Mobile Phone Reviews
 
 
Mobile Internet Usage Up 25 Per Cent in UK

Wed, 26 Nov 2008

The number of Brits using mobile internet services rose by 25 per cent during the second and third quarters of this year, new research has revealed.

According to a study by Nielsen Online, the number of people accessing web-pages on a mobile phone increased from 5.8 million to 7.3 million in this six-month period, compared to growth of just 3 per cent for the PC -based net audience.

The research also shows that younger people are more likely to use a mobile handset to access the internet than older users. Statistics show that 25 per cent of mobile internet users are aged between 15 and 24, while only 16 per cent of PC-based internet users fall into the same age group.

The figures also show that 23 per cent of the PC-based internet population is over the age of 55, compared to just 12 per cent of the mobile internet population.

Kent Ferguson, senior analyst at Nielsen, commented: "When it comes to the internet, the huge growth is now happening through the mobile platform."

"The fact that almost seven and a half million Britons now access the web through their phone shows that mobile internet is fast becoming a viable way for advertisers and publishers to reach important demographic groups."

The BBC News website was found to be the most popular mobile site, attracting some 1.7 million consumers (24 per cent of all users) during the second and third quarters, while Google was the most popular site with PC-based surfers.

BBC Weather, Sky Sports and Gmail were also found to have a greater reach on mobile internet than PC-based internet .

Ferguson added: "This highlights the advantage of mobile when it comes to immediacy; people often need fast, instant access to weather or sports news and mobile can obviously satisfy this, wherever they are."

"The fact that the most weather, sports, news and email sites make up the majority of leading mobile sites show that mobile internet is mainly about functionality and need at the moment, as opposed to the more entertainment and ecommerce focused makeup of the leading PC-based sites."
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