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Some Dialogic employees, in collaboration with Professor Harry Bouwman from TU Delft and Åbo Akademi, have published a paper based on data collected in the project Broadband and the User. This paper has been featured in the fourth edition of this year's International Journal of Media Management. The journal is published by the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland, in collaboration with the Taylor & Francis Group. The paper focuses on comparing mobile and fixed Internet. Specifically, the analysis empirically explores whether mobile Internet complements or competes with fixed Internet. This paper contributes both empirically and theoretically to the discussion on displacement effects between different media. Below is a summary of the key findings:
Current mobile phones facilitate the use of mobile services comparable to services via fixed Internet connections. The aim of this study is to assess displacement effects between fixed and mobile internet services. Additionally, the study examines the role of the technical possibilities and limitations of mobile phones and demographic characteristics in relation to these effects. The study is based on a sample of 628 respondents with access to both fixed and mobile internet services. Data was collected through an online questionnaire on the use of information, communication, entertainment, and transaction services. Quantitative analyses show that the use of mobile Internet strengthens rather than replaces the use of fixed Internet connection. The results indicate that iPhone® or (mobile) laptop owners have a strengthened effect on entertainment services (e.g. YouTube). Regarding transaction services (e.g. online payments), BlackBerry® owners show a strengthened effect. Except for gender, demographic characteristics do not play a role in the potential displacement effect. Women exhibit a more pronounced effect than men in relation to transaction services.
The article can be downloaded via the DOI number using the following link (login required): http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14241277.2012.684192
For more information about this research, please contact Guido Ongena (ongena@dialogic.nl)
Utrecht: December 2012