Mobile Internet Adoption and Use : Results from a National Survey in Sweden

The past decade has seen great developments in the telecom sector. The mobile phone has changed from being a communication device, to become a multimedia device. It provides always-on connection to internet and acquaintances beyond time and space. The diffusion of these mobile devices is taking place rather rapidly in the Western world. People have become equipped with portable micro-computers that enable multimedia – mobile devices provide their users with a variety of functions and services such as video, audio and internet. However, actual use of mobile internet seems to be limited in most countries, except for leading nations such as Japan and South-Korea. There is a lack of knowledge about the emerging situation in Western countries. This paper analyses Sweden as a case of a Western country among the international leaders of ICT-diffusion. It is a country that possesses many similarities with other well developed countries, and should in such sense offer valuable insight. The paper closely examines the use of different types of mobile internet services among specific user segments. It also addresses important adoption criteria through an analysis of attitudes and expressed needs for using internet services in the future. The empirical data base is based on a comprehensive national postal survey carried out in Sweden during the fall of 2007. The survey was sent to 2000 Swedes aged 16-65 and the response rate of the survey was 39%. Evaluations of its representativeness indicate that it corresponds rather well to the Swedish public in this age segment.