KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — Malaysia is among four Asian nations where smartphones have surpassed desktop devices for Internet browsing, according to a study by search giant Google.
Pressing the importance of a mobile presence especially in Malaysia, Google also said 35 per cent of local respondents relied exclusively on smartphones for Internet access.
When announcing the survey results today, Google Malaysia managing director Sajith Sivanandan said that 51 per cent of local respondents relied on smartphones for web access versus 39 per cent who used computers.
This was mirrored in China where 70 per cent used smartphones versus 65 per cent of computer users, Hong Kong (74 per cent vs 61 per cent), South Korea (80 per cent vs 70 per cent) and Singapore (85 per cent vs 74 per cent).
"How about the West? The picture is startling: No countries outside Asia are showing this trend," he said during the Consumer Barometer research presentation at Google's office here today.
Sajith said that the revelation is also a wake-up call for Malaysian enterprises without a mobile-optimised site or app.
He explained that with the current swing towards mobile, it was no longer viable for businesses to make desktop-oriented websites the primary focus of their online presence.
“You're effectively slamming your shop door in the face of customers. It's vital for every business to think mobile first in the context of a consumer's daily life," he added.
In the local portion of the survey carried out from January to March with 4,000 Malaysians as respondents, 41 per cent also said they researched products using their smartphones prior to purchasing.
This surpassed numbers in western Europe, where only 21 per cent of British respondents and 20 per cent of German respondents said they checked items out on smartphones before buying.
The survey also revealed that many Asians were “leapfrogging” the desktop by making the smartphone their first point of contact with the Internet.
The survey also revealed that flight tickets were the most popular online purchase with Malaysians, with 86 per cent saying they subscribe to an online ticketing service. Online hotel bookings claimed the second spot.
Other favourite categories of Malaysians include fashion items (42 per cent), movie tickets (37 per cent) and insurance (26 per cent).
"This research clearly shows that Asian consumers have taken charge of the internet and are shaping it in their own image, with Malaysians being the frontliners of this trend, with their smartphones,” Sajith said.
"The trend is only going to continue as more people come online and the appetite for all things digital grows."
