My prediction for 2009 - the year of the mobile web
I rarely write any predictions but prompted by a tweet-versation with @nwjerseyliz this morning, I’ll make a (safe) prediction for 2009:
Record-breaking number of users worldwide will browse and experience the web over mobile devices. They will search, browse, download apps and share those experiences with their friends.
Every year since 2000 (when I started to work in the mobile industry) has been hailed as “the year of mobile”. I foresee that 2009 will be a watershed/tipping point for mobile as a primary channel for experiencing, producing, broadcasting/sharing content.
Here are some interesting datapoints:
- http://ctia.org/ : 269 million mobile devices are active in the US. Estimates of mobile handsets used for web access range between 38 and 45 million.
- the ITU predicts that this week we will reach 4 billion mobile handsets worldwide.
- Opera released a State of the Mobile Web report - “The next billion people will come online with a mobile device. I hope we look back on 2008 not as the year the mobile Web went mainstream, but as the year people realized that we have One Web that we access through a multitude of devices.” Jon S. von Tetzchner
CEO, Opera Software
- Apple blew everyone out of the water in terms of mobile user experience with the iPhone in 2007. In 2008, with the release of the AppStore, they’ve boosted a market and ushered in a new ecosystem for mobile applications, soon followed by Google Android. Apple has stated that from July to Dec, users worldwide had downloaded 300 million apps out of a catalog of 10,000+ apps !
I could go on… but pause and think about how you’ve been using your mobile device this year tweeting, twitpicing, qiking vs last year and think about the year ahead !
Have a great mobile year everyone !
