Categories: MEX NotesOpinions, ideas and new thinking

MEX Notes: Mobile is primary internet device for 25% of US subscribers – Pew

  • Mobile is primary internet device for 25% of US subscribers – Pew – Pew's survey identifies a significant trend: a quarter of the US mobile phone users interviewed now rely on their device as their primary internet access point. To understand what this means for the consumer experience, we should consider the nuance of how this question was asked. The question was phrased as which device do you 'mostly' use to go online. 84% also have internet access from a laptop or desktop at home, so it is unsurprising the majority (59%) said they mostly use a device other than their mobile phone. A further 11% said usage was roughly equal between phone and other devices. Our own user studies for MEX Pathway #2 (entitled 'Research the implications of multiple displays and inputs within a single experience') suggest an evolving picture of multi-touchpoint access to the web, with two or more devices often used simultaneously for different functions – e.g. instant messaging from a phone while browsing photos on a tablet or PC. It would be wrong to conclude this survey indicates a shift towards browsing exclusively from small screen phone devices, rather it shows they are becoming part of a more complex multi-touchpoint user experience.
Marek Pawlowski

Marek Pawlowski is the founder of MEX. Since 1995, he has focused the MEX business on helping digital industries to develop better, more profitable products through improved understanding of user behaviour with mobile devices and wireless networks. MEX is best known for its events, research and consulting, which balance commercial, technical and user insights to define the future of mobile user experience.

Leave a Comment
Share
Published by
Marek Pawlowski
15 years ago

Recent Posts

Design Talk 80. Digitally sustainable; Mirren Fischer, Founder, Brilliant Product Design

Mirren Fischer is someone who finds herself at the confluence of some really big challenges:…

5 years ago

Design Talk 79. Our future towns; Dan Phillips, Royal College of Art

Poetry and place...listening and lockdowns... Dan Phillips, who led the Royal College of Art's (RCA)…

5 years ago

Design Talk 78. Mark Baldino, co-founder, Fuzzy Math

Mark Baldino's path to co-founding a Chicago-based design agency wends its way from a degree…

5 years ago

Design Talk 77. Paul Campbell, Chief Product Officer, Centaur Robotics

Paul Campbell, a former chief designer at Ford, is now re-imagining the wheelchair at Centaur…

6 years ago

Interaction unintended

Opening the oven released a cloud of steam. I should have been expecting it. It's…

6 years ago

Design Talk 76. Placeful computing; Jared Ficklin, Chief Creative Technologist & founding partner, argodesign

Jared Ficklin's approach of 'think by making' has led him to produce remarkable digital design…

6 years ago