According to research conducted by new media research firm Interpret, LLC, the iPhone has the potential to be a catalyst for growth in mobile video usage, among both iPhone owners and owners of regular cell phones. Despite owning their new iPhones for a short period of time, 63% of iPhone owners have already used the widescreen-enabled device to watch video (compared to only 28% of regular cell phone owners). Half of iPhone owners (51%) have watched a YouTube video on their phone, while 46% have watched a music video, 34% watched the news, and 32% have already watched a movie trailer.
The study shows that it's not the consumers who are different, it's the iPhone – prior to buying the iPhone, few owners had watched video on their cell phone (only 17% had seen YouTube clips, 21% had watched a music video, 16% had seen the news, and only 15% had watched a movie trailer on a phone).
The study also shows how the iPhone could have a "halo effect" for mobile video, even among non-owners. Only 28% of non-iPhone owners have ever watched video on their cell phone, and interest in watching video on their current phone is not strong. One-quarter or fewer are interested in watching music videos (25%), TV shows (25%), movies (24%) or video clips like on YouTube (24%). However, after seeing a 2-minute video about watching video on the iPhone, nearly three-quarters (73%) of non-owners say they are interested in watching video on an iPhone, and 42% say they are "extremely" or "very" interested. Further, widescreen video is a compelling selling point for the iPhone – half (50%) of non-owners who are open to buying the device say that seeing the iPhone's video capabilities makes them more interested in buying one.
The survey was conducted online among a representative sample of 1,000 cell phone users, including 200 iPhone owners and 800 non-owners.
