At Skype, we’ve always believed that people should be free to use mobile devices without restrictions on what applications they can install, or which networks they can access. Some of you may have seen that we’re supporting the Electronic Frontier Foundation in their efforts to gain an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the US, which would further enable this sort of liberty.

We asked Zogby to survey around 3000 mobile users in four countries – the US, UK, Japan and Spain – over the last three months, and their research findings confirm our beliefs. Most mobile users (67%) say that they don’t have nearly as much control over their mobile devices compared to their computers, and this is reflected in the fact that the vast majority (70%) report that they’ve never downloaded an application to their mobile.

However, the same people express a strong desire to be able to choose mobile applications for themselves, rather than have their mobile networks decide for them what applications they can use. The survey results also indicate that people will pay more for a mobile device that will give them the freedom to install the software they want.

A taste of things to come

The results from Spain hint at what happens when mobile users are given more freedom. In Spain, more than half of the survey respondents (53%) felt they had as much or more control over their mobile devices than they have over their computers, and nearly half (47%) see their mobile devices as extensions of their computers. Given these attitudes, it isn’t surprising that nearly half of Spanish mobile users (48%) have downloaded applications to their devices – a much larger percentage than in the other countries we surveyed. Moreover, a much larger percentage of Spain’s mobile users – 50% – are willing to pay more for a mobile device that gives them the freedom to install what they want.

This is a clear signal to everyone in the communications industry – mobile networks, device manufacturers, and software companies like Skype – to work together to deliver what mobile users like you want: the freedom to install what you want, where you want it. For us, that means the freedom to give you Skype everywhere. Now doesn’t that sound like a deal?

Thanks also to Om, Phil and Jason Kincaid for their coverage of the research – Jason has embedded the US and international datasheets which the inquisitive among you may find interesting.

On mobile freedom