Talking Up Mobile – Latest Stats !

Everyone seems to be talking up mobile internet these days whilst the launch of iPhone 4 is no doubt setting many an Apple lover’s pulse racing. Mobile is predicted to be the web access king within just 36 months.

Digital media and marketing pundits are, like those notorious World Cup ‘vuvuzelas’, trumpeting in loud unison that the mobile phone will overtake the traditional PC as the world’s most used web-access device by 2013. It‘s estimated that the combined number of smartphones and web browser phone devices will exceed 1.82 billion units, also by 2013, eclipsing the 1.78 billion total for PCs.

So where does this leave the many small business owners and medium sized companies desperately trying to adjust their online marketing campaigns to the relentless tide of web technology channels and platforms?

Latest survey figures reveal that they will need to study their analytics very carefully indeed to ensure that the focus of their channel messaging, email marketing drives and social media conversations are truly targeted and time/location specific.

A sprinkling of recent stats appear to bear out the predictions …

An October 2009 report suggested there were 139m mobile email users in 2009, predicted to rise to over 1bn by the end of 2013 and in February 2010, iPhone had claimed a 4% share of the email client market, making it the sixth most popular client overall.

An April 2010 study suggests 34.5% of UK users (16.7million) have accessed the internet via their mobiles and 24% of the UK have accessed their email ( business and personal) via mobile.

Whilst we have been witnessing a furious surge of mobile applications – 19m have now used an app – yet 5m have only used native apps that come pre-loaded on the phone, possibly suggesting that mobile internet usage is over-taking application access and use.

But other stats point to a different picture and reflects dramatic differences across age and income divides.
It may be surprising to discover that 76% of UK mobile phone users aged above 16 are not accessing the internet via mobile phones and 60% of UK mobile phone users in the same age group claim not to even own a mobile with internet access. Just 30% of non mobile owners are interested in getting an internet-enabled mobile phone.

Just 10% of mobile phone owners access the mobile internet via their phones daily whilst 15% do so at least once a week. 42% of mobile internet users earn over £40,000 a year (household income) compared to 31% of non users. Daily users are also significantly more likely to spend more on their monthly mobile bills – 55% pay over £30 a month compared to 10% of non users.

Clearly, the action that business owners and their web design teams will need to take is optimising for website accessibility by mobile usage. Detailed analysis and care will be essential to precisely determine and focus on their niche markets, target audiences and local area recipients to maintain online visibility.