How people are using
the mobile web?
Shwetank Dixit
Opera 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