The Age of the Mobile Internet?

Looking through the seventh annual Ofcom Communications Market Report, I was amazed at how our communications styles have changed so drastically and how reliant we now are on mobile phones – 23% of adults accessed content online, with surfing the web the most popular mobile internet activity (13.5m people) and Facebook the most popular internet site (accounting for 45% of total time spent online on mobiles). These findings are echoed by the fact that the mobile phone was the one item which respondents were less likely to cut back spending on despite other pressures on disposable income.

Why though, should these statistics interest us?

One reason is that every year for potentially the last decade, someone, somewhere has announced that ‘this year will be the year for the mobile web’. In each case that prophesy has proved to be false. However, with the increase in smartphone usage (up 81% to 12.8m users in May 2010) and the rise of discounted bundles, coupled with social media sites such as Facebook and Foursquare, I think 2011 may just be it.

To prepare for this marketers should, in my opinion, start to prepare their websites with mobile friendly options and add features which those mobile browsers will be able to use. Mobile internet usage will only ever increase as smartphones become more complex, browsing speeds become faster and 3G technology becomes more popular (nearly one third of mobile connections were using 3G at the end of 2009, in total there were 25.5m connections).

You will also uncover a different market on your mobile site.

For example, the Ofcom survey revealed that men are more likely than women to use their phones to access the internet with it most prevalent amongst the 15-24 age group. Likewise the older consumers are now driving the fixed broadband growth, although again, it is more men than women who are online. (8% of the male universe is aged 65+, with just 3% of females). In total, phone calls represented 57% of all mobile activity for the over 55 age group, whilst just 25% for those in the 16-24 age group. The vast majority of time for this latter group was taken up through either text messages or social networking.

However, whilst I predict that 2011 may be the ‘year of mobile web’, I am not forecasting a decline in other forms of communication. Text messaging continued to rise by 25% to 1 billion – a staggering 1,700 per person in the UK, and the TV remained the evening activity of choice. Radio audiences even rose, despite a decline in local radio.

What I believe should happen will be that finally truly integrated campaigns may start to appear, encouraging consumers to get involved across the traditional forms as well as via mobile web. Dedicated mobile landing pages for TV or radio adverts which make use of all the functionality of smartphones, differentiated offerings for the varying ages and genders, online complementing offline. If this happens, mobile web will have arrived.

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