Digitalia: State of the mobile web

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These are my favorite data points about how we’re using the mobile web today. I get asked for these sources a lot, so I’ve aggregated them all here.

56% of American adults are now smartphone owners—79% of Americans 18-24, 81% aged 25-34, and 69% aged 35-44 own a smartphone.
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Smartphone-Ownership-2013/Findings.aspx

55% of mobile phone owners say they use their phone to access the internet.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Cell-Internet-Use-2012/Main-Findings/Cell-Internet-Use.aspx

31% of current mobile internet users mostly go online using their phone. That’s 17% of all mobile phone owners. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Cell-Internet-Use-2012/Key-Findings/Overview.aspx

Blacks, Hispanics, low-income Americans, high school educated are more likely to be mobile-only users.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Cell-Internet-Use-2012/Main-Findings/Cell-Internet-Use.aspx

50% of teen smartphone owners aged 12-17 and 45% of young adults aged 18-24 say they use the internet mostly on their mobile phone.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-and-Tech.aspx http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Cell-Internet-Use-2012/Main-Findings/Cell-Internet-Use.aspx

Amazon, Wikipedia, and Facebook all see about 20% of their traffic from mobile-only users, according to comScore.
http://allthingsd.com/20130325/among-big-properties-apple-and-amazon-have-greatest-portions-of-mobile-only-users/

46% of shoppers reported they exclusively use their mobile device to conduct pre-purchase research for local products and services.
http://www.mobilepathtopurchase.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/xAd_Telmetrics_Mobile_Path_to_Purchase_Press_Release_2013_US_General.pdf

77% of mobile searches take place at home or work, only 17% on-the-go, according to Google.
http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/creating-moments-that-matter.html

90% of people start a task on one device, then complete it on another, according to Google. It’s especially high in categories like retail (67 percent), financial services (46 percent), and travel (43 percent).
http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/multiscreenworld_final.pdf

Google reports that only 21% of large advertisers have a mobile-optimized website.http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/events/thinkmobile2011/pdfs/time-for-mobile-is-now.pdf

Only 16% of consumer brands have a mobile strategy, so it’s no surprise that only 14% are happy with the results. http://www.digiday.com/brands/brands-struggle-in-mobile/

80% of B2B media companies take an ad hoc approach to mobile, only 33% have a mobile-optimized site.
http://printinthemix.com/Fastfacts/Show/622

McKinsey estimates that 2 to 3 billion people will come online globally through the mobile internet over the next decade, generating annual economic impact of $3.7 trillion to $10.8 trillion globally by 2025.
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies

More from me

Don’t just take my word for it, take my word for it in these publications:

The rise of the mobile only user, Harvard Business Review
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/05/the_rise_of_the_mobile-only_us.html

The alternative is nothing, A List Apart
http://alistapart.com/column/the-alternative-is-nothing

Windows on the web, A List Apart
http://alistapart.com/column/windows-on-the-web

Your content, now mobile, A List Apart
http://alistapart.com/article/your-content-now-mobile

Uncle Sam wants you (to optimize your content for mobile), A List Apart
http://alistapart.com/article/uncle-sam-wants-you-to-optimize-your-content-for-mobile

Buy my book! Content Strategy for Mobile
abookapart.com/products/content-strategy-for-mobile