Mobile Internet growth & its impact on mobile and web application development

Recently, there is substantial surge in usage of mobile internet. Mobile Internet growth is the growth of the Internet when accessed via a mobile phone, laptop, etc. (Wikipedia)

Thanks to wide range of new Smartphone’s who are significantly capable to display full websites on small screens than ever before. iPhone & Android stands out more than others. eg. The iPhone OS had 8 percent of the smartphone market, but generated 43 percent of mobile Web requests and 65 percent of HTML usage. Obvious reason is more stable & better internet enabled mobile applications & games. Downloading apps/games & advertised enabled apps contribute substantially to mobile internet usage.

Another interesting contributing factor is rise of social networks sites & their mobile alteregos & apps. More people are using their mobile phones to update their status/profiles remotely and blog on the move. Also better mobile networks & 3G technologies played key role.

Key impacts on mobile & web application development:

• Mobile Internet usage makes mobile phones a media like radio or television. This is giving rise to increase in building mobie advertising applications & platform. New advertising strategies need to develop to address mobile audience.
• Demand for development of location based mobile internet advertising will grow. The key to success will be to incorporate a multimedia and multi-platform approach to ensure that it becomes a natural and valuable extension of the consumer needs.
• Focus on identifying insights into mobile web browsing. Mobile internet analytics are definitely challenging than PC based browsing. Its going critical to analyze the size and characteristics of your mobile audience compared to your competitors.
• Focus on mobile security application increases as more & more consumers using mobile internet for online transcations & e-payments.
• Focus on improving the user experience of the Web when accessed from mobile devices. Mobile Web Application Best Practices gain importance.