Mobile phones will overtake the PC as the preferred method of accessing the internet within the next five years, according to web guru Mary Meeker in her latest State of the Internet Report.
And as a result of the increased adoption, bandwidth consumption is set to soar, with Meeker predicting a 4,000% increase by 2014.
Meeker , who heads Morgan Stanley’s tech research group, says the mobile net is ramping up much faster than the desktop internet, with rising penetration of 3G technology helping to drive adoption, GigaOMsaid.
The popularity of the iPhone is also driving adoption. While the primary function of the average phone is voice, which accounts for 70% of usage, voice calls typically account for only 45% of iPhone usage.
The iPhone has been adopted at a much faster rate than desktop web technologies like AOL and Netscape, topping the peak popularity of both within nine quarters of launch.
The growing popularity of mobile access is helping to stimulate e-commerce, with online commerce and paid services accounting for 32% of mobile revenue in the pioneering Japanese market in 2008, compared to just 14% in 2000.
Other countries can expect a similar growth trajectory in the coming years, Meeker added.