Mobile internet usage is on the rise in the UK, according to a study run by market research group Nielsen Online.
During the second and third quarters of 2008, around 7.3 million Britons accessed the web via mobile phones. Generally this represents an increase of around 25% compared to just 3% for the PC metric. When you compare the two figures, mobile internet is growing around eight times as fast as traditional internet usage.
Non-surprisingly Google is the most popular site, but having only been visited by 23% of users during the period it seems that users are using an alternative form of search or possible not even searching at all. BBC is the most popular website with hits from 21% of users and Facebook follows close behind having been visited by 20% of users.
The majority of the sites visited were information sites such as news, sports, weather and e-mail, showing the medium has mainly been used for information on the move and may not yet be the e-commerce fantasy everyone is hoping for. The majority of sites are also large brand names that have direct visits as opposed to using a search tool, which cuts out a lot of smaller businesses who may have been able to compete through search rankings.
Even though the focus of mobile internet is on news and may not yet provide significant market-growth for many businesses, the figures do show that mobile internet is becoming more popular and businesses should incorporate mobile search into future marketing plans.
November 26, 2008
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