LimeLife conducted focus groups in August in partnership with Just Ask a Woman and fielded three separate research surveys, surveying women cell phone users ages 18-49. Through this research, LimeLife uncovered new insights about women's use of their mobile phones and their fit within women's lifestyles as they move from high school toward college and full-time jobs, and then become focused on motherhood and their careers.

-  The mobile phone initially serves as a "private line" for girls 16-17 then evolves to an "always with me connected buddy" during college years, gradually becoming more functional and ultimately beginning to serve as a "command central" for working moms and women pursuing careers.
   
-  Games are second only to ringtones for desired mobile downloads among women.
   
-  67% of those surveyed showed strong interest in wallpapers made from "Photos I Take." Further, the use of ringtones as "caller ID" identifiers is also representative of the importance of customization and personalization in mobile content for younger women. 69% of women surveyed, aged 18-22, have already downloaded one or more ringtones.
   
-  Women have a very strong interest in mobile applications that function as reminders, such as alerts, and help them be more productive and efficient as they multitask throughout their typical day. 70% of those surveyed were interested in reminders for things like doctor's appointments, beating out even birthday reminders with 66% interest.
   
"Our research shows a clear gap between what women want and need and what is being made available to them by traditional mobile content providers, both in terms of games and in the larger category of lifestyle applications," said Kristin Asleson McDonnell, CEO, LimeLife. "LimeLife is uniquely positioned to fill this gap, not just as a content publisher, but as consumers ourselves, who are intimately knowledgeable about the needs of the large women's market segment."

LimeLife's proprietary research is bolstered by that of other industry sources such as M:Metrics which reports that, while mobile gaming is gender-neutral in terms of gameplay sessions, males generate the greater percentage of game downloads. This is perhaps not surprising given the dominance of sports and action games on carrier decks. In fact, the supply of games women are interested in (puzzle, word, strategy games) is regularly under-represented compared to consumer demand.

LimeLife has applied its research to shape the direction of its initial game product offerings. Other products in development at LimeLife are focused on making women's lives easier and more fun as they use their mobile phones for everything from a 10 minute "entertainment timeout" to scheduling their appointments to creating their shopping lists.

Source:  LimeLife Inc.

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