A few months ago I ‘yammed‘ an info graphic showing the then current (Q4 2010) and forecasted market for tablet devices followed by a question on whether we should be designing for mobile first. Well now I am convinced that the answer to that question is YES!.

Why? Because Mobile is HUGE!
Here’s what some of the big guns are saying about this topic/approach:

“What ever you’re doing, do mobile first” – Google CEO Eric Schmidt
(Watch it on youtube)

“It makes sense to do a mobile version first even if you’re not even planning on launching a mobile version”
Luke Wroblewski author of Web Form Design talking about Mobile First
(Watch it on youtube)

“It’s (mobile first approach) actually teaching us a lot about designing back to the web which is pretty awesome”
Facebook Director of Design, Kate Aronowitz
(Watch it on youtube)

“We are rapidly approaching a time when there are going to be more people connected to the internet using a mobile device than a desktop computer” – Adobe CTO, Kevin Lynch in his keynote at the Adobe Max 2010 conference

“Mobile Internet is and will be bigger than most think”
-unknown from Morgan Stanley MS Economy Internet Trends 2009 (Slide #29)

Lets take a look at some stats from the end of 2010.

Some highlights from the above presentation:

• Global shipments of smartphones and tablets surpassed shipments of desktop PCs and notebooks in Q42010. This gap is expected to increase over the next few years.
• 60% of time spent on smartphones is new activity for mobile users.
• Global mobile data traffic should grow 26x over next 5 years.
• Global mobile 3G subscribers grew 35% year over year and now number about 726MM.
• Japan’s social networking site, Mixi, illustrates the importance of mobile: 85% of page views on mobile vs. 14% 4.5 years ago.
• 50% of total active Twitter users are on multiple platforms (mobile) compared to 25% a year ago. 40% of all tweets are sent via mobile.
• 50% of Pandora’s total user base subscribes to the service on mobile.

More interesting points from the presentation:

Social media

(Slide #21)
Facebook:

• 200M mobile active users vs. 50M in 9/9
• X2 more active than desktop-only users

Twitter:

• Mobile = 50% of total active users
• Mobile = 40% of all tweets

Spotify:

• Introduction of mobile product drove 2x conversion ratio from free to paying subscribers.
• Mobile users = 25-30% total users in mature markets.

Smartphones potential

(Slide #31)
Smartphones can make TV interactive:

• get coupons/offers
• learn more about products
• share content with friends

eBay / mCommerce

(Slide # 34)
“Mobile is clearly becoming a new way people shop…(eBay has) nearly tripled mobile GMV (gross merchandise value) year-over-year to nearly $2 billion, with strong holiday shopping momentum in Q4. In 2011, we expect Mobile GMV to double to $4billion” – John Donahoe, President & CEO, eBay.

A Massive Phenomenon…

(Slide #53)

• Ubiquitous Computing – Real-time connectivity / 24×7 in the palm of your hand
• More affordable – Device and data plan pricing falling
• Faster – Networks and devices improving (owing to Moore’s Law)
• Personal – Location / preferences / behavior
• Fun to use – social / casual /reward-driven marketing
• Access nearly everything anywhere – “Stuff” in cloud
• Explosion of apps and monetization – More and more making money
• Measurable real-world activation – driving foot traffic to physical stores
• Reward / influence bahaviour in real-time – for exactly the right people

Benefits of designing for mobile first

Designing for mobile forces you to focus on the most important information and interactions.
In a time when we hardly consider slow internet connections anymore websites tend to be full of extraneous content aka clutter. Removing this clutter and focusing on good and relevant content results in a better user experience.

Even more ‘hugeness’ stats..

• eBay: Mobile Sales Grew From $600 Million To $2 Billion In 2010
• Smartphone sales will surpass worldwide PC sales by the end of 2011
• Over half of Android and iPhone users spend more than 30 minutes per day using apps.

“Mobile internet is and will be bigger than most think”
- from Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Presentation 2009

(view full report here)

Some highlights from the above report:

• Mobile Internet outpaces desktop internet adoption – iPhone + iTouch users = 8x AOL users 8 quarters after launch. (Slide #33)
• Real-time wireless remote controls everywhere – Number / types of cloud-based mobile connected devices growing rapidly (slide #34)
• “Mobile devices will evolve as remote controls for ever expanding types of real-time cloud-based services, including emerging category of location-based services, creating opportunities + dislocations, empowering consumers in unprecedented + transformative ways.” (slide #40)