According to mobile media authority M:Metrics, social networking and Internet commerce are compelling the average U.S. smartphone user to spend more than four and a half hours per month browsing the mobile web; while their British counterparts spend only two and a half hours per month in the same pursuit.
"A primary factor in the discrepancy in the duration of time spent browsing between British and American smartphone users is the relative popularity of flat-rate data plans in the United States, where 10.9 percent of users have an unlimited data plan versus only 2.3 percent in Britain," M:Metrics Senior Analyst Paul Goode explained. "Other factors to consider are the popularity of devices with QWERTY keyboards in the United States — where nine of the top 10 smartphones are QWERTY, while the inverse in true in the U.K. — despite the greater penetration of smartphones in the British market."
According to mobile adult content site Bustbox.com owner Harvey Kaplan, his business is doing surprisingly well. Although Kaplan admits that PC traffic is down at the site, he claims that traffic to the mobile site "is through the roof."
Kaplan offered vacationers as one source of the increase in visits; noting that this is the time of year where everyone is visiting friends and family and using the high speed data networks that are now powering mobile phones, are opting to take their porn with them.
"Every free second these people have they are clicking on their mobile browser and sneaking a whack in the in-laws' bathroom," Kaplan said. "It's the funniest thing but according to our stats nothing else can possibly explain the odd hours and brief duration members are constantly logging in for multiple times a day."
M:Metrics Senior Analyst Mark Donovan noted that "people are becoming increasingly engaged in the mobile medium."
"Among smartphone users in the U.S., mobile browsing has increased 89 percent year over year, and page views have increased 127 percent," Donovan said. "Consumption is quickly evolving from brief transactions, such as checking the weather or flight status, to time-intensive interaction with mobile websites — even without an iPhone."
"I think a lot of people are missing the boat on this mobile thing and it only proves to get bigger as time wears on," Kaplan added.