UK Leads European Countries in Smartphone Adoption with 70% Growth in Past 12 Months

Growth in Mid-Tier Subscriptions Suggests Significant Opportunity for Smartphone Manufacturers

LONDON, U.K., 31st March, 2010 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of the smartphone market in Europe showing that smartphone adoption in the EU5 (U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy) has grown 32 percent versus a year ago to 51.6 million subscribers. Whilst growth can be seen across the range of monthly subscription fees, the mid to low tier is growing faster than high tier subscriptions in each of the EU5 markets.

The U.K. market strongly leads in growth of smartphone adoption over the past year, growing 70 percent to more than 11 million subscribers. France ranks second in growth with the number of smartphone subscribers up 48 percent to 7 million. Meanwhile, Italy boasts the largest number of smartphone subscribers overall (15 million) but showed the softest growth in this market at 11 percent.

Smartphone Subscribers
3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2010 vs. 3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2009
Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: Comscore MobiLens
  Smartphone Subscribers (000)
  Jan-09 Jan-10 % Change
EU5 38,994 51,623 32%
U.K. 6,525 11,109 70%
France 4,842 7,140 48%
Germany 6,309 8,429 34%
Spain 7,809 9,907 27%
Italy 13,510 15,037 11%

Smartphone Payment Tiers
In evaluating monthly subscription fees, the high tier (greater than £35 in U.K. and €50 in Euro currency countries) is not growing as strongly as the mid to low tier. The U.K. has the highest pace of both mid to low tier adoption (up 76 percent) and high-tier adoption (up 60 percent), followed by France (52 percent and 43 percent, respectively).

Smartphone Growth by Payment Tier*3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2010 vs. 3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2009Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: Comscore MobiLens
  Smartphone Subscribers (000)
  Mid to Low Tier High Tier
Jan-2009 Jan-2010 % Change Jan-2009 Jan-2010 % Change
U.K. 3,826 6,745 76% 2,515 4,037 60%
France 3,087 4,695 52% 1,600 2,280 43%
Germany 4,314 6,077 41% 1,876 2,206 18%
Spain 4,462 6,257 40% 3,200 3,475 9%
Italy 9,839 11,259 14% 3,039 3,159 4%

* High Tier pricing model includes Smartphones with monthly subscription fee of over £35 in UK and over €50 in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Some respondents do not disclose tariff information

“Smartphones are generally seen as luxury devices that come with big price tags and high monthly tariffs, yet the largest segment of the market and the one demonstrating greatest momentum is actually the low to mid tier,” says Alistair Hill, senior mobile analyst at Comscore. “The growth in these tiers suggests that as smartphones become more affordable to the majority of European consumers, their proliferation will increase considerably and lead to a surge in mobile content and data consumption. Such market dynamics offer substantial opportunity for different players in the mobile ecosystem -- from operators and manufacturers to publishers and advertisers --- and underscore the importance of competing for customers now to engender long-term loyalty.”

January 2010 European Mobile Benchmark Data
Below is Comscore’s January 2010 benchmark data, including a review of mobile consumption behaviours and device penetration for five EU countries. This benchmark data will be updated on a monthly basis to provide the most up-to-date snapshot of the mobile industry. Further information on this benchmark data, and other data included above, can be provided upon request.

Mobile Benchmark Data for the European Market
3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2010
Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: Comscore MobiLens
  Reach (%) of Mobile Subscribers
EU5 UK DE FR ES IT
Sent an SMS/Text 83.5% 90.3% 81.6% 81.7% 84.5% 79.5%
Used Application (including games) 33.4% 37.6% 33.3% 23.6% 36.1% 37.0%
Listened to Music 22.7% 21.4% 24.6% 19.9% 28.7% 20.4%
Mobile Browsing 22.2% 30.8% 17.4% 21.7% 19.9% 20.7%
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog 11.3% 18.2% 6.5% 10.2% 9.5% 11.7%
Accessed News 9.6% 13.7% 7.5% 9.0% 6.7% 10.4%
3G Device 42.4% 41.7% 38.3% 36.7% 53.3% 45.2%
Smartphone 22.6% 22.9% 16.5% 15.2% 28.3% 32.0%
Top Smartphone Platforms
3 Month Average Ending Jan. 2010
Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: Comscore MobiLens
  Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
EU5 UK DE FR ES IT
Total Smartphone Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Symbian 60.9% 46.9% 55.1% 40.7% 73.5% 75.7%
Apple 14.5% 20.5% 15.3% 29.9% 6.5% 7.7%
Microsoft 14.1% 10.7% 19.9% 20.0% 12.8% 11.4%
RIM 8.3% 18.7% 6.8% 5.4% 5.2% 4.7%
Google 2.0% 3.0% 2.2% 3.7% 1.8% 0.4%

About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Ayaan Mohamud
Comscore, Inc.
+ 44 (0) 203-111-1758
worldpress@comscore.com