Analyst Speak: The ranks of silver surfers are growing, but they aren't mobilising

10 June 2010

Almost 5m people aged over 55 regularly use the web, and the numbers are growing. Every day, 47% of 55-64-year-olds and 16% of those over 65 use the internet. Usage is increasing faster in these age groups than any other.

With such frequent online activity from so many people, we wanted to understand these older internet users: the devices they own, their use of the web, and their attitudes to computers and mobile phones.

More than 50% spend two hours or more a day online; a quarter more than three hours. This isn’t casual browsing: 91% have bought goods online, 68% have booked travel and 60% have watched TV catch-up services. But it’s not just functional activities that are popular: 40% of this audience are regular Facebook users (45% for the 55-59 age group).

We should be careful not to lump everyone aged over 55 into the same group, though. Affluence more than age is a key driver of online behaviour. Those with net assets of more than £500,000, whatever their age, are far more likely to have booked travel (78%), bought wine (62%) or downloaded music (34%) than those with less than £100,000 (59%, 21% and 28% respectively).

Gender also plays a big role: at 33%, women are twice as likely as men (17%) to find technology hard to understand, yet they buy more regularly than men (65% buy books, CDs and presents versus 57% for men); they’re more social (43% regularly use facebook versus 36% of men); and more playful (34% play games regularly versus 18% of men).

However engaged they are with the fixed internet, mobile is a very different story. Almost everyone owns a mobile phone but few do much with it. Only 19% have accessed the internet on a mobile, and 36% have only ever used one for voice calls and text messages. The potential is there - 60% have taken photos with a mobile phone, and 46% of women say their mobile is essential to their life - but so far, older consumers have barely engaged with mobile.

So the challenge for mobile device makers, developers and network operators is to: meet the needs of a large, growing and, in parts, affluent segment. These people consume media, play games, make purchases and interact socially using the fixed internet (especially older women), but so far haven’t made the leap into the wireless world.

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