JiWire's Q1 Mobile Audience Insights Report Uncovers New Findings in Location and Mobile

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - May 8, 2012) - JiWire, a location-based mobile advertising company, announced its latest Mobile Audience Insights Report today. This quarter's report examines trends in location and mobile shopping, as well as connected-device adoption and public Wi-Fi usage. Key highlights include:

• Location-Based App Adoption -- 70 percent of C-level executives are using location-based apps on a weekly basis or daily.
• Mobile Shopping Behavior -- 37 percent of on-the-go consumers have used a mobile wallet within the past three months.
• Connected Device Trends -- Almost half of the on-the-go audience is connecting to public Wi-Fi from smartphones (31 percent) or tablets (14 percent).
• Comparison Shopping -- When comparison shopping in-store, 49 percent of consumers compare prices with other stores.

The Tech Savvy C-Level Executive has Emerged
Contrary to popular belief, C-level executives and small business owners have become more tech savvy as they embrace location-based apps and find themselves more in tune with location than ever before. For example, 70 percent of C-level executives use location-based apps on a weekly basis or more daily. Likewise, 73 percent of small business owners are more apt to use location-based apps daily (57 percent) or on a weekly basis (16 percent). Other key findings include:

• Over half of business executives use apps on a daily basis regardless of position or company size.
• When traveling for business, the top three most-used app categories are travel, weather, and social networking.
• Small-, mid-, and enterprise-level business travelers alike believe that booking reservations is the most important service while on the go, followed by finding nearby business services.

Mobile Wallet Services are on the Rise
A recent Pew study found that, "experts believe that mobile payments could eliminate the need for consumers to carry cash and credit cards by the year 2020." Along those lines, JiWire's report discovered that mobile users are becoming increasingly comfortable making purchases on their smartphone or tablet, and are looking to mobile wallet services to fund digital and in-store purchases. In fact, 37 percent of on-the-go consumers have used a mobile wallet within the past three months. Additional key findings around the move to a more cashless society, include the following:

• Of the 63 percent who have not used mobile wallet services, 8 percent indicate that they would like to and 14 percent do not know what a mobile wallet is.
• 46 percent of consumers who have used a mobile wallet have used PayPal, with 29 percent having used Amazon and 18 percent having used Google Wallet.

"This rapid adoption of mobile wallets reinforces that the market is ripe for this sort of technological advance. Consumers seem to be both comfortable and curious about using their mobile phones to purchase," said Dee Dee Paeseler, director of strategic marketing at JiWire. "This trend is likely to help both brands and retailers close the loop on mobile transactions, ultimately taking them to the next level."

Examining Wi-Fi Usage on Smartphones and Tablets
Constant connectivity on smartphones and tablets are vital to on-the-go consumers and it's apparent in the way they are connecting. JiWire's Q1 Insights Report discovered that consumers are heavily utilizing public Wi-Fi from mobile devices with almost half of all Wi-Fi traffic coming from smartphones (31 percent) or tablets (14 percent). By contrast, connection from laptops has decreased from 70 percent last year to 55 percent currently. Additionally, nine out of 10 consumers report the following advantages for choosing public Wi-Fi instead of 3G/4G on smartphones:

• Increasing connection speed, with 55 percent stating it's the main advantage for using public Wi-Fi.
• Avoiding data plan charges (37 percent), streaming content (17 percent) or for laptop tethering (7 percent).
• Lastly, only 10 percent of the on-the-go audience indicated that they do not use public Wi-Fi, opting instead to connect with 3G/4G and/or exclusively use broadband cards.

Comparison Shopping Holds Ground
Similar to last quarter, comparison shopping on devices remains constant with the main goal of comparing prices, specifically. In Q1, 49 percent of in-store shoppers price compared with other stores, while 15 percent compared with the store's own website and 13 percent searched for mobile coupons. Other key findings include:

• Consumers between the ages of 25 and 44 are the most likely to price compare while in store -- 54 percent price compared with other retailers while 19 percent searched the store's own website.
• Comparison shopping is more popular with men (53 percent) compared to women (43 percent).
• Tablet owners are more likely to exhibit "showroom" tendencies with 10 percent of tablet owners having comparison shopped on their tablet but purchased with their mobile device instead, compared with 5 percent of those who do not own tablets.

Android OS Regains Steam
The Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch remain in the top three spots; however, the iPhone is the only Apple device to see gains in Q1 2012, with a 2.3 percent increase. In addition, the Android OS is the only operating system to see gains between Q4 2011 and Q1 2012, increasing by 3.2 percent.

About JiWire's Mobile Audience Insights Report
JiWire's Mobile Audience Insights Report is based on data from approximately 315,000 public Wi-Fi locations. JiWire serves advertisements to over 30,000 public Wi-Fi locations in North America and records data from every ad request. The report surveyed nearly 2,000 U.S. customers randomly selected across JiWire's Wi-Fi Media Channel from January 2012 to March 2012. Quarterly public Wi-Fi location rankings and business model distributions are based on the final day of the quarter.

About JiWire
JiWire is a location-based mobile advertising company that reaches the on-the-go audience. The network enables advertisers to reach 50 million unique users each month and deliver ads in and around a person's physical location. JiWire's network targets audiences on mobile phones, tablets and laptops through its public Wi-Fi channel and in-app ads. The app network includes some of the leading location-based apps. JiWire's long-established Wi-Fi network includes more than 30,000 locations that allow Wi-Fi operators to monetize their networks through ad revenue. The JiWire ad network delivers locally-relevant ad campaigns for Fortune 250 companies who want to 'locationize' their brands at significant scale across North America. For more information, please visit www.JiWire.com or call (415) 877-4711.