Mary Meeker delivered an updated version of her Internet trends report this week at Stanford University, full of charts and data about where our digital world is heading.
News folks will want to take note of what the partner at consulting firm KPCB had to say about mobile.
Trend 1. Mobile device Web traffic rising
Mobile accounts for a significant and growing share of visits to websites, increasing the importance that news organizations have mobile-friendly sites.
Trend 2. Android growth rate
Android came later to the market than the iPhone, but it’s caught up quickly. The chart below compares phone shipments for each platform in the months following their launch, and you can see Android dominating based on its availability on many phones and carriers.
Trend 3. iPad growth rate
Similar to the chart above, this one shows the iPad’s rapid growth post-launch exceeding the pace of the iPhone and iPod that came before it.
These patterns suggest an accelerating public interest in mobile technology, as each new wave of mobile device gets adopted even faster than those that came before.
Trend 4. App revenue exceeds advertising
On the whole, the amount of money made from selling apps or in-app content now exceeds the amount made on on mobile advertising. We’ve previously discussed the disappointing performance of mobile ads, so it’s looking like subscriptions and app sales may be the more promising route.
Trend 5. The holiday bump
Survey data shows that last holiday season led to a huge, sudden increase in tablet and e-reader ownership. With Christmas 2012 just weeks away, it will be interesting to see how the spike looks going into 2013.
New products like the iPad Mini, a refreshed Kindle Fire and other Android tablets should be big this season, along with the regular iPad.
