CANNES, France-GartnerG2, the research and advisory arm of Gartner Group, said short message service (SMS) is potentially a powerful marketing tool in Europe, with SMS use now exceeding Internet use in Europe.
According to research the company presented at the Gartner Symposium/Itxpo in Cannes, France, more people in Europe use SMS than e-mail, and mobile phones offer twice the reach of the PC Internet. Sixty-two percent of all adults in major European countries now use mobile phones, according to the research. Forty-one percent use SMS, compared with 30 percent that use the Internet. Last year, 28 percent used SMS and 29 percent used the Internet.
However, Gartner said the mobile industry in Europe is obsessed with third-generation (3G) technology and has forgotten consumers.
“The vast majority of consumers don’t know what their phones are capable of today, let alone what 3G is and why they should have it,” said Adam Daum, vice president and chief analyst at GartnerG2. “It does not matter how good 3G is if nobody knows or understands what they can do with it.”
GartnerG2 said operators and consumer-facing organizations should evolve consumers in a step-by-step fashion by delivering value with existing technology today.
“You need to identify a need for people to use a particular service and then train consumers on how to use it,” said Daum. “This will gradually evolve the consumer’s relationship with their mobile phone and drive the need for phones with more capabilities so that when 3G is finally available, consumers are ready for it.”
