Worldwide mobile, tablet Internet usage overtakes desktop in October – StatCounter

Life

Pictured: Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter

1 November 2016

Internet usage by mobile and tablet devices exceeded desktop worldwide for the first time in October according to Irish Web analytics firm StatCounter.

The company’s research arm, StatCounter Global Stats found that that mobile and tablet devices accounted for 51.3% of Internet usage worldwide in October compared to 48.7% by desktop.

“This should be a wake up call especially for small businesses, sole traders and professionals in Ireland and across the world to make sure that their websites are mobile friendly. Many older websites are not,” said Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter (pictured).

“Mobile compatibility is increasingly important not just because of growing traffic but because Google favours mobile friendly websites for its mobile search results.”

Despite the rapid growth of mobile devices, desktop is still the primary mode of Internet usage in Ireland and mature markets such as the US and UK.

In Ireland desktop accounted for 57.6% of Internet usage in October compared to 42.4% for mobile and tablet devices, although parity was almost reached mid-month.

Cullen said that the worldwide data also had implications for UK business post Brexit. “UK businesses should be aware, as they look to increase trade outside the EU, that India for example has over 75% internet usage through mobile devices.”

StatCounter Global Stats data is based on over 15 billion page views per month to over 2.5 million websites.