83% of South African mobile users in favour of cloud-based backup solutions for their phones  

Johannesburg 27^th February 2013 - Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, has published an end-user survey that included views of South Africans, which underlines the potential for mobile network operators to introduce their own cloud-based data backup & sharing services to their subscribers, with close to 80% of mobile users saying they would use such services if they were offered.

Based on interviews with over 4000 people in four countries – Brazil, Germany, Malaysia and South Africa - the survey addresses not only smart phone users, but also the huge population of feature phone users who have limited access to smart phone apps. The research also showed that more than 60% of interested respondents accepted the need to pay extra for such services.

Among the local views expressed in the survey:

• 55% of South Africans interviewed have already experienced the loss of personal content on their mobile phones.

• 83% said they were likely to use a backup solution for mobile contacts, tasks and calendar if their operator proposed it.

• 75% said they were likely to use a solution to share photos or videos from mobile or PC if their operator proposed it.

The response confirms the fear amongst mobile users of losing valued personal content such as contact details, and more than half the respondents had already suffered losses at least once, but over 30% still do not use a back-up solution.

Reflecting these trends in the consumer market, Gemalto has already supplied its LinqUs Cloud Backup solution for protecting contact data to over 140 million mobile users worldwide. LinqUs CloudnShare, Gemalto’s new private file sharing and storage product is currently being showcased at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Download the survey from our web site.

 Note to editors:

Gemalto’s survey, ‘Consumer insights into cloud storage, back-up and sharing of personal content’ was conducted between June and mid-July 2012. A total of 4,400 cell phone users were interviewed across four countries: Brazil, Germany, Malaysia and South Africa

For more information visit on Gemalto, visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, and follow us at Facebook and @Gemalto_NA on Twitter.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2011 annual revenues of €2 billion and more than 10,000 employees operating out of 74 offices and 14 Research & Development centers, located in 43 countries.

We are at the heart of the rapidly evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. Gemalto delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, convenient ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.

Gemalto develops secure embedded software and secure products which we design and personalize. Our platforms and services manage these secure products, the confidential data they contain and the trusted end-user services they enable. Our innovations enable our clients to offer trusted and convenient digital services to billions of individuals.

Gemalto thrives with the growing number of people using its solutions to interact with the digital and wireless world.

For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter.