Is the PC App Usage Eroding?

According to comScore, map-based search on the PC has now peaked and is starting to erode. By contrast mobile usage of mapping applications is growing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

In the past six months alone, according to comScore Mobile Metrix, the number of smartphone visitors to Maps websites and apps has jumped 24% to 92 million unique visitors – a monthly penetration of 83% among smartphone users . . .

Searches with Mapping/Navigation intent on the Big 5 Engines are down 34% over the past 15 months, going from 74.8 million to 49.5 million in August. comScore Search Planner shows that search clicks to Map/Navigation sites show an even steeper decline, down 41% to just 55.2 million in August.

The mapping and local search shift to mobile also presents new risks and opportunities for others in the segment. Apple Maps has opened up a new competitive front and some smaller players may benefit in the short term because of increased visibility. By the same token those who’ve relied on PC-based local search traffic or local SEO may find that traffic flat-to-declining over time, as comScore suggests.

However, Wasabi does appreciate the specific map app market ramifications; there is a larger indicator here.  In specific, this, if anything, is an indicator of where the emphasis will lie in the months to come.  As with any conflagration, or sinking ship, when trying to find a safe exit,  follow the rats…  The map users are the rodentia in this case.  The PC significance in personal computing is eroding to a more mobile model.

Why mobile, why now?

The reasons being numerous but for a start, the technology is ready. Responsive design is a new technology that can enable a website to be enjoyed fully on any platform. Using something called CSS3 media queries the website changes the style sheets and resizes images dynamically ensuring an optimal representation of the site content whatever the device. This is a huge step forward. The traditional mobile sites were stripped down and unloved versions of desktop optimized websites. But no more is that the case. Now your mobile website can be just as rich and just as engaging as the desktop version.

In fact,  A recent CNN.com publication: “A year and a half ago, mobile users tended to spend considerably more time — an average of 64 minutes per day — using the Web browser on their phone or tablet. By comparison, they spent only 43 minutes per day in apps. Now mobile users now spend an average of 94 minutes per day using apps, but just 72 minutes browsing the mobile Web.  Reasons may be the mobile app can become a portal to a more personalized connection with your customers.  If you are gardening, you can pull up specific videos in planting specific plants or flowerbeds.  Other examples, is that you are in the middle of assembling a specific product and there is scant assembly instructions, odds are someone videoed their solution.  The mobile tablet and Smartphone, are redefining the “Personal” in the acronym “PC”.

Don't take our word for it...:

• In February 2012, smartphone penetration in the five main European Union states was 48.9% – 54.7% in the UK .  Similarly, in the US, over half of all mobile phones are now smartphones, according to Nielsen stats.
• Most in the UK had used an app (52%) a mobile browser (52.6%), and though the mobile games space is growing with 37% having played a game, 39% had accessed social networks via their mobile
• Depending on whom you believe, mobile Internet will overtake fixed PC Internet use in either 2014 or 2015. (infographic from Microsoft above)
• In April for the first time in 40 months, social network apps overtook games.  Analytics company Flurry says mobile users spent 24 minutes each a day on games and social networks, with social networks slightly ahead.    Overall users Flurry tracked spent 77 minutes a day with mobile apps – so over an hour a day
• A related study published in the Telegraph, found that smartphone owners make *fewer* telephone calls, spending five hours a week surfing the Internet on their devices
• The UK study by Recombu.com found that smartphone owners spend more time sending emails, on social media and shopping online…and less time reading books, exercising or watching TV
• That latter stat ties into an Ofcom one I use quite a lot about the most essential form of media among UK consumers.   Among 18-24 year olds, the TV is now the 3rd most essential media (after mobiles and PC+Internet) and another piece of research this week said that 41% of 18-24 year olds (1/5 of all adults) had abandoned live TV
• In fact, a lot of that reading now happens on Tablets.  “Tablet is the new PC” says a Forbes blog post – Gartner is predicting a 98% increase in tablet sales in 2012 to 118 million units
• In March 2012, mobile devices accounted for 10% of traffic to online retail sites.  Separately, a study by SEO Agency Spy said that 54% of UK consumers had made a purchase via their mobiles, while only a minority (35%) would never consider it
• A study involving 34,000 people worldwide by browser Opera found that in some countries almost half of new Internet users are mobile only.   Bear in mind that Opera pulls its data from its own users, and that Opera’s main focus is now mobile devices, but this is still significant
• Though high-end digital camera sales are expected to remain strong, the bottom end of the market will suffer as more and more people use their smartphone as their main camera – digital camera shipments are expected to decline 4.3% in 2012

The lesson here is In two, at the latest three years, mobile devices will be the main way of connecting to the Internet.   Younger consumers are already doing so, and various activities ranging from social media to online shopping are increasing on smartphones.

Smartphones are becoming the primary camera for more and more people coinciding with Instagram reaching 50 million users, while smartphone users are not only always connected but engage in content snacking as this US report says 

In other words, what they consume may not be different, but how they consume it, how long for, how they share it and how they view it will be.  That’s something we need to be ready for now.

So what does this mean for IT?  If you are going to build, enhance, or replace and app, make sure there is a mobile complement.  If you are going to have a digital presence, website, blog, social page, make sure there is a mobile complement.  In short, mobilize your IT, because if you’re not, your competition is.

Source(s):

• http://searchengineland.com/map-based-search-on-pcs-eroding-shifting-to-mobile-comscore-136750
• http://liesdamnedliesstatistics.com/2012/05/stats-that-show-why-you-need-a-mobile-first-approach-now.html
• http://sunrisemarketing.com/mobile-now/
• http://blog.mobile-websites.pro/2012/11/why-mobile-why-now.html

So “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”

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About Rick Ricker

An IT professional with over 20 years experience in Information Security, wireless broadband, network and Infrastructure design, development, and support.

For more information, contact Rick at (800) 333-8394 x 689