State of the Mobile Web

Opera Mini just released the results of their summer 2010 survey of 300000 users* showing that more young adult respondents were surfing on their phones than from a desktop or laptop.

“We have often said that the next generation will grow up knowing the Web mostly through their mobile phones,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera. “We see this trend already emerging in different regions around the world. The mobile Web will bring a profound change in how we connect with one another. I think the results from this survey already show that change taking place.”

Some Findings:
• Most 18-27 year-old Opera Mini users use their mobile phones to browse the Web more often than they use a desktop or laptop computer
• Almost 90% of respondents in the United States aged 18-27 have used their phones to share pictures.
• The top 10 mobile web sites in the U.S. for October 2010 were: Google, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Yahoo, My.Opera, Accuweather, ESPN, NYTimes, and MySpace.

And some implications:
• While the United States and Europe are still adapting to a mobile Internet, in less wealthy areas of the world, mobile phones are the primary method of accessing the Internet.
• For example, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Egypt, the Philippines and Bangladesh all went up in the top 20 countries ranking.

Especially for teachers and students:
• Social Studies classes, particularly geography ones, will find the data fascinating. See graphs and responses to over 20 questions, plus analysis of user data from multiple countries in the entire report.
• Use the opportunity to compare the results versus population figures and literacy rates; to look at the most visited sites by country and to discuss differences in cultural norms (e.g., attitudes towards acceptability of texting during a meal).
• Discuss the relative privilege of the US and Western users which comes across in differing patterns in mobile phone brand adoption and in responses to questions like: “How old were you when you first browsed the Web?”
• Consider the importance of our teaching while incorporating mobile platforms and cloud data services, like Google Docs.

*Users of Opera Mini were shown a notification asking them to take the survey, and, if they agreed to do so, they could answer the questions directly on their mobile phones. Additional coverage available in PC Magazine and even how to make Opera Mini work better on your phone from New York Times.