Market research firm Ipsos Insight has reported that the numerous mobile phone in use combined with the development of wireless networks is creating a huge increase in mobile internet access.
Ipsos said in its Face of the Web report that "Internet access via the mobile phone actually outpaces wireless access from a notebook PC in many of areas of the world."
In Ipsos yearly study on internet trends they found that 28 per cent of mobile phone owners all over the world have used their phones to search the internet from a wireless handset. This is up 25 per cent from 2004.
According to their study mobile internet use, the biggest area of growth in usage came from consumers 35 year old and over.
The Ipsos statement added that "Surfing the internet on a mobile phone is emerging as a mainstream activity which is no longer dominated by the traditional early adopter segment of young males."
Analysts say that the mobile internet market should grow a lot larger as users that are older understand and embrace the benefits to this service. They also conclude that even though studies show that users don't want to try new features on their handsets, it also implies that there is a lot of room for growth.
This last statement tells me a couple of things. First, there is learning curve overload as many times there are just too many things added to devices. Secondly, it seems that maybe there just isn't good communication or FAQ sections on websites or devices that simply explain features available.
Either way it's going to be a hard sell to get people to take a lot of time to have to learn these seemingly endless features. I know when I used to buy tons of software products, they would come with the typical one inch to two inch book that you would have to go through to even take advantage of the features offered. I eventually just stopped buying software. I didn't have time to do the things that I wanted to do because I spent the great majority of time in the books trying to find out what was available to me.
This is becoming that, and I think that companies are going to have to take care of these issues if they want new technology to catch on and grow across all spectrums of the population.
Do you have any thoughts on these challenges?
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