eMarketer.com - Mobile Web Not Very Sticky

eMarketer.com - Mobile Web Not Very Sticky: "Mobile Web Not Very Sticky

MARCH 23, 2007

Remember the mobile Web?

We were all going to use our mobile phones to access the Internet, freeing us from that horror of horrors, the desktop PC.
Didn't happen.


Only 5% of US broadband users use the mobile Internet, according to Media-Screen. It's not for lack of access, either, since over 60% of users currently own Internet-enabled mobile devices.

Limiting the sample to broadband users only may sound like an overly narrow way to view mobile Internet usage, but these are historically the early adopters who are most likely to do things like use their phones to go online. Also, over half of all US Internet users have broadband these days, so the sample isn't as small as it used to be.
Mobile users break out into three groups: those who currently access the Internet from mobile devices (5%), those who have Internet-enabled mobile devices but don't use them to go online (58%) and those who don't have Internet-enabled mobile devices (36%).
The problem is that the mobile Web usually comes with extra fees, and it can be a hassle to establish and maintain an Internet connection.
That means that people do less on the mobile Web. Users perform an average of 3.3 online activities on their mobile devices vs. 13.4 activities on their laptops or desktops.
"The mobile Internet is still in its infancy due to technological and pricing hurdles," said Jean Durall of Media-Screen.
The picture is a little less grim when looking at all US mobile users, according to comScore Networks. The firm found that 29% of 25-to-34-year-olds used the mobile Internet from October to November 2006. "