Study: U.S. wireless users lose interest in ringtones, news

Italian teens are leading their U.S. and Western European counterparts in consuming user-generated content and social networking applications, according to new figures from M:Metrics.
The market research firm found that 70 percent of 13- to 17-year-old Italian wireless consumers used their phones in October to share photos and videos, meet new friends, create their own ringtones or send instant messages. More than half of the teens polled in Spain, the U.K. and France use such offerings, while only 37 percent of U.S. teens accessed those mobile offerings.
Interestingly, only three wireless applications showed increasing uptake among U.S. consumers: photo-sharing and text-messaging gained only slightly, while the number of mobile gamers increased nearly 3 percent. Meanwhile, 4-percent fewer U.S. users browsed news and information on their handsets, while ringtone purchases fell 5 percent.
M:Metrics’ benchmark studies are based on a three-month moving average.
“There is a direct correlation between 3G penetration and video messaging,” said Paul Goode, an M:Metrics senior analyst. “With the proliferation of better networks comes moderately-priced, highly capable devices that are appropriate for younger users. As better, cheaper devices enter these markets on faster networks, we would expect mobile content consumption to increase significantly, particularly among this highly connected demographic.”