I know, the year of location-based services has been every year for the last decade. But with the 3G iPhone’s release last summer, consumers have become much more comfortable with browsing the mobile web and using third-party applications. Even those location-based.
In fact, according to the Mobile Advertising Report, released today by mobile social network Limbo and market research agency GfK Technology, one in three iPhone owners used a location-based service in the fourth quarter of 2008. 33 percent of everyone owning an iPhone enabled the phone’s GPS for something.
Overall, iPhone users are over three times more likely than non-iPhone users to use an LBS application, and twice as likely to browse the mobile web. Across all mobile phone categories, 10 percent of Americans used LBS in Q4, with the 25 to 34 age group showing the most interest boasting a 22 percent penetration rate.
Another interesting insight from the study relates to mobile advertising. Still a nascent industry, and one with plenty of naysayers, the Mobile Advertising Report says it’s remarkably effective. One in seven consumers reported buying a product or visiting a store in response to seeing a mobile ad. Incredibly, one in four iPhone users bought something in response to seeing a mobile ad.
The Mobile Advertising Report consists of information based on a survey of 1, 000 American adults and 1, 000 UK adults interviewed by telephone. It doesn’t appear to be sponsored or paid for by any company.