Exploring the sequential usage patterns of mobile Internet services based on Markov models

•We model users’ mobile online behavior based on a multi-state Markov model.•We model users’ mobile online behavior based on a hidden Markov model.•Typical sequential patterns of mobile online behavior are discovered and analyzed.•Some managerial implications are provided through behavior pattern analysis. Mobile Internet has developed rapidly, and various types of mobile Internet services have changed people’s lifestyles profoundly. Consequently, there is a broad market for mobile Internet service providers. To provide better service and attract users, service providers must understand their users’ behavior patterns. This study proposes a framework to model users’ mobile online behavior based on a multi-state model and a hidden Markov model; this study also extracts typical sequential behavior patterns through clustering methods. The results of the experiments display several characteristic behavior patterns that can guide service providers in application designing, operating, and marketing.