Most Mobile Users Accessing Browsers and Apps
By Anna Johnson on June 8th, 2010When it comes to providing digital services to mobile phone users, you might ask whether it is better to develop an application or simply make your website accessible to mobile phone browsers. Given all the publicity surrounding mobile phone apps, you could be forgiven for thinking the answer is to develop an app. Data from comScore, Inc’s MobiLens service, however, shows that U.S. mobile phone owners access content via their mobile web browsers as much as they do via apps.
In fact, whilst smartphone owners tend to use their browsers as much as apps, half of all mobile phone users own regular or ‘feature’ phones and they tend to access content via mobile browsers slightly more than via apps.
According to comScore, 78 percent of smartphone users accessed their browser in April 2010, while 80 percent accessed applications. In comparison, just 19 percent of feature phone users accessed their browser, with 17 percent accessing applications. Although smartphone users are driving growth in browser (up 111 percent in the past year) and application (up 112 percent) access, feature phone users still make up nearly half of all users accessing mobile browsers and apps
Said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile:
“With mobile media consumption on the rise, the discussion of how consumers are accessing content — whether it is via application, browser or both – continues to be an important factor for companies looking to invest further in their mobile brands. Although application access is clearly on the rise, with several categories more than doubling their audience via this method, content consumption via browser continues to be the most popular method for Americans to access mobile media.”
Whilst April 2010 saw 69.6 million mobile users access an application on their phone (an increase of 28 percent from the previous year), nearly 73 million mobile users accessed their browser in April (an increase of 31 percent from the previous year).
Maybe your best bet is to develop an app AND ensure your website is mobile browser compatible.
Continued Mark Donovan:
“Although growth in application usage on smartphones continues to grab the spotlight in the mobile market, the audience using their mobile browser remains larger and is growing just as quickly. Brands need to remember to take into consideration the user experience across both channels when building their mobile strategies.”
