Shwetank Dixit - How Peope Are Using the Mobile Web - Interop Mumbai 2009

How people are using the mobile web?

Shwetank DixitOpera India

About me

• Web Evangelist, Opera

• Developer Relations Group - Opera

• Web Standards and Accessibility Movement

• Member, WaSP-ILG

• shwetankd@opera.com

What is the mobile web?

What is the mobile web...

• Just one web

• The second most important thing...

It’s about this...

And this...

And even this...

And of course, this...

Mobile Phones have evolved...

So have mobile browsers...

Evolution

• So has has the mobile web

• Mostly because mobile browsers have evolved to show the ‘full web’ instead of watered-down WML of yesteryears.

State of transition

• WML

• Mobile only sites

• Desktop like experience on mobiles

How Opera Mini Works

What does that enable?

• This proxy server allows us to gather large amounts of data on mobile web usage.

• Every month we release this data publicly in our ‘State of the Mobile Web Reports’.

• Nearly 30 Million people worldwide using Opera Mini currently.

People are consuming more web content using mobiles than ever.

USA

Top Websites (USA)1. Google.com

2. Facebook.com

3. Myspace.com

4. Yahoo.com

5. Wikipedia.org

6. Youtube.com

7. My.Opera.com

8. Cnn.com

9. Accuweather.com

10. NYTimes.com

Top Handsets (USA)1. BlackBerry 8330 ("Curve")

2. Samsung SPH-M800 ("Instinct")

3. BlackBerry 9000 ("Bold")

4. LG CU920 ("Vu")

5. BlackBerry 8310 ("Curve")

6. Samsung SPH-M810 ("Instinct S30")

7. BlackBerry 8320 ("Curve")

8. BlackBerry 8130 ("Pearl")

9. BlackBerry 8900 ("Curve 2")

10. BlackBerry 9530 ("Storm")

The United Kingdom

Top Websites (UK)1. Facebook.com

2. Google.com

3. Yahoo.com

4. BBC.co.uk

5. Live.com

6. Wikipedia.org

7. Youtube.com

8. Bebo.com

9. My.Opera.com

10. eBay.co.uk

Top Handsets (UK)1. LG KC910 ("Renoir")

2. Nokia 6300

3. LG KE970 ("Shine")

4. Sony Ericsson W910i

5. Samsung SGH-G600

6. Nokia 6600s

7. Nokia 6500s

8. Sony Ericsson K800i

9. Samsung U600

10. Sony Ericsson C902

China

Top Websites (China)1. Kong.net

2. Baidu.com

3. Google.cn

4. Sina.com.cn

5. Xiaonei.com

6. qq.com

7. Sohu.com

8. Hao123.com

9. Operachina.com

10.Taobao.com

Top Handsets (China)

1. Nokia 5000

2. Nokia 7100s

3. Nokia 5130

4. Nokia 5220

5. Nokia 6300

6. Nokia 7310c

7. Nokia 7610s

8. Nokia 6120c

9. Nokia 5300

10. Nokia N70

India

Top Websites (India)1. Google.com

2. Orkut.com

3. Songs.pk

4. Yahoo.com

5. Facebook.com

6. Wikipedia.org

7. Youtube.com

8. My.Opera.com

9. Peperonity.com

10. Zedge.net

Top Handsets (India)1. Nokia N70

2. Nokia N73

3. Nokia 3110c

4. Nokia 6300

5. Nokia N72

6. Nokia 3500c

7. Nokia 6233

8. Sony Ericsson W200i

9. Nokia 5310

10. Sony Ericsson K750i

Trends (India)• Male:Female ratio

is the worst!

• Search is big, especially Google

• Social Networking is big as well

• People interested in Gaming, Music and Video

African Continent• Last year saw 180% growth in usage

• Zambia and Swaziland using Opera Mini simulator on desktop, to access sites!

• South Africa and Nigeria lead the way for mobile Web usage, followed by Egypt, Kenya and Libya.

• Nokia and Sony Ericsson dominate, however, Samsung has most popular phone for Zambia, Namibia and Gabon used by Opera Mini users.

South East Asia• Often conflicting region, with Singapore

having very high broadband penetration rates, and cambodia having very low

• Lack of proper broadband in some countries led to burst of mobile browsing

• Heavy users often opt for the latest phone model that comes with 3G

• Mobile operators to offer fixed-rate 3G packages

Middle East• In the Middle East, among mobile Web

users, Google is the dominant player in the search engine space, followed by Yahoo! and Live.

• Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel are the countries with the most page-view traffic in the middle east, respectively.

• Nokia handsets continue to be dominant in the Middle East, with Sony Erricson as distant second.

Global Trends• Developed countries using Blackberrys and

Sony Erricsons and High-end Samsungs

• Nokia is dominant in developing countries

• Yet, everyone visiting the same sites (or same types of sites)

• Search is big, especially Google

• However, in certain markets, Google is second to other localized search engines

• People interested seeking info, connecting with friends and passing the time

Global Trends: Categories

1. Information retrieval (search engines, weather info, news)

2. Social networking

3. Transactions

4. Lesiure

5. Communication (email, twitter)

Challenges to adoption: India

• GPRS data plans: Lack of information and misconceptions

• Literacy and language barrier

Challenges....

• Bad development techniques

• Opera Web Standards Curricullum - Get the basics right

• Opera.com/WSC

Challenges for developers...

• Different screen sizes

• Limited data plans

• Out in the sun: keep in mind proper contrast

• Mobile Web 'Shared Experiences' document

• Read W3C Mobile web best practices

• W3.org/TR/mobile-bp/

Links

• Opera Mobile Web Report : Opera.com/mobile_report

• Or just Google "mobile web report"

Shwetank Dixit

• shwetankdixit.com

• shwetankd@opera.com

• twitter.com/shwetank

Cheers!

Image Credits• Flickr Username: Plutor

• Flickr Username: stuckincustoms

• Flickr Username: santoshdawara

• Flickr Username: gauri_lama

• Flickr Username: beatbull

• Flickr Username: stephansphotos

• Flickr Username: seandreilinger