Growth of Mobile, Can We Keep Up?

By Stephanie Jordan
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The recently released Mobile Content and Applications Forecasts report from Informa Telecoms and Media predicts that in 2016, mobile phone users will, on average, consume 6.5 times as much video, 8 times as much music and nearly 10 times as much games as in 2011.

According to the Informa report, the increase in data traffic will far outstrip revenue growth. Global mobile data traffic is forecast to grow tenfold from 3.89 trillion megabytes in 2011 to 39.75 trillion megabytes in 2016. However, global mobile data revenues are only forecast to double in the same period from $325.8 billion in 2011 to $627.5 billion in 2016.

Carriers are already responding to the use of higher bandwidths (my own carrier just instigated a new “smartphone” additional monthly charge at the time I upgraded my phone) to increase revenues. With the speed in which we can now operate from work, home and anywhere in between, it makes one wonder how much more productive can we be than we already are? Can a person scale to the speed and processing ability of his or her mobile phone? Or will we be completely distracted from work with all the music, games, and online fun at our disposal? This may be our biggest BYOD future challenge yet.

One thing we are already seeing signs of is an increase in attempts to monetize mobile. Whether from nefarious efforts like phishing and spam, to legitimate advertisers, the penetration and growth of mobile is attracting attention. Unlike for email, however, most people feel the phone is a very personal device and so far, have been highly resistant to any form of advertising.

Research conducted earlier this year by YouGov and commissioned by Upstream showed 79% of consumers in the UK and 72% in the U.S. say that they find advertisements on their mobiles or smartphones irritating. What’s more, “only one in six (11%) Brits and 15% of Americans who have surfed the internet on their mobile phone have ever even clicked on a mobile advert.”

Online marketers have their work cutout for them as they try to capture and ride the growing mobile wave. On the flip side, IT administrators and executive management that have monitored employees use of company-owned resources may find a whole new challenge in mobile computing and productivity.

Published May 31, 2012