Mobile phones to challenge desktops for Internet access

Posted on 20 Apr 2006 at 10:16

Mobile phones and other portable devices may soon rival the desktop computer as the principle method of accessing the Internet according to a new study. The survey from Ipsos Insight finds that Internet browsing via a wireless device is growing strongly with the trend particularly noticeable in the UK and France.

Japan is even further ahead with 40 per cent of adults there browsing the Internet on their wireless handset which is double the rate found in 2003. The growth of Internet browsing around the world is not uniform though. In the two North American markets of the United States and Canada wireless Internet access via notebook PC appears to be emerging as the stronger mobile Internet platform while access via a mobile phone is flattening out.

World wide, just over a quarter (28 per cent) of mobile phone owners have browsed the Internet on a wireless handset, up slightly from 25 per cent at the end 2004.

Interestingly, growth in this behaviour for 2005 was driven by older users aged over 35 indicating that the practice has gone beyond the early adopter phase typically found among younger males.

The study also confirmed that mobile phone penetration has reached saturation point in many parts of the world. According to the Ipsos research, 90 per cent of all households in South Korea, Japan and urban China own at least one mobile phone. Western Europe is not far behind with roughly 80 per cent of all households owning a wireless handset. In North America mobile ownership is slightly less. In the US 75 per cent of households own a mobile phone, while just over 60 per cent of Canadian households own a mobile phone today.

Author: Steve Malone