, a new report from the Media and Services UX (MSX) group at Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com) investigating the use of mobile services in China via web-based survey, has found that Instant Messaging (IM) has caught up with mobile web browsing to become the two most frequently used services.

OTT IM use experienced a greater increase in frequency of use in China than web browsing from 2014 to 2015. This increase in use has been primarily fuelled by the high penetration of Tencent QQ and WeChat apps on Chinese smartphones, perceived cheaper costs to send messages and images via IM compared to SMS/MMS, and additional features available on IM apps such as emoticons and group chat.

Click here for the report: http://bit.ly/1JMiMoE

Christopher Dodge, Associate Director, MSX and report author, commented,

“Consumers in China are continuing to rapidly adopt mobile services and use them at a regular rate; the overall average increase of weekly usage for all services assessed was 50% from 2014 to 2015. Of the services assessed, video calling and mobile wallet frequency of use experienced the greatest increase in weekly usage over last year, while social networking experienced no change in frequency of use over the same period.”

Kevin Nolan, VP, UXIP, added,

“This survey data is indicative of Chinese consumers wanting to quickly adopt and continue to use mobile data services. While Strategy Analytics anticipates an increase in the use of these types of services, device OEMs and Chinese mobile operators alike should look to what their more advanced consumers are using and work on strengthening these services to provide a more compelling user experience.”