Europe : Findings from Impaq Group's recently-published MOBILE LIFE 1 report into Mobility and Customer Loyalty have highlighted the ten key services that consumers most want from their 3G phones.

Inset is Professor Paddy Barwise from the London Business School one of the contribuotrs to MOBILE LIFE 1.

According to the report, consumers are confident of their ability to take advantage of the capabilities of their 3G phones - when they get them - and are looking forward to using their mobiles to redeem coupons, pay for car park tickets, take part in loyalty programmes as well as use them for flight check-in confirmation and as season tickets.

Impaq Group is one of Europe's leading developers of specialist customer-focused applications, and commissioned this independent research to highlight the clear requirement for UK organisations to think of ways they can take advantage of 3G's potential and explore new ways of engaging with customers. According to Impaq Group Director, Chris Thomas: "Our mobiles are now an established part of our identity. We tend to have them with us all the time, so it makes sense for us to use them more and more for the things we need to do every day. Our MOBILE LIFE 1 research suggests that, providing a 3G application will add value to their daily lives, people are prepared to put in the time and effort to learn how to use it."

Impaq's MOBILE LIFE 1 report first identified the top ten functions that people currently use their mobiles for - with voice calls and SMS messages clearly the main functions. While voice and messaging will remain key priorities for 3G usage, MOBILE LIFE 1 went on to identify the real world applications that consumers believe would most improve their lives.

Today's Top Mobile Functions 1 - Voice 2 - SMS 3 - Switching to silent mode 4 - Calculator 5 - Taking pictures 6 - Surfing WAP sites 7 - Using operator portals 8 - Mobile search 9 - Bluetooth pairing 10 - Alert subscriptions

Tomorrow's Top Ten 3G Wish List

1 - Mobile coupon redemption

2 - Parking meter payment 3 - Loyalty cards

4 - Season tickets

5 - Credit/Debit cards

6 - Flight check-in

7 - Vending machine payment

8 - Retail checkout

9 - Marketing communications

10 - Using your mobile as a key

"Our study clearly indicates that those companies that move quickly to embrace the mobile as a consumer interaction channel can gain first mover advantage," added Chris Thomas. "The mobile's ubiquity is now so strongly established that existing staples of daily life such as wallets, credit cards, cash and keys could all potentially be replaced by and/or be incorporated into the mobile phone."

To receive an executive summary of Impaq's MOBILE LIFE 1 report, please e-mail Sue Wiltshire at sue.wiltshire@impaqgroup.com

About Impaq Group Over the last ten years Impaq has established itself as a software services and solutions supplier to some of the world's major corporations including NCR, Procter & Gamble, Nokia, UBS, Credit Suisse and Zurich Financial Services.