Consumers Increasingly Using Mobile Devices as Their Default Gateway to the Internet, IDC Says

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Consumers are migrating away from PC-based Internet usage and are increasingly using mobile devices as their default gateway to the Internet, according to the latest release of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide New Media Market Model. The United States leads that trend, with Western Europe and Japan only about two years behind. In the U.S., the number of people accessing the Internet through PCs will shrink from 240 million consumers in 2012 to 225 million in 2016. At the same time, the number of mobile users will increase from 174 million to 265 million.

“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.”

In 2015, for the first time ever, there will be more U.S. consumers accessing the Internet through mobile devices than through PCs.

"In the consumer world, mobile Internet usage is already beginning to displace PC usage, and the United States is leading this trend," said Karsten Weide, program vice president, Media & Entertainment at IDC. "There has been much talk about how the future of the Internet will be mobile first and PC second. In the United States, that future is now."

Additional findings from the New Media Market Model include the following:

• Online PC activities will also be impacted as consumers take their usage mobile. IDC expects that 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 almost quintuple 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

"The Great PC Exodus on the Internet is happening because the PC was never truly a consumer product," added Weide. "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."

The IDC study, Worldwide New Media Market Model 1H-2012 Highlights: Internet Becomes Ever More Mobile, Ever Less PC-Based (IDC #237459), features the most interesting findings from IDC's latest Worldwide New Media Market Model.

About IDC's New Media Market Model

IDC's Worldwide New Media Market Model (NMMM) provides the most important demographic, technological, and commercial consumer Internet metrics for all regions and more than 40 countries. For each subject covered, it delivers both current numbers and a five-year forecast for a total of almost 250,000 data points. The Worldwide New Media Market Model offers a detailed view of Internet demographics, access devices and broadband households, online activities, ecommerce, Internet advertising, and consumer spending on online media. The Excel database deliverable is accompanied by research documents tracking quarterly worldwide and U.S. Internet ad spending and providing qualitative insight into forecast Internet advertising and mobile advertising numbers.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 48 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.

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