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More U.S. Internet users will access the Internet through mobile devices than through PCs or other wireline devices by 2015, according to a report from IT analytics firm International Data Corporation. The company’s Worldwide New Media Market Model (NMMM) forecast that as smartphones begin to outsell simpler feature phones, and as media tablet sales explode, the number of mobile Internet users would grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6 percent between 2010 and 2015.
The report noted that the impact of smartphone and, especially, media tablet adoption will be so great that the number of users accessing the Internet through PCs will first stagnate and then slowly decline. Western Europe and Japan will not be far behind the United States in following this trend, the report noted.
Worldwide, the total number of Internet user will grow from 2 billion in 2010 to 2.7 billion in 2015, when 40 percent of the world’s population will have access to its resources, while global business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce spending will grow from $708 billion in 2010 to $1.2 trillion in 2015 at a CAGR of 12.7 percent, IDC researchers noted.
In addition, the report projected worldwide online advertising would increase from $70 billion in 2010 to $138 billion in 2015, with its share of total advertising across all media growing from 11.9 percent to 17.8 percent. “Forget what we have taken for granted on how consumers use the Internet,” said Karsten Weide, research vice president for IDC’s media and entertainment division. “Soon, more users will access the Web using mobile devices than using PCs, and it’s going to make the Internet a very different place.”
Americans are using mobile devices and notebooks to access the mobile Web more than ever before, according to a recent report from the Pew Research Center. Cell phone and wireless laptop Internet use have each grown more prevalent over the last year, the report found, with nearly half of all adults (47 percent) going online with a laptop using a WiFi connection or mobile broadband card.
The report, based on a daily tracking survey on Americans’ use of the Internet, also found use of non-voice data applications on cell phones grew dramatically over the last year. Unsurprisingly, the survey found young adults (those ages 18-29) are avid users of mobile data applications; however, the report noted older adults are gaining fast. Cell phone owners ages 30-49 were “significantly more likely” to use their mobile device to send text messages, access the Internet, take pictures, record videos, use email or instant messaging, and play music, according to survey results.
IDC’s Worldwide New Media Market Model provides blanket data for consumer Internet metrics for more than 40 countries, the regions and the world, based on one model. Its more than 150,000 data points cover basic socioeconomic data, user numbers, access device numbers, home broadband Internet access penetration, time spent online, online activities, B2B and B2B ecommerce spending, online advertising, and consumer spending on content. The model also breaks out all numbers between the wireline and mobile segments. The New Media Market Model is delivered as a semi-annual Excel database and contains current market-sizing and a five-year forecast.