Consumers are migrating away from PC-based Internet usage and are increasingly using mobile devices as their default gateway to the Internet. According to IDC, the U.S. is leading this trend, with Western Europe and Japan only about two years behind.
In the United States, the number of people accessing the Internet through PCs will shrink from 240 million in 2012 to 225 million in 2016. At the same time, the number of mobile users will increase from 174 million to 265 million, and in 2015, there will be more U.S. consumers accessing the Internet through mobile devices than through PCs.
Some other findings from IDC’s report include:
- The share of users accessing social networks such as Facebook on their PCs will decline from 66% in 2012 to 52% in 2016.
- Worldwide mobile advertising will grow from $6 billion in 2011 to $28.8 billion in 2016.
- Worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) m-commerce spending will grow six fold between 2011 and 2016, reaching $223 billion at the end of the forecast period.
Karsten Weide, program vice president, Media & Entertainment at IDC thinks this is happening because the PC was never truly a consumer product. She went on to add: “Many consumers use them because there was no better alternative. Now, with the huge and growing installed base of more user-friendly tablets and smartphones, there are.”