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Research Outline
Prepared for Anja F. | Delivered February 25, 2020
Mobile Privacy Perception in Germany
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Goals
To understand German behavior and preferences when it comes to privacy, big tech, and mobile browsing. This will be used for a podcast on mobile internet use and privacy in Germany.
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Early Findings
Privacy
A survey by the European Commission found that
70%
of Germans are concerned about their data being possibly misused.
Another study from 2016, found that Germans were "more active in
privacy management
, applied more privacy settings, and were more likely to restrict the visibility of their profile info."
Studies have also shown that German users were less likely than U.S. users to post
confidential information
on their Facebook page. Only
40%
of the German population is registered on Facebook.
A 2019 study found that German participants had a preference for "
DIY privacy
, and were much more skeptical about the extent of control they had over their data."
Another 2019 survey found that
72%
of German respondents felt that their data was rather/completely unsafe on the internet.
Roughly "
70 %
of companies in Germany were the victims of
c
y
b
e
r
attacks in 2018. Of these, the most common types were theft of
IT and communication
devices, as well as sensitive digital documents."
Mobile Browsing in Germany
Germany has roughly
60 million
smartphone users. Mobile usage in Germany is at
88%
.
Samsung is the most popular vendor in Germany with a
44.7% share
over other vendors in 2018.
The most popular mobile Operating System in Germany is Android, which has
67.7%
of the total market, followed by
i
O
S
with
31%
.
Chrome is the most used mobile browser in Germany with
38.5%
of web traffic share, followed by Safari with
30.1%
.
In terms of internet penetration, over
72 million
Germans are online, which is roughly
90%
of the population.
Online Payments
Germans prefer to be
invoiced
when purchasing online so that the buyer can examine the product/s upon delivery before paying. This is the case for almost
40%
of online purchases in Germany.
The use of
PayPal
has been steadily growing in Germany, with
31%
of online purchases using this service.
German buyers are cautious want to have
trust
in online payment methods, and PayPal has successfully met this need.
"Credit cards and debit cards account for only
11%
of online transactions.
24%
of German buyers will not continue with the purchase if their preferred method of payment is not offered.
Big Tech
In terms of big tech, there did not appear to be any specific concerns among Germans in terms of privacy. There is mainly concern by many German business leaders and politicians who feel that they are
falling behind
in terms of Big Tech.
"Leading German executives also worry that
Silicon Valley tech
companies could overshadow significant parts of the German industry due to their large scale."
Summary
For the initial hour, we were able to identify some studies and survey results that gave insights on German behavior and preferences when it comes to privacy and mobile browsing. No surveys or studies appeared publicly available specific to German perception of Big Tech.
In the course of our research, we also came across additional insights on payment methods used by German e-commerce businesses, as well as the state of internet freedom in Germany, which might also be of interest as they relate to internet use and privacy in Germany.
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