Gen Y use phones more than PCs for web

Generation Y may use their mobile phones to browse the internet more than desktop or laptop PCs, according to browser developer Opera.

 

A global survey of users of its Opera Mini browser has found that in some places - such as Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria – as many as 90% of its 18-27 year-old users are more likely to access the web through a phone than a computer.

 

But the countries where smartphones were most popular, such as the US, Germany and Poland, were also the countries where PCs were more often the primary means of access.

 

“This result presents a challenge to the long-standing belief that smartphone uptake will be the major driver of mobile web usage globally,” Opera said in its report.

 

Browsing on a smartphone was also the dominant method of access for young people in Vietnam, India and China.

 

Total users of the Opera Mini browser nearly doubled from a year ago to 76.3 million, with page views growing 142% over this period to 41.6 billion.

 

Page views in Indonesia and Malaysia both grew by over 1000% year-on-year, while growth was also strong in Vietnam, the Philippines and India.  

 

The overall amount of data consumed grew 15% from September to 616 million megabytes, which if received uncompressed would have been 5.7 petabytes.