Magna Global research reveals Australian mobile internet access has risen by 208% in three years

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Victor.jpgThe number of Australians accessing the internet from mobile devices has risen by 208% since 2010 and in the battle for supremacy among hardware suppliers, Android and Apple are neck and neck with 46% and 47% of the market respectively.

 

These are two statistics from a comprehensive survey into Australians using mobile technology to access the Internet about to be released by Magna Global, the media investment and intelligence arm of IPG Mediabrands. It is the third successive year that Magna Global has conducted this research, called Unlocking the Power of Mobile.

Currently, 76% of Australians can now access the web on mobile devices. Of these people 32% are smartphone-only uses; 9% are tablet-only uses and 35% have both smartphone and tablet devices.

 

Victor Corones (pictured), managing director of Magna Global said that with a few years of dynamic growth in the mobile Internet market, there was clear evidence that smartphone penetration is beginning to plateau.

Says Corones: “We recorded 30% penetration of smart phones in 2010 and this has shot to 70% currently. However we are seeing slower growth into the future and between now and 2015 smart phone ownership will grow another 8%.

 

“For tablets, it’s a bit of a different story. Starting from a near zero base in 2010, penetration is expected to be 44% in 2013, rising to 55% in 2015.”

 

The Magna Global research shows that number of Australians aged over the age of 45 who are regular smartphone uses is now 1.5 times higher than in 2011. Since 2010 the number of people using mobile access to the Internet at least once a day has increased from 71% to 81%.

 

Average time spent using mobile Internet per day has increased from 45 minutes in 2011 to 56 minutes in 2012 and is currently at 61 minutes.

 

The statistics also show that the acceleration in mobile access to the Internet has not impacted on people’s more traditional use of the Internet (such as home or office based activities) and is seen by users as additional Internet activity.

 

Corones said that while companies continue to address their Internet presence, consumers generally have high expectations of their mobile experience – with 57% of people expecting websites to be tailored to mobile phone usage.

 

In general the most frequent complaints from people with their mobile Internet usage is that sites take too long to load (61%), they can’t find what they’re looking for (61%) and that text and links appear too small on their phones (52%).