A decade ago, one would have felt disconnected without a mobile. Today, it would be socially embarrassing not to have a smartphone, especially among the youth. Android & iOS based Smartphones have revolutionized user experiences, extending basic features (voice and messaging) to internet access. Thanks to the popularity of mobile devices, such as iPhones, iPads and Android phones, mobile internet has turned into a global phenomenon.
Consumers use mobile devices for entertainment, social network, shopping, reading, etc. Global mobile traffic accounted for 15% of total Internet traffic in June 2013, up from 10% a year ago, according to StatCounter;
The explosive growth of mobile internet has inspired entrepreneurs to explore value of the “new” web. Earlier the PC offered “full” internet, and mobile internet was seen as a scaled down web because: 1) websites had to shrink to smaller screens or present WAP versions with mainly text; 2) the functionality of mobile internet depended on different hardware of mobile devices; and 3) third-party solutions such as Java and Flash were not fully deployed on mobile phones. Mobile browsing was therefore not taken seriously as a web experience.
Not any more. Thanks to mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android, mobile internet has taken a different direction and thrives on native apps ecosystems, rather than mobile browsers.
Mobile apps have become the extension of web verticals to provide browsing solutions, which allow users to quickly access customized data with fewer steps than on PC. With an extended app ecosystem, mobile internet is no longer the scaled down version of the internet. These Mobile applications have become new internet access points and reduce the gatekeeper status of mobile browsers. As a result, hardware limitations such as small screens or slowness of networks no longer impede growth of mobile internet. For example, China Mobile’s GPRS (2.5G) network has not prevented ~25m customers from using iPhones.
In the words of late Steve Jobs, Apple’s former CEO, mobile devices allow users to “hold the internet in [their] hands”. Mobile internet differs from PC-based internet with unique features and user behaviors, such as
- Mobile phones are always on. Users can access his/her smartphones 24/7
- Handheld devices are quick to use and could offer immediate access to web data
- Smartphones and tablets are considered more “personal” devices than traditional computers and
- Mobile browsing is generally used for media consumption, such as reading news, sharing pictures, watching short videos, etc., while PCs are for conducting research, and doing creative works
Thus we can safely conclude that mobile internet as not independent of traditional internet, but a complementary form of web surfing. As a result, monetization of mobile internet could be easily achieved by integrating it into total web solutions, rather than assuming it to be the ultimate way to access the web.