Mobile Users Are Spending More Time on the Web

Every week, there are more people switching from the traditional desktop computer to mobile devices.  As a result, mobile users are spending more time on the web.  According to the latest study conducted by Media Behavior Institute, mobile phone and tablet users are drawing down the percentage of internet users who turn to desktop and laptop computers to browse the web.

The study revealed that the percentage of desktop users decreased by 5 points between the six month period ending in July 2012 and the six-month period ending in January 2013.

Comparatively, an average of 43.5% of participants accessed the internet on a mobile device each week in the first period of observation, an 8 percentage point increase over the period ending in July 2012.

The tablet’s average weekly reach increased by 4 percentage points. An average of 17% of participants were recorded to have used the device at the end of the study period.

For the first quarter of 2013, Experian Marketing Services found that the activities of internet users differ on mobile vs. desktop.

Mobile internet users spend the greatest percentage (23%) of their time using email, whereas desktop internet users spend most of their time on social networks (27%).  Social networking was the second most frequented activity for mobile web users at 15% of their time, followed by entertainment (13%), shopping (11%) and travel (9%). Entertainment (15%), shopping (9%), business (5%) and email (5%).

Patterns for both mobile and desktop usage are likely to continue to change in the coming months, especially considering the dramatic increases in mobile device ownership.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, tablet ownership in the US is at an all time high with 40% of online US adults being tablet owners. Furthermore, the household penetration rates for tablets remains the largest for any consumer electronics which has increased by 17 percentage points. CEA expects to see a potential household penetration rate of 48 percentage points by 2014.

As more consumers get their hands on mobile devices and as more of those devices are connected to each other and the web, mobile web usage will continue to grow at a rate of 66% per year over the next five years according to a report by Cisco.  The surge in mobile internet traffic will come from a global population doing more activities on a greater number of  affordable mobile devices.

By 2017, the average mobile user will watch 10 hours of video, listen to 15 hours of music, make five video calls and download 15 apps each month according to the report.

With this increased mobile internet activity, will desktop internet usage soon be obsolete?