Exclusive research commissioned by Mobile Marketing Magazine and conducted by Lightspeed Research has revealed that Nokia is the nations favourite handset maker, well ahead of Sony Ericsson in second place and Samsung in third. Apple and Blackberry came in bottom of the list with just 2% of the vote each.
The research was conducted among 977 mobile phone-owning members of Lightspeeds UK online panel between 18 and 22 September. In addition to handset preferences, it also quizzed respondents about their mobile Internet habits. 50% of respondents had ever browsed the Internet from their mobile phone. Mobile web browsers were more likely to be male, between the ages of 18 and 34, though one in five over-55s has browsed the mobile web at least once from their phone.
For most mobile web browsers, the activity is an occasional one, with 46% saying they browsed the mobile web once a month or less, 17% saying they did so once a week, and 14% each saying they browsed the mobile web every couple of days, or at least once a day.
Among those who had not browsed the mobile web, the main reason was that they were not interested (36%); followed by too expensive (29%); and not having Internet capabilities on their phone (24%). The most popular mobile web activities are checking email, news headlines and sports results. 55% of 18-24 year old mobile web users said they visited social networking sites on their mobile, while 41% of over-55s said they used the mobile web to check the weather forecast.
“The results show accessing the Internet is becoming more popular, with half having already done so,” says Lightspeed Research CEO Europe, David Day. “It is now up to marketers to ensure they take full advantage of this growing opportunity by defining their offer so it is relevant and engaging on mobile platforms. The most popular activities are personal, such as accessing email and social sites, as well as news sites, highlighting the trend for instant access to up to date information regardless of location.”
You can download the full results of the survey, including age group and gender breakdowns, here. 
