Key findings from the Orange Digital Media Index include:
- The camera phone comes of age - there has been a 37% surge in picture messaging with over 1 million photos uploaded from mobiles to online photo albums in August alone
- The continued popularity of text messaging – a 25% increase in the medium, with over 1 billion text messages sent per month
- The mobile internet gains momentum - Orange World, the Orange mobile portal, received 2.34 million monthly visitors and an average of 250,000 daily repeat users
- Music downloads soar – there has been a 15% increase in music downloads to a figure of 295,000, and a 3.4% increase in games downloaded to 691,032
- A strong demand for mobile television - so much so that revenue is almost double the forecast
The Index shows that there has been an explosion in mobile data services, generating nearly 22% of network revenue in the last nine months. Rather than using mobile phones for just voice calls and text messaging, customers are increasingly exploring the mobile internet and using email and social networking sites to keep in touch.
Matthew Kirk, Director of Portals for Orange, said: “The Orange Digital Media Index provides a fascinating insight into the role of technology in twenty-first century life and has shown how the purpose of the mobile phone is changing - from a one-to-one mobile device to an all-encompassing social networking tool. Customers are increasingly using mobiles to access information while they're on the move. Coupled with mobile operator tie-ups with social network brands such as Bebo, mobile phones are quickly providing customers with yet another way of connecting with others in the way that text messaging did ten years ago."