PC Internet Usage Becoming Extinct, Mobile Rises

More and more people opt for mobile devices over computers when using the internet, a study showed. According to the latest release of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide New Media Market Model, consumers are shifting away from PC-based usage to using mobile devices as their first means of getting on the internet. The U. S. leads this trend; Western Europe and Japan are only around two years behind.

The model predicts that the number of Americans who use PCs to access the Internet will decrease from 240 million in 2012 to 225 million in 2016. Yet, the number of Americans using mobile devices over the next four years will increase from 174 million to 265 million. In 2015—for the first time ever—there will be more people in the nation using the Internet through mobile devices rather 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, 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.”

Other findings from the New Media Market Model include:

• Mobility will also affect the use of PCs for online activities. IDC expects people who use PCs to access social networks will decline from 66 percent in 2012 to 52 percent in 2016.
• Mobile advertising on the global level will almost quintuple ($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.”