Pakistan’s situation: 3G available but users connect through Wifi

Study says only a quarter of smartphone users use internet on the go.

KARACHI: Pakistan embraced mobile broadband technology two months ago but over half of its smartphone users still access the internet through traditional Wifi, according to a post-3G study.

Android is the most popular mobile platform with majority of smartphone users being the younger lot, the study adds.

A majority of Pakistan’s smartphone users, 62.5% to be exact, connects with internet via Wifi mostly from home, while only a quarter of them use internet on the go.

In its study on smartphone usage, Grappetite – a mobile phone application developing company – finds that only 12% of smartphone users live without internet.

The company was founded by Gertjan Van Laar three years ago with its headquarter located in the Netherlands and a production office in Karachi.

With 68% of smartphone users on Android, Google’s mobile operating system dominates the country’s rapidly expanding smartphone market followed by Apple’s iOS (24%) and Microsoft’s Windows Phone (8%), finds the Dutch mobile app maker.

Grappetite’s study, released in the form of info graphics, also reveals that 77% of the country’s smartphone users age ranges between 21 and 30 years – an indication that smart devices are mainly used by the country’s young population. In contrast, those over 41 years of age comprise only 1% of total smartphone users.

The study also found that 41% users had over Rs500 monthly budget for mobile phone usage while 26% had less Rs150 monthly budget for their mobile phone needs. It also found that 60% of people used more than one handset mainly due to security reasons – mobile phone snatching is rampant in Karachi.

When it came to brand popularity, the survey revealed Samsung (34%) was on top followed by iPhone (24%) and Qmobile (21%). On app purchases, it said 16% buy apps regularly while 84% use only free ones.

Among the top five apps used by the respondents, Facebook (90%) was the most popular followed by gaming apps (72%), photo and video (64%), music and entertainment each (55%).

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2014.

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