According to a research report by J’son & Partners (J&P), the number of Russian smartphone owners using mobile Internet services on a monthly basis jumped to 22.5 million last year, up 88% from 2011. The number of users connecting to the Internet via tablets grew more than eight-fold, reaching 2.5 million.
But even more mobile Internet users – 40.5 million, according to J&P’s count – connected to the Internet via feature phones.
As Nielsen reported recently, feature phones — mobile devices with no touchscreen, QWERTY keypad or operating system — were still dominant in India and Russia last year, in contrast with China and Brazil, where smartphones have already become more popular than more traditional mobile phones.
J&P also estimated the total number of smartphones used in Russia reached 27.2 million in 2012.
Another recent research report has indicated that the Russian-speaking mobile Internet audience – which includes areas outside Russia – reached 34.5 million people in August 2012.
According to J&P, 77.4 million SIM cards were used for mobile Internet access at least once per month last year in Russia, including 65.5 million via mobile phones and 11.9 million via USB modems.
The total number of active SIM cards active on a 3- or 6-month basis neared 230 million in December 2012.
The rise of mobile video
Interestingly, smartphone owners watch mobile video less frequently than tablet owners, according to the analysis by J&P experts.
Their studies also revealed the most frequently visited video web resources among Russian mobile device users are YouTube, Vkontakte, Facebook, RuTube, [email protected] (Mail.ru Group), and Ivi.ru (Russian video resource).
Over the last three years, the audience of Russian mobile video has shown a 39-fold increase, J&P reported. Such rapid growth is likely to continue with the expansion of 4G networks in Russia.
