Global Mobile Internet Adoption

In recent years the web landscape has developed in in unexpected and unimaginable ways. All the while, users of the internet have adapted and grown familiar with how it works and adopted innumerable means to access and interact with web. Of these methods, the mobile device has irrefutably become the single fastest adopted method to tap in. 

This article is the first in a series aiming to explore the impact, approach and the importance of viewing the mobile medium as not only another means of accessing the internet but also undeniably the dominant one.

For this introductory article we'll explore some the facts and statistics of the previous years so as to ascertain the direction of internet trends in the years to come. To properly comprehend the adoption of mobile internet use, it helps to have a view of internet usage on a global standpoint.

The above displays breaks down the internet penetration, the amount of people of that region to use the internet, as well as percentage of global internet users. 

Often lower penetration can be attributed to poor infrastructure, inability to access wired internet, and an inability to acquire expensive hardware. Though the widespread adoption internet via the mobile device has offered a solution to accessibility while maintaining a non-reliance on infrastructure or cost prohibitive hardware. 

In Africa alone the mobile phone penetration between 2000 and 2012 exploded from 1% to 54%; and has been estimated at 72% by the start of 2014. As the adoption of the mobile phone has transformed the continent the application of mobile internet is quickly climbing; sure to improve the future across innumerable industries.

In countries with a very high level of mobile internet users such as the United States, the statistics irrefutably indicate that the mobile is quickly becoming the first port of call when accessing the net.

As can be ascertained from the above data, mobile phone penetration in United States is near saturation with a majority of that being on smartphone. We can also tell that the use of that adoption is heavily focused on internet accessibility, so we can conclude that mobile internet has become and will continue to be an area that is imperative to focus from both a web presence and marketing stand point. 

In the following articles we will focus on the steps that can be taken and the stats that can be analysed to best position one self and business in today's growing global mobile internet market.