GSMA&VitalWave: Survey shows Chinese women are more interested in mobile Internet

There are 950 million working women living in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, 800 million of whom have yet to use mobile broadband services. What is hindering the popularization of smartphones among women? What benefits can mobile broadband bring to them? What are the most commonly used smartphone applications by Chinese women?

Recently, GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association), VitalWave and Qualcomm's "Wireless Reach" project jointly completed a report on women and mobile broadband technology in emerging countries around the world. The report was made after interviewing more than 1,000 women from five developing countries (China, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Nigeria).

Working women are divided into five groups: urban entrepreneurs, busy young urban white-collar workers, "warriors" who balance work and family, young rural women, and traditional rural women. The report describes in detail the needs, attitudes, preferences, shopping and mobile phone usage habits of women in each group. The study found that among the five groups, urban entrepreneurs use mobile broadband services most frequently; busy young urban white-collar workers use smartphones most frequently for work; "warriors" who balance work and family say that how to improve life efficiency is the biggest challenge in their daily lives, and they are also the group that communicates most frequently with colleagues; young rural women show great interest in mobile broadband; traditional rural women value mobile functions that allow them to stay connected to their families while working.

80% of working women use mobile phones at work and regard them as important tools at work. 77% of the women surveyed who use smartphones said that they would never use a phone without mobile broadband function; 92% of working women said that keeping in touch with friends and family is the primary need for buying a smartphone. "Independence" has become the keyword of women's consumption habits: 70% of working women buy their own mobile phones, and 88% of the women surveyed said that they pay their own mobile phone bills.

Compared with respondents from other countries, Chinese women have their own characteristics, that is, they are more enthusiastic about using high technology. More than three-quarters of the Chinese women interviewed said that their mobile phones were purchased within a year, and they are more inclined to use mobile broadband to meet a wide range of work needs. Compared with respondents from other countries, Chinese women talked about a wider range of daily work needs; more than two-thirds of respondents who own smartphones use their phones to handle daily work; in addition to helping them keep in touch with relatives, friends and colleagues, mobile phones can also improve work efficiency and obtain real-time news, education and entertainment content at any time.

The popularity of mobile broadband is highly correlated with Internet use. Women who frequently use the Internet are more likely to buy smartphones than those who do not. Among the Chinese women interviewed, only 12% of feature phone users have used the Internet, and Chinese working women believe that the value of mobile broadband lies mainly in the ability to use the Internet at any time and any place.

The study also found that women mainly use smartphones for web browsing, audio and video playback, and social media applications, while Chinese women value the instant messaging and free text messaging functions of mobile broadband.

The biggest obstacle to the popularization of smartphones is that people think smartphones are "too complicated". 89% of Chinese women who have never used smartphones said they are not very clear about mobile broadband services and think smartphones are too complicated. 54% of respondents said they would consider buying a smartphone if they knew how to use it.