Mobile Web Addiction Rising, Researchers Say

by John Paczkowski
All Things Digital

Just as the mobile Web and the wired Web are converging, so too are their audiences, which are destined to reach parity in size–and sooner, rather than later. According to the latest metrics from comScore, day-to-day mobile Internet usage in the states doubled over the last year. In January 2008, 10.8 million people visited the mobile Web at least once a day. Now there are some 22.4 million. Most do so looking for news or other basic information, though many are looking for interaction as well. Social networking, for example, saw a massive spike in usage, its audience growing 427 percent year over year.

“Over the course of the past year, we have seen use of mobile Internet evolve from an occasional activity to being a daily part of people’s lives,” said comScore’s Mark Donovan. “This underscores the growing importance of the mobile medium as consumers become more reliant on their mobile devices to access time-sensitive and utilitarian information. Social networking and blogging have emerged as very popular daily uses of the mobile Web and these activities are growing at a torrid pace,” observed Donovan. “We also note that much of the growth in news and information usage is driven by the increased popularity of downloaded applications, such as those offered for the iPhone, and by text-based searches.”

Obviously, the mobile browsing experience hasn’t yet matched its wired counterpart in quality. But clearly it’s getting there. And right now, it’s at the “decent enough” stage to woo the audience that will drive its further and more rapid improvement.