Smartphones are swallowing the World Wide Web. I sometimes try to imagine what it must be like to be confronted with a massive wave of water heading in my direction. I have seen the video footage of rogue waves and the arrival of a tsunami surge. I don’t know why I am attracted to pondering this feeling, but there it is.
Today I’m reading a report from Business Insider called “The Future of Digital: 2013” — really, it’s a series of “slides” from a presentation by Henry Blodget for their “Ignition” event. Scrolling through the slides reveals one graph after another that simply looks like a tsunami of smartphones hitting the shoreline of the internet. It’s very impressive. Not surprising, but impressive.
As I view these images, one after another, I realize my subconscious is wondering, “why do we still have any amount of discussion about creating a great website experience for the smartphone?”
Why?
Just look at this graph that illustrates how PCs are an incredibly small segment of all online devices — it looks like a killer wave about to swallow the Jersey shore!
Then take a look at this illustration that shows 60% of online devices are now smartphones or tablets. What do you see? Yep, another compelling visual of the tsunami of mobile devices!
What do we know? The debate is over. Smartphones win. Mobile devices continue to rapidly increase in quantity and online time. If you are creating a website, don’t even begin the conversation thinking about desktop or laptop browsers — just forget it! Step one is considering the mobile audience. The mobile audience rules. Mobile devices have swallowed the shoreline and now we must adapt!
Next time, think “mobile first.”