With 56% share of consumer consumption between the iPhone and the iPod Touch – it’s very clear that Apple has a stranglehold on the mobile web with their devices. Android has clearly made a big splash in terms of share of devices sold – however Apple is still dominant in consumption of content via handhelds. Data chart – courtesy Quantcast.
David Veneski Mobile Marketing Android, iPhone, Mobile Web
While Web consumption on mobile devices is going up, the satisfaction with the experience is still far from acceptable. According to a research study by Gomez Inc, the largest shortfall centers around load times of the sites that mobile users are expecting to render quickly. The wait ‘tolerance’ of those surveyed was 6-10 seconds. Generous, in my opinion, as I tend to be less patient than the average consumer. Following a close second to load times in customer dissatisfaction was the actual experience with the site when it did load. Poor performance on both fronts often prove to be fatal to a site and the consumer’s brand perception of that site, as outlined by this quote from the Gomez study:
“The majority of mobile web users would be less likely to visit a mobile website again if they had a bad experience, and two out of five would visit a competative site instead. More than half of mobile web users are unlikely to return to a website that they had trouble accessing it from their phone, and more than two-thirds are unlikely to recommend the site.”
As consumers continue to lead a more ‘connected’ lifestyle, the reliance on mobile devices for delivering content and performing computing tasks will continue to rise – as will the consumer’s expectations of the experience delivered to them on that device.
David Veneski Mobile Marketing Mobile Web