Is mobile search growing in importance for everyday businesses?
The simple answer is Yes!
Mobile internet access is set to grow with the increasing popularity of devices such as Apple’s iPhone with recent research from NetMarketShare.com (see below) reporting that mobile browsing now account for 1.3% of all browsing.
WebMedia clients confirm research data!
It will no doubt continue as the market continues to attract new entrants with lower cost alternatives and packages.
Mobile browsing explodes in December
Mobile browsing now accounts for 1.3% of all browsing. The biggest usage share winners (until end December) were mobile devices.
Both Windows and Mac devices lost a small amount of share in December, while all major mobile operating systems attained large percentage gains:
Mobile O/S Percentage Gain
- Android +54.8%
- Blackberry +22.2%
- iPhone +20.1%
- Symbian +19.0%
- Java ME +15.6%
The above figures can be confirmed in the real world from Google Analytics (GA) visitor data. Of just four WebMedia clients, checked, they have seen similar % visitor numbers from mobile devices.
The data (in order of unique visitors, last 4 weeks from today’s date):- 1.2%, 1.3%, 2.5%, 3.1%.
These sites are all UK based and in market areas from industrial heating equipment to jewellery retailing so the trend reported by NetMarketShare appears to be mirrored in the UK in the uptake of mobile browsing.
Mobile Platform O/S
The breakdown of operating system platforms was as follows (in order of visitor numbers/OS):-
- iPhone
- SymbianOS
- iPad
- BlackBerry
- Android
- Samsung
iphone has the highest share by a long way but that is likely to close as new users, on more platforms, on more mobile devices from carriers offering all-inclusive packages, start using their mobile devices more for internet browsing.
The future for search…
What is clear is that the mobile search market will grow in importance and those site owners willing to embrace the new opportunities and provide tailored offerings to address mobile browsing needs and limitations will undoubtably reap the rewards.
Update (21 April 2010)
Apple’s announcement today (21 April) of a 90% leap in profits on the back of huge demand for the iPhone is indicative of the growing uptake of mobile computing and confirms the assertion, made above, of the importance that mobile phone use is going to make in the search marketplace.
Although the number of iPods sold fell by 1% on the year to 10.89 million, this was compensated for by the leap in demand for the iPhone, which proved particularly popular in Asia and Europe.
The rise in demand for the iPhone has been aided by deals with new mobile network providers, including Vodafone in Britain.
There’s no time like the present to adapt and upgrade your website and online presence to take advantage of this expanding opportunity.
