Jan
17

2013: The Year of Mobile Majority

Thu Jan, 2013 by Laura Kirchner

Mobile majority. Yep, that’s right. In 2013 for the first time ever mobile devices will serve up the majority of content consumed online. In many areas of the world they will only have one way to access the Internet, their smartphone. Adding to the likelihood of mobile majority is simultaneous screening, the 2013 multi-tasking. In countries like the United States many people will consume content across three or four different sized screens daily, and often using several at the same time! And, to help enable all of this, we have the cloud quickly becoming the center of our digital lives neatly allowing us to sync media, information and tools across all devices.

Photo by Phil Campbell.

So what does all this mean? Because the landscape is changing so fast, the mobile solutions of even just a year ago are quickly coming into question. If you have a mobile site, a special site you serve up only to smartphones and/or tablets, it is time to reconsider your approach. If you don’t have a mobile site, don’t build one. It is time to use Responsive Web Design (RWD). It is a way to provide a cohesive approach across all devices and enable them to work together. Your internet presence and brand experience needs to be consistent across all platforms, and responsive design can enable this.

Need a bit more convincing before changing your mobile strategy? Check out these stats …

In August 2012 Google reported in “The New Multi-Screen World” that now 90% of media consumption happens on screens and only 10% the old fashion way, on paper. This shift got a shot in the arm as soon as mobile was introduced. Figures from August  show the average time per interaction on a smartphone is 17 minutes, on a tablet is 30, while a desktop is 39. The combined per interaction time on mobile was already higher than on the computer nearly six months ago!

At the recent consumer electronics show, keynote speaker Qualcomm CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs states that almost a million new smartphone users are added everyday and tablets are now in about 44% of US homes. Jacobs reported that 84% of people worldwide can’t go a single day without mobile and that we look at our phones 150 times a day. Oh, and in case you still don’t believe it, social media has already reached the mobile majority. In 2009, only 13% of Facebook’s users were accessing the platform via mobile, but now more than 50% of visits are from mobile.

2013 is the year to make mobile your focus. Get started right away and get your new digital marketing strategy in place. At the pace the world is moving, you can’t afford to sit still. Get mobile!

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