Mobile phone users want to add e-mail, music, TV

Mobile phone users want to add e-mail, music, TV

Mar 09, 2006
Updated 07:32am (Mla time)

Agence France-Presse

HANOVER, Germany--E-mailing, downloading music and watching television are among the new services consumers want on their mobile phones, according to an industry study released Wednesday on the eve of the giant CeBIT high-tech fair.

Sector giant Siemens asked some 5,300 cellular phone users in eight countries what applications would lead them to upgrade their handsets and found that entertainment and e-mail topped the list.

An average 74 percent of those polled said they wanted to read and send e-mails with their phones while on the run, most of them saying work-related communication was their priority.

Fifty-nine percent said they were interested in "mobile TV", which allows users to watch standard television or specialized programming prepared for handheld devices.

Siemens noted that the extra costs of such services made the option particularly attractive for companies.

Finally, 62 percent of those questioned said they wanted to pull songs off the Internet via their mobile phones.

Young consumers also said they were intrigued by up-and-coming applications for their mobiles including interactive games, conference calling and video communications.

Siemens, whose telecommunications unit posted turnover of 13 billion euros (15 billion dollars) in the last business year, polled consumers in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

The CeBIT, the world's biggest high-tech fair, opens its doors Thursday in the northern German city of Hanover. It is hosting more than 6,200 exhibitors from 71 countries.