Mobile Revolution, What Mobile Revolution?

There is no doubt that the number of people accessing websites through their mobile phone is rising. The headlines talk of a “mobile revolution” and the numbers seems to back this up. There is indeed a big change taking place in the way that people choose to access information on the web. But is this really a mobile revolution or is there more to it?

Traffic analysis shows that although there is a significant increase in the proportion of visitors using mobile devices to access the Internet, this is almost entirely due to the success of the iPhone. The figures for UK website access speak for themselves:

• Over the last 12 months the proportion of website visitors using mobile devices has risen from 1.5% to 3.6%.
• In the same period iPhone use has increased by almost 8 times whilst its nearest rival, the Blackberry, has only doubled.
• At the end of April 2010 the iPhone was used by 7 times more people than any other mobile device.

This is not a mobile revolution, it’s an iPhone Revolution. The growth in iPhone usage has outstripped all other mobile devices for some time now but since Christmas the rate of growth has been exceptional. Almost 2/3rds of all mobile visitors to UK websites now use an iPhone to do so. Web developers worried about designing for mobile visitors wouldn’t be far wrong if they focussed all of their efforts on the iPhone.


mobile device proportion

The figures show a dip in the number of mobile visitors during both the Christmas and Easter holidays. Interestingly however, the number of non mobile visitors reduced much more than the number of visitors using mobile devices, meaning that the proportion of mobile users increased during these periods.


mobile visitor proportion

After Christmas, when both Orange and Vodafone gained access to the IPhone, the rate of growth of iPhone use increased significantly. So far, this increased rate of growth shows no sign of slowing.